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Back yard birding thread... (Corona virus restrictions)


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I hadnt seen a Shining Cuckoo this year so had posted a photo from last year. But today when we came home from a walk there was one on the terrace - they sometimes hit the glass in the ranch slider that goes out to the terrace. It was quite dazed so I took a few photos then gently picked it up, it sat on my hand for some time then flew to the terrace railing where I took some more photos then I was so pleased as it flew up into the birch tree. The colours on the back are just beautiful in the sunlight.

 

Sitting dazed on the terrace

 

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On the railing

 

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Safely in the tree

 

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Glad the shining cuckoo was just momentarily stunned, and able to fly back into the tree! 

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I was very glad too. Numbers have been declining so we need every one.

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Towlersonsafari

On a walk from the house to our local nature reserve we watched a Great White Egret struggle to swallow what looks like a pike-apologies for rubbish photo but it was a long way away!

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Towlersonsafari

and from the same socially distanced hide-there was only us in it- a few relections coot,  Peewit/Lapwing/Green plover ,and Litle Egret

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offshorebirder

@KiwiGran - if birds collide with your windows a lot, perhaps you should look into UV-reflective film.

 

Here in the USA, we have things like Collidescape:   https://www.collidescape.org/

 

I did some googling for New Zealand and found these:

 

https://projectkereru.org.nz/preventing-window-strike

 

https://solarart.co.nz/

 

https://www.glasshield.co.nz/uv-window-film/   (not sure if this prevents bird strikes - might ask around)

 

 

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Thanks @offshorebirderWe do have a number of decals on our windows and the film on all  but with the number of windows and doors we have of glass it is hard to cover them all. I think it is sometimes perhaps a case of 2 birds chasing each other as we have found 2 cuckoos on a couple of occasions but thankfully all have survived. I think one problem is that our house is two level (on a basement) with a bank dropping away not far from the windows they strike, so maybe we are on their flight path. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Towlersonsafari

So the frogspawn is in the pond-I counted about 20 frogs at the peak of "Frogmania 21"  one night last week, and even blossom is in th trees, as well as a pair ( perhaps) of reed bunting that have been seen in the garden for several days running- in past years we only see them , along with a yellowhammer, in very cold weather, and I have not seen greenfinches eating blossoms before

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Towlersonsafari

And continuing the Spring in the Garden theme

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~ @Towlersonsafari:

 

What stunning images to mark Spring's advent!

 

Beautiful photography. They life the spirit.

 

Thank you so much.

 

               Tom K.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It'd been a while since I posted anything in this thread largely because there hasn't been anything other than the usual tits and finches. Until now

 

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when this female common redpoll (Acanthis flammea) appeared. There was also a male which turned up first but my camera battery was flat and the female  came by the next day. The usual excuses apply (handheld, dirty double glazed kitchen window).

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offshorebirder

Thanks @JohnR - I am very fond of Redpolls.   

 

I see you have Common across the pond, do you have Hoary as well?

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Hi @offshorebirderthey inhabit the far north in eurasia but occasionally they are found in the UK where they are called arctic redpolls. The British Trust for Ornithology estimates around 20 sightings a year.

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10 hours ago, JohnR said:

Hi @offshorebirderthey inhabit the far north in eurasia but occasionally they are found in the UK where they are called arctic redpolls. The British Trust for Ornithology estimates around 20 sightings a year.

Only 20 sightings a year? Then this is a very special one, well done!

 

Thanks for this update @JohnRI forgot a bit about this one, but realize my latest post to 'What wildlife in in your woods / backyard?' should actually have been to this thread.

 

If you've read my post, you know I blew my chance of spotting a kestrel from the hide. Last night I went back to the same spot and... managed to find the kestrel! :) Very happy to find it and I had a pretty good look at it. Again another very common bird apparantly, but I don't care, special to me. It was getting dark and from some distance, so no photo good enough to share with you. May be next time.

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4 hours ago, LarsS said:

Only 20 sightings a year? Then this is a very special one, well done!

 

Thanks for this update @JohnRI forgot a bit about this one, but realize my latest post to 'What wildlife in in your woods / backyard?' should actually have been to this thread.

 

If you've read my post, you know I blew my chance of spotting a kestrel from the hide. Last night I went back to the same spot and... managed to find the kestrel! :) Very happy to find it and I had a pretty good look at it. Again another very common bird apparantly, but I don't care, special to me. It was getting dark and from some distance, so no photo good enough to share with you. May be next time.

 

Keep an eye out for Redpolls, barmsijzen, in The Netherlands during winter, and then scan them all to see if you can pick out a 'witstuitbarmsijs', the arctic redpoll!

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A beautiful morning in the garden yesterday and  a hint of colder weather to come with 8degreesC but followed by a still sunny day. The garden was full of birds - a tui sunning himself in the tree, blackbirds, song thrushes, chaffinchs, sparrows, harrier hawks and welcome swallows overhead. Then I spotted our resident pair of grey warblers and for once they werent so shy and came down lower in the trees, and sat still briefly while singing their beautiful song.  Such a tiny bird listed in my bird book as 4.5in. At last I managed to get a photo (I have been trying for weeks!)

 

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A special visitor landed on the tree next to my house. The male adult Japanese Sparrowhawk is one of many birds that are now underway migrating back to their home ranges in Siberia, northeast China, Korea to Japan. We often see them in flight way up in the skies but a few do drop in, some to stop and fuel, others to stay and rest. This particular sparrowhawk came on April Fool's Day, and was probably taking a rest and finding a roosting place for the night before continuing his thousands of miles' journey home. 

 

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Edited by Kitsafari
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Another raptor came by this morning - the oriental honey buzzard.

 

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Edited by Kitsafari
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A first batch of shots of the last two months.

 

Wood pigeon

 

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Hawfinch

 

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This one is not a very good pictures.  Just to show how many goldfinches were, I counted 22.

 

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Wood nuthatch

 

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Eurasian siskin

 

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Nice additions @Bush dogI've yet to find either of them this year.:(

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@SoukousThanks! The nuthatch is present all year long around my home despite the continuous presence of the great spotted woodpecker.  At this time of the year, it is whistling all day long.  I must admit that at the end, it becomes a bit boring.

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offshorebirder

@Bush dog - nice Eurasian Siskin.   I had a Pine Siskin in my mother's yard yesterday and it was present again today.   I should have shot a photo out her office window (it likes the Nyger thistle feeder there).

 

Here is one of about a hundred American Goldfinches hanging out in her improved suburban habitat:   

 

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And here is a male Myrtle Warbler that was trying to guard one of the small ponds (they are really amped up on hormones these days):

 

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