Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 A thread for anything related to wildlife spotting. Does anyone like observing and IDing birds or animals (or even plants) in general? Either as a serious hobby, or just occasionally. What kind of equipment do you use? Favourite apps, field guides, websites, etc? Do you try to take photos, or just observe? Do you have bird feeders? What are your favourite animals to observe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,622 Posted April 17, 2022 Moderator Share Posted April 17, 2022 I have bird feeders and in Summer watering places too. I have no real equipment, but I do love bird watching. We have mostly blue and great tits around here, redbirds, blackbirds, woodpeckers, sparrows etc. And of course magpies, crows and the usual you'd find pretty much anywhere in central europe. My favourite to watch are obviously Magpies and Crows because of their intelligence. But I also like the redbirds/robins. They are not really shy and usually come really close to humans. Oh and we also have Herons and Cormorants in my neighbourhood. Usually by the stream. And you can see Falcons and Hawks circling in the sky, above parks or forest-ish areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beelzebub 2,508 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 I used the Merlin Bird ID for trial period once, it was nice knowing the names of some birds I see everyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ 5,362 Posted April 17, 2022 Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 Not so much nowadays at my age but I do love mother nature and wildlife, many a time I have taken a walk around in either Corstophan woods here in Edinburgh or around Arthurs Seat, our son and daughter are into that now and our daughter goes on a daily walk with her friends around the countryside and Arthurs Seat. Found some animal photos I took and some by our daughter on her walks with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toinho 2,210 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 Bought a book on Western Australia birds(or birds found here), a few weeks back, going to slowly go through that / use it to help me identify birds in my area. Have always wanted to 'get better' at identifying birds (and plants tbh). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ 5,362 Posted April 17, 2022 Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 Our little garden aquirrel that's pops up to our second floor flat kitchen window, always feed he/she some nuts or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 1 hour ago, Tommy said: I have bird feeders and in Summer watering places too. I have no real equipment, but I do love bird watching. We have mostly blue and great tits around here, redbirds, blackbirds, woodpeckers, sparrows etc. And of course magpies, crows and the usual you'd find pretty much anywhere in central europe. My favourite to watch are obviously Magpies and Crows because of their intelligence. But I also like the redbirds/robins. They are not really shy and usually come really close to humans. Oh and we also have Herons and Cormorants in my neighbourhood. Usually by the stream. And you can see Falcons and Hawks circling in the sky, above parks or forest-ish areas. Central & Eastern Europe is really bird-rich! I used to have feeders in the garden too, and other than the ones you already mentioned, there were often also many hawfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, jays, bullfinches, crossbills, treecreepers and one of my favourite species, Bohemian waxwings. Sometimes you'd get some rarer ones visiting too, like hoopoe. Herons and Cormorants too? nice! You forget to mention bee hotels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 59 minutes ago, Aladdin said: I used the Merlin Bird ID for trial period once, it was nice knowing the names of some birds I see everyday. Trial period? Their iOS and android app is completely free of charge; I use it daily! They even have sound recognition now, even if it's not flawless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 25 minutes ago, Toinho said: Bought a book on Western Australia birds(or birds found here), a few weeks back, going to slowly go through that / use it to help me identify birds in my area. Have always wanted to 'get better' at identifying birds (and plants tbh). I'm decent at identifying birds visually, but struggle to identify songs/calls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beelzebub 2,508 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 1 hour ago, nudge said: Trial period? Their iOS and android app is completely free of charge; I use it daily! They even have sound recognition now, even if it's not flawless. There was some subscription when I used it or it could be some other one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 14 minutes ago, Aladdin said: There was some subscription when I used it or it could be some other one It's like real life Pokemon Go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithcore 1,276 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 I like it too. But for those who have not yet come into contact with it, here is an important contribution to get you started: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUFC 1,503 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 4 hours ago, Tommy said: I have bird feeders and in Summer watering places too. I have no real equipment, but I do love bird watching. We have mostly blue and great tits around here, redbirds, blackbirds, woodpeckers, sparrows etc. And of course magpies, crows and the usual you'd find pretty much anywhere in central europe. My favourite to watch are obviously Magpies and Crows because of their intelligence. But I also like the redbirds/robins. They are not really shy and usually come really close to humans. Oh and we also have Herons and Cormorants in my neighbourhood. Usually by the stream. And you can see Falcons and Hawks circling in the sky, above parks or forest-ish areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey 1,192 Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 I try to get as much nature as possible into my garden - I absolutely love being surrounded by it. I've got a fir tree in the middle of my back yard which is home to a collection of birds, a squirrel and bats (which I love to watch when they come out at night). I haven't got anything too fancy yet, but I have a handful of birdhouses dotted about the place to try and attract them to come into the garden, I'll always throw out my food scraps to keep them going too. Off the top of my head I've had a few magpies, robins, pigeons, seagulls, crows and a collection of tits. There's also a stork that pops by every now and then. Saw a hedgehog once, but it had unfortunately passed away. Would love to be able to home one alive and well, similar to how I like to put nuts down around my fir tree to keep the squirrel happy. It's seriously underrated, but sitting outside on an evening with a whiskey watching nature in your own garden - perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 42 minutes ago, Whiskey said: I try to get as much nature as possible into my garden - I absolutely love being surrounded by it. I've got a fir tree in the middle of my back yard which is home to a collection of birds, a squirrel and bats (which I love to watch when they come out at night). I haven't got anything too fancy yet, but I have a handful of birdhouses dotted about the place to try and attract them to come into the garden, I'll always throw out my food scraps to keep them going too. Off the top of my head I've had a few magpies, robins, pigeons, seagulls, crows and a collection of tits. There's also a stork that pops by every now and then. Saw a hedgehog once, but it had unfortunately passed away. Would love to be able to home one alive and well, similar to how I like to put nuts down around my fir tree to keep the squirrel happy. It's seriously underrated, but sitting outside on an evening with a whiskey watching nature in your own garden - perfect. Sounds lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,622 Posted April 17, 2022 Moderator Share Posted April 17, 2022 1 hour ago, MUFC said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 17, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 17, 2022 Some resources I use: For identifying bird songs and calls, xeno-canto is a great website: https://xeno-canto.org/ For a general, extensive bird database, Avibase is great: https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/ Apps I use are Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab (for identifying), eBird by Cornell Lab (for recording observations), BirdNET (for identifying bird sounds), and iNaturalist (a biodiversity observation social network). I also ocassionally use Seek app by iNaturalist for identifying plants and animals, but it can be a hit and miss... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ 5,362 Posted April 18, 2022 Subscriber Share Posted April 18, 2022 17 hours ago, Tommy said: That guy always finds something to send a decent thread off track, sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ 5,362 Posted April 18, 2022 Subscriber Share Posted April 18, 2022 Our daughter and Kaiden love animals and Kaiden has a love for Sloths so Denise has taken him to Edinburgh Zoo to see the animals, especially the Sloths, she has just texted us with these pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUFC 1,503 Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 In our garden and some surrounding areas there are many grey squirrels roaming around. I remember my high school days (1990-1995). The walk to and from school saw us pass through an area with quite a few trees and it was really leafy. Back then there were quite a few red squirrels jumping around. Since around that period I really can't remember seeing a red squirrel, where have they gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,328 Posted April 18, 2022 Author Subscriber Share Posted April 18, 2022 14 minutes ago, MUFC said: In our garden and some surrounding areas there are many grey squirrels roaming around. I remember my high school days (1990-1995). The walk to and from school saw us pass through an area with quite a few trees and it was really leafy. Back then there were quite a few red squirrels jumping around. Since around that period I really can't remember seeing a red squirrel, where have they gone? https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/questions/answer/why-is-the-red-squirrel-declining-in-the-uk-and-what-can-be-done A good long read. Seems to suggest that it's a combination of factors, but mostly the case of squirrelpox and grey squirrels outcompeting the red ones for food. Sad really; the red ones are the most beautiful squirrels for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey 1,192 Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 21 minutes ago, nudge said: https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/questions/answer/why-is-the-red-squirrel-declining-in-the-uk-and-what-can-be-done A good long read. Seems to suggest that it's a combination of factors, but mostly the case of squirrelpox and grey squirrels outcompeting the red ones for food. Sad really; the red ones are the most beautiful squirrels for me. That's been a frustrating reality for a while over here sadly, there's too many greys dominating the reds for the latter to really flourish. I'm with you too, the reds are beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadLinesman 5,938 Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 25 minutes ago, nudge said: https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/questions/answer/why-is-the-red-squirrel-declining-in-the-uk-and-what-can-be-done A good long read. Seems to suggest that it's a combination of factors, but mostly the case of squirrelpox and grey squirrels outcompeting the red ones for food. Sad really; the red ones are the most beautiful squirrels for me. Scotland and various northern areas in England are actively keeping the populations apart as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey 1,192 Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 13 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said: Scotland and various northern areas in England are actively keeping the populations apart as much as possible. Pretty much the UK in general, North doing the morally right thing whereas the South do the opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,622 Posted April 18, 2022 Moderator Share Posted April 18, 2022 The red squirrels are the default squirrels here in Germany. When I was in England it was the first time I ever saw grey ones. Just googled a bit and found this picture: Give 'em hell, little red friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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