Birdwatching/Birding/Wildlife Spotting

[nudge+]

11 minutes ago, Tommy said:

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! 

Brilliant pic  

The red ones are native to the UK as well, and the grey ones were introduced from America at some point in 19th century and thus are invasive species.

[MUFC]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

Brilliant pic  

The red ones are native to the UK as well, and the grey ones were introduced from America at some point in 19th century and thus are invasive species.

Summed USA up in a few words.

[CaaC (John)+]

Our local old church is alive with squirrels, I would go there many a time when I picked Kaiden up from school and we would sit in the church memorial area for World War 1 soldiers who are buried there and feed the squirrels and wood pigeons.

and every summer a guy will come around the square with barn owls where you can put them on your arm once you have donated some money for the bird wildlife sanctuary. 

[Spike]

On 17/04/2022 at 22:26, 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).

Uniquely the area where I am from has the most native birds species in Australia. Apparently but I wouldn’t disagree, it does seem to be an intersection for migrating birds and not totally unusual to see tropical parrots at certain times of year.

Yep, my hometown shows up when googled ‘birdwatching Australia’.

[Toinho]

43 minutes ago, Spike said:

Uniquely the area where I am from has the most native birds species in Australia. Apparently but I wouldn’t disagree, it does seem to be an intersection for migrating birds and not totally unusual to see tropical parrots at certain times of year.

Yep, my hometown shows up when googled ‘birdwatching Australia’.

That’s pretty awesome! I’m on the edge of the John Forrest National Park (second ever National park in Australia) so I do see a fair few birds but wouldn’t be like where you’re from I’d say!

[Toinho]

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[Spike]

1 hour ago, Toinho said:

That’s pretty awesome! I’m on the edge of the John Forrest National Park (second ever National park in Australia) so I do see a fair few birds but wouldn’t be like where you’re from I’d say!

You have to work for it, it’s not like they all just perch up in the backyard. With a bit of exploring and patience you can find permanent birds like kookaburras, gulags, Sulfur crest cockatoos, corellas, wedge-tailed eagles, pelicans, brolgas, kites, and if you are lucky you’ll see migratory birds like rainbow lorikeets, red shouldered parrots, among others I cannot name 

[Spike]

Also heaps of budgerigars lately 

[Toinho]

47 minutes ago, Spike said:

You have to work for it, it’s not like they all just perch up in the backyard. With a bit of exploring and patience you can find permanent birds like kookaburras, gulags, Sulfur crest cockatoos, corellas, wedge-tailed eagles, pelicans, brolgas, kites, and if you are lucky you’ll see migratory birds like rainbow lorikeets, red shouldered parrots, among others I cannot name 

Had an ex partner rescue a rainbow lorikeet before and looked after it for years. Not heaps of them here though to my knowledge. 
 

I know you need to not just look in your backyard though lol I do see Kookaburras down my street though haha 

[Tommy]

Speaking of parrots, we have parrots too. They immigrated a few years back and never left. The city is full of them. 

 

They're pretty loud as well: 

 

[DeadLinesman]

35 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Speaking of parrots, we have parrots too. They immigrated a few years back and never left. The city is full of them. 

 

They're pretty loud as well: 

 

We’ve got loads in Warrington believe it or not. Loud bastards they are.

 

[nudge+]

ID'd a white-throated kingfisher by its song today in the morning as it was a very distinctive sound, almost like laughing, and then spent two hours on the roof trying to spot the little bastard. Nope, no luck so far

[DeadLinesman]

19 minutes ago, nudge said:

ID'd a white-throated kingfisher by its song today in the morning as it was a very distinctive sound, almost like laughing, and then spent two hours on the roof trying to spot the little bastard. Nope, no luck so far

I wonder if that’s what I’ve heard near us. We walk to school sometimes and near a pond in the woods, there’s always this weird laughing sound coming from the bushes. Always thought it was some weird perv

[Tommy]

26 minutes ago, nudge said:

ID'd a white-throated kingfisher by its song today in the morning as it was a very distinctive sound, almost like laughing, and then spent two hours on the roof trying to spot the little bastard. Nope, no luck so far

Maybe he was laughing at you trying to spot him. 

[nudge+]

3 hours ago, Tommy said:

Maybe he was laughing at you trying to spot him. 

Wouldn't be surprised  the little bastard didn't show himself for hours, and then once I gave up and went out for lunch, guess who arrived to the restaurant? That's right, a white-throated kingfisher  

Ignore the quality of the pic, I only had my phone with me but took the photo as a proof 

[Tommy]

3 hours ago, nudge said:

Wouldn't be surprised  the little bastard didn't show himself for hours, and then once I gave up and went out for lunch, guess who arrived to the restaurant? That's right, a white-throated kingfisher  

Ignore the quality of the pic, I only had my phone with me but took the photo as a proof 

With all my bird watching over the years and the experience I gathered in my travels, I can safely confirm that this is a bird. 

[nudge+]

5 minutes ago, Tommy said:

With all my bird watching over the years and the experience I gathered in my travels, I can safely confirm that this is a bird. 

Well you are wrong, there are clearly two birds

[CaaC (John)+]

7 hours ago, nudge said:

Well you are wrong, there are clearly two birds

[Carnivore Chris]

On 19/04/2022 at 09:39, Tommy said:

Speaking of parrots, we have parrots too. They immigrated a few years back and never left. The city is full of them. 

 

They're pretty loud as well: 

 

They got there via escaping from captivity/being released by people. You get them all over Amsterdam and in some UK cities. But they didn't migrate mate as they are non-migratory birds. They are originally from India and sub Saharan Africa and they are territorial birds that don't move very far away.

Spain has a problem with Monk parakeets, which come from Argentina originally but they were a common pet, before being banned and people released them both intentionally and unintentionally. It's all you see or hear wherever you go now. Every city, every town.

[Tommy]

On 17/04/2022 at 14:42, nudge said:

Herons and Cormorants too?  nice!

Came across our local resident Heron today! He seems to like it here. Has been here for a few years now. Or it's always a different one and just assume it's the same one. 

[nudge+]

11 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Came across our local resident Heron today! He seems to like it here. Has been here for a few years now. Or it's always a different one and just assume it's the same one. 

Just too lazy to be migrate. "You go, guys, I'll just chill here for a few years"  

[Tommy]

On 20/04/2022 at 18:01, Carnivore Chris said:

They got there via escaping from captivity/being released by people. You get them all over Amsterdam and in some UK cities. But they didn't migrate mate as they are non-migratory birds. They are originally from India and sub Saharan Africa and they are territorial birds that don't move very far away.

Spain has a problem with Monk parakeets, which come from Argentina originally but they were a common pet, before being banned and people released them both intentionally and unintentionally. It's all you see or hear wherever you go now. Every city, every town.

Btw I meant migrate as in "moving to a new country" kind of, like immigrants.  Not as they are leaving for the winter. I know they aren't migratory birds. I'm not that dumb. Took me a bit to realise what you mean. 

[Beelzebub]

Parrots are known to live for a 100 years

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, Aladdin said:

Parrots are known to live for a 100 years

Can't beat this 

 

 

[Carnivore Chris]

6 hours ago, Aladdin said:

Parrots are known to live for a 100 years

Big parrots like Macaws, African Greys and Cockatoos do, but the ones that @Tommy posted have a lifespan of about 25 years.

 

As for what I attract @nudge:- Goldfinch, Robin, Blue Tit, Great tit, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Black backed gull, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Collerd Dove and saw a Raven yesterday trying to smash the feeders to pieces to enter them. Also, they don't feed on the feeders necessarily, but you get Wrens as well.

Oh and there are Toads and Frogs sometimes, they will come from the pond 2 doors down probably. 

 

The gulls, Magpies, Starlings and Jackdaws need to get fucked though to be honest. There has been the odd Grey Squirrel as well, but I manage to keep those little cunts away luckily. You don't want to be attracting them, they are rats with curly tails!

Also there has been a Sparrowhawk eating a bird in my yard, although my neighbour saw that, not me. But I did see a Sparrowhawk fly off with bird(probably a Starling) down an alleyway before Christmas.

In terms of hovering, you see Kestrels and Buzzards often now and just 0.5 mile away, there is a Goshawk that does the same lap at the same time everyday. I noticed last year as I was working on a new housebuild there.

I have also seen a Peregrine in my area. You never saw any of those until recently. In the countryside, yes, but they are moving to more urban parts now. Saying that, I'm not far from the countryside though, I'm surrounded by it. If I walk just 1 mile in the south east direction, I'm in the countryside. If you go 7-8 miles north you're at a bird sanctuary and you see Marsh Harriers and Ospreys there if you get lucky. Also Britain's rarest bird, the Bittern. They find their own way there.

There are Owls too in my local park, but you don't see them really, only hear them. Also the likes of Treecreepers, Greater spotted Woodpeckers and Green Woodpeckers. The local uni(2 mile away) has a great bird of prey population too. You're guaranteed to see one there. Also Herons and Egrets are present and in the woodlands there is a set of Badgers and loads of Newts in the pond.

The local canal has Kingfishers. 

Where I go fishing(around 8 mile away), you get Foxes, Deers, Bats, Owls, Hen Harriers, Grebes, Weasels, Stoats and obviously Kingfishers. In fact, even Oystercatchers have made their way there.

The local river has Otters, but good luck finding them haha.

I actually observed either a Stoat or Weasel trying to killing Moorhens on the canal when fishing last Feb. I've been lucky for animal encounters.

Down south when I was fishing I saw Grass Snakes swimming, a Honey Buzzard, Red Kites, Tawny Owls and Badgers. Also bats were catching mosquitos literally millimeters from our faces, it was class.

I seem to be lucky with seeing wildlife. Maybe it's because I'm always looking at the sky or observing everywhere. It also helps going fishing of course.