Orthinologists…?

RE: Orthinologists…?

Julian Earl — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 10:43:51 GMT

Last week we had a couple of Kites chasing each other and mewing. Followed by one flying over and dropping twigs on the garage roof, plus one small branch dropped in the paddock making the sheep jump!

We are very hopeful that this behaviour indicates them starting to nest within 100-150 metres of the house. When I see them floating past, I've started shouting at them!, "Get on with it, that nest isn't going to build itself!" I don't know what the neighbours think! Confirming their suspicions perhaps?

RE: Orthinologists…?

Mark Rowland — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:11:29 GMT

Had an amazing goldfinch selfie on one of my security cameras the other week

RE: Orthinologists…?

Thomas Johnson — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 11:37:48 GMT

[quote userid="2457" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/off-duty-discussions/28913/orthinologists/221201"]Had bullfinches on my sunflower hearts feeder this morning. Gorgeous birds ... Not seen them here before. It's the small things.[/quote]

Leaving the house to go to work this morning I could hear the birdsong much more clearly than normal with the reduced traffic noise.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 11:19:35 GMT

Had bullfinches on my sunflower hearts feeder this morning. Gorgeous birds ... Not seen them here before. It's the small things.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Anthony Todd — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 16:02:46 GMT

Wompoo Fruit Dove Southern Queensland, trapped on our balcony......

RE: Orthinologists…?

Dagmar Steele — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 12:11:25 GMT

I also find that the number of birds on various species differs from year to year here in Germany. We had a few years with very little robins, luckily they're back this year, I also see lots of long-tailed tits this year. We see blue, black and long-tailed tits, chaffinches, green finches and the occasional goldfinch, jays, crows, magpies and blackbirds in the garden. The wren seems to be a good survivor too. On my dog walks I encounter tons of buzzards, ravens, kites (marsh harriers mostly), ducks, geese, swans and the occasional sea eagle. In the summer there are more, I think the one that struck me most number wise last summer was the Eurasian blackcap.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 18:16:43 GMT

[quote userid="2457" url="~/001/nonclinical/f/off-duty-discussions/28913/orthinologists/219919"]Just one long tailed tit? That's unusual! They are usually only seen in small flocks.[/quote]

Indeed so. As they used to pop up in past years, till something like ten years ago. Which is why I got excited seeing just one.

There's been a decline in many species in our locality this last decade, and I don't know why. There's a very extensive wood just behind my house and I suspect many species now keep themselves to that – it may be the occasional young Great Spotted woodpecker still finding a territory that shows itself in the garden. But it's worrying that most of the owls seem to have gone; the tawnies used to be hooting in numbers every evening.

Another interesting phenomenon: quite a while ago collared doves replaced the wood pigeons. Now the collared doves are gone and the wood pigeons are back – which I am quite unreasonably pleased about.

Wrens are great survivors – plenty of them about. For several years running there was a wrens' nest right above the lintel of the surgery main entrance. It caused some excitement one year when the fledglings flew the nest just as people and their animals started to arrive for evening surgery.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 10:33:08 GMT

Just one long tailed tit? That's unusual! They are usually only seen in small flocks.

I am lucky as I see a group of about 10 to 20 long tailed tits feed a few times daily on my feeders - cute little things.

I have chaffinches, nuthatches, coal, blue and great tits, goldfinches, greenfinches, sparrows, dunnocks, wrens, collared doves and many corvids use my feeders daily. I see GS woodpeckers occasionally. And the inevitable pigeons! And the buzzards screech overhead in summer.

I also put peanuts out for the grey squirrels - they look so cute when they're feeding and it keeps them off the bird feeders and my plants!

We have a stream, large mill pond and a copse at the end of the garden (not ours - we jet get to enjoy them) so we also see roe deer regularly. The benefit of living on the edge of the west Pennine moors - even though we aren't that far at all from the Greater Manchester conurbation. We also have red deer nearby that we see when out walking.

I love just sitting watching them all.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 01:21:32 GMT

Hurrah! Long-tailed tit today.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Claudia Niehoegen — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:09:36 GMT

We used to watch the goldfinches and other birds on our feeders, and rats on the ground. Every time we looked there were several, big ones, young ones, living under the 1m wide hedge between 4 dogs. Our whippet X is a squirrel killer in the woods but seems to have a truce on her patch where she doesn’t move when a rat flits past her. We enjoyed the bird watching but stopped feeding. Now there are fewer birds and rarely any rats.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Joyce Whitehead — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:26:42 GMT

We have Niger seed feeders, but were still not seeing them. But a recent sunflower nib feeder saw 3 goldfinches being spotted today. So we are making progress!

RE: Orthinologists…?

Anthony Todd — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:26:38 GMT

Niger seed is a magnet for goldfinches, but you need a small-holed feeder or it all falls out.....

RE: Orthinologists…?

Joyce Whitehead — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 22:29:08 GMT

I agree Evelyn. We get lots of garden birds on our feeders, but mainly Sparrow, robins and tits. And a pair of nuthatches. But we used to see loads of greenfinches and goldfinches and almost never see those now.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:31:47 GMT

All very exciting but I wish the chaffinches and greenfinches and bullfinches would return in numbers.

We saw umpteen beautiful birds in India but one to remember was a pair of little ones,red, quite impossibly bright red. What were they? Scarlet Minivets. Tickled me.

RE: Orthinologists…?

Julian Earl — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:33:58 GMT

Thanks Joyce for that reply. We had a Sea Eagle here in Lincolnshire about 3-4 years ago and bird-watchers came from all over the place to see it. But when staying with my wife's family in Stockholm we were sat outside in glorious sunshine one afternoon and there was a Sea Eagle circling about 500 feet or more overhead. They ae rather more common on =the east coast of Sweden than in the UK of course which helps! The size and the tail gives the identity away quite easily! Aout 10 years ago we had an Osprey hovering over a local fish farm. The RSPB were rather blasé when I rang them! Yes, we've seen them. It is probably just migrating on its way south down the east coast. That was a good sighting though because our car was about 100 feet away or less, and we were looking down on the osprey from the roadside!

RE: Orthinologists…?

Joyce Whitehead — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 12:47:25 GMT

I’ve written this twice and lost it! We are lucky enough to have a local red kite, who flies over our garden, we are in North Yorkshire. And we regularly see a family of buzzards (common) on my dog walks, as well as occasional sparrow hawks and kestrels. We are big fans of raptors, and birds in general.

We were lucky enough a couple of years ago on one of our trips to the Hebrides on holiday to have a dog walk on which we saw 7 golden eagles and a sea eagle. They are truly barn doors with wings, massive!

RE: Orthinologists…?

Julian Earl — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 21:33:29 GMT

Anthony, I got an e-mail with your response but there is nothing here? Now I am confused!

Anyway, Glad to hear that you are seeing Red Kites in Stanmore. They are a hugely successful re-introduction from Spain 1999.to North Yorkshire. In the north of Leeds people report groups of 100 or more as they fly to and from the city to their colony between Leeds and Harrogate. From the A1 near Peterborough if you ae lucky you can see 50-100 circling near the A1.

Thanks for your reply...