But…
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Greylag was here
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All puffed up, with his Elvis hairdo…
…a Cedar Waxwing is awaiting patiently on a cold morning for the sun to get higher in the sky and warm him up.
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I was introduced to the Merlin Bird ID app last week and I tried it this morning when dandering round the bird feeders in my garden. There certainly is quite a racket around the house which sounds great! Here are the results from a 12 minute dander.
(PS Apologies for the different scale images - I couldn’t fit the entire list on my iphone screen for a single screenshot)
Yes, I downloaded it last week as well after my wife did a couple of weeks earlier. It is fascinating and it really helps you learn which sound is which bird.
I’ve been using merlin in my garden for the last three days. So far it’s picked up.
Blackbird
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Wren
Great tit
Dunnock
Blue tit
Song thrush
Common wood pigeon
Long tailed tit
Blackcap
Oystercatcher
Greenfinch
Magpie
Robin
Oystercatcher is obviously a mistake. I live 20 miles from the sea.
Song thrush is a surprise. I haven’t seen one for years. They don’t feed in my garden but they are definitely close by.
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Oystercatcher unlikely but not impossible at all. Quite a few in Oxfordshire for instance.
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…
,
Maybe the app did pick up an oyster catcher. I’m less than 10 miles from a bird sanctuary on the Mersey at Warrington.
I’ve seen them fly over, but never on the ground.
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There’s a few tits there.
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Long tail tits are entertaining to watch.
They usually come in a flock, but don’t fly level, they undulate up and down like a wave.
Presumably in an effort to evade predictors.
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I have this theory about long tailed tits, the Victorian fascination with fairies, fake photos, drawings in children’s books, watch longtailed tits flying along a hedgerow or tall grass, I see fairies.
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They only flock in winter, often together with blue tits. My garden is on a regular feeding route, they fly thru numbers of times per day, always on the same route and direction, stopping to feed on my feeders and the bugs in the trees.
I now get a singleton, sometimes a pair, at the feeders. I suspect they have a nest nearby, so looking forward to the feeder visits with the juveniles calling and wing “feed me” flapping.
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There’s a species of long tailed tit in Hokkaido that is know as a Snow Fairy.
There was a documentary on NHK world a few months ago with some excellent high speed photography, but it’s no longer available.
This is Youtube
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Size doesn’t count
A Red-tail Hawk is chasing away the Juvenile Bald Eagle who will probably not dare to show up again without his parents… These guys fly so high that the 300mm feels like I am following them with a wide angle lens.
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When it comes to looking after the kids size doesn’t count at all !
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