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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 28, 2017 15:22:41 GMT
Tod, your garden is a wonderful nature preserve! How lovely to see these very exotic (to me) birdies just being themselves in their homeland. And that is so nifty that you can identify them by their sounds.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2017 6:00:53 GMT
I agree that all of your South African birds look amazing, tod.
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Post by mossie on May 9, 2017 15:12:48 GMT
Some time ago I showed a pigeon trying in vain to get nuts out of a bird feeder, don't know where I posted it. Any way, this morning a persistent blackbird succeeded.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 9, 2017 16:57:08 GMT
Oh -- one picture is worth a thousand words, as that 2nd photo shows with the blackbird's technique.
It appears the feeder is designed to thwart the big bully birds.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2017 5:07:58 GMT
My father's problem was the cleverness of squirrels and their jumping abilities no matter how the feeder was set up -- on a post or hanging from a wire, it made no difference. My father finally gave up because he was buying bags of birdfeed for nothing just for the squirrels.
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Post by mossie on Apr 16, 2018 18:48:20 GMT
Shy Blackie in the bath and drying off
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 16, 2018 19:26:22 GMT
Ohhhhh! Wonderful pictures, too.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 1, 2018 17:07:31 GMT
He must have felt really dirty!
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 25, 2018 11:28:47 GMT
Daughter's Beagle was fascinated yesterday by something in the corner of our yard. When we looked we found 3 wren chicks huddled together. We knew they had made a nest in the eaves because we saw them regularly. Mother bird must have tipped them out and although they were so small they could fly. We left them to it and they spent some time investigating our yard and one flew to the fern bed. One went out of the gate but came straight back. By the evening no sign of them and no sign today. They must be making their way in the big wild world. The parents spend some time in the fern bed foraging under the leaves and it is easy to mistake them for mice. Here is a not great picture -
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Post by Rita on Aug 21, 2018 19:18:46 GMT
Blue Tit, very small agile bird, loves peanuts.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 21, 2018 19:44:15 GMT
Nice picture! It looks a little bit like an American jay, but I'm assuming he's smaller. Is that a caterpillar he/she is enjoying?
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Post by Rita on Aug 21, 2018 19:54:57 GMT
Blue Tits weigh about 11 grams - it’s eating a grub of some kind.
They are more common in gardens throughout winter when natural food is harder to find. I put up nesting boxes, which are used I’m pleased to say.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 21, 2018 19:57:05 GMT
Such a thrill when they accept human hospitality! Really, even when they just visit our yards.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 6, 2019 12:22:29 GMT
Now that babies have all been raised and left the nest nobody is visiting the feeders. I really miss them.
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Post by bjd on Aug 6, 2019 15:05:40 GMT
I only put up feeders in winter but the rest of the year I throw breadcrumbs in front of the door. The birds have come to expect them and come hopping around looking for crumbs every morning and during the day too. I had worried because we no longer had robins coming, but they have come back in the past two days. We also have turtledoves in the garden but they don't come close to the house. Mostly sparrows, robins now, blackbirds and some redstarts. Unfortunately, my husband decided to prune the camellia bush a few weeks ago and lopped off some branches just over a nest containing eggs. No birds hatched there afterwards. The nest had been well-hidden.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 17, 2021 17:25:57 GMT
Not in a garden but not really wild either. I don't know what these birds are, but they were not happy yesterday.
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Post by bjd on Jan 17, 2021 17:46:41 GMT
Those are cormorants.
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Post by lugg on Jan 17, 2021 18:29:12 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jan 17, 2021 18:47:05 GMT
I don't know of any bird counts here, but this morning there were 11 magpies on the big oak tree just in front of our garden. They were much more common in Toulouse than here but I don't much like them. When I used to put balls of fat with seeds out for the small birds, the magpies would steal the whole thing.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 18, 2021 21:10:32 GMT
The birds are starting to return to the feeders.
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Post by Metermaid on Jan 18, 2021 21:47:52 GMT
That’s good to hear.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 20, 2021 15:36:23 GMT
Spring is just around the corner.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 10, 2021 16:59:18 GMT
Elsewhere we are discussing starlings and last spring I had half a dozen feeding every morning. Had one feeding on the fat balls so far.
This morning I had to put boiling water on their dish to break up the ice. Half an hour later I had 3 blue tits, Mr and Mrs blackbird and 2 pigeons that had all come to wash and drink. They ignored the food though.
Last weekend 2 blue tits seemed to be searching out nest sites but magpies can be a problem once they nest as they try to get at the chicks.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 27, 2021 18:40:17 GMT
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Post by tod2 on May 30, 2021 8:47:01 GMT
Great photos! It's surprising to see how birds love to splash in a pool of water. These pigeons seem to be having a wonderful bath.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 30, 2021 15:52:06 GMT
Since we always read about how they do that to rid themselves of vermin, it looks like there is quite a bit of vermin in the area. Since it was quite cold at the time, I can't imagine that they were doing it out of simple pleasure.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 28, 2021 11:52:17 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 28, 2021 15:29:04 GMT
What forethought! I'll think twice before ever using the term "birdbrain" again. That's fascinating, Tod ~ thanks for showing.
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Post by bjd on Oct 28, 2021 15:55:23 GMT
I had a hoopoe in my garden a few weeks ago. I tried taking pictures but didn't manage because it kept walking in and out shady areas and I didn't want to go outside and scare it away. This is not my picture but it looked like this:
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 28, 2021 16:19:45 GMT
I'll think twice before ever using the term "birdbrain" again. Just think about pigeons. They are SO stooopid!
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