Birds

[AlainK]

The blackbirds are at home here, but there's always a robin too, especially when you dig a a patch, it almost climbs on the fork to see if it can catch a worm !

I try to keep the magpies at bay, I like their look but they're predators.

A couple of collared doves (are they the same each year?) build a nest on my Zelkova or my Prunus.

For the first time, I saw a "bergeronnette grise", Motacillia alba, "white wagtail" in my garden this morning, but didn't have time to take a photo.

The Parus major (Mésange charbonnière, Great tit) have been in my garden for years, but they're very shy, as soon they see sthg moving, they fly away. But I managed to take these pics from inside, through a window :

 

[Weta]

I feel lucky with the bird life in my garden out in the country.
Even have peacocks and pheasants roaming around.
New Zealand native Wood pigeon and Fan tail.
The Fan tails are cool, they follow you as you disturb insects in the Bush.

 

[RJG2]

I feel lucky with the bird life in my garden out in the country.
Even have peacocks and pheasants roaming around.
New Zealand native Wood pigeon and Fan tail.
The Fan tails are cool, they follow you as you disturb insects in the Bush.
View attachment 519708View attachment 519709

Ahh, but do you have any Pūteketekes hanging around? That's the most important question.

 

[AlainK]

Great photos, both of you, thanks !

 

[RJG2]

I'll post a serious one too, Cooper's hawk:

 

[AlainK]

Ahh, but do you have any Pūteketekes hanging around? That's the most important question.

Made me think of :

I haven't had nightmares for a long time. I often dream of trees, green saplings. Strange, isn't it ?

 

[Shibui]

Lots of birds in our rural garden too.
We have blackbirds but they are introduced pests down here. I try to shoot as many as possible to give the native birds a better chance but the blackbirds are very cunning.
This pair of spotted pardalotes nest in my shed each year. They normally nest in small holes in trees but this pair are progressive and use the hole in the centre of a rolled up foam mattress.


Brown goshawk - eating a parrot


It also got into the chicken pen. I released it and has not been back since.


Blue wrens are like the robins mentioned above. They learn to follow us when digging the garden to catch anything good to eat.
Male-

Female-


Crimson rosella

 

[RJG2]

We have blackbirds but they are introduced pests down here. I try to shoot as many as possible to give the native birds a better chance

We have a problem with house sparrows. They will murder the hatchlings of native birds and nest right on top. This year they got some baby cardinals - very gross.

If I were more rural I would do the same.

 

[Fidur]

Some.....

 

[Shibui]

@Fidur Someone introduced European goldfinch down here so we have them too. Not so much of a problem as Blackbirds, Starlings and house sparrow so I leave them alone.
Some more from the garden here.

Crested pigeon (got trapped under the bird net I had over the olive trees. Photo then released)


The auto water comes on just before sunrise in summer so all the trees in the nursery are wet first thing in the morning. A whole range of small birds take advantage and come for a morning bath.
This is one of many small brown bird species. Known by amateur bird watchers here as BLBB (bloody little brown birds) as there are many similar species. I think this one is some sort of Thornbill.



White winged chough. Social breeder so last year's young help the parents raise new chicks. They also kidnap young birds from nearby groups to raise as their own.


Eastern spinebill. One of the many species of honeyeater. Closest thing we have to a hummingbird.


Another BLBB. This one is a white browed scrubwren.


New Holland Honeyeater


Restless flycatcher


Mistletoe bird


A pair of kookaburras

 

[Fidur]

@Fidur Someone introduced European goldfinch down here so we have them too.

Couriously, in my first pic the goldfinch is over a casuarina (she oak) a species wich was introduced down here about 20 years ago...So we could get a similar pic in Australia and the Canary Islands
Some more birds in my island....

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

We have a problem with house sparrows. They will murder the hatchlings of native birds and nest right on top. This year they got some baby cardinals - very gross.

If I were more rural I would do the same.

Same here with the murder sparrows. I'm rural and the wife stops me from getting the pellet gun. I've seen them kill baby MI blue birds, my favorite MI bird.


Currently planning vengeance.

 

[snowman04]

I'll post a serious one too, Cooper's hawk:

View attachment 519715

We have these guys flying thru the neighborhood all the time. Usually bag a Mourning Dove in the process...

 

[snowman04]

Same here with the murder sparrows. I'm rural and the wife stops me from getting the pellet gun. I've seen them kill baby MI blue birds, my favorite MI bird.
View attachment 519967

Currently planning vengeance.

I feel your pain and have my pellet gun at the ready upstairs and downstairs...

 

[AlainK]

I don't shoot birds (no weapons in my home!), but I scare away the magpies so the others can peacefully dig in my bonsai soil
But I understand invasive species must be culled, or even suppressed : rabbits, cats that returned to the wild, asian hornets, hammer-head worms, etc. etc.

@Fidur : great photos !

 

[Weta]

Magpies, have a few flying around here, they don't attack.

 

[AlainK]

a few

Understatement...

It's not that I don't like them, but they have plenty of space, trees, by the Loire valley (some 200 metres down here, 656,168 feet, 218,723 yards). And when they're around, other species are moving away, so I like to have smaller birds in my small garden.

I saw a couple nesting in my neighbours' tree, so everyone is happy...

 

[AlainK]

they don't attack.

They're not French !

 

[Weta]

As for sparrows they get a hard time from the cats here, the babies usually spend a couple of days on the ground as they find their wings and I save what I can.
I think I have a soft spot for them after reading the story of what happened in China in the 50s

 

[Weta]

They're not French !

Lol no Rainbow Warrior incident