INTENSITY²
Start here => What's your crime? Basic Discussion => Topic started by: lutra on July 22, 2017, 04:46:51 AM
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Or.. tell something about the birds you see in the area you live in. Maybe post a picture (nice photo found on the netz perhaps.. ).
Thusfar today I only saw the blackbird (Turdus merula) and the Eu. turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) but that's because I've hardly been outside yet. Yeah, heard them (males mostly) make sounds too.
(http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/1E/1EA05A11-3F9C-4E70-A91D-F63638D508DC/Presentation.Large/Blackbird-male-and-female-feeding-on-apples.jpg)
Easy to see the difference between the male and female. Male is black and has a yellow beak (yellow ring round the eye as well). Female is more brown (sometimes a more fox-red-ish colour).
(http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/causes/3184/3183997.large.jpg)
Um, the couple in my garden aren't as pretty as this one though. The two turtle doves I often see here are a bit more boring (-ish) grey.
More bird shite :laugh: later..
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Always have Cardinals in the yard despite them being the cats favorite food
(https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/northern_cardinal_1.jpg)
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Sugarbutt has three bird feeders in the back yard, so there's always all sorts of birds around. I hate the woodpeckers because they're bastards. They'll empty half of a feeder in one day just sitting there flinging and tossing the seed out onto the ground for no reason. Sugarbutt doesn't mind because he says the woodpeckers feed the doves because the doves won't land on the feeders and they only eat from the ground. I still hate them and I don't think the doves eat all that. >:( I have to buy more bird seed this weekend, so maybe I'll try to find something woodpeckers like so they'll chill out on scattering so much seed.
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lots of male goldfinches at the new place which I love. I didn't have them where I used to live.
https://goo.gl/images/Uv9hDW (https://goo.gl/images/Uv9hDW)
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Not as often as the first two (blackbird and turtle dove) I see these two but they're there also. In the garden, in my proximity..
The hedge sparrow (Prunella modularis), also known as the dunnock and the Eu. robin (Erithacus rubecula).
(http://www.twanhak.nl/wp-content/uploads/galleries/post-305/heggemus.jpg)
Appearance-wise not the most flamboyant but I like the little fella. Cheerful the dunnock is, imo. His song is short and he only sings it a couple of times and then he's silent again. Um, maybe an ornithologist can tell the difference between the sexes but I cannot.
(http://www.johannesklapwijk.com/img/photo/roodborst-erithacus-rubecula-1.jpg)
The Eu. robin is also a small bird and you could think; aaah, sweet.. but the males can be quite aggressive amongst each other too. In Winter, in my garden, he chases away the dunnock also. His song is a bit metal-like sounding and 'waterfally', if that makes sense. Thought it was voted the National bird of the English.. but the robin is quite quite common throughout Europe.
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Groups of turkeys are called a rafter and we have a few of them in the neighborhood. This morning it was just two hens and a chick but some days there are over 20 of them walking around.
(https://www.nwtf.org/_resources/e30d:o477ts-f/files/75478378z8a627576/_fn/Turkey-eating.jpg)
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I bought some peanut suet for the woodpeckers. I'll report back later once I see if the bastards like it. :zoinks:
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Always have Cardinals in the yard despite them being the cats favorite food
(https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/northern_cardinal_1.jpg)
The first time The PR saw a cardinal she called it a Red Jay.
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Um, then there are some members of the corvid family also.
Jackdaws, crows and magpies mostly. The first are everywhere and in great numbers too at my whereabouts. They are social birds and 'work' in family groups. Crows, not nearly as many as jackdaws and I only sometimes bump into one and think hey, that's a deep black coloured and quite a big bird. Cool bird, I'd say. Magpies you see quite regularly here. And/or hear them. Corvids tend to be loud and noisy often and they even fall into the group of song birds. All the members of the Corvidae family are somewhat larger birds with strong beaks and both sexes look alike. I think they're probably one of the smartest birds on the planet.
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula).
(http://www.gardensafari.net/pics/vogels/corvus_monedula_11D3A_0126.jpg)
Crow, Carrion (Corvus corone).
(http://www.birdfocus.nl/zwarte%20kraai/zwarte-kraai.jpg)
Magpie (Pica pica)
(http://zonnekind.omgevingsboek.be/photos/ekster.jpg)
Um, I tend to not like magpie very much. Well, it's quite an impressive bird, elegant/agile in flight and they're quite bright, I'm sure but they loot nests and eat other smaller birds' eggs and their young and are quite feared by those birds. Some say the magpie's shape (nowadays) looks like the shape the first birds had. Those birds evolved from lizards, were quite big and flew around millions of years before human bs 'arrived' on this planet.
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Not many crows here, but jackdaws in abundance. Have not seen many magpies lately, but a few months ago there was a group around every day.
Quite a few common Martins and Swift's.
Sparrows in abundance. Some blackbirds. In summer hardly any tits and robins. In winter they will be around.
Blue herons will pass by and now and then will perch on a roof.
Sometimes a sparrowhawk will catch something in the garden or the alleys around the block.
When it comes to pigeons there are Turkish turtledoves and woodpigeons.
Never saw the Eurasian jay in my garden. But he is around. See him regularly when walking to the busstop.
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Yeah, the Eurasian Jay.. I like him. See them on a quite regular basis. Pretty bird.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5585/15013611860_88ca44fe49_b.jpg)
Usually 'he' just flies past, fast, making noise and then he's gone again.
Tits, the great ones, :bouncing boobies: I see year 'round. They come in groups in the garden. Hang upside down on the roof gutters, other places, and eat a spider there and a minute later they're all gone again.
Great tit (Parus major)
(https://www.natuurpunt.be/sites/default/files/styles/content-wide/public/koolmees_fr_van_bauwel.jpg?itok=5FEfmJXF&c=312068de040ea85bb4eb43164e28b3b2)
(later more)
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That jay does make a lot of noise. In my dialect it's called schrauwekster, in German Schreielster. Literally "screaming magpie".
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Yes, it's Latin (taxonomical) name is Garrulus glandarius and 'garrulus' literally means noisy or chattering one. Linnaeus categorized the fella under the corvids though.. and named the bird Corvus glandarius. (source Wikipedia, btw)
Still considered a member of the Corvidae family (a 'side' branch from the main line).
:laugh: Hahaha, I went on writing more and more but thought hey, that's classic.. best to stop now. Might be considered not that interesting by everyone.
Um, still to come.. gulls, wren, other thrushes, etc..
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Some very loud gulls passed this afternoon. They sounded quite pissed off. There was a corvid chasing them it seemed. Think it were silver gulls. Not sure.
Where I used to live before moving here the battles between gulls and corvids were epic.
Especially the jackdaws were winning a lot. Even from the occasional great black back gull.
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Several female cardinals but no males sighted yet
(http://www.discover-southern-ontario.com/images/female-cardinal-needs-recognition-21691281.jpg)
And since my goldfinch picture didn't work, here it is:
(https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2880/33947742660_856fcdeb66_b.jpg)
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Sugarbutt says every bird in the countryside loves the new suet cage, except for the woodpeckers. They're still eating nothing and merrily scattering tons of seed on the ground. >:( Here's a picture, since people are posting pictures. We occasionally have the really big pileated woodpeckers in the trees but they never come down and visit the feeders. It's the smaller red belly woodpeckers who are wasting all the bird seed. >:(
(http://s3.thingpic.com/images/B9/2oviLyhJRmE1BQpBECUNuVdd.jpeg)
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^ That one is pretty. They all are, just that one particularly stands out at the moment.
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Gulls. (Laridae)
Some call them sea gulls but that's not really correct. Well, I hardly know the difference between the species and their diff. names myself.. but this (big) fellow I quite often see around here.
Herring gull (Larus argentatus).
(https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/sites/default/files/photos/Herring_Gull.jpg)
Think we all know (well, maybe if you don't live near (-ish) the coast you don't) the laughing noise they make. They have a whole array of noises, all quite loud, some quite funny, imo.
There are a few other species of gull at my whereabouts butz..
Although I haven't heard or seen this small bird for a couple of months now.. it is around.. surely in Winter. The Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes). Um, was about to write it's one of smallish birds we have here but that's not true.
(http://www.biopix.nl/photos/troglodytes-troglodytes-00021.jpg)
His song is remarkably loud (for a tiny bird) and is really nice. Ffff, how to describe it's sound. If wished you could play it's song on the (Eng.) wikipedia page about the (marsh) wren.
The Americas, Australia and New Zealand has some pretty beautiful species as well. Often two tads bigger though. They all do the tail up pose thing also.
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Spotted a red-tailed hawk gliding in the sky yesterday.
They always make me think of my father, :nerd!:
who taught me to recognize their silhouettes and the gliding.
This is a red-tailed hawk:
(http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/red_tailed_hawk_1.jpg)
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^ Nice. Me likey birds of prey. Haven't seen one in quite a while I'm afraid. Once in a while I hear one in a park nearby. 'Keek, keek, keek, keek, etc.' (or something like that). Think it's a goshawk.
(Accipiter gentilis)
(http://www.birdimage.nl/wp-content/gallery/havik/havik-northern-goshawk-04.jpg)
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I've loved birds of prey for my entire life. One of my earliest obsessions. Today I saw a peregrine falcon. We have a lot of them out here.
(https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/MJH_040302_00123Z_L.jpg)
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There's a really tall dead tree in the woods behind the nextdoor neighbor's house, and the hawks like to hang up there. I guess it's a good vantage point. Sometimes we get big owls that make me nervous about the dog, but I don't mind the hawks around. The only time they bothered me was the spring before last when they decided to nest in the big oak, so every morning I was woke up by the horrible sound of their offspring screeching their heads off. I don't know if there's anything more disturbing than the sound of about half dozen young hawks screaming to be fed. :lol1:
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My mum posted this link on Facebook. I knew ravens/crows were clever, but not how clever. In the link there's a video about the ravens.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2017/07/25/ravens-are-more-cunning-than-human-preschoolers/#adcc4d95d6f0
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Some say the magpie's shape (nowadays) looks like the shape the first birds had. Those birds evolved from lizards, were quite big and flew around millions of years before human bs 'arrived' on this planet.
They look like dinosaurs, because they are dinosaurs. (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/they-had-feathers-is-the-world-ready-to-see-dinosaurs-as-they-really-were-2/)
(https://files.allaboutbirds.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Velociraptor-720x753.jpg)
This is a reconstruction of a velociraptor based on current scientific understanding.
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Thanks for the link there. Interesting read. Modern-day dinosaurs thus, okay, but it's hard for me to see nowadays birds as mighty/monstrous/fearful lizards. Well..
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Saw one of these fellas fly over my house this morning. It's a Great Blue Heron. They're one of my favourite birds. They like to frequent marshes and lakes which we have several of in the area.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/16535523128_e8d6731598_z.jpg)
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No Great Blue Heron here.. but we do have a few different herons in Holland. The Grey Heron is the most common. They look quite similar, I'd say..
(http://www.waddenzeeschool.nl/uploads/encyclopediedata/vleet_xml/images/eworm-blauwe-reiger.jpg)
Often I see the big bird fly by when I look West (out of windows/or in the garden) and then the bird flies towards water in the morning and back home in the evening. Always seemingly so relaxed and not in a hurry at all.
Well, two hours ago I saw a Blue Tit.. and they are almost the opposite of relaxed, I'd say. They move every second and do not sit still whilst awake.. like ever. Hush, really high heartbeat frequency, hush.... and off again.
(Parus caeruleus)
(http://www.natuurfoto-zeevang.nl/vogelalbum/Zang-Bosvogels/pimpelmees.jpg)
Little fella hang upside down on the lowest part of this place's cladding, looking swiftly for tiny insects there, and went away again..
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They are extremely similar!!! You're right, they never seem to be in a rush about anything. I like it when I catch them asleep, standing in the water on one leg like flamingoes :)
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The name of the grey heron is "blauwe reiger" (blue heron) in Dutch.
So couple of posts ago I made a mistake, when telling there was a couple of blue ones.
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Saw quite a few storks in the weekend. When I was a small calf they were nearly extinct. Not any more.
Saw no white herons, odd.
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Cannot recall if I ever saw a stork, or a couple of storks together usually, here at my whereabouts. Been here for 20 years now and I think I'd remember if I did.. so think they're not really many of them nearby in this region. Butz?
Love 'em.. impressive birds.. the sound they make is nice as well. 'Klepperen' I think it's called officially but I have no idea what it is in proper English.
Those little mistakes naming birds in English are easily made (no worries) and I've done similarly so quite often/that many times I make sure to double/triple check nowadays. What I do a lot (when in doubt/often so) is look for an animal, other stuff, in Dutch on wikipedia and then check the name by clicking on 'English' in the list on the leftside a little lower down the Dutch page. Is helpful for German too. Other languages..
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I used to do that Wikipedia trick. But on the phone I have to do it by searching for the Latin name and then find the English page. No menu on the left with a range of languages, alas.
Hardly a trip to the east or the north goes by without seeing a stork or two. Beautiful birds. In a month or so they'll start flocking together. A field with 50 or more of them is an awesome sight.
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That is something I would love to see
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Past few days, Eurasian blackcap, thrush, tits, bullfinch, robin, blackbird (turdus merula), another finch, some wood nuthatches, short toed threecreepers.
Most puzzling were a few brown small birds. Some a bit scruffy, all pretty audacious. They looked so familiar, but could not come up with what birds they were. By chance found what they were. And immediately understood whey they were so familiar. Juvenile robins. Already on their own, without a ruby chest.
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Saw 5 of these beauties today hanging out at a local farm. Turkey vultures.
(http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/cms/binary/4601649.jpg?size=640x420)
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I have a ton of redwing blackbirds in my yard. I love their markings. Reminds me of that kids craft that is paper which is all black, but if you scrape the black, there's rainbow colours underneath.
(http://m1.i.pbase.com/o2/13/6313/1/105093471.jMdEvmiz.redwing20085x2.jpg)
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Lots of black capped chickadees around. I like these fellas because they're very animated and curious.
(http://www.motifwebs.com/wildlife_2006/images/nDSC_4241_Black_capped_Chickadee_Mud_Lake_22oct06.jpg)
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A pair of red-tailed hawks heard them calling before I saw them passing over
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Mewing sounds in the sky. Went out to see. Family of buzzards going for a Sunday "stroll". Mama, papa and three kids. Nice sight.
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Who are you stalking now?
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We see these birds a lot and they're quite noisy. We in the west call them 28s. I remember Kayleigh wasn't here for very long and I was driving us somewhere when one of these parrots flew past. I said, "There goes a 28". Kayleigh asked,"What the hell is a 28?" Her being from Victoria.
(http://www.birdlife.org.au/images/sized/images/uploads/bird_profiles/AusRingneck-di280-280x360.jpg)
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Good necro :2thumbsup: You have such colourful birds in Australia.
Today saw a very well camouflaged thrush in the leaf litter out walking, along with assorted coots, moorhens, mute swans, mallards and canada geese around the lake, the waterfowl all have chicks this time of year which are fun to watch.
Is it true that in North America you look at canada geese as aggressive? If so I assume that's because you aren't acquainted with European geese. They're feisty. :lol1:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Goose_attack.jpg/800px-Goose_attack.jpg)
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(https://www.singing-wings-aviary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Eastern-Rosella.jpg)
These, eastern rosellas, are probably the most colourful birds that we have visit, along with the rainbow lorikeets of course
(https://darlington-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/doe/sws/schools/d/darlington-p/localcontent/rainbow_lorikeet.jpg.thumb.1280.1280.jpg)
But the rainbow lorikeets are so common, it's like seeing a sparrow in the UK.
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We don't get many rainbow parakeets in the West.
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We get monk parakeets they are not so pretty and are loud as hell, normally I don't even see them just hear them squawking as they fly by