BIRD NEWS:328

I wandered around a bit searching for the squirrels that Liz had said she had seen when she visited. She had forewarned me to arm myself with peanuts - but I only spotted one distant squirrel all trip on the day I chose to attend. I did spot a solitary rat diving into some undergrowth, which made me happy - as its nice to know they have somewhere bait-free to live. That song thrush was now taking a bath in a waterfall enclosure near a dozing duck.

I decided to give up when I could not spot the squirrels and toss my peanuts out on the lawn. Perhaps those crow-rook birds might like them - or the thrush after its bath - or even the rat if nobody else wanted my squirrel offering.

There was what I assumed was a sleeping bird spotted when I went back to the lawns - but it turned out it might have actually been injured. Shortly after I took the photo, a pair came down and started poking at it as if to wake it up - but it objected, took a few steps and settled down again. Injured or dying, it did not want to be bothered.

Soon the birds had observed me throwing something on the grass - and came to investigate. They obviously knew what peanuts were as several disappeared from my first handful thrown down. It was not long before they clustered about waiting for the next toss of nuts. These birds enjoyed them as much as wood pigeons do!

BIRD NEWS:327

The thrush was soon busy searching for grubs and bugs in the lawns while I sipped my coffee and clicked away. Hotham Park has a large colony of the big black birds - which in some of my pictures appear to be rooks but in other crows. They were in the background as the songthrush worked the lawn for food.

I was trying to work out whether it was rooks or crows, still...the fact that they were in a large group is more prevalent in rooks, but not all crows isolate themselves. Again, while rooks often have groups of nests in trees, crows may also do this. Meanwhile, the thrush had found a worm for lunch.

I took some close up shots of the big black birds - that were not jackdaws or ravens...

Despite some really good close up pictures, I didn't get a 'final decision' made on whether they were rooks or carrion crows though. Apparently, young rooks don't have the white patch on their beaks - and these guys looked like they might get white patches - but... I will side with crows....for now.

BIRD NEWS:326 and info.

Regular readers may realize that this is not one of my usual haunts - the back or front yard, Arundel, or Chichester, Brighton, Shoreham, Lancing, Worthing... but no, it was not another excursion with Liz and John. This was a solo trip on the 700 to Bognor Regis.

Over Easter, I had some vacant time and decided to whoosh off on the bus and explore Hotham Park. I had not been there since childhood, when I recall a Mickey Mouse and a Humpty Dumpty statue had their pictures taken with me. Now, it is more of a garden park and I spent a little over an hour there on Easter Saturday.

These nests were of a group of large black birds - oh no, not those again, regular readers may groan. Well, thanks to Liz I have ruled out ravens and I already know they are not jackdaws....which left the possibility of rooks or crows. Here is a sample shot of one...

Whilst locating a place to sit to sip my coffee, I spotted a song thrush hunting the lawns so went closer and sat nearby. It didn't seem that bothered by me, although at home, Plateface generally only appears in cold winters and hides away the rest of the year. This was spring, though...

CLICK HERE for information on the swift.

CLICK HERE for an EVENT now on - Nightingales....

BIRD NEWS:325

You can see the pair of magpies that often visit the yard in the mornings. The smaller birds are not appreciative, of course, but they make their noises in the tall dead trees at the far rear of the yard, nonetheless. I finally managed to get a better shot of the bluetit at the nesting box. After several blue and great tits had investigated, it was bluetits that actually moved in. As I write the blog, they have just fledged and left.

The bird bath is quite popular now we have had a burst of spring warmth. Here you can see the magpie taking a sip - and here is Pidge, sitting in the cool water to prevent overheating on a very warm morning.

My friend Liz had a blackbird nesting in the camellia bush RIGHT in front of her kitchen window - and we were all waiting, hopefully...but alas, the eggs never hatched, and after around 3 weeks the mommy bird gave up - leaving the daddy bird confused and staring at the unhatched eggs. (they are supposed to hatch after around 13 days) Maybe NEXT year - or even later this year - there will be another nest.

As I mentioned above, it was quite hot for around a week - warm enough indeed to wear just a t-shirt for us humans. For blackbirds, they have to fluff out as Mr Black depicts in the photo as he rests on our patio 'fluffed out'.

BIRD NEWS:324 & goldcrest info

This pair cleaned up the seat of human dropped edibles, while the table was also being attended to. These birds made very good mini vacuum cleaners - and made so much nicer a noise!

This one landed down beside me on the seat - just in case any crumbs had been left behind by the others....

They even cleaned up the ground below the table...

Back home, and the second full week of April began. The usual crowd were in the back yard, including Pidge - whom you can also see in the picture below if you don't miss him for flowers and weeds. He was pecking for scraps below the bird feeder pole.

Alas, this is the shot I got when taking a photo of the bluetit parent feeding its young thru the nesting box hole. I had to wait a few more days before getting a better shot.

There is some INFO HERE about the goldcrest.

BIRD NEWS:323 and help the penguins

Yes, I was still taking plenty of pictures of those pretty dove/show pigeons! By now we had finished our own refreshments and spotting the crumbs....

...along came a friend to tidy up for us messy humans that left our crumbs behind us!

There were not that many crumbs, but....

...enough!

There were crumbs on the seat too. This cute guy decided to help us out and get rid of those for us as well....

If you would like to HELP THESE BIRDS - please sign petition. Thousands of penguins dive for sardines in the Pacific around the Chilean island of Chañaral, one of the world's great biodiversity hotspots. Whales and dolphins also feed and raise their young in the cold waters of the Humboldt current. For the past twenty years, this paradise has been threatened by various industrial projects. Most recently, the construction of two ports by a mining company. This potential disaster has been stalled by local protests that led the regional government to reject of one of the ports. SIGN HERE.

BIRD NEWS:322 & dunnock info

The previous occupants at the cafe table had left quite a few crumbs behind for the birds to munch as we finished our own refreshments.

There must also have been crumbs under the table at our feet...

Humans do leave rather a large feast behind for pigeons - even if they are JUST a few left over crumbs to us. Plenty for all to share....

Yes, this is a big black bird - NOT a pigeon/dove. Liz was educating me on the difference between rooks, ravens and crows - which regular readers might be aware I have difficulty distinguishing between. I can tell a jackdaw, as we have those nest in our chimney every year - but other big black birds - are big black birds - or were.

Now, I have a few clues as to identification in my mind, I may be able to actually label them properly. This sample we were discussing flew away as I tried to take his shot on the roof, and again on another roof - I managed this partial shot on a table through the bushes, but with 4-5 attempts this is really the only shot in which you can tell it is a bird. It was a rook, by the way.

Finally for today - HERE is some info on the dunnock.