Well I saw the bird making the rattling sound, it is a woodpecker, clever one at that, it can count!
I have had a couple of blackbirds fighting for dominancy, one seems to be the attacker, the other just wants to hang around but must be a threat. I could see one pushing the other, like a fight was about to emerge, so grabbed the camera, shot on zoom through the kitchen window with elbows resting on the taps! At the beginning there were another 2 males watching, they saw the camera and came closer to have a good look, there is a small bank near the window and 3 of them were stood there peeking at me.
Very difficult to shoot (pics!), they would meet, rise up a few feet and down again, so hard to follow. Some shots would have been brilliant if they hadn't been blurred! I did get some that I think are reasonable, I posted them on the Photos forum last night, so to save doing it again I will link it
http://davesgarden.com/place/t/599309/
They were still at it come dark, the dominant one kept pushing the other around in the H. chestnut tree, onto the top of the hedge, and yesterday were at it again! Perhaps the good (cat) food source has something to do with it.
It was funny after the main fight, they got onto a flower bed and one was chasing the other round and round a plant just like kids!
BIRDS IN THE GARDEN
I've only ever seen Golden Oriole twice I think it was in Crete. You are lucky.
Some Bee eaters caused a bit of a stir last year by nesting somewhere ridiculous (for them) like Newcastle. I didn't go to see them, but lots of twitchers did. It was even on T.V.
Your blackbirds are very agressive aren't they. It reminded me of a mad chaffinch we had last year who spent two weeks trying to attack his reflection in the bedroom window.
Patt that should have been a good picture opportunity! Perhaps it thought it was a good place to nest and wanted to get in! Or did you have some food there it could see, tea and biscuits in bed?
I'd say one of the blackbirds is aggressive, I've never seen them like that before. I wonder if it's the one that comes for the cat food, it's game for anything and would want to protect it's food source!
We've been visited by a Sparrow hawk twice this morning. The cockatiels were going berserk in their cage in the conservatory and when I looked outside there was the Sparrow hawk sitting in one of the plum trees a few yards from the door. He stayed for about half an hour but I couldn't get a photo without scaring him away. Then an hour later they were panicking again and it was sitting on a post next to the cherry tree at the back, in the pouring rain. Again I missed the shot as he had gone when I went for my camera.
It is amazing how the cockatiels know it is a bird of prey - it must be an inborn instinct.
The other excitement was Blossom the cat catching and eating a Dunnock while we were doing a tour of the garden when it stopped raining for a few minutes. His mate was calling to him from the tree while Blossom took him into her den under a bush to finish him off. I hadn't seen her hiding place before, but it had several bits of dead creatures and feathers scattered around so must be a regular spot. Cats are horrible.
Don't you feel for those poor birds! The partner must have been petrified. My Mitsi is an old girl now, but she would still have a go given the chance, it would most likely be a young one. She doesn't eat them either, gives them a good lick and a bit of a chew and leaves them! I wonder if there are babies in a nest. Horrible yes, I had a female blackbird hit the shed window and broke it's neck, it had a twig under it's chin, possibly going for a second brood. There was a male not far away looking my way around the corner, maybe it's mate. No counselling for them!
We had a hawk of some sort once, it came very close to the house as it attacked a pidgeon. I was stood at the door a few feet away. It cleared off, so I left the pidgeon a bit further away, I thought it would come back for it. It did, but i didn't see it. The whole breast had been eaten off. Don't you feel like you should have your camera strapped to your wrist!
I have had some greenfinches on the odd occasion outside the kitchen window, that looks to be my point of activity lately. It could be the newly dug patch has been attracting them, that's where I see them. There was a female foraging near the window and a male came up and lifted his wings slightly as if to say you know I am desirable and can't resist me, I ran to grab the camera and did get a pic with him facing me, his beak looks a blob but he has bright yellow edges on his wings, I think the colour improves for the mating season. They moved over to the dug patch, there was 2 females and one was picking around the pile of dug grass sods, I think getting nesting materials.
I got him in flight as he took off for the dug area
Yesterday morning (after seeing the greenfinches) there was a pair of ducks at the far corner near the water and bridge, I say ducks because the male was a mallard, the female white. It looks like a farmyard duck, so I guess it is either an albino, or the other male that was spare to the pair I had before found himself an escapee. She looked very sweet, the beak is a bright orange. They were there for ages, he went at one stage behind a flower bed and she patiently waited.
He's off behind the bed, he looks to have a white patch on top of his head.
She follows him half way, waits patiently..........could make a novel out of this.......
He returns from whatever he had to do behind the bushes, and she is happy.......
Would you believe it, in the afternoon we had yet another pair, this time the female was not a blonde bombshell, but a dark, dusky mallarden. They had landed just as a thunderstorm was brewing up, and stayed for a long time.
He tried to show her how beautiful he could be by preening his feathers......she just wasn't having any of it.....
Well what do you think says he? Can't impress me with your fancy feathers says she........
Oh well, try again says he........did I hear that correctly? My ear seems to have a blockage, says she.....
(One has to amuse oneself on cold, wet days!)
Hi Janet, I like the duck story. That is something we rarely get in our garden. I think the last one we had had come visiting from a farm a mile away and the farmer came to collect him. I do have a plastic mallard in my pond which my younger son bought for my birthday a few years ago. It's looking a bit faded now but quite realistic - at least he didn't buy me a gnome.
Are you near a river or local duck pond? I wonder what colour the ducklings would be from the white female?
Hilary, how are your chicks doing? I've stopped raising my own as it is too heartbreaking to kill the cockerels. I had hatched some eggs in the incubator and a large golden chick decided I was his mum. As he grew up he followed me around and liked me to pick him up . He grew into a magnificent creamy white cockerel with golden neck feathers and plumed tail. Unfortunately my neighbours didn't appreciate the crowing so I had to get my son to despatch the cock and his four male offspring. I felt like a murderer. I had tried for weeks to get someone to take them, but no one wants cockerels. So I haven't the heart to raise any more. Why can't they be mainly hens? and why do cocks have to crow at 3.30 a.m.?
I guess I could keep ducks like Baa's Beetle, but I imagine they have some dodgy habits too.
Hi Pat, we have a water drain along the front of our house, dyke, creek, ditch, beck, whatever you want to call it! It has engineering bricks along the bottom for the full length of the property, they are the same as the old Victorian bricks going along the back of the house, the ones you can see in the pic with Straypuss. It hadn't been dug out for 20 years when we moved here, there was quite a depth of soil/leaf mix to be dug and it was full of irises the previous owners had planted and spread them. No water could flow though, we keep it dug out and unless it's very dry weather we have water in it. You can see a bridge behind the ducks in the first pic, and bullrushes, Typha at the edge of the bricks down a slope. I have planted different grasses and water plants along the edges. There is a brick well just through the pipe under the bridge, a deeper hollow which holds more water, but the drain on the other side of that is much deeper and there are always ducks at this time of year. I have had newly hatched ducks around, one got lost and Mother nowhere to be seen, so I mothered it and I really could have kept it, but they are best with their own, I called the RSPCA and they collected it. It had taken me on as Mother, snuggled into me and went to sleep, they are so sweet and people eat them. There are lakes around Lincoln, it's gravel pit country, they are about 5 miles away but the drains probably provide them with what they want.
I might get to see some ducks with more white on them, the male does look to have a small white patch just above his beak so they might be related.
Ducks do have some dodgy habits, beaks like shovels, they will eat you out of house and home, and the size of their depositories is also undesirable, but the babies are so adorable, they follow you everywhere.
The drain from the bridge
Lovely ducks wallaby :)
Hmm unfortunately, though I love ducks, ours flew out of the pen and pooped round the swimming pool. I've now turned the duck pond (in the hen run) into a wild life pond and it has dragonfly and damsel fly larvae and newt tadpoles, so that consoles me for not having ducks any more.
The first lot of 15 chicks are now half grown.
I have a second lot of little fluffies about 10 days old and there are also three very intent hens sitting on 3 clutches of eggs - they tried to sit on 2, but I pursuaded them that 2 on one nest wasn't very efficient *grin*
Just going to download some photos I've taken of the poulets, but have to restart my puter (don't ask ;) so will post this and then hopefully have some piccies good enough to post later
Here are the teenage gang (7 and a half weeks)
...and here's a very bad one of 2 of the 6 ten day olds.
How large do your hens grow? The light coloured chick has huge feet, do you think it is going to be a big chunky cockerel? I like the one with the feathery legs too. I might try a few new breeds when I re-stock, although my favourites are still the lavender Araucana. They are about 6 years old and still laying their little blue eggs nearly every day.
I've just thought, do ducks like slugs? Perhaps I could get a couple to tackle my slug problem. Have you seen my slug photo on the What's happening in the backyard link? I think a 12 bore shot gun might be a satisfying solution, but it would ruin my plants.
Gorgeous chicks Philomel. Are you going to keep them all? (And yes, I am asking for a reason!)
Maggi xxxx
All the teenagers have a Brahma dad - they're BIG with feathery legs.
The light one's mum was a white hybrid meat breed. She was HUGE. I'm hoping after hope that the poulet is a poulette, as I shall only keep the hens, but have a horrid feeling you are right Pat.
The dark ones have Marans noir cuivré mums. They're black with copper heads and necks and feathery legs. They are a large breed too.
The small chicks have the same dad, but the mums are a mottley crew owned by Lily, a friend who has hens, a goat, sheep and lambs, piglets, pigeons, rabbits, etc etc.So it'll be fascinating to see how they turn out.
You're very welcome to your pick of the cockerels Maggi ;o)
Also, Lily and I are going to share whatever comes from the eggs that are under hens at the moment. There may be some of those spare. Again mainly Brahma dad, though some may be from a lovely white Landaise cock that Lily has. A few are from a speckled bantam hen of hers that is very elderly, so I think she wants to keep those to keep the line going.
Are you after hens or cocks too?
I'm afraid I'm after hens really, although my son really wants to get a cock and try to breed our own chicks.....not sure what the neighbours would think about that! (Or rather I am sure, but it's better not to put it into words). We only have three aging hens left at the moment, giving us, at most, one egg a day between them, so we really need to re-stock. I'd love to try different breeds with different egg colours, but the only type available here are the orangey coloured hybrid layers. If you or Lily have any "poulettes" surplus to requirements, you have an eager buyer here....
maggi xxxx
No need for buying, but I'm sure we can find you some.
Will email but am only just in from long day garden and nursery visiting (it's a hard life ;) so not straight away.....
I was just wondering where all the fledglings were from all the earlier nest building as I hadn't seen any young ones at all, when this morning two young blackbirds turned up. They are quite well grown but still only just out of the baby stage. Rather trusting as far as cats are concerned and not very strong fliers yet.
The Mahonia media x Charity is covered in fat juicy berries and the blackbirds are having a party, there were six on it at once, including the young ones and they were joined by a Mistle thrush - which I've not seen in the garden for ages. It is a wonderful plant with its lovely scented flowers in winter and then these berries just at a time when the birds are having trouble finding food. I've noticed a lot of bluetits on it when the flowers are out. I don't know whether they are eating the petals or if they can get nectar. I wouldn't think it is insects as it is usually really cold weather when it flowers. Last year the blackbirds actually nested in it, so they hardly had to get out of the nest for a snack.
It seems the young blackbirds here have come and gone, I saw them for a while but now I have a female coming when I feed Straypuss, he doesn't need to be there, as soon as I come out the door she flies in. It's probably too hot, they must be shading themselves, in fact they all seem to have diapppeared in the last couple of days.
The blue tits have been flying in and out of the box still feeding, up to a couple of days ago anyway, haven't really seen them lately. Perhaps I've been too busy.
The cold weather we had and all the rain has killed some of the bumble bees, now it's hot I have seen very few and there was a lot. If they died early then the young wouldn't be fed, and there will be a shortage. I had a red tail bumble going to it's holes with nests in the bank, I've found 2 dead red tails, poor things were hanging under the lily leaves in the rain and cold.
The thrushes had a couple of young ones around the garden, I saw one when it was just out the nest with not enough feathers to fly properly, they seem to have gone too but I hear them singing away all evening, not tonight though, too hot? I got a pic of a young one waiting for its feed, a blackbird was behind it and they don't like other birds around, so it did a quick skip trying to push it away. This was through the kitchen window, I had to enhance it to make it clearer.
Hi Janet, Is that a Song thrush, or a Mistle thrush? It looks to have very round spots. The blackbird party is still in full swing, but they are eating from the sunny side of the bush so I can't get a good shot of them. Here is one of the young ones on the lawn after it rained this afternoon. Four have turned up today they all look as if they are from the same brood, and there are still lots of adults and the Mistle thrush is taking beakfulls of berries away, so must be feeding young. I hope they have good digestions if they are eating copious quantities of Mahonia berries and not much else.
Hi Pat, your blackbirds all look to be waiting for something from within those bushes, or they don't like their photo being taken!
I had thought these thrushes looked a little different, but I do have the Song thrush singing it's head off. I have noticed a different song which I couldn't quite pick, you know when you say 'what is that, it sounds like a blackbird but I first thought it was a thrush, but didn't sound right. Mistle thrushes apparently do sing a little like a blackbird according to what I have read, and the marks are more typical of a Mistle Thrush, i.e. round, but on this one the round spots look to join up to make circles! They also fiercely defend their berry bushes, I now wonder if that is what ate half of my blackcurrant crop last year! Blackbirds usually get some, but not that many. The bush is really sprawling and the branches lay on the ground with the weight, I will have to try to cover it, need some old net curtain. I'll feel guilty if I do, but oh heck I love blackcurrant jam! There is a very large hawthorn across the road, they like to nest in those and eat the fruits. They eat slugs too, no mention of snails, I've seen a few snail shells lately so maybe between them I should let them take what they want! You need to encourage Mistle thrushes with your slug population!
I cropped the pic down but it was already cropped a little, so pixels may break up.
Hmm I agree with Pat, that does look like a Mistle thrush. They are noticably larger than a Song thrush too - getting more towards fieldfare size.
One nickname for them is the storm cock. They are the ones you hear at full volume just before a thunderstorm. They certainly sing more than a little ;o))
I needn't have worried about there being no young birds yet. Yesterday and today both the bluetits and great tits brought their newly fledged babies to the feeders outside my window and were breaking bits off and taking them to their fluttering youngsters. The blue tits preferred bits of fat block, and the great tits spent most of their time nibbling the hull less sunflower seeds into smaller pieces for theirs. I took a few photos, but they must be the worst wildlife photos ever. I could see six birds when I took the picture, but can only see one and a blurr on the photo.
I've had to dash outside to frighten away the magpie three times as it was attacking the fledglings. Nasty bird.
The young blackbirds on the photo I sent were waiting for something, they were eating the fruits that the other birds dropped onto the grass.
Well today the garden is teeming with baby birds, robins, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, house sparrows, wrens, gold finches. They are getting stuck in the strawberry nets, going in the greenhouse and not finding how to get out again, bouncing off windows and generally behaving like toddlers.
The sparrow hawk managed to rip the tail and quite a few other feathers off a young male blackbird, but it got away and was wandering round the garden looking very traumatised yesterday. I gave it some bits of cheddar cheese which it enjoyed when it calmed down a bit and I managed to keep the cats away. I've not seen it today so I hope it is alright.
There is one pair of House Martins nesting under the eaves in the sheltered housing next door. There were lots until last year when the council painters ripped all the nests off just after the birds had returned for the summer. They are already feeding young and you can hear them tweeting when the parents fly back in.
My friend has a barn with six pairs of swallows and some redstart, so she feels very honoured. When we were on holiday in Turkey a few years ago the hotel had a covered passage leading from the hotel into the garden and swallows had nested there. The hotel staff had constructed a little net under the nests so that the droppings didn't upset the guests and the swallows were dashing in and out of the hotel feeding their young.
Today's special is the first time I have seen a Bullfinch on the feeder eating sunflower seeds. We occasionally get them in the garden, but I've never seen one on the feeders before.
Here is a photo of the bullfinch and a great tit.
Such a shame people have to rip out House Martins nests, it's nice that the hoteliers looked after them. They do seem to nest on the north side under eaves, my neighbour has a pair that keep returning, he doesn't mind even though they poop near his back door, people are too tidy. I don't have a north side.
I haven't seen many baby birds, but I don't feed them, you are making me want to do that. You got a shot! You must have had the camera attached to your wrist!
That's very special Pat - what a fabulous colour the Bullfinch is!
I agree re the House Martins wallaby - what a shame to get rid of them.
All the birds are bringing their babies this week, new additions are four fluffy house sparrows, one very speckley gold finch, a greenfinch and a rather boisterous family of starlings. The young blue tits and great tits are growing and maturing by the day, getting more adept at sitting on the perches and holding the wire of the peanut feeder. One even managed to hold a piece of peanut in its claw while it nibbled bits off.
The bullfinch is one of my lazy shots taken from my bed - I usually have the camera on the bedside table. It is a good time between 7 and 7.30 am while I'm having my cup of tea, all the birds are coming for their breakfast. You may have noticed the background is always the same, with just the plants changing with the seasons.
The bullfinches have brought their young to the garden today. I heard a call I didn't recognise and there were the adults with four little ones. They stayed in the shrubs in the front garden and didn't go near the feeders at the back, even though the male visits the sunflower feeder a few times a day now.
When it's warm I put my cockatiels out in their cage and Nemo the youngest has started doing bluetit impressions - the little 'tse tse tse' noises they make. He also does a very good trim phone, the squeak the fridge door makes and the Laurel and Hardy tune. He talks a bit too and usually says 'Hello Birdie' when my son walks in - not that that is his name.
What a treat to see the bullfinch family Pat :)
Nemo sounds a character.
How lovely to see a whole bullfinch family!
Nemo sounds like a lot of fun!
Pat you will probably have bullfinches around next year like blackbirds! They are training up their young, what a site that must be!
Nemo is trying to be a bird in the garden, they are clever aren't they. Do you put Laurel and Hardy on just for him? I bet he has you running for the phone! I have heard Starlings mimick the phone ring. Huh, would you believe it, I found this site on starlings getting confused with their mating call and mobile phones, they intend (in 2001) to try to reverse it and in the same breath intend to introduce other sounds, including woodpeckers hammering! Well now they won't get confused will they!
http://www.dixons-group-plc.co.uk/webcode/content.asp?pageid=586&linkparentid=14&linkparentpagetype=mnpr
My budgie Joey is very clever, he will try new things once or twice now ang get bored with it. He copies my high pitched voice I put on when I sometimes talk to him, and has developed a noise the same as when I say 'yes' to him and often greets me with it. I can't tell the difference between his and my partners wolf whistle, it's a very soft one. He had a spell of coming onto his outdoor perch, the cage door is always left open, wanting me to talk 'close', I whispered 'Joey's a pretty boy' which he could already say, but he copied my whisper when I was close to him! He has had spells of communicating his 'clever' deeds, when he swirls his head around the bell at the bottom of his mirror it means he is clever, and he has rushed to do that to 'tell' me when he managed to say 'cheeky boy' once! But like all things clever, he soon needs the next trick to amuse him!
Starlings are excellent mimics and some can even talk. I remember watching a programme a few years ago about a rescued starling, something wrong with him so he had to be kept as a pet, he talked, I thought it was a hoax at first!
We've never had a talking budgie but Joey sounds lovely!
Beetle developed a loud wheeeeeeep noise similar to the whistle mother would make to him (I can't whistle for toffee) but when he got his quack he stopped. He tries to tut back though if you tut to him, his chin/throat moves trying to click his tongue but it's silent LOL.
Funny, we say animals can't really talk but they manage to communicate with us far more effectively than we might realise dont they!