I'd never witnessed this behaviour before but it seems like it's definitely a thing...
picture linkified cos it's sad and gross
xp yeah, I would be a total noob with nz birds
― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, 28 February 2011 11:35 (2 years ago) Permalink
herring gulls bring out the Princess TamTam in me more than probably anything else in the world. that picture ownes.
― acoleuthic, Monday, 28 February 2011 11:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
Talking of NZ, I always remember seeing kea on Attenborough's Life Of Birds staking out shearwater burrows, listening intently for movement and then digging the chicks out with their bills once they knew they were inside. Evil bastards.
― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, 28 February 2011 11:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
Might not have been shearwater btw, but some burrowing bird anyway.
― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, 28 February 2011 11:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
Ooh, not sure I've seen a kea! I did see a fucken kickass hawk from the car tho. Gonna investigate our birds of prey pronto -
― acoleuthic, Monday, 28 February 2011 11:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, 28 February 2011 11:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
Evil bastards, I tell you.
― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, 28 February 2011 12:00 (2 years ago) Permalink
the birds in NZ are rad btw and I am going to buy a book and identify them all. there is a sort of blackbirdy one that is everywhere but it has gaudy white patches all over its wings and a very haughty supercilium. I think if I were a NZ bird I would much rather be it than a kiwi.
― acoleuthic, Monday, 28 February 2011 11:32 (5 days ago)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_world%27s_100_worst_invasive_species
third one
:D
― acoleuthic, Saturday, 5 March 2011 23:03 (2 years ago) Permalink
The starlings over Kidlington are incredible at the moment, around 1730 in an evening.
― djh, Sunday, 6 March 2011 20:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
ninetieth one
― acoleuthic, Sunday, 6 March 2011 23:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
Birds Youtube Song
― it's so cool man because it's so hardcore (CaptainLorax), Sunday, 6 March 2011 23:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
I saw a pyrrhuloxia today!!
― if I hate the headline, I'll make up a headline (Abbbottt), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
I did not take this pic but look at this dude
― if I hate the headline, I'll make up a headline (Abbbottt), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:25 (2 years ago) Permalink
phyroloxia if I'm not mistaken...I've always wanted to see one.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:35 (2 years ago) Permalink
I saw one in Cruces, once, too.
― if I hate the headline, I'll make up a headline (Abbbottt), Thursday, 17 March 2011 22:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
swifts are back over W12, have been a week or so. which makes them nearly 3 weeks earlier than last year, i think.
saw a budgie in the park this morning, fighting with the blackbirds. and winning.
― koogs, Friday, 13 May 2011 09:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Why is there so little sexual dimorphism in doves & pigeons compared to other types of birds?
― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Saturday, 28 May 2011 14:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
There is some, but mostly in what I think of as exotic species (like the jambu fruit dove above). Don't think any UK residents show it, so from that POV, that's a good question!
― immer wieder, ralf & günther (NickB), Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
I was thinking about it yesterday – how come these doves don't have much sexual dimporphism? The dove in question btw is the white-wing dove, which is all over the Southwest:
I thought, maybe I am just unobservant. But today I saw two doves have sex in a tree and I thought, nope, no way I could tell those two apart.
― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
Swifts are back here too btw koogs, and every year their screams make me wish I'd got round to fixing up some nest boxes for them. Maybe next time! xxxp
― immer wieder, ralf & günther (NickB), Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
whenever i see this thread title i think of this:
― a thong of ice and fire (Princess TamTam), Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
I'm guessing that any sexual dimorphism in pigeons and doves would be for sexual display or competition. Thinking about the species I'm familiar with that aren't obviously dimorphic, during courtship the males do tend to do a lot of that puffed-up neck, strutting about stuff instead, and that probably serves the same purpose without the evolutionary effort? Wondering too if bright colours might make them more obvious to predators, all our native species are really drab earth and rock colours (albeit with subtle flashes of irridescence).
― immer wieder, ralf & günther (NickB), Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
Not an expert, but some poking around in Google suggests that the lack of strong dimorphism is related to the fact that most pigeon species share parenting duties--kind of makes sense, any heavy-duty male plumage or w/e would probably attract too much attention to the nest?
PS would like to cosign pyrrhuloxia love upthread.
― bentelec, Saturday, 28 May 2011 17:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
Did read the recommendation somewhere that upturned bin lids are left in the garden with wet mud in them, as swifts/martins are struggling to make nests.
― djh, Saturday, 28 May 2011 19:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
omg this morning at 7am there was a bird cycling through about 6 different calls... like a car alarm that cycles through different sounds. it was CRAZY. i have no idea how to figure out what it was.
― tehresa, Thursday, 9 June 2011 20:11 (2 years ago) Permalink
shazam for birdcalls can't come fast enough
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 9 June 2011 20:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
If it was all clicks and whistles and crazy things, it might have been a starling:
― NickB, Thursday, 9 June 2011 20:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
it was much more lyrical than that
― tehresa, Thursday, 9 June 2011 20:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Probably some sort of thrush then - American robin?
― NickB, Thursday, 9 June 2011 20:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
i am starting to think it was maybe a mocking bird singing through several different calls/sounds?
http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=4&osCsid=ddunch423ggjr7q0ei58jcmia7
― tehresa, Saturday, 11 June 2011 15:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
I have a robin friend
― owenf, Saturday, 25 February 2012 12:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
> swifts are back over W12, have been a week or so.> koogs, Friday, 13 May 2011 09:33 (11 months ago)
saw one, friday 27th april. although now he's probably flying around soaking wet wondering why he bothered.
― koogs, Sunday, 29 April 2012 14:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seeing Gambel's quails – always a treat! They're so charming. I saw three today.
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 01:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
Photo and caption by Mark Bridger/National Geographic Photo Contest. This is Gandalf the Great Grey Owl and he gets scared flying out in the open so his owners have built his aviary inside a brick shed. He now loves spending his days watching the world go by out of his window.
― koogs, Friday, 30 November 2012 09:42 (6 months ago) Permalink
That's a sad state for an owl to be in. Come out and play, big feller!
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 30 November 2012 09:48 (6 months ago) Permalink
How Does An Owl Hide?
― Zen Jet Era (doo dah), Friday, 30 November 2012 12:24 (6 months ago) Permalink
Is it a good time of year to go to Slimbridge Wetlands Centre?
― djh, Saturday, 29 December 2012 18:45 (5 months ago) Permalink
nice weather for ducks. (don't know)
we had 10 (count them) goldfinches on our tiny tree over christmas.
― koogs, Saturday, 29 December 2012 20:04 (5 months ago) Permalink
Niger seed?
― djh, Saturday, 29 December 2012 20:05 (5 months ago) Permalink
re SWC : from the website it appears that more stuff will be happening at the end of jan.
also, it hasn't stopped raining here for days now (i live quite near), and cant imagine it being overly pleasant there.
― mark e, Saturday, 29 December 2012 20:23 (5 months ago) Permalink
Would be better if it was much colder and frozen, I reckon that with the relatively mild weather and all the rain, then all the native wildfowl and waders will be distributed over the surrounding countryside. Never been but I think Slimbridge has a collection of captive birds so there will be all of them and they probably have feeding stations and managed habitat for wild songbirds so there might be good numbers of those. Might be a chance of all the other birds pulling in some raptors too, so I think you've got as good a chance of seeing stuff there as you would have anywhere else.
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Saturday, 29 December 2012 20:32 (5 months ago) Permalink
i enjoy birds but there's something undeniably sinister about them as well
― packt like phoebe cates's dad in a chimney (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Saturday, 29 December 2012 20:49 (5 months ago) Permalink
Just refilled the feeder outside my office window. Birds get happy, and it's a home entertainment system for the cats and me.
― WilliamC, Saturday, 29 December 2012 21:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
Thing I love about birds is the sense that they're so at one with their environment. You watch them doing their birdy things and going about their birdy business and you get this sense that at one birdy level they know so many secret things about how life works in the local area... funny little rhythms of life that we're not privy to, when and where it is that all the bugs start hatching out, whose garden to visit for frostbitten rosehips when the winter takes hold, what bush you can safely shelter in on a cold, wet night, stuff like that. Also the sense of vulnerability you get from them - most birds are living on a knife-edge when it comes to finding enough edible calories especially in competition with everything else out there, or when they're dodging hazards like cats and hawks and humans and whatnot. You know you're cushioned from a lot of that stuff as a human, you don't have the same vital day to day struggles, but at the same time you do get some inkling of the fragility and specialness of life.
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Saturday, 29 December 2012 21:10 (5 months ago) Permalink
birds are more it's true
― things that are jokes pretty much (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Saturday, 29 December 2012 21:13 (5 months ago) Permalink
more REAL damn
i've grown to enjoy parakeets in winter, for their incoongruity and resilience, even if i still tire of them in summer
― things that are jokes pretty much (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Saturday, 29 December 2012 21:14 (5 months ago) Permalink
Ha well they're the other end of things, they just tough it out in a big unruly mob and don't give a flying fuck for local sensibilities. Hanging out at the local rugby club, shitting fruity shits on flash motors, I'm all for it.
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Saturday, 29 December 2012 21:51 (5 months ago) Permalink
that is an excellent description of why birds are interestingthey have to be observant if they want to survivepeople sure don't
― passion it person (La Lechera), Saturday, 29 December 2012 22:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
Otmoor supposed to be good for starlings/murmuration at the moment - apparently from 1530 onwards - if any of you are Oxford-based or thereabouts.
― djh, Monday, 31 December 2012 17:11 (5 months ago) Permalink