BIRDS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8434907.stm

RIP feathered one

Died of an incurable mallardy.

http://www.naturepics.co.uk/p7ssm_img_1/fullsize/Fieldfare_fs_fs.jpg

^ flock of these beautiful things on the one tree in our back garden today. Also redwing and blackcap.

We've had loads of redwing! I posted about them here: ITT: revealin' some mystic thruths l8r, stay tuned!!!

Fieldfare are scarcer. Tough call as to who's better looking.

Shagging hell, a woodcock has just flown over our garden wtf. I've never even seen a woodcock before, let alone in the 'burbs. Pretty unmistakable outline though. Also there's a big mixed flock of fieldfare/redwing out there right now. Maybe 40-50 birds? Bonkers.

!!!! that is insane!

Correction - I have seen woodcocks before, but only stuffed ones in country pubs.

Constant cascade of different birds into the garden today. Food and water keep getting covered up by the snow though. Blackcap still knocking around, love their Hitler haircuts.

my new year's resolution should have been to put food out for the birds

maybe it can still be done

Maybe 40-50 birds? Bonkers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8457214.stm?ls

Remember this? HI DERE WAHT IS AWESOME

Well, I done blogged it: http://cvpc.org.uk/2010/03/barbican-gig-review-a-journey-into-avant-finch/

Good news today, one more reason Pinnacles National Monument is so awesome.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/BAV01CD6K6.DTL&tsp=1

haha numbered condors! nice to see they're back, even if it is the big flagship species that get all the best conservation

now read my blog :P

http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html

Live barn owl webcam. Found one of these beautiful birds dead beside my barn yesterday, it had knocked its head :(

Two hummmingbirds doing a mating dance around my lemon tree. Weird vroom vroom air displacement noises, like a restrictor plate track race.

Aw sorry about your grim discovery! I'll check out the webcam in a jiffy.

Awesome pictures right now tbh. Beautiful birds.

Hope we're not going to get treated to live footage of the chicks eating each other though.

omg hai dere

background noise in that is pretty cool ambient soundscape imo

Hey LJ she was totally feeding a couple of mice to her featherless chicks an hour or so ago, I could not resist x-posting it to hi dere waht is awesome. God forbid I should start looking at her while at work, I will never get anything done now.

We always wanted to put webcams in all the bird and squirrel nests, now someone has done and it is A+.

How do I care for my fetusy babies with only these cruelly taloned feet and ripping beak to work with? Like this, see?

am slightly disturbed at the implications of that url. and also slightly disturbed by what appears to be a dismembered leg in the foreground at the moment.

Franklin Institute Hawks:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5417192

the swifts are back over shepherds bush - why spend summer in africa when you can spend them in W12?

only in their 2s or 3s at the moment. will be groups of 20 or 30 as the season progresses.

(i said almost exactly the same thing last year - BIRDS )

Swifts having been screaming over Brighton for a couple of weeks now. Cool guys.

i have been looking out for them, and heard them last night for the first time, but only saw them this morning.

African dry season means few flying insects.

Also

House Martins, Swallows, Swifts FITE!

the first swifts of summer = awesome

gonna give that FITE to house martins because they were my favourites aged 6 or 7 - such awesome li'l critters, but tbh all three of those birds are some all-time brilliance

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/righteouskate/bird.jpg

found this pretty little guy on the sidewalk outside my work :(

I'm kind of sure it's a tree swallow, but haven't been able to find an exact match in my id books. I live in Florida so we get a tooon of migratory birds this time of year.

dear baby moorhens near my flat, you are rad, and i am a little sad/concerned that last time i visited i could only see one of you, whereas before there were three

dear heron who is sometimes seen under the bridge STARING, have i seen you in 3 different places over a half-mile stretch of river, or are there 3 of you?

dear baby ducks, where are you? is it not duckling season yet? there were only 2 of you last year too, in '07 or '08 there were loads more, i worry

dear birds who aren't waterbirds, i never see you, so you get no love from me until you become a little more visible

I'm not saying it's not one, but that bill looks wrong for a swallow and the wings look quite short as well. xpost

yeah, it doesn't quite look right. I didn't want to stretch out the wings to get a better look at their shape.

http://springvalleypark.org/assets/images/black-throated-blue-warbler.jpg

^ okay I'm guessing it's one of these.

Black-throated Blue Warbler btw.

yessss perfect! thanks!

btw yesterday evening as I set out was a lovely, incredibly warm evening...I looked up into the darkening sky and yes that cry resounded...the first swifts of summer

Louis check out the picture of the long-tailed tits here omg mad cuteness:

http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?mode=potw

per previous post elsewhere, teh lyrebird <3 <3 <3:

http://skola.amoskadan.cz/s_aj/esc/images/Australia/LYREBIRD.jpg

http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/image_content/AlbertsLyrebirdPrinceoftheMountain.jpg

http://i.pbase.com/u16/trevor_quested/large/39074755.SuperbLyrebird.jpg

imo it's not a hipster peacock

long-tailed tits are awesome, they often come through my garden (although more a few years back) all going zee-zee-zee and flocking around in groups of 10 or so, they bloody love going about in gangs, all hyperactive flitting, flashes of purple and the undulating bounce of quick-flight between twigs on adjoining trees - oh yes, the long-tailed tit

torresian imperial pigeon

http://image59.webshots.com/159/9/46/46/2262946460012889947sVkefB_fs.jpg

http://64.17.184.245/images/1-a/Torresian%20Imperial-Pigeon%20-%20Australia%20-%2011-19-2007%20-%20014.JPG

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2010/5/28/1275039850678/long--tailed-tit-feeding--006.jpg

see it bigger here

been seeing a lot of red-winged blackbirds hanging out on cattails lining the shore of a park pond across the street. i enjoy their conservative use of color, they're not all obnoxiously slutty about it like some other birds WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/3738/redwingblackbird.jpg

also, a few weeks ago this scene unfolded at the same pond, apparently some geese produced a gaggle of goslings and then when i tried to photodocument the goslings the geese hissed at me but did not comically peck at my crotch like so many geese have done throughout history

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6297/photolp.jpg

I've been seeing a lot of red winged black birds lately too, they are stunning!

Took this a few weeks ago. They saunter leisurely across the street in the late afternoon, stopping in front of cars to peck at little items of interest:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/righteouskate/peacock.jpg

what, those roam wild where you live? do you live in...thailand?

As soon as I find a copy of the book here at work, I'm going to share a quote about peacocks and their displays vs evolution....

Florida. The release and subsequent adaptation to the wild of exotic pets is incredibly common down here.

Laurel, I hope you find it! Are you thinking about how the trains of the males are more of a hindrance than a leg up on mating because the weight of the tail slows them down making them more vulnerable to predators? I read recently that the decorative trains (specifically size and color variation) have been found less effective in mating than calls and other physical displays, which is pretty interesting.

lol best use of username ever