BIRDS

small birds are more manageable, I'm sure

One of my friends about 15 years ago had a parakeet and it was pretty rad. Just flew around the apartment and would eat food out of your hair, preferably after you had buried it a little bit.

I think it's probably better to have two birds instead of one so they don't get lonely, right? Might help with the attention issue.

That makes sense. It's weird to think of birds getting lonely and being super needy, but I guess it happens when you keep an animal capable of flight inside a house.

Parakeets are awesome, happy little goofballs.

VegGrrl otm re anything resembling a parrot, they are psycho and live for 100 years, they are FOREVER and can srsly put the hurt on you sonically and psychologically. At least a regrettable tattoo just sits quietly there on your flesh for the rest of your life and doesn't shriek and shit and attract roaches and prevent you from moving.

I live with two small parrots; my wife got them ages ago when she was a teenager. We have one other bird, a wild starling who was a lost hapless fledgling in a warehouse. Keeping him alive was a huge task, my wife spent a month feeding him on the end of a chopstick every 30 minutes. But he rules. Affectionate, mischievous, a mimic who makes 100s of interesting sounds at manageable decibel levels and crazy word salad phrases like 'jussst make ssssnake payments'. He shits A LOT though so his cage is high maintenance and yknow the couch gets strafed pretty hard. And he is a bird so he is psycho but I love him. Starlings and pigeons are the only wild birds it is legal to keep in the us iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0tP-p7m40

First swifts of the year in W12 today

Hen harriers on the brink in England:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/02/fourth-hen-harriers-disappearance-sparks-fears-of-extinction-by-persecution

The RSPB is currently embroiled in a high-profile row with former cricketer Sir Ian Botham, who owns a grouse moor on the North York Moors and fronts You Forgot the Birds, a campaign accusing the RSPB of obsessing over birds of prey to the detriment of other species. After public comments by the RSPB following the disappearance of three hen harriers from the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire in April , Botham’s lawyers sent the RSPB a letter threatening possible legal action against the charity.

You Forgot the Birds and other organisations representing grouse moor owners want the government to introduce a system of “brood management” whereby eggs are removed from some hen harrier nests on grouse moors, chicks are reared in captivity and then released into lowland areas, reducing hen harriers’ predation of grouse. But the RSPB is blocking attempts to introduce such a system, arguing that the grouse industry must first prove it is not breaking the law and persecuting the birds.

Protecting small birds by shooting them, nice one Beefy

Peregrines and hobbies taking ring-necked parakeets:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/nature-studies-londons-beautiful-parakeets-have-a-new-enemy-to-deal-with-10305901.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/B58afLMIMAAAVws.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/IMG_5F00_5440.jpg

like a big beautiful EDL metaphor

I had this very persistently noisy Blackbird visitor all of last week, then since Saturday it hasn't turned up :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFR-azBialE

an alarm call but i do love that sound. reminds me of walking along hedgerows on a summer evening

yeah that is the sound of evening

they're not terribly good at the old relaxing before bedtime thing

damn i had been sitting on my porch and noticed a nest build atop a lampbox fixture its prob like 50 ft away and had just seen for the first time clearly the bird nesting there (robin i think) and i went inside to do some laundry etc for idk like 20 mins?? and came back out and the nest was GONE

ther are some bushes in my line of vision to below it & i walked over sorta near it & did see a broken eggshell & mess but didnt see the nest really anywhere…i guess it mustve fallen? it was a lil precarious and the spot is right above a door idk and i saw the robin come back to the lampbox & like sit like it was trying to nest looking confused omg this is the saddest shit ever

Ugh noooooo

Idiot!

j/k poor fucker

had me googling are birds conscious idk jurys still out maybe

http://www.boredpanda.com/crow-rides-eagle-bird-photography-phoo-chan/

http://i.imgur.com/57oz9x4.jpg

new symbioses: the next stage of avian evolution

http://www.irishexaminer.com/media/images/h/heron2_large.jpg

http://www.irishexaminer.com/video/news/video-herons-gather-on-street-for-fish-scraps-in-cork-340614.html

woodpecker outside the house is really going to town on a tree. don't kill it, woody!

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpl1/v/t1.0-9/12717797_10154536310207137_2092846437496941064_n.jpg?oh=dd3536b942503cc308dc9f9c9a79e918&oe=57651410

pretty though.

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpl1/v/t1.0-9/12744542_10154536313937137_5395022595720415546_n.jpg?oh=f401d98b773739fad5c1c493d90639fc&oe=572B6F4A

hey imago:

https://twitter.com/Rutland_InFocus/status/701017120759480320

ty that is superlative

although my favourite aspect of it is the twitter handle

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/emvgfx/live/c8xp5v

^ Springwatch birdcams. red kites, grey wagtails, swallows, wrens nests...

bloke stood under a tree on the way to work with a falconry glove on, looking up forlornely. didn't see the actual bird.

(this was white city, the trees in question are often full of parakeets when i'm leaving in the evening, perhaps this was for that. i know they use a raptor in paddington station to scare away the pigeons)

Look how still this kingfisher keeps it head while hunting, incredible! #Winterwatch pic.twitter.com/QW8saez9Qo

— BBC Springwatch (@BBCSpringwatch) January 28, 2018

That's great. We all know that itching feeling that can occur when you're trying to intently focus on something specific (at 0:37)

Absolutely :)

Had a redwing in front of house today. Never seen one before.

Red-tailed hawk in the park the other day. Not sure whether Pale Male.

Sunbathing crow.

recently a Goose in Florida had a friend die and has taken to destroying windows, attacking children at buses and hanging out with quote unquote lawless ducks

I guess yesterday was International Vulture Awareness Day and i thought this tweet salute to the bearded vulture deserves its own recognition. “I am the MOST METAL culture because my diet is mostly bones” must be a lyric somewhere.

Vultures are amazing, and very important. Did you know: vultures are often a "dead end" for many common diseases spread by carrion? Rabies, botulism, anthrax, & more can't survive a vulture's digestion! #IVAD #VultureAwarenessDay #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay #LoveVultures pic.twitter.com/vi2jjOyXkj

— Jennifer Miller (@Nambroth) September 1, 2018

you say vulture i say culture

First swifts of the year in w12 yesterday. That's easily two weeks later than usual. Plus I've only seen two at any given time.

verified barred warbler sighted around the outskirts of sheerness. feels quite exciting. i'll probably alert the rspb

even Jonathan Franzen thinks so

self-lol

― gabbneb, Wednesday, January 23, 2008

pvmic

I finally refilled the backyard feeder and we have a newcomer to this yard, a male rose-breasted grosbeak.

Yes it's real. pic.twitter.com/GxRESJeJFv

— Bobbie Hineman (@HinemanBobbie) May 17, 2020

and my bird

one of the ravens has left the tower (they are still quorate though). but someone posted this video in response and i've bever heard a raven before.

We are so sad to hear this; we loved Merlina and always looked out for her when we visited. Here she is in 2019 in conversation with Jubilee. Wherever you might be, sleep well, petal. xx pic.twitter.com/fzOAebrsiy

— 𝒪𝓉𝓈𝒾 𝒲𝑜𝓁𝒻 🐺 (@otsiwolf) January 13, 2021

they have a vast vocal range. there's at least one youtuber who has chatz with theirs

Had a redwing in front of house today. Never seen one before.

― Grandpont Genie, Friday, March 2, 2018 10:04 AM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Saw one in the park the other day, ditto.

This seems to be a growing thing every year: webcams on peregrine falcon nests in Flanders (mostly church towers) - scroll down to the map & you can click on them

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2021/03/29/jaarlijks-komen-200-slechtvalkkuikens-uit-hun-ei/

e.g. here in Mechelen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpLZ59y6Ivg

ok, aussie bake-off often has (brief) shots of birds around the tent shed. kookaburra are obvious, the magpies are wrong but also obvious, but there are a couple i can't find on oz garden bird websites:

1) like a goldfinch but unsaturated

2) like a pied wagtail but solid black on top, solid white on bottom

turns out searching for 'finch' and 'wagtail' helps

1) double barred finch maybe

2) willie wagtail