I think I saw a goldfinch once where I live and a red woodpecker where I lived previously but they were unknown in my childhood so perhaps not unusual but still special for me. The birds are really loud now at dawn or maybe I missed it before.
― youn, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:57 (two years ago) link
at Home we'd get 8 or 10 goldfinches at a time visiting the feeders, but around here it's the odd one or two, typically sat on tv aerials chirping away.
the woodpecker tree in the park blew over about 8 years ago and i've seen a lot fewer since. i still hear them from time to time.
― koogs, Friday, 17 December 2021 19:15 (two years ago) link
Goldfinches are such joyous little things. People would keep them in cages as song birds before ready access to canaries and the like. I was walking into the woods the other afternoon and there was a goldcrest in the hazel poles at eye level, about 3 feet away. It's rare to get have such a close up of them. They're tiny - smaller than a wren - but with the same puffed up 'don't fuck with me' quality and its mohawk was pulsing as it dodged about. Awesome.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 17 December 2021 21:57 (two years ago) link
actually, the final show ended with a montage of the birds. the double barred finch wasn't, was too big for a finch
http://www.koogy.clara.co.uk/birb.jpg
unfortunately the orange light in this room did odd things to the photo, turned it blue, so i've desaturated the whole thing because the actual bird was greys and blacks. beak and legs were bright orange though.
― koogs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 15:50 (two years ago) link
Noisy Miner? https://ebird.org/species/noimin1
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 16:53 (two years ago) link
yeah. looks like it, thanks.
i thought the mask was more like a goldfinch, but it's not. and the beak shape and the odd yellow eye thing is an exact match, so yeah.
― koogs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 17:21 (two years ago) link
(Perhaps all photos of birds, except crows and those little brown birds that seem to be everywhere, should be taken in colour. But photographers may have other reasons or views.)
― youn, Saturday, 18 December 2021 17:31 (two years ago) link
I'm hoping the goldfinches come back in the spring (when I think they were last around).
― youn, Saturday, 18 December 2021 18:28 (two years ago) link
Curious if any Europeans envy us Americans our goldfinches like I envy you yours?
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:04 (two years ago) link
looks like a siskin, but brighter
― koogs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:33 (two years ago) link
looks like a small, stubby oriole
― imago, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link
There’s a feral euro goldfinch population that lives in prospect park. I am jealous of european robins tho
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:47 (two years ago) link
American goldfinch looks a bit like a yellowhammer too.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 18 December 2021 20:03 (two years ago) link
looks like a cross between a finch and a yellow warbler
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 18 December 2021 20:43 (two years ago) link
i saw a hawk on my fire escape in bk!
― surm, Saturday, 18 December 2021 21:06 (two years ago) link
Thread’s making me jealous of Brooklynites too now!
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Saturday, 18 December 2021 23:15 (two years ago) link
:-) i think there's something going on on my roof bc i see a lot of cardinals and bluejays stop on the FE b4 flying upward.
― surm, Sunday, 19 December 2021 16:15 (two years ago) link
Yes we have a peregrine couple living on top of our 6 story apt building in Williamsburg BK, it is a treat whenever they are glimpsed. Bird life otherwise not very exciting in this zip code. Yearly one-day invasion of grackles to eat all the berries (I assume?) is always nice. Closer to prospect park/the cemetery obv lots cooler bird action Also the reservoir which I’ve never been to
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 19 December 2021 16:28 (two years ago) link
Those Noisy Miners (a.k.a. "mickeys") are the coolest birds, super intelligent and engaging. When I worked in Newcastle they used to take my lunch from my hand (and not because I was offering, I would hear a brief rustle behind me and a mickey would zoom past and snatch a beakful of burger on the wing).
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 19 December 2021 21:56 (two years ago) link
silly looking bird!
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Sunday, 19 December 2021 22:05 (two years ago) link
aw I think they're beautifulhttps://www.collinsdictionary.com/images/full/noisyminer_204104716.jpg
― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 20 December 2021 02:01 (two years ago) link
How is ur starling jon?
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Monday, 20 December 2021 08:23 (two years ago) link
Ah. Merlin is no longer with us. Last winter my wife noticed a weird fatty bubble growth under his wing so we took him to the bird vet and they found in his blood work that he had bird leukemia. He soldiered on until a couple of months ago. He didn’t seem to be in any pain through it all, ate hearty until his last day. He was 14. He leaves us with many weird catch phrases he uttered during his younger days. Honey mustard Mayor beebee ORITCH (seemed to be his word for fruit/berries)Good morning good morning Just make snake paymentsIt’s the snake universe MARITZA (also seemed to mean “fruit”)And many more. He went through a phase of using penis in his word salads when he was 2 or 3, lots of good ones in that time (“yes bird. Just my penis. Just the thickest.”)It’s not easy to raise a lost starling chick (you have to feed them every 30 minutes all day long) but the result is a tremendously entertaining and playful pet. Which shits A LOT.
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Monday, 20 December 2021 14:58 (two years ago) link
It's the snake universe ;___;
― imago, Monday, 20 December 2021 15:00 (two years ago) link
RIP li'l buddy
Honey mustardMayor beebeeORITCHGood morning good morningJust make snake paymentsIt’s the snake universeMARITZA
this is the tracklist of my new hyperpop album fwiw, Beatles cover and all
― imago, Monday, 20 December 2021 15:01 (two years ago) link
If you want to do a deep dive, the Twitter account @mybirdsaid was my wife’s repository for his sayings during his most voluble years
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Monday, 20 December 2021 15:06 (two years ago) link
Aw, ty
― imago, Monday, 20 December 2021 15:08 (two years ago) link
Condolences jon. He is babbling nonsense to god now.
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Monday, 20 December 2021 15:24 (two years ago) link
In his wake, parakeets have come. I’m afraid I allowed mrs JNJ to go a bit parakeet crazy during the isolation of this pandemic. Also one Java Finch
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 22 December 2021 22:09 (two years ago) link
❤️
― surm, Thursday, 23 December 2021 02:16 (two years ago) link
yikes, that sounds like a thing
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 23 December 2021 03:32 (two years ago) link
Quiz question (for which I don't have the answer): what type of bird does Alain Delon/Jef Costello have in his apartment?
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 23 December 2021 10:59 (two years ago) link
huge:
http://thebigpicturemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Samourai-4.jpg
a finch of some kind
― koogs, Thursday, 23 December 2021 11:21 (two years ago) link
white rump, black cap, buff belly = female bullfinch
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 23 December 2021 14:54 (two years ago) link
better known as a cowfinch
― imago, Thursday, 23 December 2021 14:55 (two years ago) link
just kidding, it isn't
I popped to the library earlier (I know how to enjoy Christmas) where I found a copy of Melville on Melville and by jingo if NickB isn't correct. Mellville said he wanted it to be dull in colour, to match the room. You win a bottle of Evian.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 23 December 2021 15:17 (two years ago) link
According to Rui Nogueira (author of the book "Melville on Melville" published in 1976), the caged bird shown as Jef Costello's pet in "Le Samourai" was the only casualty of the fire that destroyed Jean-Pierre Melville's studio in 1967.
:(
― Number None, Thursday, 23 December 2021 16:08 (two years ago) link
on the one hand these albatrosses are v funny but also do they do this all day? is it a mating thing? so cool & strange
Look at these idiots. Are they friends or enemies. What do they think they’re accomplishing here. Come on, guys. https://t.co/OAlWYOqqS0— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) January 20, 2022
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 January 2022 02:22 (two years ago) link
Could be talking bollocks here, but i think it's a ritual they do when they're reunited - if they're like other albatrosses, they mate for life but spend months at a time out at sea so don't really see they much of each other, so this is them reaffirming their bond.
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 21 January 2022 06:15 (two years ago) link
omg that’s the BEST explanationni support it fully, true or not <3
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 January 2022 06:48 (two years ago) link
yeah that's what it is. sometimes the cutest explanation is the right one. but only here, on BIRDS
― imago, Friday, 21 January 2022 12:04 (two years ago) link
*rubs bills with imago*
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 21 January 2022 13:06 (two years ago) link
Birbwatch
goldfinch 4blue tits 2chaffinch 2jackdaw 4black cap 1blackbird 4pied wagtail 1magpie 1 for sorrowcollared dove 2starling 2
(Gloucestershire garden, 10-11 today. sparrows and the robins very shy today, as we the other two magpies. goldfinches often flock in their 8s or 10s but not today. jackdaw numbers also low given that walking down the road you'll see a pair on every other chimney top)
― koogs, Sunday, 30 January 2022 11:40 (two years ago) link
i am being a bit sneaky and collating mine from various peeks over yesterday, today and tomorrow. you only put birdfood out when it's the garden birdwatch, imago! yeah but i've also had to revise the positioning and configuration of my feeders to desquirrel them. putting in the hours.
anyway. it's been parakeet city so far. a maximum of 6 in the frame at once. that aside, a couple of great tits, a couple of dunnocks, a wren, some woodpigeons, a blackbird. can hear some goldfinches so i'll count them. wondering whether it would be ethical to bung in the grey wagtail that's visited my garden a few times over the last couple of weeks. i mean it's so much more impressive than the others that i probably have to, right
― imago, Sunday, 30 January 2022 13:14 (two years ago) link
love a nice grey wag! <3
anyone had any greenfinches recently? realised the other day that I haven't seen one for ages and there used to be loads round here
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Sunday, 30 January 2022 13:28 (two years ago) link
pretty sure i saw one an hour later, but didn't have the best view
― koogs, Sunday, 30 January 2022 13:30 (two years ago) link
there is a huge parakeet colony in my area and has been for decades. I saw this jogger the other day who was exclaiming surprise at seeing a group of them flying past. I presume wild ones must be quite rare outside of London because I've seen local newbies completely surprised at their presence a few times before.
― calzino, Sunday, 30 January 2022 13:33 (two years ago) link
yeah they seem to be insanely well-suited for both the uk climate and suburban living!
at my parents' i've seen far more greenfinches again in recent years; think they're having a bit of a resurgence after some very fallow years
― imago, Sunday, 30 January 2022 13:43 (two years ago) link