BIRDS

there was a program about the Australian artist/poet Frieda Hughes on WS yesterday. She had a magpie friend called George who used to perch on her head while she was painting and play with her dogs. I can't imagine a UK magpie being like that.

I should add that I love magpies when they're not being psychos, I've seen parent birds with youngsters bugging them, fussing back, bickering, they're so personable and funny. And kind of terrifying, if they look you in the eye.

the Iberian Magpie which I saw loads of in Portugal has blue bits instead of white bits, which owns

oh wow

I got bopped in the back of the head by an aggressive red-winged blackbird yesterday. I've seen them swoop at people at the park before, but this is the first time I've had one make contact and draw blood.

Yeah we have some very aggressive red-winged blackbirds around my work, I got swooped at twice yesterday. Not enough to draw blood, but unsettling anyway.

there was a program about the Australian artist/poet Frieda Hughes on WS yesterday. She had a magpie friend called George who used to perch on her head while she was painting and play with her dogs. I can't imagine a UK magpie being like that.

She actually found and raised her magpie in Wales

I didn't pick up on that - was only half listening while doing the washing up. It sounded like she lived somewhere rural and assumed she was still living in Australia. I've heard stories before of people who develop friendships with wild birds and always enjoy this stuff. The closest I've ever got was one particular blackbird last summer that would spend a lot of time near me in the garden and this went on for weeks. But it would scarper to the hedge if I ever tried getting too close.

What happens when a bird decides it's ready to run a weather report on its own

[source, full story: https://t.co/1Mh9rSVlMC]pic.twitter.com/ZC6CxQC1m2

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 9, 2023

couple of weeks ago spotted an empty birds' nest in the parking lot of a nature preserve i frequent in LI.

today was informed that 1) it was an oriole's nest 2) it has since been destroyed by crows, and broken eggshells were found.

spotted an oriole today right by where the nest was, though. also, lots of crows.

Saw a very large owl sitting on the top of a power pole while driving to Target this past Sunday morning. Surprised me because I thought all owls were nocturnal. Then a couple of miles later I saw a hawk or large eagle come in for a landing on another power pole, and when we passed a small creek I saw a duck with a surprising amount of ducklings — eight or nine, it looked like — paddling around in the water.

Modey Lemon - Crows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=augVsAcmEH8

https://i.ibb.co/ygCC7Bt/IMG-20230615-183021721.jpg VERY active tern & piping plover nesting site at Stelhi Beach in Bayville attracted a huge film crew yesterday. or at least i assume they were there for the birds, i have no idea. saw dozens of terns and a few plovers, then a couple more plovers by adjacent preserve at Fox Point. captured some audio & video.

today saw a sparrow flying around inside the supermarket in Manhattan, but wasn't able to get a pic