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Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15706

Posted: Sat May 25, 24 7:54 am Post subject:
Heard a cuckoo from home yesterday. Thought I did the other day, but wasn't sure. First time we have heard one there.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 27, 24 3:08 pm Post subject:

one of the daws accepts me as garden furniture, 2 are "my" local and are not very happy about a third one stealing their feather whipped man foods
the new meal worms are better quality than the last ones, brand is no GNT of quality with "perishables" made from critters on different days

3 daws is ok by me, the daws are rather put out
ie not their child , a rellie helping himself in the kitchen

daws are very clever, good language skills with translation abilities
i do not speak daws yet, they are teaching me as that would be useful to them
more body language than canines, much smarter than yer average chook

i miss chooks but i have daws and grin in my flock, oh dear

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 27, 24 3:26 pm Post subject:

thinking of corvids, a while ago i had a need to use early medieval materials and me now to create an image of odin and his ravens

i have no idea why ,imho it is better than ok and i dont care what anyone else thinks (rule one of fine art

), his ravens look out at us very like the daws look at me

i could show the odin thing but it would not have the energy that it has for real, maybe i can get some good daws snaps that do work leccyly

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2509
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Mon May 27, 24 4:22 pm Post subject:

Last Saturday there was a great THWACK into a kitchen window. I looked out and tiny feathers were floating around like snow. Looked out and there was a Cooper's hawk sitting on an upside down terracotta pot, a dead mourning dove on the ground. Must have struck, slamming its prey into the window. Hawk only somewhat larger than the dove.

Hawk saw us looking at it and flew away. We left the kitchen. Hoping it came back and feeds. Or what a waste.

Well, either the dove recovered and flew off - highly unlikely - or the hawk carried it off to eat it.

Any bets?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 27, 24 4:53 pm Post subject:

hi there, my guess is it waited til you were not looking and took the shopping home

if you get home with the shopping, the "minor issue "in the mall parking lot needs no mention

grin has always eaten or taken things from here while observed or while using "the moment" as the stage illusionists might put it to leave without leaving lunch

raptors are a bit special, nice to have an environment suitable for them

a bit rough on that dove, circle of life etc

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2509
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Mon May 27, 24 5:59 pm Post subject:

Appreciate your reply dpack. We've heard birds fly into windows before, but this was a THWAK. Hawk must have body slammed the dove into the glass.

Interestingly, since then the two pairs of mourning doves that regularly come to peck at seed on the ground below the feeders have not been around.

We have red tail hawks, several species of owls, bald eagles, black vultures etc. Hawks and vultures, drifting through the sky, are the most observed. Vultures on the ground cleaning up roadkill too.

Here's a rather poor image from several years ago, of a Cooper's hawk plucking and eating a downy woodpecker, just outside the kitchen.

We have a diversity of wildlife. This year seems especially well endowed. There's the evening rabbit who also shows up in daytime, a raccoon has been around several times in the evening, once an opossum, chipmunks, and of course the deer.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15706

Posted: Tue May 28, 24 7:47 am Post subject:

You do seem to do well for wildlife Jam Lady. As far as bird kills are concerned, we had a peregrine falcon using a pylon tower near us for a year or two. We also had lots of pigeons in the area and he lost a few. One landed on our roof and bounced off; shows the speed of impact. I picked a couple up from the lawn as well. Waste not want not; we ate the ones that weren't badly damaged.

We get peregrine falcons, think a goshawk in the woods, buzzards and red kites round here.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 28, 24 10:34 am Post subject:
that hawk is a bit untidy, grin does a neat circle of feathers with a beak in the middle of the empty "plate" they all have different table manners, some raptors are more "delicate" than others, i'm not good at id from kill remains for most, kestrel and grin i can id from bits, the others no, i could say raptor kill but who done it is outside my knowledge and skills

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 28, 24 11:32 am Post subject:

a few things got moved, they are adjusting

2 daws are becoming fairly comfortable with me, they are not keen on the other 2 daws "stealing their chips" and are a bit wary of feisty pigeons(the kung fu wing slaps and nasty grappling is quite fierce)

the pigeons are doing pigeon stuff

sparrows very busy, ditto blackbirds
re sparrows, perhaps 8 nests which could boost numbers if they get 2 clutches
plenty of territory for a lot of sparrows is still available

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8681
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue May 28, 24 9:56 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

that hawk is a bit untidy, grin does a neat circle of feathers with a beak in the middle of the empty "plate"

they all have different table manners, some raptors are more "delicate" than others, i'm not good at id from kill remains for most, kestrel and grin i can id from bits, the others no, i could say raptor kill but who done it is outside my knowledge and skills

Last week a raptor's dinner remains were on the pavement...a pair of starling legs and feet

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15706

Posted: Wed May 29, 24 7:39 am Post subject:
The bluetits in the door of our charcoal kiln are still very busy. One of them not keen on our standing too near, but the other one ignores us completely. Difficult as the kilns are next to each other. Seems to be plenty of food for the young around.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Wed May 29, 24 10:02 am Post subject:
saw first baby sparrow being fed a few feet away yesterday plenty of "feed me"cheeping from various bushes etc

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8681
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed May 29, 24 3:55 pm Post subject:
Next door (other half of a semi) has heaps of starlings nesting under their tiles...this time of year youngsters seem to slip down inside their walls somehow..cue much scrabbling and cheeping unfortunately... I know starlings have to live somewhere, but have the feeling that it isn't doing their house much good?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Thu May 30, 24 5:37 am Post subject:

morning in bird town was fun, lots of "feed me, feed me" cheeping

some of it is mobile

afaik there are between 6 and 8 sparrow nest in the local flock
bigamy? its bigamay two

sparrow social dynamics are practical, a flock hand maid or a bigamist that can provide for two nests increases the flock's genetic legacy

the daws are ace fun, if a little expensive, i am trying not to think about a sack of mealworms, i could get decent person meat for a similar price

re mealworms, Â£5 a kilo is good, but it needs to be 10 kg in one go
at the rate the smalls and daws are eating them, it might last til late summer

if they are well stored, they will easily still be "use before"

a tiny bag at a time is daft money if you need to be consistent in a "bait"regime for a largish mixed flock

sammison news is good, doing mouse stuff

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45779
Location: yes

Posted: Thu May 30, 24 6:09 am Post subject:
the kindergarten is very busy a clutch of at least 3 + others tis rather nice to observe avian dinosaurs and small mammals in a feeding environment

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