Bird Watching a Relaxing Hobby

[Tim Marlow]

That’s pretty cool Tony. They’ve pretty much colonised London so they’ll spread out eventually. Climate change will help with that as well. Didn’t know they’d got that far north yet though.

[Lee Drennen]

Love turtle doves but they are very rare here now. I’ve not seen one for about three years :loudly-crying: They purr like cats, only much louder…..

I haven’t seen as many by the bird feeder this year like last year

[rtfoe]

..........................and probably in England too!
Dave

...with a Cockney accent?

[rtfoe]

Love turtle doves but they are very rare here now. I’ve not seen one for about three years :loudly-crying: They purr like cats, only much louder…..

The Asiatic cousins are an abundance here. Funny thing, the cats leave them alone. So nice to see the couples just toddling around and sometimes they forget how close they get to us if we kept still.

Cheers,
Richard

[Dave Ward]

...with a Cockney accent?

Richard,
where I live - a West Country accent!
Dave

[tigersteve]

That’s pretty cool Tony. They’ve pretty much colonised London so they’ll spread out eventually. Climate change will help with that as well. Didn’t know they’d got that far north yet though.

I had to get a train back from London a couple of days ago - outside Clapham Junction station there was a tree with probably 200 Parakeets roosting noisily around 19.00 !

[Lee Drennen]

We got some ice and Sleet this morning Roads are bad the farther north you go towards my work so they told us to stay home No Trucks on the road today. So I’ll drinking Coffee and bird watching. This is the most dives I’ve seen this year.

[rtfoe]

These two were strolling along while I waited for family to come to the car to go for lunch.


Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Good lookers….Camo works better on the right hand one though

[rtfoe]

Good lookers….Camo works better on the right hand one though

I had reduced the size of the photo so it has pixelised making the camo blend in. They're half the size of regular pigeonsand much slender. Lovely pair with no care about the surrounding cat country.

Cheers,
Richard

[CarolsHusband]

Six Great White Egrets yesterday. The two Muscovys our ours, and shouldn't be in the field. Yes, I'm talking to you two....

[Tim Marlow]

Are they cattle egrets, rather than great whites Dan? Seems the right habitat for them….great whites are usually seen in wetlands. Hard to tell when they are hunched up like that, but if they are then Cattle egrets are quite a lot rarer…..

[spanner570]

I'd forgot about this interesting thread. Thanks for the reminder Dan!

I took these from our camper window a week or so ago.

We always take a bird feeder with us. Load it up and wait to see what comes along.....

Unmistakable.


"What are you looking at!"








She flew up into a tree....


...only to have this obnoxious creature barge her off her perch.


Cheers.
Ron

[CarolsHusband]

Are they cattle egrets, rather than great whites Dan? Seems the right habitat for them….great whites are usually seen in wetlands. Hard to tell when they are hunched up like that, but if they are then Cattle egrets are quite a lot rarer…..

I'll look into it. They're pretty big, almost Heron sized if that helps. The cattle are up in the yard so they're wasting their time out there.....

[Tim Marlow]

I'll look into it. They're pretty big, almost Heron sized if that helps. The cattle are up in the yard so they're wasting their time out there.....

Great whites are much the same size as Herons, and have very long legs and necks just like them. They also compete for pretty much the same habitat, wetlands, living on small fish and eels etc. Little egrets are slightly smaller, and live in similar areas. Cattle egrets are pretty big as well, but, as the name suggests, live in fields hunting in the churned up mud. They are more easily distinguishable in the breeding season because the Brest feathers are coloured.

Cattle egret….


Great white and Little egrets…

Cattle egrets are rarer, but now breed in the UK. Go back thirty years or so and they were all rare birds….