Thread: Show Birds

Originally Posted by BillN

(yes we have had rain here too!)

Bill, missed your contributions. We've had RAIN, the fire engine has gone past three times this morning with blues going, and twice it's returned with blues going. Main road to Plymouth is closed with a possible bridge collapse and the other to Totnes barely passable with lifted tarmac. The only birds I've seen this morning are some very damp Wood Pigeons.

Barrie

Originally Posted by grebeman

Bill, missed your contributions. We've had RAIN, the fire engine has gone past three times this morning with blues going, and twice it's returned with blues going. Main road to Plymouth is closed with a possible bridge collapse and the other to Totnes barely passable with lifted tarmac. The only birds I've seen this morning are some very damp Wood Pigeons.

Barrie

Morning Barrie

been watching the news everyday, (the BBC of course), and we are in daily contact with the UK by phone and skype - does not look or sound pleasant and it appears that it is going to continue.

In a way we can see the weather as the front terrace faces west and we are relatively not too far from the coast - the cloud build up moving north some days is quite something.

What do you think has happened to the Robins - as i said not really seen one for a few months now - do they go off somewhere in summer?

Also not really seen a young Blue Tit around, just "packs" of 6 to 10 Great Tits noisily dominating the show

Never saw any fledgling Cirl Buntings, I heard them but never saw them ........ not sure where they have gone to

Oriole still singing, Woodpeckers and Jays just as noisy, a few Blackbirds around, swallows and swifts still feeding on high but have not seen anything new for a while apart from a Wren - I think that I should take a trip down to the banks of the Dordogne river early one morning ....... it is about 5 mins away at Pessac

Originally Posted by BillN

In a way we can see the weather as the front terrace faces west and we are relatively not too far from the coast - the cloud build up moving north some days is quite something.

Thanks for sending us that lot Bill!!

Originally Posted by BillN

What do you think has happened to the Robins - as i said not really seen one for a few months now - do they go off somewhere in summer?

As I understand it your Continental Robins are more a shy woodland type as opposed to our UK garden and person friendly type. Having said that most birds are now undergoing a post breeding moult, their flight ability is somewhat impaired so they tend to keep a rather low profile, probably a bit uncomfortable, but mostly to avoid being an easier meal for a predator.

Originally Posted by BillN

Never saw any fledgling Cirl Buntings, I heard them but never saw them ........ not sure where they have gone to

Young Cirl Buntings can be very noisy in the nest, that often means they are somewhat underfed. That leads to a higher predation rate of nestlings. Here in the UK many broods hatching before 1st July fail for that reason, their preferred food supply is in short supply early in the season. However they often have second broods and young in the nest in September is not uncommon. Also if they fledged successfully they will have moved off to find a source of seeds that they young will be converted to eat, rather than the grasshoppers they were being fed in the nest.

Barrie

Barrie

Thanks for that

Donner and Blitzen here now - hot all day - clouds just built up and built up

Cirl Bunting - the nest is quite low and easy to get to for a predator

maybe I spoke too soon - tail, feet and peak look Cirl to me - or is it a Serin or what?

it is very dark!

Originally Posted by BillN

Donner and Blitzen here now

So, not content with Cirl, Oriole, red squirrel and whatnot, you now get reindeer as well ... I consider this simple greed, Bill

Originally Posted by BillN

tail, feet and peak look Cirl to me - or is it a Serin or what?
it is very dark!

Not sure that I'd like to venture an opinion on that angle. Some of your shots remind me of the challenges set by the mystery photograph in "British Birds" when I took that publication many years ago . Mind you they were often in black and white as well, so even more of a challenge.

Originally Posted by pdh

So, not content with Cirl, Oriole, red squirrel and whatnot, you now get reindeer as well ... I consider this simple greed, Bill

Barrie

Barrie

Better images than above

Serins - young male and female? - although the juv. is suppose to lack any yellow - around most of the day

Serin - smallest european finch and closely related to the canary







and an Oriole landed just feet from me in the garden this evening, (in the mulberry tree), - a male - quite small, so maybe it was a young bird not as cautious as it's parents - no chance in getting an image - it was just too fast

Bill,

If your Oriole was in adult male plumage, i.e. yellow and black then it was an adult male at least 2 years old. This years juveniles will look rather like the female plumage but rather "scaly". It takes 2 years for a male to reach full adult plumage. As I've said before they don't start off small and grow (once out of the nest) in the way that mammals do. There might be a size difference in any one species of up to 10% between the smallest and the largest, but that's all and is not easily determined by the naked eye, best determined in the hand.

Surely your Serin photographs show an adult and a juvenile.

Barrie

Originally Posted by grebeman

Bill,

If your Oriole was in adult male plumage, i.e. yellow and black then it was an adult male at least 2 years old. This years juveniles will look rather like the female plumage but rather "scaly". It takes 2 years for a male to reach full adult plumage. As I've said before they don't start off small and grow (once out of the nest) in the way that mammals do. There might be a size difference in any one species of up to 10% between the smallest and the largest, but that's all and is not easily determined by the naked eye, best determined in the hand.

Surely your Serin photographs show an adult and a juvenile.

Barrie

Morning Barrie - Serin, yes adult male and juvenile ......... it's just that the adult male looked young to me .......Serins seem to be quite "common" around here and they are relatively tolerant of man

The Oriole was a male in "full colour" ....... so as you say I guess it was 2 years or more old - I sat under the tree with my camera on a monopod, hoping for some "disguise" and it just few into the tree, looked at me and then flew off. They are quite "smart" and clean cut looking birds, close up, the yellow and black are very pronounced but they still seem to be able to blend in well with the trees. The bird did not make any sound, (i.e. a warning sound), when it saw me.

Originally Posted by BillN

it's just that the adult male looked young to me

Bill,

As with most of the small Passerines once they've attained adult plumage, i.e. even if they were last years young, they are impossible to age, even in the hand. With Serins there are even some that are impossible to sex on plumage alone. The juveniles will begin a complete moult this summer, but even the ringers guide is unable to state when that moult will be complete. There will still be certain feathers that can be examined in the hand that will identify the bird as this years young Whilst some of this years juveniles in the south might well have begun to moult, I would be very surprised if any have completed that moult yet.

Barrie