Bird brains

[Tinkerbell]

Have you witnessed bird behaviour which fascinated or amazed you? It may be part of their normal behaviour or something out of the ordinary. If so tell us about it please. I'll start this ball rolling -

We were up on the cliffs of Filey Brigg this week where there are a couple of smallish ponds, one which has rather more vegetation than the other. The less vegetated one was being used by swallows which flew in at breakneck speed, dipping down and skimming the water to drink, and then soaring off again. What a brilliant sight to see.

Tink

[May]

That sounds amazing Tink! I was watching the swallows yesterday morning they're lovely to watch.

We put up bird nesting boxes .. two of them. One was a convertible open front box, with the panels to make them great tit or blue tit size and the other was a bue tit size box. My husband put them up and we sat back to wait.

In short time, a pair of blue tits started investigating, they would poke about, cling to the side and poke their heads in the blue tit box, but all along they seemed more interested in the open fronter. So once they were gone, my husband attached the front to this nester and again we waited. And Whomp! They were back. This time they were actually going in and before very long they had made the decision - they were moving in!

They then started to tidy up the entrance, by pecking off strips of the wood! We know it was their size, but this pair are a fussy twosome and are still doing it! Even though all the nest material is in, I often see a little face poking out and a busy little beak pecking off tiny bits of wood!

I also see one emerge, I'm sure it's the female. She'll sit on the fence, stretch her wings, have a scratch and then go back in again .. it's lovely to watch!

[Tinkerbell]

The great thing about the blue tit nesting season May, is that it goes on for several weeks during which time much of the activity is obvious - if you keep your eyes open. And for many of us it's right on our doorstep. Bonus!!

[Gill Catton]

I was once sitting in the south lakes hide at Slimbridge, when a heron started to make an aerial attack on a duck and her ducklings, this was unusual enough for me as although I knew that Herons will eat anything that moves, I didn't know they'd hunt on the wing (they are suprisingly agile as it turns out) the mother duck was getting so distressed and the ducklings were diving all over the place, the mum was trying to draw the attention away from them and would fly out of the water at the heron as a sort of mallard missle, but then, even stranger was all the ducks from the other parts of that lake and off the sandy spit between the lakes swam out into the water around the duck almost as a safety in numbers thing (though why would they react protectively over unrelated ducklings?) or maybe through curiosity or maybe it's that - let the predator know you've seen it and you'll be safe method - as used by Rabbits.
It was very interesting and the heron soon gave up and flew off!

[May]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbell

The great thing about the blue tit nesting season May, is that it goes on for several weeks during which time much of the activity is obvious - if you keep your eyes open. And for many of us it's right on our doorstep. Bonus!!

I've loved watching the nest building process! I was overjoyed to see them taking the Rabbit fur we left out .. there are going to be many nests in the village lined with soft fur this spring!

I was in the garden yesterday with Miss Grace our Rabbit, and heard a really irritated chirping. I looked up to see the male of the pair sitting above our bedroom window, worm in beak waiting to come down! So, I scooped up Gracie and came back in and like a flash, he was back into the nest box! My husband said we can't live our lives around the tooing and froing of birds .. I beg to differ though!

[May]

I had to share what I witnessed this morning on the window nut feeder!

There was a blue tit pecking away at the nuts then along came a great tit who proceeded to just stare at this blue tit. You could almost hear the theme from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly playing! Anyway, the blue tit wasn't going anywhere so the great tit started rotating itself 90 degrees so it was hanging upside down as it clung to the feeder and each time it reached the upside down point, it extended its wings then slowly righted itself again. It did this non stop until the blue tit left. I've never seen anything like it! It was so funny!

[Tornado]

Hi all I'm new to this site but have enjoyed reading all your posts. Last summer we planted some nepeta (cat mint) and shortly afterwards saw starlings stripping off pieces and flying away with them. After being puzzled by their behaviour my father-in-law, who incidentally has been a keen "birder" for a number of years now, explained the birds use this in their nests as a means to deter bugs, as Im sure many of you will know it has quite a strong smell! Clever use of natural material I'd say, good for the starlings but you should have seen the state of my new plant!

[cherrybee]

Hello tornado and welcome too WAB a very frienly site and quite barmy at times
W A B also means We're All Barmy

[Tinkerbell]

Hi Tornado - I was very interested in the use of Nepeta as a bug deterent by the birds. They may have small brains, but they are very resourceful. And welcome to WAB.

Tink