Bird of the day!

[John]

I was watching two of the Bramblings that have been visiting my garden for a month now when two new ones arrived. That brings the total up to 7 I have had in the garden this year. 6 male & 1 female.

Here are photos of the two new ones. They are shot through my bedroom window and have not been cropped only resized. That's how close to the bedroom they are. (about ten feet away).









John

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by John

I was watching two of the Bramblings that have been visiting my garden for a month now when two new ones arrived. That brings the total up to 7 I have had in the garden this year. 6 male & 1 female.

Here are photos of the two new ones. They are shot through my bedroom window and have not been cropped only resized. That's how close to the bedroom they are. (about ten feet away).











John

Great pics John! it seems to be Brambling week right now?, Looking at your male, does that make mine on the previous page a male or female? or is your just further into summer plume or something?

[John]

Hi Dan

Yours is definitely a male as well. They are slowly coming into summer plumage. It's a shame that by the time they reach summer plumage they will have been long gone from these shores.

John

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Great pics John! it seems to be Brambling week right now?, Looking at your male, does that make mine on the previous page a male or female? or is your just further into summer plume or something?

[Deer Stalker]

Out on the Forest this morning I had my first Redstart, Blackcap & Willow Warblers singing. Also around were Hawfinch, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker & a pair of Kingfishers.

[NickCantle]

Sounds good Si. I'm still waiting to see my first Nuthatch at the moment but I've been out snapping the long tailed tits this morning and afternoon

[Deer Stalker]

Cheers Nick.

Just seen your pics in the Gallery. Nice shots mate.

[Harold Smith]

My bird of the day is a pair of Carrion Crows. A pair nest every year in an large oak tree across the road from me. They visit my garden frequently and get up to all sorts of mischief. Last year they pulled out all my onion sets; much to my annoyance. This year the onions are netted.

Anyway, they now have a new trick. On my lawn I have placed a large clear plastic pot stand as a bird bath. It is used frequently by most of the birds, including the crows, for drinking and bathing. I clean the bath frequently and add fresh water. Recently, after each cleaning, the crows have come along with large pieces of sliced bread, some of it toasted, and drop it in the bath and then fly of. Goodness knows where they get the bread from. A little while later they come and back and try and drag it out of the bath. The bread is so saturated it breaks up. They pick up some of the pieces and places them at the base of a raised flower bed and try to cover them with the Saxifrage that surrounds the bed. They then eat some of what's left in the bird bath. After a day or so I have to, once again, clean out the bird bath as the remains are fouling the water. I'm not sure if they are hiding food for a later time, but, I have never seen them come back for the what they have hidden. After a few days I have to remove it as the bread is turning rotten and looks unsitely. It's strange, none of the other birds, particularly the Sparrows, ever touch it.

For supposedly intelligent birds they appear stupid or incomprehensible at times.


Harold.

[Fourwings]

I spent the morning at Rutland water with Boddie and Oscar 2006.
We went to see the Ospreys that have returned to breed in Manton bay, pity the weather wasn't better but we got some good views of them. There were also plenty of Spring migrants about, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Swallows, House Martins & Sand martins.
My bird of the day has to be the magnificent male Osprey whose close fly-past of the hide allowed me to get these images.

[Reptilian]

Today at Cardigan farm park and nature reserve.

Numerous Wheatear.




Firecrest at the marshes carpark (Pic from older set, same bird same place. The shots i got today were awful.)


Also Skylark, Swallow, Sand Martin, and one unidentified all of which i failed to get decent shots of. I'm out of practice.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Harold Smith

My bird of the day is a pair of Carrion Crows. A pair nest every year in an large oak tree across the road from me. They visit my garden frequently and get up to all sorts of mischief. Last year they pulled out all my onion sets; much to my annoyance. This year the onions are netted.

Anyway, they now have a new trick. On my lawn I have placed a large clear plastic pot stand as a bird bath. It is used frequently by most of the birds, including the crows, for drinking and bathing. I clean the bath frequently and add fresh water. Recently, after each cleaning, the crows have come along with large pieces of sliced bread, some of it toasted, and drop it in the bath and then fly of. Goodness knows where they get the bread from. A little while later they come and back and try and drag it out of the bath. The bread is so saturated it breaks up. They pick up some of the pieces and places them at the base of a raised flower bed and try to cover them with the Saxifrage that surrounds the bed. They then eat some of what's left in the bird bath. After a day or so I have to, once again, clean out the bird bath as the remains are fouling the water. I'm not sure if they are hiding food for a later time, but, I have never seen them come back for the what they have hidden. After a few days I have to remove it as the bread is turning rotten and looks unsitely. It's strange, none of the other birds, particularly the Sparrows, ever touch it.

For supposedly intelligent birds they appear stupid or incomprehensible at times.


Harold.

great story thanks for the Harold....Corvids are very mischevious but also pretty clever birds...im guessing they have a clever reason for doing what they are doing. The wetting the bread bit is obvious though and whomever is putting out unwetted slices or toast needs advising.