Bird of the day!

[Peduk]

Mine was two Barn owls in space of ten minutes quartering the fen fields in cambridgeshire, first time i see them outside a falconary.

[James M]

Well about an hour ago I saw my first Treecreeper! It was in a suprisingly public place near and playground and a library, but there are lots of trees. At first I thought it was a mouse or something climbing up a tree but as I got closer I realised what it was. It just stayed in the same spot for a while and I was able to get within arms length of it, so I suppose it must have been cold as it seemed to be sunning itself.

[jennyb]

I was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch and watching the bird feeders as I usually do. I was particularly pleased because the siskin had reappeared and the long-tailed tits are now making regular appearances. Then, there was an almighty kerfuffle - big bang on the window and birds scattering everywhere.

I grabbed the camera and spotted the culprit, but I knew I did not have much time before he flew off. So, I just snapped a couple of shots with no idea what my camera settings currently were.

Lo and behold I got the best sparrowhawk shot that I have ever managed!

Here he is sitting on my garden chair....



Jenny

PS: He did not manage to get any of my little ones on this occasion!

[mrs fish]

That is a fantastic shot jennyb

That truly has the wow factor , well done

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by jennyb

I was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch and watching the bird feeders as I usually do. I was particularly pleased because the siskin had reappeared and the long-tailed tits are now making regular appearances. Then, there was an almighty kerfuffle - big bang on the window and birds scattering everywhere.

I grabbed the camera and spotted the culprit, but I knew I did not have much time before he flew off. So, I just snapped a couple of shots with no idea what my camera settings currently were.

Lo and behold I got the best sparrowhawk shot that I have ever managed!

Here he is sitting on my garden chair....



Jenny

PS: He did not manage to get any of my little ones on this occasion!

Wow, beautiful bird and what a great photo..

[nutmeg]

That's a great sparrowhawk shot, Jennyb - and great presence of mind to coordinate yourself enough in the excitement to successfully use your camera!

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Wow, beautiful bird and what a great photo..

Excellent shot of an adult male there, Kayleigh. You should be pleased with that one!

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Excellent shot of an adult male there, Kayleigh. You should be pleased with that one!

Sorry aeshna5. I wish it was mine.. but all the credit goes to JennyB

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by jennyb

I was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch and watching the bird feeders as I usually do. I was particularly pleased because the siskin had reappeared and the long-tailed tits are now making regular appearances. Then, there was an almighty kerfuffle - big bang on the window and birds scattering everywhere.

I grabbed the camera and spotted the culprit, but I knew I did not have much time before he flew off. So, I just snapped a couple of shots with no idea what my camera settings currently were.

Lo and behold I got the best sparrowhawk shot that I have ever managed!

Here he is sitting on my garden chair....



Jenny

PS: He did not manage to get any of my little ones on this occasion!

Jenny, that's an amazing shot! He probably posed for you so that you wouldn't think too badly of him next time he does decide to dine at your place

[pressld2]

Our green woodpecker is back. Hadn't seen him for months but this morning he was in our neighbour's silver birch.

Dave P.

[outdoorguy]

mine is three greater spotted woodpeckers chasing each other round a tree.. two males and a female so prob getting ready for mating.. and just after that saw a sparrowhawk dive under a headge and scare a flock of chaffinches.. it didn't get one tho... and took the finches a good ten mins to pluck up the courage to come back ... james

[Gaina]

Dad and I were in a traffic jam this morning and a little male chaffinch came out of a tree and started hovering at the rear passenger window, tapping on it with his beak and then sat on the wing mirror on my side of the car - I was transfixed!

I am wondering if he's marking out 'his patch' for the breeding season because he was sitting on the wing mirror of a parked car the other day in the same place. Actually I'm wondering if he is in fact 'my car fanatic' who lived in my garden for a while and used to like to sit on my wing mirror and my bedroom windowsill.

[nutmeg]

The goldcrests that visit the garden were obliging enough today to feed in the weeping silver birch - giving me a great view of them at eye-level and relatively unobscured by foliage The light was rubbish so I had to try using the built-in flash.

[Harold Smith]

My bird of the day could be the birds of the 'weeks'.

At the beginning of the year I moved one of my seed feeders to the corner of my garden as my neighbour was removing a Leylandii that had got out of control.

Any way, after the moving the feeder I added a suet cake, containing nuts and insects, to the stand. Within a few days I spotted a male Blackcap feeding. He returned everyday and was seen frequently throughout the day. After about a 10 days a second male turned up and they seemed to be quite happily taking it in turns to feed on the cake. A day or so later a female arrived and took her turn on the feeder. No matter the time of day I see them. It is interesting; though there is sufficient perch room for them to feed at the same time they never do. They always take it in turns. Not like the Starlings who squabble over the cake and still manage to feed, all at the same time.

[Pete Collins]

My bird of the day was this Blackbird, taking a bath on the netting over the goldfish pond.









The Blackbirds do this regularly. I once saw a Sparrowhawk do the same, sadly I didn't have a camera handy at the time.

[Deer Stalker]

Got a really close view of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming on the Forest this morning.

Hawfinches singing well too.

[aeshna5]

My bird of day was totally unexpected. I was doing my WeBS counts along Thames between Putney + Barnes + near Putney Beverly Brook enters the river + there was a stunning drake Garganey with a few expected Teal. There had been one at the nearby London Wetland Centre earlier in the week, so probably the same bird.

It's amazing how such an urbanised part of the river produces so many birds with amongst others 35 Cormorant, pr Shelduck, c100 Mallard (low count here), c250 Teal, 60+ Gadwall, 80+ Tufted Duck, c2000 gulls of 5 species with rowing + power boats constantly going to + fro, lots of people, etc.

[hobble]

Mine was my pair of humble robins sat side by side on a piece of wood singing while I looked at the huge amount of stones I had just unearthed in the garden. They looked like love birds.
I had to sit for ages and watch them, my kind of break!

[pressld2]

Three finches for me!

I was walking along the River Cray near Hall Place in Bexley when I spotted some birds on a small sandbank at the edge of the water. As I got a little closer I realised that it was a goldfinch, a greenfinch and a chaffinch, all males and all together. It would have made a beautiful photo but it was very dark and I was still too far away. As I got a bit closer they all flew off.

Dave P.

[clare]

Be patient with the niger feeder. I put one out last weekend and it took a pair of goldfinches about four days to discover it and then they visited regularly. Once they know it's there, they'll be back - you might also get siskins! Most birds seem to find new feeders eventually.

[Dan Salter]

No pics sadly but spent 15 mins watching two ringtail Hen Harriers (or possibly a ringtail and a young male) hunting over the marshes during a harrier roost count tonight...and possibly another sighting off one of our resident Rough Legged Buzzards but the light was fading fast so not 100%

[Snakeman]

Put a new feeder out 2 days ago and been getting plenty of these(siskins I believe)...

[juliejam]

Well after much heavy rain today it cleared the bird tables for a while until this chap turned up..by the time i reached for the camera he had taken to the tree at the bottom of the garden ...He the biggest bird ive had visit the bird table so far...



Julie

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by Snakeman

Put a new feeder out 2 days ago and been getting plenty of these(siskins I believe)...

They look abit like Greenfinches to me..

Julie

[Snakeman]

Originally Posted by juliejam

They look abit like Greenfinches to me..

Julie

Apparently not.. Serin?