Bird of the day!

[zharca]

We've been taking a few days holiday in Suffolk for the Snape Maltings music festival, and what should go by but this sorta flying oven-ready turkey:



unfortunately too far away to be anything but a spot in the viewfinder but by the colour it looks about done


ps: I'm really jealous of your green woodpeckers!

[cherrybee]

My bird of the day was on Saturday only just got around to processing it.It was a Bewick's Swan and it was on the Otter Estuary in DevonIt seems it has been there for a couple of weeks now and is rare to be seen here.My photo is rubbish as it was too far off and was moving pretty fast after spotting me trying to get a little closer.It is raining today but as soon as the weather clears I will be going back to see if I can get a better shot.
Here it is one blurry rarity

[wildone]

Originally Posted by cherrybee

My bird of the day was on Saturday only just got around to processing it.It was a Bewick's Swan and it was on the Otter Estuary in DevonIt seems it has been there for a couple of weeks now and is rare to be seen here.

Well spotted Cherrybee. These birds are usually in Siberia at this time of the year and only come to Britain during the winter. I am wondering if there is something the matter with it which prevented it from flying to Russia when the others went back.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by wildone

Well spotted Cherrybee. These birds are usually in Siberia at this time of the year and only come to Britain during the winter. I am wondering if there is something the matter with it which prevented it from flying to Russia when the others went back.

I am no expert it looks healthy enough.I first saw it a couple of weeks back but it was even farther away then and was very busy pruning itself.A very nice gentleman lent me his bins so I could see it.I saw a couple of birders there and asked what they were so intent with and he kindly told me and passed the bins over.Poor thing looks so lonely on its own.First time I have ever seen one.We only ever get the mute swans here

[wildone]

Cherrybee, I didn't mean that it was sick but that it might have a problem with it's wing or muscles which prevented it making such a long journey.

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by zharca

We've been taking a few days holiday in Suffolk for the Snape Maltings music festival, and what should go by but this sorta flying oven-ready turkey:



unfortunately too far away to be anything but a spot in the viewfinder but by the colour it looks about done


ps: I'm really jealous of your green woodpeckers!

Looks like a pair of Bitterns to me... I would say that was a pretty good sighting, I have only ever seen one.

[peppermint]

My bird of the day is the bullfinch (well actually the 2 bullfinches, male and female) that keep visiting the bird seed feeder in the garden. I just love the bright colouring of the male, one of my favourite birds.

[zharca]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

Looks like a pair of Bitterns to me... I would say that was a pretty good sighting, I have only ever seen one.

Ah, no, sorry, didn't mean to mislead, it's just two frames of the same bird, 'cos it was really just a little speck in the frame. I was excited to see one out in the open, two in formation would have been amazing.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by zharca

Ah, no, sorry, didn't mean to mislead, it's just two frames of the same bird, 'cos it was really just a little speck in the frame. I was excited to see one out in the open, two in formation would have been amazing.

would that be a case of once bittern , twice shy - or are you just wild about bittern

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by eeyore

would that be a case of once bittern , twice shy - or are you just wild about bittern

I see the Magners is starting to take effect

Lovely photos John, we too have been getting quite a few dunnock recently. They're lovely

[AnnMercia]

has to be the robin...... lovely song and so cheeky!!!!!!

[bobble106]

Mine is the local Robin in the back garden. Just got back from holiday in Spain (Donana Nat Park) where I saw loads of great birds (Bonelli's eagle, Osprey, Black storks, Flamingoes, Black Kites galore, Kestrels in abundance, loads of other birds). Got back last night to a very cold UK but woke up this morning and there was our regular Robin hopping around.

It just made my day to see the Robin was still about!

[Gaina]

Our local garden birds just realised the 'Winter Buffet' is open and we had visits from blue, coal, long-tailed and great tits today. I also heard a Wren singing it's head off but couldn't see it.

I hope we get Black Caps again like we did last year.

[Wildlife]

Hi,

Keep up the very interesting information in Bird Of The Day - and the lovely photos too!

[Ollie]

Bird of the day for me today was this little Coal Tit that brightened up a dismal Lincolnshire day


Roger

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

They seem to have gone on the missing list from my work feeders, hopefully they'll be back once the natural larder goes down a bit

[paulchandler6]

Mine were 4 Goldfinch that dropped in for a quick feed alongside a couple of Chaffinch and Greenfinch until a Sparrowhawk darted thru and put the lot up. Hope they'll be back.

Paul

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Mine were 150-odd Common Scoter and 8 Velvet Scoter at Cuckmere Haven. Within 100m of the shore too instead of 2 miles out

Cheers Jacob

[ianrose82]

My bird of the day today has to be this female Smew at Connaught Water in Epping Forest. Unfortunately, bad light and distance prevented a better photo.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Siskin today for me there was a flock of around 50 feeding on the Alders at the lake today, considering I only spotted 2 there all last winter this is a very good sign

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly

Siskin today for me there was a flock of around 50 feeding on the Alders at the lake today, considering I only spotted 2 there all last winter this is a very good sign

That's a good sized flock, saw my first thiis year today, a flock of around 20 at Messingham sands
Roger

[John]

I had a day off from work today so decided to pop out in this glorious sunshine.

I was in some fields, tracking a pair of Kestrels. They kept moving away from me, even though I was hunkered down behind trees and hedgerows. Suddenly a commotion from behind some trees caught my attention. It sound like a load of Rooks and as I looked up this Buzzard shot over my head with about twenty Rooks harassing him.

Unfortunately it happened so quickly that I didn't have time to set my camera properly but I managed a couple of record shots of the bird. It's a shame I didn't have more time to get this one right as the bird wasn't that high above me and it could have been a really good shot.



John

[smartie]

Another glorious day on the Wash - worth getting up at four o'clock for (that's a yawn, by the way!). Bird of the day was going to be the barn owl we saw slipping across the road in the early dawn mist, but then we saw a snow goose. High up in a skein of pink foots so no photo, and the first I have ever seen. Didn't spot it myself, mind - an RSPB warden pointed it out

[Adam Cheeseman]

Saw the Great Grey Shrike at Thursley and the Firecrest at Bookham today. Two cracking birds, and two much needed year ticks too.

[GuyF]

I saw a beautiful male Goosander in Studland Bay today, it's the first time I've seen a wild male in winter plumage. Also some Black-necked Grebes, Mediterranean Gulls and loads of Dark-bellied Brent Geese.
Guy