Bird of the day!

[Ollie]

Bird of the day for me was this Corn Bunting. I often hear them on my walks around the village I live in and catch occasional glimpses of them but it's not often they pose and break into full song like this one did today.
Roger

[nutmeg]

That's a lovely shot of the corn bunting

I have two birds of the day. The first is a long-tailed tit fledgling which flew into the house when I opened the door this morning. It made its way upstairs and I managed to cup it in my hands and return it to the garden. It perched on my finger for about half a minute, giving me the chance to have a good look at it - seriously cute! - then it flew off to a tree and was joined by its parents and another fledgling.

My other bird of the day is the nightingale - heard but not seen on a walk at Whisby, Lincs. I never fail to be captivated by its song.

[John]

Excellent shot Roger. As you say, they're not easy birds to photograph so it's great when one poses for you like that.

John

Originally Posted by Ollie

Bird of the day for me was this Corn Bunting. I often hear them on my walks around the village I live in and catch occasional glimpses of them but it's not often they pose and break into full song like this one did today.
Roger

[Gaina]

If I never see so much as one starling for the rest of this year, my bird of the day more than makes up for it....

I was doing some homework when I heard an almighty racket coming from the car park so I opened my blinds to see a beautiful male Sparrowhawk on his pray. Half a dozen adult blackbirds where challenging the hawk to give up its (very dead) prize. I grabbed my video camera and got a few seconds of very dodgy footage before the sparrwhawk stumbled under the conifer bushes with his prize. Time to grab the 350D

I snuck round the corner where there's a very handy view of the front garden and the blackbirds where still going nuts so I figured I could get round to the front without making the hawk drop his food (he's hunting a lot at the moment so probably has chicks to feed and I would have felt awful if they lost a meal because I made one stupid mistake).

I snuck round to the front garden where I found him eating his meal in the undergrowth so I sat and watched him take his fill, while I'll snapping away (it was extremely windy so those photo's didn't come out well). I hid practically iniside the conifer for a good 20 minutes, and then I was rewarded with this....



He's actually on a trailer about 10 feet away from me. I thought once he heard the camera fire off he'd get spooked, but no he was actually very calm.

**sigh** Getting back to homework is so mundane after that! haha.

[Kayleigh]

Great pic Gaina,

My birds of the day were two buzzards really low over my garden as I was sun bathing.
I ran in to grab the camera and they had gone

Note! Keep camera handy....

[agrumpycow]

First thing this morning as I was stumbling down the stairs my hubby issued a whispered & frantic order 'get your camera, now!'
There were 4 red kites circling low over our garden and this was one of the better shots I got


I'm sure I heard my neighbours were muttering about the mad woman next door in her PJ's taking pictures of the sky again

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

First thing this morning as I was stumbling down the stairs my hubby issued a whispered & frantic order 'get your camera, now!'
There were 4 red kites circling low over our garden and this was one of the better shots I got


I'm sure I heard my neighbours were muttering about the mad woman next door in her PJ's taking pictures of the sky again

Wow!

[shirl]

Not actually today (last week when visiting Eskdale, Cumbria) but a couple of pics

Yellowhammer and a bad hair day



and a super snowy owl at Muncaster Castle, Cumbria



Shirl

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by shirl

Not actually today (last week when visiting Eskdale, Cumbria) but a couple of pics

Yellowhammer and a bad hair day



and a super snowy owl at Muncaster Castle, Cumbria



Shirl

I like the owl, He is winking at you.

[tufftie]

Sorry this is a few days old but I had a spotted flycatcher in the garden

[Ollie]

Saw this one on my morning walk today a Yellow Wagtial. Not a good image as it was a very long range shot
Roger

[Chris Hawes]

Originally Posted by Ollie

Saw this one on my morning walk today a Yellow Wagtial. Not a good image as it was a very long range shot
Roger

You seem to have the midas touch with anything yellow Ollie! Any golden orioles in your neck of the woods?

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Chris Hawes

You seem to have the midas touch with anything yellow Ollie! Any golden orioles in your neck of the woods?

Sorry Chris, I wish! that's one I've never seen
Roger

[Dan Salter]

Sat and listened to my first Nightingale of the year today ...oh and watched a singing whitethroat.

Actually....can someone tell me how to spot the diff between whitethroat and lesser whitethroat?...is it obvious?...ta.

[John]

Different songs to start with. The Lesser Whitethroat is a blander looking bird whereas the Whitethroat is more marked and coloured.

The Whitethroat has rufous coloured wings and a whiter throat. The Lesser can have dark ear coverts (dark shadow stretching from beak, around the eye and towards the mantle) and usually has a paler bill and a pinkish tinge to the breast. The Whitethroat has a longer tail than the Lesser.

Here are photos of each species to compare. The first is glsammy's excellent photo of a Whitethroat

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/pi...hp?photo=39308

The 2nd unfortunately is a link to a photo of a Lesser Whitethroat that isn't in WAB as we don't appear to have one good enough.
TrekNature | Lesser Whitethroat with Catch Photo

John

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Actually....can someone tell me how to spot the diff between whitethroat and lesser whitethroat?...is it obvious?...ta.

[Dan Salter]

Thanks for that John...

Hmmm...now im not sure what i saw! ha ha...i head it singing but it was competing with the nightingale so not sure how bland it was?

[Gaina]

Oh my goodness, I have had the week of all weeks as far as birds go!

I was just in my garden collecting leaves for an art assignment when something glided over the garden. I looked up to see A RED KITE!

I shouted for Mum to get my cameras and tried desperately to get the video camera fired up as she soared gently over my head (the Kite, not my Mum - now that would have been news-worthy! LOL).

As is sods laws' wont, my camera was slow to fire up and I just caught her as she disappeared over the hill. I am 95% certain I saw a male just south-east of her too, heading in the same direction.

I will see if I can salvage some of the footage but I'm not optimistic.

I'm calling it 'Her' because she was BIG. Having seen both wild males and females in Germany I am pretty certain it was a female. Gigrin farm is only 108 miles from my house so it's feasible she came from there.

I hope she'll be back **fingers crossed**.

[aeshna5]

Should have gone to Dorset today but changed my mind because of dismal weather, so was in the garden early morning in the pond scooping up duckweed + putting tadpoles back in, when a call made me look up when I saw 2 Hobbies chasing each other + then joined up with a third bird. Always great to see them + they usually breed locally.

[John]

Hi Neil

Funnily enough I was going to Dorset as well and changed my mind at the last minute.

In a way I wish I hadn't as there was a Mega bird at Portland (which is where I was going).

Instead I did Beds, Cambs, Suffolk & Norfolk and did a huge amount of walking but because of the lousy weather (I got soaked at Lakenheath) I couldn't do any decent photography.

Ultimately my bird of the day was a pair of Red-footed Falcons but there was no point trying to get a photo as the nearest you could get to them was a mile away.

Anyway, considering you had three Hobbies over your head I thought it would be opportunistic to post a Digiscoped image of one I took in Bedfordshire yesterday. All the usual excuses for a bad photo. Distance, bad weather etc, etc.


John

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Should have gone to Dorset today but changed my mind because of dismal weather, so was in the garden early morning in the pond scooping up duckweed + putting tadpoles back in, when a call made me look up when I saw 2 Hobbies chasing each other + then joined up with a third bird. Always great to see them + they usually breed locally.

[aeshna5]

Nice photo of a Hobby, John. We had a quiet day visiting country park at the end of our road + again had a pair of Hobbies above us. Along with Sparrowhawk + Kestrel not bad for suburban London.

[sleipnerofasgard]

My bird for today was a very accomodating reed warbler

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by sleipnerofasgard

My bird for today was a very accomodating reed warbler

Couple of Great Reed Warbler shots. They aren't the easiest to photograph. These are certainly good enough for the main gallery.
Roger

[sleipnerofasgard]

Thanks Roger ,i have been attempting to put a few of my shots into the gallery with some success so this is next on the list