For WHO's birders

[Nurse Ratched]

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

[lab]

"Surface agent ,gph, I just think it’s unfair as corvids around town don’t have a predator and nature gets un balanced , I’m so sad there are not the garden birds around there used to be . I’m lucky enough to drive to the countryside where corvids are controlled. So much more bird song . Such an abundance of birds . It seems so much like what I used to remember . For this I thank game kept estates ."

[lab]

"Surface agent ,gph, I just think it’s unfair as corvids around town don’t have a predator and nature gets un balanced , I’m so sad there are not the garden birds around there used to be . I’m lucky enough to drive to the countryside where corvids are controlled. So much more bird song . Such an abundance of birds . It seems so much like what I used to remember . For this I thank game kept estates ."

[WHU(Exeter)]

"Nurse, just seen your post about the smaller birds and now eating from inside. That is absolutely brilliant, really envious. Had exactly the same problem years ago, lots of little birds of all varieties used to use it, loads of different tits, robins and blackcaps now and again as well. Then some magpies nested near and thought ""well that's that"", but the magpies were surprisingly 'decent' with the smaller ones, didn't bully etc and they'd just have their fill and eat it. They used to let grapes stay there as well after they'd learnt that it was better to eat the grapes when they'd been in the sun for a few days. (I think they used to get off their heads on them). A blackbird used to sit at the bottom of it and occasionally pick up some of the food that had fallen from the feeding table. Once saw it do it and the female blackbird appeared from nowhere and had a right pop at it, it was like ""Iwe're not eating that shit...go get me proper worms""!!! All of that ended when 3 or 4 wood pigeons comeletely took over and the galore of different visitors and sights each day was replaced by them 3 sitting on the bird table for 10 hour stretches and shitting all over it once they'd stuffed their faces. It wasn't really the same again and certainly no contender for a quick slot on spring watch. The wind snapped the feeder in half and we all had to move on. Yours has a much better ending!"

[gph]

"lab -WE'RE absolutely ruthless about our food, too. Even if most of us* keep the gorier bits of the process at arm's length. *Me included"

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"lab I used to have a tit box on the side of my house. I thought it would be nice for the little-uns to see the birdies come and go. Lots of my neighbours did the same. Sadly, blue tits all seem to fledge at the same time, so one day a year, they teeter, one by one, to the hole in the box, take a look around and plummet to the ground (usually). It's like the killing fields and for the cats and magpies it's Christmas, birthday, bar-Mitzvah, first confirmation and golden wedding all rolled into one, as they swoop upon the helpless slow learners. There seem to be a zillion chicks hatched though, so it's all part of life's rich tapestry. And magpies (and jays) gotta eat, too."

[Fo the Communist]

"It's been mentioned on the TV thread but My Octopus Teacher on Netflix is a very good watch for anyone with a brain, a soul, and an affinity for the natural world. And well done Nursey - taking twitching to an insanely enjoyable level. I'm envious."

[lab]

"Jays are very handsome birds,however like other corvids they are ruthless. I saw a pair pick off an entire group of young blue tits about five minutes after they left a bird box , not as bad as magpies though . I pull my hair out where I live ,so many garden birds have vanished . Between cats and magpies nesting birds struggle . Lucky if I see a blackbird these days ."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"Elephants, which, as we know, never forget, are in - dogs and cats not."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"Only ten animals have been proved to be self-aware. Chimpanzees, bonobos and the higher primates and whales are among the more obvious candidates. More surprising is the European magpie."

[gph]

"Octopuses are solitary, but their relatives, squid and cuttlefish are more social. There's footage of a two-faced male squid swimming between another male and a female. The male-facing half of the one in the middle displays skin patterning which says fuck off, the female-facing half shows ""I love you"" patterning. Shame I didn't post it when I found it, as I can't be arsed to find it again."

[zebthecat]

Octupuses are up there too which is pretty amazing given their short life spans. They are great at problem solving and decorate their dens like corvids. Certainly above dogs and cats at those and up with the primates.

[gph]

"Jays vs wasps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghuFd21MmGI American jays, that is. European jays are more closely related to magpies than to American jays. Anyway, the jays win."

[gph]

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H59GcPgXXv4 Much shorter video on bird brains - although a pigeon's brain is the size of a peanut, and other birds don't have much bigger ones, some birds have as many neurons as monkeys. Crows can answer questions about what they have seen - at least ""sort of"" - pointing at proper consciousness, which puts them in quite an elite group of animals."

[Crassus]

"Wonderful fred - top work Nurse and Soldo I can relate to my French mate, Sid the swan, hissy young cob that became my mate A year later, the bugger remembered me and my call, replete with his 'wife' and offspring Bloody bird was more akin to Jack Russel than a water bird when I called him Covid has stopped two visits now,but I would bet that he would recall the mad Englishman who hand fees him when I can get back"

[zebthecat]

I know. There is a pair that usually hang out in the oak trees over the back of my garden and I just get tantalising glimpses. About a month ago I was doing the washing up and one landed on the log store which is next to my kitchen window. We looked at each other for about a second before it shot off. Those eyes make them look permanently startled and I find that amusing.

[Nurse Ratched]

Zeb - they have bright blue eyes!

[zebthecat]

I have found that the local birds are far too savvy for my cat. It is probably a safety in numbers thing. As soon my cat goes into the front or back garden the Robins and Sparrows kick off with the alarm calls and I swear that all the others are listening in. Currently have Starlings with their fledgelings. The fledgelings stay in the trees while the parents root about for food. Again it is a numbers game as there are dozens of them. The chimney Jackdaws are a bit late to the party as the chicks are still in the nest. It is cool to hear them from the chimney vent in the living room and chicks' voices are getting deeper as the days progress. Just hoping I get to them fledge again this year. Jays are beautiful animals - You are so lucky to see one that close up Nurse.

[Darby_]

"Link to daughter and geese, Soldo?"

[blueeyed.handsomeman]

anyhow does anyone own a cat licenciously abridged

[blueeyed.handsomeman]

its not you being stoopid NR its about you aiming to save yourwhiskas just for yourselves

[gph]

"Admit it - you're scriptwriting the next generation of Tom and Jerry, and want to create new material by seeing what happens..."

[Nurse Ratched]

"I haven't owned any cats for well over 25 years. Do you think I'd be so stupid as to lure birds into my house, or even my garden, if I had a cat?"

[Nurse Ratched]

"I haven't owned any cats for well over 25 years. Do you think I'd be so stupid as to lure birds into my house, or even my garden, if I had a cat?"

[Hammer and Pickle]

That’s nice love - what happened to the cats?

[Northern Sold]

"Popped down to see my daughter at Reading uni’ a few weeks ago… she has had a massively tough time in her first year but one of her solaces that has got her through the madness has been her Geese… her digs are about 20 min walk from the Thames so she has been going down there every day… and has befriended basically a load of Canadian, Graylag’s and a family of Egyptian Geese… quite remarkable to see her walk down to the River and give a whistle to see her being surrounded by 40 odd geese… all you can feed from the hand… and the young Egyptians are more tame than my budgies… it’s like viewing some sort of fucked up Bird woman on the steps of St pauls in Mary Poppins…. Feed the Geese… tuppence a baaaaaag…."