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."

[JAC]

"Saw our first green parakeets at the weekend here in Shenfield. Typical South London,loads of noise and flash cunts too.They fly very fast."

[J.Riddle]

"I was referring to feral Pigeons, which originate from racing Pigeons who get lost, exhausted or fly off to be free and have formed flocks. I agree their numbers need controling as they are prolific breeders which is part of there strength as a species having survived and populated most parts of the planet since Mesopotamia. Many countries have tried to cull their numbers by shooting, poisoning... without success as the breed more when numbers decrease. Birth control in seed failed as it also affected other less numerous birds. Their numbers are controlled by converting lofts for access and nesting and replacing their eggs with fake ones before hatching every 3 weeks. If you get close to handle them, they are beautiful with varied colouring and characters. They are vegetarians, gentle and harm no other species."

[gph]

I enjoyed it.

[gph]

"I've eaten pigeon in a salad in rural North Yorkshire. I assumed it was locally sourced, as I would not want to eat mangy London pigeons."

[Mex Martillo]

"Tom, I kind of meant the pigeon family. Here we get a lot of wood pigeons and collared doves. I’m sure they’d been good to eat, my smaller slightly wild dog loves to eat one when she gets the chance. Plenty of swift type birds here, I must try and workout what exactly they are?"

[Tomshardware]

"Mex, take it you are talking about wood pigeons? They are predated on my many birds of prey but they still seem to be everywhere in large numbers. The farmers pest. I think the swifts here have migrated, shall miss seeing and hearing them soaring around the sky especially at dusk."

[Mex Martillo]

Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem in Yellowstone https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem

[Mex Martillo]

"I don’t like pigeons. I think there are to many and they should be controlled. Seem to dominate here. Now I’m listening to their morning cooing, which is not unpleasant. But are they displacing other birds? Not enough top predators, which would be birds of prey (I’m guessing). I once read about how the reintroduction of wolf completely changed the ecosystem and improved it, controlled deer numbers and all the plants started to grow, which benefited loads of other animals and birds. Could it be the same with pigeons or am I just a pigeonist?"

[gph]

Did the other two out of ten cats prefer dead owner?

[J.Riddle]

"I’ve put some wild bird seed out filled some old paint roller trays up with fresh water daily to drink and bath and flocks of feral Pigeons are visiting. Love watching them bath then sunbathing, it’s like the local Pigeon lido. Turned the hose spray gun on and left in next to the bath trays and now their showering, fascinating."

[Nurse Ratched]

Freecycle

[Nurse Ratched]

Yes indeed. I could always offer them on Freeeycle.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"According to the law of something or other, you no more than a few acquaintances away from someone near you who owns a LIZARD or other mealworm-eating REPTILE whose animal you could BORROW to help you out with that."

[Hammer and Pickle]

"According to the law of something or other, you no more than a few acquaintances away from someone near you who owns a LIZARD or other mealworm-eating REPTILE whose animal you could BORROW to help you out with that."

[Nurse Ratched]

"Well this spring and summer has been a revelation regarding what can be done to turn a small garden in grotty London (ALL London is grotty, noisy and foul, so don't bother arguing) into a haven from the appalling, bleak, soul-destroying shitness that is urban living. In addition to visits from beautiful birds to my feeders, I have seen wonderful stuff such as robins mating; great tits bringing their fledglings en masse and witnessing the chaos as the parents scrambled to feed more than half a dozen begging, squeaking, shimmying, impatient little babies; the beautiful, stately courtship ritual of wood pigeons (they also engage in the politest fights I have ever seen between animals); and most gratifying of all, the adult birds I've been feeding are now bringing along their fledglings, so now I am MOBBED. I'm currently having to refill two large, 4-port sunflower hearts feeders EVERY DAY. I decided to up my game and buy live mealworms instead of dried. I think this is probably not the best time to offer them, now that the chick-feeding frenzy is (probably) over, but I'll get my arse in gear earlier next year, and will also get them in for winter. The tits and robins are taking them, but slowly. The mags and jays haven't noticed them yet! They've only been out for a day. However, it's been a steep learning curve, as they say. Not knowing what I was doing, really, I ordered far too many mealworms. They need a lot of space in a container, plus bedding and food. The result is, I currently have two very large plastic containers of live mealworms in a state of torpor, taking up half the available shelf space in my fridge. What a numpty."

[Lee Trundle]

I don't think so. They might have tested whether their owners thought their cats preferred it though.

[Coffee]

Do you think they ever tested whether 8 out of 10 cats really do prefer Whiskas?

[Lee Trundle]

Coffee 1:09 Fri Jul 31 Uninteresting FACT of the day is that 9 times out of 10 I'm right.

[simon.s]

"I found a fish walking along by the lea yesterday still alive which must have been dropped by a bird. Chucked it back in, hopefully it made it. Was up by Amwell nature reserve. Lot of big wig twitchers there, looking at something rare. I didn’t see it though. I would recommend a visit if you are passing that way."

[Coffee]

Uniteresting pedantry of the day: that is not a stat.

[Lee Trundle]

Shed loads of red kites where I am. On a good day I can see over 10 of them sunning themselves on the village green. Uninteresting STAT of the day is that they pretty much only eat dead animals.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Just saw a young goshawk on patrol over the house - the local breeding pair seem to have had a good season, which is great news."

[Mex Martillo]

"A mixture of Welsh, Swedish and Spanish around Maidenhead then. Their doing good according as far as I can see."

[gph]

Conservationists have been introducing Spanish and Swedish red kites to prop up the UK population. https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/red-kite/conservation/

[Mex Martillo]

"Gph, could it be correlated? When I never saw red kites, I only had one dog."