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."

[Nurse Ratched]

"Yes, I'm on a bit of a high about it."

[the exile]

"Nurse, that is fabulous."

[Nurse Ratched]

"There's been a significant development. I've been a busy birder. As a result of the recent magpie and starling putsch, the robins and great tits were getting muscled out of the live mealworm action, and the very expensive live worms were getting gobbled down by the mags and starlings at a rate I can't afford. It was breaking my heart to see the robins and tits miss out and I wanted their chicks to benefit. So over the long bank holiday weekend I 'taught' the robins and great tits to come into my sitting room via the open patio door to eat from their own dish of worms. It really wasn‚Äôt that difficult. They were already showing a lot of curiosity about the inside of my house, coming onto the doorstep or the top of the open door to peer in. My robin would hitch a ride on my wheelie bin as I took it to be emptied, etc, just to 'remind' me he was about. Anyway, they are quite blas?© about my presence now and there is a constant stream of them flying in and out. They now even come in and feed from a dish on the desk while I'm sitting there working. It's close to the open door, so they feel secure. But the best part is, they are now getting their fair share because the starlings and mags (though they look in from time to time) aren't brave enough to venture inside. About half an hour ago a JAY flew onto my desk. I don't know which of us was more startled when we saw each other. He grabbed a worm and buggered off sharpish. This isn't great news, because I'm going to have to discourage him in case the mags, etc, get ideas."

[plankton]

"You don't live in Richmond, do you, Mrs Jones? :)"

[Hello Mrs. Jones]

I have a Anna's Hummingbird nest with eggs on my patio.

[gph]

"How come some birds are so intelligent when their brains are so small? It turns out the answer is miniaturisation. Just as today's laptops have more computing power than yesterday's room-sized mainframes because of the small size of their chips, bird neurons are much smaller than mammalian ones, except for primates. And even primate neurons aren't as small as bird ones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdsVRh9oKiE (If you don't want to hear about brain soup, avoid)"

[Fo the Communist]

Nurse Reckon that's wise. Breeding mealworms does look a bit mucky. Also saw my first swallow of the year earlier this evening. What a glorious time of the year spring is.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Winter’s over - they can find their own food now. Anyway, just took the brachet out to the oxbow lake (the Vistula forms these along most of its lowland course being a largely wild big river) where we heard the year’s first cuckoo and noted the plentiful swallows. The local beavers have been very active, at one point engineering convenient tunnel access to the water where the bank was deemed too steep; the beaver really is a remarkable infrastructure engineer."

[Nurse Ratched]

"Fo - I'm going to have to go back to putting out (soaked) dried mealworms because I can't afford to keep them in live ones! My birds are absolutely voracious. Crassus - the father of my kids (who likes fishing) suggested the same thing a while back. I looked into it. Birds will happily eat maggots, but apparently it's not recommended due to not knowing what the maggots are fed on, or something. I'm playing it safe."

[eswing hammer]

"Last year coz l was off like most people l was able to monitor the blue tit family in my secluded little side garden , l was able to get right close to the box and see the chicks up around the entrance and then for the first time in my life , witness them fledge , apparently the parents call them , anyway l watched as one of them left and joined the parents on next doors garage !"

[lab]

"Ted 3:41, magpies are such cunts , birds round here get devastated,I get quite tearful ."

[Fo the Communist]

"Nurse Dried mealworms aren't that expensive and I usually mix them with other food to make them go a bit further. I don't often buy live to be fair but when I do its from a pet shop (reptile food) and, yes, that is a more more expensive - about £2.50 a punnet. Breeding sounds proper hard core. Respect."

[Crassus]

"Nurse Not sure what you pay for your meal worms but I bought some dried versions recently and they were notably pricey for the amount I have a solution, go to your local tackle shop and buy a pint of maggots, stand on me, when I have been fishing and feed the birds they love them You will pay about £2.50 a pint If live maggots are not to your taste, you can also by 'deads' which are frozen Finally, if you explain to the lads what you want them for you may be able to get a regular supply of 'olds', they are what it suggests, end of a batch that are beyond saleable and the odds and sods off a riddle with casters (chrysalis) that have turned too far for fishing Oh and worms, real easy to make a wormery, I have one, get some dendrobaena worms from the tackle shop and tip them in a plastic box, with lid, non treated compost, toss in tea bags and especially cucumber and before long the buggers are breeding and producing a constant trickle of treats, cut them into little 1cm sections and the birds will be all over it"

[gph]

"First one I found. Not only is the frogmouth very owlish, it looks like I imagine Hugh Montieth does after you've owled him."

[gph]

"First one I found. Not only is the frogmouth very owlish, it looks like I imagine Hugh Montieth does after you've owled him."

[Nurse Ratched]

"Geep, given the subject, you would think they would have chosen a much better photo of the bird to illustrate the article."

[Nurse Ratched]

* en masse Turns out the Korean chap who programmed my phone's autocorrect knows as little French as he does English.

[Nurse Ratched]

"Ted, spot on about the hard-working bluetit parents. Last year was a good breeding year with a beautiful mild, long spring and all the tit species in my garden bred at least two, sometimes three clutches before the end of summer. The state of the adult bluetits in particular in July/August was pitiful. They had what looked like bald patches and the rest of their plumage was dull and shaggy. They looked completely worn out. I must say a highlight of last spring was every time the great tits and greenfinches brought their young offspring en masses to my garden to show them where to find food. What a ruckus! The cheeky little buggers would still shimmy and squeak, begging for their parents to feed them, despite being capable of feeding themselves. After a while the parents would ignore them and make them feed themselves. Anyone who's raised teenagers will relate ?üòÅ"

[gph]

Research has revealed (it hasn't really) that the tawny frogmouth is the most instagrammable bird in the world. https://asia.granthshala.com/chicken-pictures-that-researchers-say-are-most-instagramable/

[ted fenton]

Checked our garden and we have two family's of Blue Tits nesting one Blackbird and bloody Wood Pigeons ! Not yet confirmed the Robins or Hedge Sparrow. Those parents work bloody hard feeding their young especially the Tits (No pun intended) As soon as I see a Magpie I'm out there.

[Nurse Ratched]

Fo Do you buy yours or do you breed them? I'm currently buying mine online but it's so expensive. I'm thinking about breeding them.

[Fo the Communist]

"What a discourse that would be. In fairness, they go pretty mad for dead ones too."

[Nurse Ratched]

"Fo, at some point let's talk mealworm husbandry."

[Fo the Communist]

"Nurse Ratched 8:13 Wed Apr 21 Exactly the same here, Nurse. Never - or very rarely - have had starlings in the garden but had at least ten in the garden on Sunday going mad for the live mealworms. Hardly a murmuration but it kept me happy."

[Hammer and Pickle]

"It's been a cool, wettish spring and now it's warming up, the place is literally buzzing. Bees in their hordes, bumblebees, every species of butterfly, ladybirds and yesterday something I haven't seen in years: a little green caterpillar just hanging there suspended by an invisible thread lighter than air. These used to be very common in the oak woods around Frensham Ponds when I was growing up though somehow my boys did not share in my enthusiasm when whooped for joy. How spring is wasted on the youth..."