Bird Watching

BEAT

Here is a link that provides some info.

http://www.birdwatching.com/

Khannie

LATIN BEAT wrote:

http://aolsvc.pbs.aol.com/researchandlearn/birdwatch/

"The site you've requested (Birdwatch) has been retired from pbs.org. "

BEAT

sorry about that , thanks for letting me know.
I will try and find some new ones when I have time

axtradub12

Bird Watching in Ireland
www.birdwatchireland.ie/

& Mooney Goes Wild C/o www.rte.ie

erceefce

This is also a good site for pictures !

direct link: http://www.natuurfotoalbum.be/natuurpunt/album.php?sid=6b97591d30ef05600e29bb4619638e6d

index page: http://www.natuurfotoalbum.be

Funsterdelux

Anyone seen a buzzard lately?

boneless

Funsterdelux wrote:

Anyone seen a buzzard lately?

Was in Scotland just after the New Year... man, I was nearly fed up seeing them!!!

Saw a couple out near The Naul on a few occasions in late Jan.

Windfalcon

A bird-watching thread...I love this forum.

As I'm unfamiliar with Ireland, are there any places where peregrines frequent? I know the Cliffs of Moher boasts having falcons near the cliffs, but that's about it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Funsterdelux

Windfalcon wrote:

A bird-watching thread...I love this forum.

As I'm unfamiliar with Ireland, are there any places where peregrines frequent? I know the Cliffs of Moher boasts having falcons near the cliffs, but that's about it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Try quarries, usually disused, rock/stone ones, around cavan and westmeath.
Especially when they are nesting

boneless

Windfalcon wrote:

A bird-watching thread...I love this forum.

As I'm unfamiliar with Ireland, are there any places where peregrines frequent? I know the Cliffs of Moher boasts having falcons near the cliffs, but that's about it. Anyone have any suggestions?

I know lots of sites but I won't post them in a public forum. Unfortunatly nest robbers trawl the forums. There are though, a few pairs frequenting the centre of Dublin!!

If you want, PM me for info!!

Windfalcon

boneless wrote:

I know lots of sites but I won't post them in a public forum. Unfortunatly nest robbers trawl the forums. There are though, a few pairs frequenting the centre of Dublin!!

If you want, PM me for info!!

Thanks! I'll definitely PM you. That's awful about the nest robbers.

jmkennedyie

Secondary to Birdwatch Ireland and Mooney, I'd have to nominate the RSPB website, particularly the A-Z directory of UK birds. Many UK species don't occur in Ireland, but I think all the Irish ones do appear in the list.

Peregrine Falcon...you can see one (albeit stuffed) in a nice exhibit in the tiny nature house near the Upper Lake in Glendalough. The wildlife around there is fantastic...and protected by rangers (it's a Natural Park). Well worth a couple of visits - keep your eyes and ears open.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

boneless wrote:

I know lots of sites but I won't post them in a public forum. Unfortunatly nest robbers trawl the forums. There are though, a few pairs frequenting the centre of Dublin!!

If you want, PM me for info!!

How, irresponsible! :mad: "I won't post the sites here, but I'll PM the details to someone I don't know from Adam." Have a bit of cop on mate! There are 3 sites in my immediate area (and 2 for Buzzards) but those sites will not be disclosed to anybody not personally know to us and well trusted.

Paulw

I've only had one encounter with a falcon and here's an image

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Ireland/photo482670.htm

I've yet to manage to photograph one in the wild.

I'm just back from a holiday in Canada, and the place was very active with bald eagles. I hope to post some picts online soon.

kyle 327

Paulw wrote:

I've only had one encounter with a falcon and here's an image

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Ireland/photo482670.htm

I've yet to manage to photograph one in the wild.

I'm just back from a holiday in Canada, and the place was very active with bald eagles. I hope to post some picts online soon.

i've had a lot of encounter with falcons and hawks.
nice picture:D

photobirdirelan

Hi,
If anyone has/gets good photos of
Barn Owl,
Berwick Swan,
Carrion Crow,
Common Scoter,
Corncrake,
Eider,
Fieldfare,
Garden Warbler,
Glaucous Gull,
Golden Eagle,
Grasshopper Warbler,
Great Shearwater,
Great Skua,
Hoopoe,
Iceland Gull,
Lapland Bunting,
Light-bellied Brent Goose,
Little Grebe,
Little Gull,
Little Stint,
Long-tailed Duck,
Manx Shearwater,
Mediterranean Gull,
Pied Flycatcher,
Red Grouse,
Red-breasted Merganser,
Redstart,
Ring Ouzel,
Rock Dove,
Short-eared Owl,
Snow Bunting,
Sooty Shearwater,
Spotted Redshank,
Stock Dove,
Storm Petrel,
Twite,
Whinchat,
Wood Warbler,
Woodcock

please consider uploading them to http://www.photobirdireland.com . If it's easier to email them to info@photobirdireland.com then that would be great either. All photographs are credited.
I'm working off the list in the book "Irish Birds" by David Cabot and am missing these.

gollyitsolly

Anybody out there know when my bluetits will fledge. The parents are feeding them for about 2 weeks now?

amerden

Between 15 to 23 days depending on the food supply, as the weather has not been good lately it could go as far as the latter. Hope you spot them leaving the nest.

gollyitsolly

amerden wrote: »

Between 15 to 23 days depending on the food supply, as the weather has not been good lately it could go as far as the latter. Hope you spot them leaving the nest.

Thanks, will let you know:)

gollyitsolly

amerden wrote: »

Between 15 to 23 days depending on the food supply, as the weather has not been good lately it could go as far as the latter. Hope you spot them leaving the nest.

They flew off this morning!:) Saw 4 of them fly out of the box at 7.30. There could have been more, I,d just got up. They stayed around the garden for about an hour. AW, Im getting empty nest syndrom now:(

amerden

Must say that you were very fortunate to see them leave, have had Blue & Great tits in my boxes for some years but never lucky enough to see them fledge. I know what you mean about "Empty Nest" syndrome, you still keep looking at the boxes to see if you can see any activity, my Blue Tit box had a lot of activity over the (long) weekend, but their still feeding this morning (Tuesday), was expecting them to fledge late last week, but no, I suppose when I get back home tonight they will have left as always seem to happen.

gollyitsolly

Well I was up before 7 nearly every morning watching them and also to bring my cat in. Had to chase away a very persistent Magpie that was always in the garden. He was watching the parent birds going back and forward to the nest. Hope you get to see your "babies" fly away. Would it be ok to take the nestbox down now to have a look inside? I dont think they come back to it.

amerden

Magpie's always seem to know when the young are due to fledge, last year I had one perched on the nest box on more than one occasion, had to chase it away, they also hunt the young in the nearby trees so keep an eye out.
Looking forward to going home tonight to see if I still have tenants.
I wouldn't take the box down just yet, just in case they decide to have a second brood, very unlikely but not unknown, can you open the box where it is and have a peek in to see if there is anything that needs to be removed??, otherwise leave it until October then take it down and give it good clean out, I usually replace the old nest with some moss, also it will probably be used in the winter for roosting in, wrens often use nest boxes during the winter to roost in.

gollem_1975

hi guys,

while leaving my house yesterday evening ( it was raining quite heavily so I had my hood up and head down ) I saw something out of the corner of my eye I got a bit of a suprise.

It was a brown bird , slightly smaller than a magpie , perched on the wall which divides my driveway from the next door neighbours ( I live close to griffith avenue in Dublin 9 )

It had a hooked beak and as soon as it copped that I had seen it it flew off in between the 2 houses. it definitely had something in its "claws" , looked like a small bird .

anyway I didn't think any more of it until I got home this evening and noticed a lot of small feathers in the area around were i spotted the bird.

any ideas what this bird could be. I had a look on rspb.org.uk but didn't see anything that matched the bird I saw.

thanks,

Gollem

Hackman

gollem_1975 wrote: »

hi guys,

while leaving my house yesterday evening ( it was raining quite heavily so I had my hood up and head down ) I saw something out of the corner of my eye I got a bit of a suprise.

It was a brown bird , slightly smaller than a magpie , perched on the wall which divides my driveway from the next door neighbours ( I live close to griffith avenue in Dublin 9 )

It had a hooked beak and as soon as it copped that I had seen it it flew off in between the 2 houses. it definitely had something in its "claws" , looked like a small bird .

anyway I didn't think any more of it until I got home this evening and noticed a lot of small feathers in the area around were i spotted the bird.

any ideas what this bird could be. I had a look on rspb.org.uk but didn't see anything that matched the bird I saw.

thanks,

Gollem

It sounds like a Sparrow hawk to me.

stevensi

Thought it might be a good idea if people would like to post some sightings of birds that they have seen on this site.

Was out today around sandymount in Dublin and here is a list of what i saw

Shelduck
Mute Swan
knot
purple sandpiper
sanderling
turnstone
dunlin
curlew
black tailed godwit
oystercatcher
cormorant
great crested grebe
redshank
black headed gull
lesser black backed gull
great black backed gull
kittiwake
herring gull
common gull
black guillemot
guillemot
rock pippit
meadow pippit
brent goose
mistle thrush
redwing
blackbird
robin
chaffinch
siskin
goldfinch
goldcrest
blackcap
starling
rook
hooded crow
jackdaw
magpie
house sparrow
waxwing
wood pigeon

A really good day out despite the weather and the fact that i was pretty much in the city centre just shows you how lucky we are. The highlights for me today was the Great Crested Grebes there were about 6 of them close to the north wall and i got great views of them. Also the flock of waxwings was great to see. There were large numbers of geese feeding on the playing fields in ringsend so get down if you get a chance for some great sightings.

Rainbowsend

One flew over my house the other day, can be seen fairly regularly over Kilpedder/Newtown area especially when the skies are blue.

Hammiepeters

Rainbowsend wrote: »

One flew over my house the other day, can be seen fairly regularly over Kilpedder/Newtown area especially when the skies are blue.

Buzzards are now a common sight in this part of wicklow also. Saw a Goshawk over the Glen Of The Downs one day also. Haven't seen a red Kite yet but I'm sure they come in this way from the release area.

Jackeenboy

I was walking down the road eating a lovely sandwich today I bought in the shop, and I heard a plop as i went to bite it, it was bird $hit from overhead..Il be keeping an eye out for the little baxtards now when Im eating my lovely sandwich:mad::(

boneless

I spent the weekend in north Wales around Angelsea and Snowdonia. Buzzard paradise . Also saw kestrel, perigrine and possibly a hen harrier. I heard an owl but could not locate where in was. Had a lovely encounter with a fox too. Back to the birds- spotted a redstart. Lovely wee birds... pity we don't get that many of them here. Lots of fly catchers and swallows too. All the other usual bird were in evidence too and as I mentioned elsewhere, saw a great crested grebe too. Was also delighted to see a chough up close for the first time in ages.

I can recommend the area to any birdwatcher.

I was on an archaeology field trip so I didn't get much time to go to look for more but as I spotted so many species without really looking I am sure to go back again soon.

stevensi

Sounds like a good trip and a good variety of birds even if you were not birdwatching for the entire trip.

It always fasinates me to think that Wales is so close to us here but the variety over there seems to be better then here. Especially concerning birds of prey. I was in Wales recently enough and lost count with the number of Buzzards i saw. Also got great views of Red Kites.

Am i right in making this assumption regards variety of species across the channel or is Ireland just as good?

jmkennedyie

Yep - many more species regular in Britain than Ireland. A quick browse of the maps on rspb a-z (http://rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/a/index.asp) will help reveal all.

woodpeckers, tits, game birds, hawk, owls, even crow family has more member species regular there than here.

stevensi

Had a walk on Howth Head today and saw a good variety. Here's the list

Guillemot
Black Guillemot
Razorbill
Gannet
Fulmar
Lesser Black backed gull
Greater BB Gull
Herring Gull
Black Headed Gull
Kittiwake
Stonechat
Linnet
Wren
Blackbird
Whitethroat
Sedge Warbler
Meadow Pipit
Rock Pipit
Swift
Swallow
House Martin
Pheasant
Hooded Crow
Jackdaw
Rook
House Sparrow

A nice day out and to be honest i wasn't doing much birdwatching. Great seeing the whitethroat about in good numbers.

mysteriousvee

A-Z directory of UK birds. - Your right, this is a great site thanks for the tip. Maybe now I will be able to figure out the difference between a great/coal/blue/willow tit.

jolyn

Funsterdelux wrote: »

Anyone seen a buzzard lately?

Saw one perched on a Tree in Rathangan Kildare Sunday before Xmas a pair have nested nearby over the past few years.

stupidusername

There's a competition running through tv3's The Morning Show, viewers to send in pictures of birds in the garden. There's some really nice pictures up there, although I haven't quite managed to get through them all. They're posted in albums on the facebook page. Link: http://www.facebook.com/tv3morningshow

If anyone just wants to have a look, or add to them....

thewildlife

Funsterdelux wrote: »

Anyone seen a buzzard lately?

Check out www.biology.ie to see. They are all there on the maps. Amazing Irish wildlife site. Line none of the others! Has real time info on the distribution of species.

Rainbowsend

Regular visitors to this neck of the woods, (Wicklow) I think there is a pair of them nesting close by as they seem to be in the same place early in the morning and quite late in the evening, great to see them.

Feargal as Luimneach

For update on rare bird sighting in Ireland:
http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web
For anybody interested in twitching in Ireland this is the best site

matsy1

Heard a woodpecker in my garden yesterday in a pine tree, today I seen two young birds sitting side by side very high up in the same tree, I think (hope) they are woodpeckers too..

Mothman

matsy1 wrote: »

Heard a woodpecker in my garden yesterday in a pine tree, today I seen two young birds sitting side by side very high up in the same tree, I think (hope) they are woodpeckers too..

Is this in County Wicklow?

matsy1

Mothman wrote: »

Is this in County Wicklow?

No, its in Sutton, Dublin 13...

Judgement Day

matsy1 wrote: »

No, its in Sutton, Dublin 13...

Not many reports of sightings of Great Spotted Woodpeckers from Dublin but there was one reported in the Howth area on the 16th March 2009 according to www.irishbirding.com

matsy1

Judgement Day wrote: »

Not many reports of sightings of Great Spotted Woodpeckers from Dublin but there was one reported in the Howth area on the 16th March 2009 according to www.irishbirding.com

I definitely heard one hammering away on Sunday in the pine tree. Not sure about the young birds, there is a nest of crows up there too..

Feargal as Luimneach

matsy1 wrote: »

I definitely heard one hammering away on Sunday in the pine tree. Not sure about the young birds, there is a nest of crows up there too..

Get a photo and post it up..........

tricky D

There was a pair in my relation's back garden on Strand Road, Sutton a few (2/3) years ago. Also some around Deer Park last year.