The Hide (chat thread)

magicbastarder

blackbird egg, possibly. any indication of size?

Eddie B

Might be Song Trush

fryup

magicbastarder wrote: »

blackbird egg, possibly. any indication of size?

cadbury creme egg size (seriously)

Tiercel Dave

magicbastarder wrote: »

blackbird egg, possibly. any indication of size?

Blackbird has brown specks/blotches, I think Eddie is right with Song Thrush.....

Tiercel Dave

fryup wrote: »

cadbury creme egg size (seriously)

I thought Song Thrush but if it's that big I'd go for Jackdaw.....

fryup

that big?? creme eggs are small

yes i concur on song thrush

Tiercel Dave

fryup wrote: »

that big?? creme eggs are small

yes i concur on song thrush

Our 'birds' must lay the bigger size in the west.....

fryup

^^ Not Actual Size

magicbastarder

this is both simple and brilliant:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/01/not-just-weeds-how-rebel-botanists-are-using-graffiti-to-name-forgotten-flora-aoe

Sephiroth_dude

I saw the cutest little bird this morning in one of my mam's hedges, it was black and white on its head with a red forehead, white underbelly with tints of brown, any ideas what it was? it was so tiny, a bit bigger than a robin though.

black forest

Might be an european goldfinch.🤔😉

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_goldfinch

Sephiroth_dude

black forest wrote: »

Might be an european goldfinch.🤔😉

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_goldfinch

Very similar BF !

Will starlings be fledging soon does anyone know?

I’m an animal lover but there’s a large clutch of starlings in the eaves of an empty house next door and I’m nearing the end of my tether being woken up by their incessant screeching and scraping on the gutters for weeks now!

magicbastarder

three weeks from hatching to fledging is normal, i think.

Ah yeah it’s been about that...any day now hopefully

The Tetrarch

My two sunflower hearts feeders were empty when I looked about an hour ago. They are suspended in a metal cage a couple of metres from my little conservatory.
I filled the feeders, then spent half an hour watering my cactus plants.
As I was finishing I saw a bullfinch on the ground. A few seconds later there were two bullfinches in the cage munching on the seeds.
I seldom see bullfinches here in Blackrock, Dublin. This is I think my third sighting in about five years.
It made my day.

Sephiroth_dude

Can anyone identify the bird below? Took it today in the park, first time I pass them they were hiding in the bush and then with my next passing in the river.

Del.Monte

Grey Heron/Heron, or crane in the vernacular in some parts of the country.

Sephiroth_dude

I saw what I think was a Gold Crest down the park today, a tiny little fella with a piece of grass in its mouth and it hoping along the ground .

New Home

There was a goldcrest rummaging through leaves half a step away from me on the footpath, this would have been around February. He clearly saw me, but kept working like mad. I was there for ages watching him (like, 10 good minutes with him less than a metre away from me). He looked at me from time to time but wasn't worried, he seemed to say to me, "Look here woman, you can watch me but don't disturb me, I've work to do here, can't you see?". I went home, got back out to where he was (again, not a bother on him) and scattered some crumbled dried mealworms near him. He seemed to appreciate the gesture.

All was ok until some woman with big white runners came stomping by, making a racket, to see what I was looking at. :rolleyes:

Sephiroth_dude

This little fella got really close to me as well , we were practically walking side by side for a second , I couldn't get over how small they were

NEW WAVE

I posted photographs of the goldcrest on "Some nature pictures I took recently" section yesterday.The golldcrest paid a visit to our fish pond after nine on Saturday last and again at the same time last night. Will post later.

New Home

NEW WAVE wrote: »

I posted photographs of the goldcrest on "Some nature pictures I took recently" section yesterday.The golldcrest paid a visit to our fish pond after nine on Saturday last and again at the same time last night. Will post later.

I saw that, my jaw dropped and I kept saying "Wow!" to myself over and over again (well, the cat was here, so I can pretend I was talking to him).

I was very envious of that shot and of the birdie, but also of that "waterfall".

fryup

there was a murder on my front drive this morning...



who's the deceased? and who's the suspect?

New Home

Deceased: magpie
Culprit: Peregrine? Buzzard?

Tiercel Dave

fryup wrote: »

there was a murder on my front drive this morning...
who's the deceased? and who's the suspect?

It's a young Magpie so there are any number of suspects, a cat would be high on the list.....

fryup

the neighbour's cat was arrested this morning and taken in for questioning, she denies all charges

gzoladz

Small update on my 2 pairs of allegedly breeding sparrowhawks...the D4.1 pair has gone expectedly very quite since incubation started. This month I have only seen one bird once, last week, arriving into the nest, but given that this is now very covered and that the action was extremely fast I am not sure if it was the m or f, although I suspect the female. All going well eggs would hatch the first week of June.

For the D4.2 pair, I got the male nearly everytime I went to check (every 2 or 3 days) in the same tree until last week, and the female once last week in the same location with catch. She flew into the tree where I suspect a nest is located, but I have never seen it. For the last week, I have not seen or heard either m&f, so they may well be on eggs or moved on.

Sad to declare that any of my tolerance/compassion towards starlings has entirely evaporated - quite literally haven’t had a proper sleep in weeks with the nests in the eaves of the house next door. I’ve been able to put up with it annually for years at this stage but this year is the worst yet, several nests. Hate to blame an animal just following it’s instincts but this is torturous, feel like I’m being slowly driven insane. All of my live and let live has been exhausted. I hate them.

OpenYourEyes

Batrachotox wrote: »

Sad to declare that any of my tolerance/compassion towards starlings has entirely evaporated - quite literally haven’t had a proper sleep in weeks with the nests in the eaves of the house next door. I’ve been able to put up with it annually for years at this stage but this year is the worst yet, several nests. Hate to blame an animal just following it’s instincts but this is torturous, feel like I’m being slowly driven insane. All of my live and let live has been exhausted. I hate them.

Roughly two weeks of incubation, three weeks to raise the chicks to fledging - when you see them, check the nest is empty and block it up. You can provide Starling nestboxes somewhere else in the garden if you want the best of both worlds - i.e. not deny the starlings some nest space, but also don't want the noise etc in the house!