Pied Wagtail Mystery .....

Ditch

One thing about these birds that's been a mystery to me, for years, has been where the bloody hell they've nested!

Honestly; Four years I've watched my resident pair like an obsessive hawk. I've watched them out of the corner of my eye. I've watched them through a window. I've even ~ honest to god! ~ got up on the bloody roof and tried to spy on them!

I'm completely and utterly determined to find their nest, one of these years. It's become a total obsession now. I want to record it, for the BTO NRS, see? Make a nice change from all these swallows :rolleyes:

These birds are so crafty though! They'll hang about, walking up and down near that nest site. Me standing around, pretending not to be watching.

Then, I sneeze. My eyes automatically slam shut for a split second and boosh! The bugger's vanished! Shot into that slyly hidden nest the moment it couldn't see my eyes.

Last year was simply taking the rise! Having hunted them high and low all summer, I had them down as somewhere amongst the junk on the loft roof in my cow shed.

In fact, so confident was I, I actually let it ride for a day or two before bothering to clamber up there and begin a pains taking finger tip search.

Nuffn!!! :eek: Couldn't believe it! They'd been stalking about on the top corner of that shed for a month and more. Had to be in there!

Then, quite by chance, as I happened to be reaching up for something in there, I spotted movement. Now this is just plain cruel! I've got up to a safe vantage point from where I can observe the nest without disturbing the two young birds I can see.

And, even as I've sat there watching, one after the other they've walked into the light and flew! I'd finally found their nest in the last couple of minutes before the last of their young left it

To put this into context; The NRS need us to make a strict minimum of Two visits to a nest. " 15:00. Two fully fledged young present. " Then, " 15:10. Nest empty. Two young seen close by. " doesn't really cut it

Of course, ye might well ask why I don't just put up a nest box for them. Make them come to me? Well, yes .....

Only thing is, see; The NRS has so many members reporting on their Blue Tit Boxes and so forth, they're now actively trying to encourage us to get off our bums, get out there and start finding 'Open' nests. Natural sites, see?

As an aside; The Pied Wagtail, in england, is known as the " Gypsy Bird ". There's an old saying to the effect that where ye find one, ye'll find the other. Fitting then that I should have mine here, pecking about by my Pot Cart

And it's this pecking about that's bugging me. See, one of my pair turns up, most days, right outside this window I'm sat at. And he picks about on the ground out there.

Now, that part of my compound is tarmacked. What's more, I chain one of my Dogs out there. And his constant running around and the chain sweeping along with him has pushed off all the loose chippings. Now it's down to the under layer. Basically then, it's like rock out there.

And this wagtail comes along and picks at it ....? He does this maybe around noon or so. I mention that because I feed my Dogs at 17:00. I feed them on their chains and I feed them lumps of raw flesh and bone. Then I bring them in for the night.

Wondering; Might it be possible that there are still microscopic traces of meat on that ground? My Dogs eat every scrap of their dinners. I don't see them spitting any out for the wagtail to find. And it rained last night.

But, if not; What then? What compels an insectivorous bird to regularly come round picking at a bare, hard, stony surface? I thought grit? But, it's just to bare out there. Dunno. What ye reckon ....?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Wow, that covered a lot of ground.

Pied Wagtails nest in holes in walls or buildings, or use old nests of larger birds. I'd come across maybe one every couple of years. They have a wide range so may not nest near your house at all.

As for pecking on the ground. There are many very minute insects that you or I may not notivce but the Pied will. They also quarter any area in search for food so may just look on your driveway as any other piece of ground.

Half-cocked

A pair nested in the suspension of my Dads old VW Beetle years ago.

Mothman

I had a pair that nested on the ground in my polytunnel. I really thought that was daft.
Not only on ground but in 30-40C...Also in buildings on top of walls which seems better.

recedite

I have seen them before teasing dogs; they prance around the yard in front of a dog, then fly onto a roof when they get chased. Food doesn't seem to come into it. Might be an inbuilt response to try to lure predators away from the nesting area.

lolie

we had a pair last year who nested on the back axel on the tractor
between the back wheel and mudgaurd. once the tractor was started she flew of but returned when the tractor did. shortly after the chicks hatched we needed the tractor for the bog so they had no choice to go for a 3 hour spin 3 or 4 times in all. we decided then we'd switch the tractor with the the old tractor(not working) and put the nest in it. checked a few hours later and mammy wagtail was back on the nest so all worked out well

snowstreams

I found a pair nesting under an empty bag of cement & bits of kingspan in my parents extension while it was getting built. We postponed the building work for 2wks till the chicks fledged. Have seen that pair back again nesting somewhere the following years, but cant find a nest now!

Ditch

I'm a passed master at finding old pied wag nests! Found a few on my own land. Even find them when just mooching about elsewhere. Just never yet found an active one to record though.

On the ground? Yep. In my horses pen. This place was abandoned for years before I moved in. One of the first things I did was shift some metal bits and pieces left to form a sort of tee pee in the corner of the pen. Waggies nest :rolleyes:

Ditch

How's this for a mad nest? Discovered during a spot of 'Urban Exploring' ~ although this was totally rural. This property's also been abandoned for over five years now. So, it's completely undisturbed there, as a rule.

It's not the best quality of photo. Sadly, I just haven't got the command of this latest camera that I've had with others. Tends to over expose, by flash, in low light conditions. And, yes; I was sneaking around like some burgler in the twilight this time

Anyway; 'Classic' bit of Pied Wag' mentality. Built a nest in a loop of old chains! Damn these birds!

Heavy Metal Pied