Animals and birds you used to never see...

Keplar240B · 07-02-2019 3:48pm

Seeing jays and Sparrowhawks in city garden in recent years never saw them before(in my garden)
There is a couple of Oaks trees nearby that are starting to mature/get big I think the Jays are coming for that. I seen them with acorns.

cd07 · 07-02-2019 4:42pm

CJhaughey wrote:

I caught an Almaco jack a few years back, pretty unusual for these waters, see plenty of red squirrels most weeks and have noticed a few Jays coming around they don't come much closer than 40m to the house but are easily observable. Lots of Frogs as well, I try and keep a section of ground undisturbed with long grass and wild flowers in the summer and I think this aids them as it doesn't dry out as much as mown lawn. Plenty of mature trees around also helps with cover for larger animals, I found a sika fawn grazing the edge of the drive last year. I could walk up to within 2m of it and it didn't seem shy at all.

Wow thats a catch to be proud of ! I'd say theres only yourself and maybe 1 or 2 others between Ireland and Britain that have caught an almaco. Love hearing of interesting catches like that

magicbastarder · 07-02-2019 6:59pm

Uhhh...

notobtuse · 07-02-2019 7:07pm

A rare half-male and half-female cardinal has been spotted here in Pennsylvania, USA and reported by National Geographic. Scientists are hopeful it will reproduce because it is female on the left side - and that is the side the ovaries are located.

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dywatngvsaadfg8.jpg?quality=70&strip=all&w=634&h=379&crop=1

emo72 · 07-02-2019 7:21pm

Threads gone mad!

My thoughts, jays are apparently very shy birds and hide away in forests, I might see them 4 or 5 times a year, but one day recently I saw about 5 on the same walk. They get less fussy in autumn when they are panicking trying to stockpile food for the winter. And also in spring when nesting I guess. I seen a stoat a year or 2 ago. That was a good score. Kingfishers? So bloody small and so fast I know they are right in front of me sometimes but still can't see them. You need to have an hour to sit by a river. Goldfinches, getting fierce common now, but never seen them until recently. Never seen a sparrowhawk either but buzzards all over the shop now. They were extinct here when I was growing up. My cousin seen a dormouse last year, that's a major score, I've never seen one! Nature is great lads isn't it?

Das Reich · 07-02-2019 7:36pm

I used to see many white wagtails and swifts and all I see now is corvids.

corks finest · 08-02-2019 8:34am

emo72 wrote: »

Threads gone mad!

My thoughts, jays are apparently very shy birds and hide away in forests, I might see them 4 or 5 times a year, but one day recently I saw about 5 on the same walk. They get less fussy in autumn when they are panicking trying to stockpile food for the winter. And also in spring when nesting I guess. I seen a stoat a year or 2 ago. That was a good score. Kingfishers? So bloody small and so fast I know they are right in front of me sometimes but still can't see them. You need to have an hour to sit by a river. Goldfinches, getting fierce common now, but never seen them until recently. Never seen a sparrowhawk either but buzzards all over the shop now. They were extinct here when I was growing up. My cousin seen a dormouse last year, that's a major score, I've never seen one! Nature is great lads isn't it?

Ref kingfisher- need a quiet place by a clean stream, up early- patience needed- once one is spotted on a perch , remember it , always use the same 5/6 on a 2/3 k stretch

lostboy75 · 08-02-2019 9:44am

Seen a few stoats recently. Hares are frequent visitors to our garden. The trail cam we have set up in the corner of the back garden has captured a pinemartin on a few occasions, and frequent visits from foxes.
We have 6-7 bird feeders up and get a lot of birds. Including a pheasant that must be nearly considered a permanent resident at this stage as he is so frequently seen. He doesn't seem to mind us about the place either, which is nice of him...

Markcheese · 08-02-2019 11:01am

I've yet to see a pine Martin , not sure how common they are around cork...

corks finest · 08-02-2019 7:35pm

Markcheese wrote: »

I've yet to see a pine Martin , not sure how common they are around cork...

Not common but about alright,used to live in cloughduv ,saw a few,and one near Murphy's farm walk, bishoptown

Day Lewin · 09-02-2019 9:28am

emo72 wrote: »

Threads gone mad!

. My cousin seen a dormouse last year, that's a major score, I've never seen one! Nature is great lads isn't it?

Dormice are not found in Ireland. What your cousin saw was more likely a Bank Vole.

http://www.conserveireland.com/mammals/bank-vole.php
http://www.conserveireland.com/mammals/bank-vole.php

Zorya · 09-02-2019 9:46am

Loevly to read all the accounts.

There does seem to be a great increase in wildlife. It's thrilling.
A sparrowhawk flew along the tops of electricity poles in front of me as I drove, like a game.
There are more hunting birds for sure, like Buzzards. I watched an older bigger one training a younger one to hunt.
I saw an eagle once, rise up from the ground. One of the best things that ever happened to me.
I saw a mother red squirrel last year leading her tiny weeny babies across the road - it would make you cry how pretty they are.
We are inundated with Sika deer, can hardly go for a single walk without seeing their white tails as they dart away. Sometimes the first mile of my car journey on these quiet roads is following silly little deer who won't jump into the hedge.
There is a pine martin who visits who is so huge and scary looking that it gives me the creeps.
Foxes, badgers, stoats, hares. All seem to be thriving.
There is something big or a group of somethings that has set up home in the garden recently, ruffling fallen needles and leaf under the trees. We have fairly dense tree cover in parts so it would be an ideal hiding/sleeping place. It's not a badger. It's an on-going mystery.

emo72 · 09-02-2019 10:24am

Day Lewin wrote: »

Dormice are not found in Ireland. What your cousin saw was more likely a Bank Vole.

http://www.conserveireland.com/mammals/bank-vole.php
http://www.conserveireland.com/mammals/bank-vole.php

Yes they are. He lives in Kildare where they have been sited. They are not easily mistaken.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-dormouse-makes-first-appearance-in-ireland-1.1464474%3fmode=amp

Day Lewin · 09-02-2019 10:28am

emo72 wrote: »

Yes they are. He lives in Kildare where they have been sited. They are not easily mistaken.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-dormouse-makes-first-appearance-in-ireland-1.1464474%3fmode=amp

Goodness, a new one! Amazing.

emo72 · 09-02-2019 10:29am

Day Lewin wrote: »

Goodness, a new one! Amazing.

I know yeah! It is a cute little bugger isn't it?

recedite · 12-02-2019 7:22pm

notobtuse wrote: »

A rare half-male and half-female cardinal has been spotted here in Pennsylvania, USA and reported by National Geographic. Scientists are hopeful it will reproduce because it is female on the left side - and that is the side the ovaries are located.

Yeah, but the right side is violently pecking any males that approach.

Scotty # · 23-03-2019 9:10pm

Saw my first Red Kite today. Flying over the N2 near Ashbourne, Co. Meath. I was raging it was somewhere I couldn't pull over and watch it for a while but still chuffed to spot it.

corks finest · 23-03-2019 9:20pm

Markcheese wrote: »

I've yet to see a pine Martin , not sure how common they are around cork...

Elusive , but here alright

JCJCJC · 21-11-2020 3:33pm

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/stunning-yet-rare-arctic-owl-19249620

That’s one we definitely used not to see.

corks finest · 22-11-2020 5:37pm

Markcheese wrote: »

I've yet to see a pine Martin , not sure how common they are around cork...

Saw one outside Ballygarvan of all places, one in Cloughduv years ago and in Gougane Barra alongside red squirrels

corks finest · 22-11-2020 5:39pm

Markcheese wrote: »

Not so much a never seen as a never heard (in Ireland), the Cuckoo,
I'd always thought I just hadn't recognised the sound, till I heard one once in Cornwall....

Used hear it regularly in Uam var estate ( near Murphys farm) years ago , gone now

road_high · 22-11-2020 5:45pm

Buzzards- absolutely everywhere! In the warm, dry summer weather you’d see loads of them perched along the motorway
I never used notice then before

JCJCJC · 22-11-2020 6:22pm

corks finest wrote: »

Used hear it regularly in Uam var estate ( near Murphys farm) years ago , gone now

Common enough here in West Limerick, but to be guaranteed to hear one, go to the Burren in May, up around Ballinalacken Castle. You can easily call them into sight if you can make the right sound blowing into your cupped hands. The late Éamonn de Buitléir showed me how to do it.

Markcheese · 22-11-2020 8:50pm

Was just having a walk with the kids in the woods , and they spotted a red squirrel , ( not the first time we've seen one there ) , but they've got to be getting common for my 2 to notice him , and he was doing a good bit of acrobatics - tree to tree leaps .. taking no notice of us ..

John_Rambo · 22-11-2020 10:07pm

JCJCJC wrote: »

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/stunning-yet-rare-arctic-owl-19249620

That’s one we definitely used not to see.

Amazing. Must be some flying machine or stalker to catch a black headed gull.

Animals and birds you used to never see...

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