Wildlife in the garden - Spring and what is this bird?

[Focalplane]

Some amazing photos on this thread. I just remembered a photo I took back in 2005 on the Galveston Bolivar car ferry, Texas. As usual the local Laughing Gulls were looking for food and someone nearby held up a saltine cracker. I caught moment of the gull taking the cracker. An absolute fluke in timing.

 

[Arun Sharma]

Once felt something like a punch to the side of my face getting off a train at Cardiff Queen Street one lunchtime. Looked around ready to deck the assailant only to see a huge seagull flying off with my lunch.

True story

Happens in Carnarvon as well. The local chippy has a sign saying essentially, "Don't blame us if the gulls steal you lunch when eating outside".

 

[Brian T]

Walked into the kitchen earlier this afternoon to be greeted with a right racket coming from outside the back door,and expecting to see a neighbour hood cat stalking the bird feeders,was supprised to find this motley crew making all the noise....



Now i`m not entirely sure what they are,but for youg birds they were quite big.
So i`m thinking perhaps magpies?.

And then whilst watching the above from the back door,this little fellow decided to vist too..
a young robin....

if it had got any closer i`d have been able to feed it from my hand!. (glad it was`nt a seagull)

Brian.

 

[Bristol_Rich]

Not a magpie (or at least I don’t think it is)… this is one I had in my garden recently

 

[Ressaldar]

That look like young starlings to me.

regards

Mike

 

[oldravendale]

I wondered about young woodpeckers but as I've never seen a baby woodpecker to my knowledge I'd be uncertain about that. We've had baby starlings in the lounge (as you do - they seem to find chimneys attractive) and although it was a long time ago I don't remember them looking like this.....

However, as 'er indoors likes to remind me I may not be right. (I know I'm never wrong but may just accept that I'm not necessarily right).

We've had visitations from some day flying moths which, although not uncommon by todays standards of uncommon are nonetheless spectacular. Neither are large, about 10mm across, but the colours are amazing.

This one's a scarlet tiger the caterpillar of which lives on many meadow flowers. I'm quite surprised that we've not seen this previously. I saw the first a week ago and since then have seen another two in our garden. Or perhaps we've just not noticed them previously. Looking at the colours, though, I reckon that's unlikely.

As long as they don't eat my frog, toad and newt tadpoles they are welcome!



This one's a cinnabar moth. The caterpillars live on poisonous ragwort and groundsel, the former of which should be removed from fields on sight as they'll kill cattle if they eat them and I've not seen any around us (ragwort, not cattle). Nevertheless there must be some somewhere!



Brian

 

[Brian T]

That look like young starlings to me.

regards

Mike

Must pay a bit more attention next time!.

As this would make these the second brood this year...

Cheers Mike
Brian.

 

[daifly]

The caterpillars live on poisonous ragwort and groundsel, the former of which should be removed from fields on sight as they'll kill cattle if they eat them

I believe that ragwort is a bigger problem for horses rather than cattle; sheep less so as they are selective grazers.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Walked into the kitchen earlier this afternoon to be greeted with a right racket coming from outside the back door,and expecting to see a neighbour hood cat stalking the bird feeders,was supprised to find this motley crew making all the noise....


Brian.

Young Starlings, they flock together as young birds once independent, very noisy. They don't get their spots until first autumn/winter.
We get them each year, the wife refers to them as noisy school kids of the bird world.

Col.

 

[Ressaldar]

Seen from through the kitchen window last night at 20.50 hours



parent and child, obviously dashed out for a quick feed during half time! The parent bird appeared to be sitting on one leg for the whole time that we were watching, well over five minutes.

regards

Mike

 

[oldravendale]

I believe that ragwort is a bigger problem for horses rather than cattle; sheep less so as they are selective grazers.

In general ragwort is a problem for both cattle and horses and causes liver failure. It's usually avoided by them as it has, apparently, a bitter taste which they don't enjoy. However, if it is mown and ends up in hay or silage it becomes part of the "mix" which is then eaten and that's usually the origin of the problem.

This in turn suggests that ragwort at the edges of fields which many farmers leave wild is probably unlikely to be an issue. However, ragwort among the grasses in a field being cut for hay and silage must be removed or the livestock will suffer.

Brian

 

[Osgood]

… this is one I had in my garden recently

Is that one of the Liver Birds?

 

[simond]

Nah, not wet, nor clutching a bit of seaweed…

 

[SimonT]

It's that time of year when our woodpecker dad teaches his chicks to do this. This is a chick with the red cap. After the moult, due in a few months, the cap will go and the males will get a red patch on the back of the neck; the females will have no red on the head.

This is one of three chicks cleared solo at the beginning of the week.
The instruction technique is Dad arrives with a chick and parks the chick on a rose arbour that is a couple of feet away. Dad goes on the pecker and takes some peanut to feed the chick. This continues for a couple of cycles until the chick gets the idea of joining Dad on the pecker. Sometimes it doesn't quite go to plan.


This was this year's chick no.2 thinking the big patio brolly is a tree full of food. There are now a number of holes in the brolly that Present Mrs T doesn't know about. Dad uses his beak in the manner of an Edwardian school teacher's cane.

As to juvenille starlings, they will shortly disappear from 'domestic' Britain and gather in the high places in England and Wales. We have a group of around 20 that have already gathered to feed on the hillside behind us (lots of sheep = lots of poo = lots of insects and grubs). By winter they will number in the thousands and most days they gather before dusk in one of our fields (thankfully they roost in a neighbouring valley). The murmurations are magnificent and get the attention of the Perergines.

Simon

 

[oldravendale]

Last year, while breakfasting in the garden under our brolly in June, a bat flew in and hung on the struts. Of course, as soon as I went for a camera the thing flew away. Can't tell you what species it was, though.

Neighbours found one on their lounge carpet last week. They put it in a box for a sleep and it flew away the following night.

Brian

 

[Big Train James]

I have a multitude of different creatures passing through the yard on a regular basis, especially now that I've put up several feeders and a bath. I've gotten lots of crappy cell phone pictures to date, but all of a sudden my brain turned back on and I got out the real camera and a chair, sat for a spell, and caught some of the activity.

Blue Jays








What I believe to be a Chipping Sparrow, sparrows are tricky at time to identify correctly, plus I have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm happy to be corrected.


And lastly what I have decided is a female Brown-Headed Cowbird. I'm going with the beak I.D. .






I would still like to catch some photos of the cardinals, house finches, goldfinches, and woodpeckers. All in due time I suppose. I also just had an Oriole fly through the backyard the other day, much to my surprise. I've not seen them here before. I need to get a grape jelly feeder to lure them back.

In the meantime I should work on my reflexes, it's hard to be quick enough sometimes to catch them in time for a decent shot, especially at long zoom lengths. I've deleted a lot of photos of empty sky, empty bushes, and empty grassy spots! I can only imagine the cost of wildlife photography back in the film age.

 

[Big Train James]

Here is another semi-regular visitor to the yard.





The deer live in the ravine across the road, or in some of the neighboring forested areas, and wander out periodically to sample the local fare. This one in particular is a female that has been in the area for years. She's easy to identify because she has a lame back right ankle (do deer have ankles?), so she moves with a limp. At the right time of year, she will come up into the yard with her fawns, which is pretty awesome to see.

It used to be that they liked to munch on the hedge along the wall out front, which suits me just fine, but lately seem more interested in consuming things that aren't meant for them. I have to spray all my beds with stinky poo-poo repellent spray to discourage them from eating the hydrangea and azalea and heuchera and sedum and phlox and weigelia and on and on and on. They even eat the things they aren't supposed to like. And as evidenced by the video still, they have a propensity for emptying out my feeders as well. She's just finished clearing the one in the picture. It's frustrating, because the only way to prevent it happening is to take the feeder down in the evening. But the birds have been active on it in the evenings as well, so I want to leave it up for them. It's hard to be mad though, it's wonderful to get to see things like this close up. Besides, the squirrels and chipmunks probably eat more bird seed than she does, and the deer are a lot more interesting to witness.

 

[Focalplane]

James, lovely Blue Jay photos. But be careful, they can attack humans. We were out cycling in Houston and stopped in a small park for a rest. Too close to a nest, perhaps, because a Blue Jay attacked my wife’s head with diligence. Fortunately she was still wearing her cycling helmet. A close relative of the Blue Jay is the Mexican Jay, which loves to prey on hikers’ picnic areas in Big Bend National Park. To be so tame in a true wilderness is remarkable.

 

[Focalplane]

Now we can leave the back garden, here is a rather magnificent bird, Fregata magnificens, or the Magnificent Frigatebird.



If I remember correctly, the ratio of wingspan to length is higher than any other bird species. Photographed over Cayman Brac quite a few years ago, these birds spend very little time on terra firma.

 

[Focalplane]

One of my favourite birds, the Least Tern, not to be confused with Europe's Little Tern. Once very common on Texas beaches the birds unfortunately nest on the ground and many chicks are lost to predators and beachcombers. Their courting ritual is delightful, the female stands on the beach facing the wind. The male brings a small fish as a present and sidles up behind her. She may or may not think it worthy of her, so he goes off fishing again until she is finally impressed! This one impressed me!





Photographed at Surfside, Texas.