Category Archives: birds

179/366 Bob bob bobbin’

27 Saturday Jun 2020

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As the song goes …
‘When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along, along
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his old sweet song….’
~ Harry Woods, ‘When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin’ along’, 1926

200627 robin (1)200627 robin (2)

Woods was writing about an American Robin (Turdus migratorius), which is a very different bird from the British Robin (Erithacus rubecula), but the bobbing still applies. And this juvenile Robin, which is just moulting into its adult plumage, was bobbing very well for me during yesterday’s exercise walk.

200627 robin (3)200627 robin (4)

176/366 Breeding grebes

24 Wednesday Jun 2020

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Monday’s walk was a delight, my first of the new-fangled socially distanced walks with a friend. As well as each other’s good company, we enjoyed a lovely wander around part of Cardiff Bay, including the wetlands reserve. There is always an abundance of Great crested grebes in the waters around the reserve and this day we also spotted two pairs breeding.

200624 great crested grebes (1)

One pair was perhaps making a second attempt, as this is late in the season to begin their breeding cycle. While one bird brooded their single (so far) egg, the other was keeping itself busy gathering extra materials to add to the nest.

200624 great crested grebes (2)

We then noticed another pair of grebes that already had two chicks (birders commonly call them ‘humbugs’ because of their striped colouring) and, while the two little ones sheltered on one adult’s back, the other went fishing for sprats for its offspring. It was wonderful to watch them.

200624 great crested grebes (3)

175/366 Offspring

23 Tuesday Jun 2020

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As opportunity and luck have allowed, I’ve been taking photos of this year’s juvenile birds. This first photo, of one of a couple of young Pied wagtails, was taken about a month ago, on a walk alongside the River Ely. The two fledglings looked very young, quite exposed and vulnerable, and the parents were nowhere to be seen. I only saw the young birds this one time.

200623 1 juv pied wagtail

Juvenile Blackcaps look like the female of the species, which also wears a brown cap, as opposed to the black cap atop the males’ heads.

200623 2 juv blackcap

Blue tit young are very cute, following along in the trees and bushes behind their parents, constantly peeping for food and learning to forage by watching the adults as they gather tiny insects to feed their noisy offspring.

200623 3 juv blue tit

Long-tailed tit chicks are probably the cutest of the common young birds, I think. This one kept poking its head into that curly leaf below it, searching for tiny insects. Sadly, the photos I tried to capture of that were all blurry.

200623 4 juv long-tailed tit

172/366 Chicks

20 Saturday Jun 2020

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The neighbourhood Lesser black-backed gulls, presumably the same pair as last year, have bred again, amongst the chimney pots of a house over the back lane from me. I first noticed them checking out their previous nesting spot a couple of months ago – the photo below was taken on 22 March, and there was a lot of mating activity in early May (see Bonding, 4 May).

200620 1 LBB gulls 22March

The female started sitting in mid May, and I spotted the first chick on 12 June.

200620 2 chicks 12June

Now there are three chicks, the same number as this pair started off with last year, though they only managed to fledge one. I’ll keep you updated on this year’s success (or failure) rate. Fingers crossed!

200620 3 chicks 17June

163/366 A Whitethroat family

11 Thursday Jun 2020

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Another day, another family of birds, this time a family of Whitethroats that entertained me during yesterday’s walk.

200611 whitethroats (1)

I was alerted to their presence in shrubs and low trees alongside the path by the odd contact call they make, a kind of buzzing or churring ‘tzzeeet tzzeeet’.

200611 whitethroats (3)

So, I stayed still, watched and waited, and was rewarded with good views of the two adults moving frantically about in the vegetation, trying to find enough insects to feed their three hungry youngsters.

200611 whitethroats (2)

 

162/366 Jackdaw family update

10 Wednesday Jun 2020

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Though I’m someone who prides myself on my observation skills, I have to admit I’ve failed dismally with my local Jackdaw family. Do you remember I posted back at the end of March about their courtship and nest building (Dawdling, 30 March)? After that, I regularly checked their nesting spot and would see them popping in and out of the chimney pot but I never noticed any signs of them feeding chicks. Yet, a chick has now fledged, though it still seems a bit dazed by the world outside its nest.

A couple of days ago it was sitting on a window ledge of the church hall opposite my house. It sat there for ages, despite the adults trying to coax it down on to the roof below.

200610 jackdaw family (3)

Then I heard an almighty ruckus. It seemed like the entire local population of Jackdaws had descended on the hall roof, and they were all jabbering at once. Turns out a Crow had noticed the juvenile Jackdaw and was trying to get close to it, perhaps thinking it would make an easy meal.

200610 jackdaw family (4)

The young Jackdaw panicked and flew on to the hall roof but one of its parents immediately flew up next to it, and all the others started dive-bombing the Crow, which eventually gave up and flew off. Hopefully, the young Jackdaw has learnt a valuable life lesson and will stay out of harm’s way in future.

154/366 Reed bed magic

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

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I was listening to a Reed warbler singing its magical song yesterday when, surprisingly, it popped up to the top of a stem to bellow even louder. And then another bird appeared in the reeds nearby, and then two more flew in, followed quickly by yet another. As I stayed motionless, this delightful family of two adults and three fledglings flitted around in the reeds, feeding, being fed, and singing.

200602 reed warbler

After watching, spellbound, for about 5 minutes, I was just about to walk on when in flew a female Reed bunting, her beak stuffed full of moth, no doubt a snack for her offspring hidden in a nest somewhere amongst the reeds. What a magical slice of life that reed bed contains!

200602 reed bunting

144/366 Junior

23 Saturday May 2020

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This juvenile Robin was hopping along the path in front of me yesterday, busily searching for snacks, staying a few hops ahead but not too concerned about the much larger ‘wildlife’ behind it.

200523 juvenile robin (1)

Its mottled brown colouring helped to camouflage it while it was still in the nest and continues to protect it now that it’s out foraging on its own. It almost ‘disappeared’ completely when it eventually ducked into the bushes alongside the path, though I could still see its beady eye watching me.

200523 juvenile robin (2)

Juvenile Robins don’t get their distinctive red breast feathers until they’re a few months old and undergo their first moult. By that time, hopefully, they’ll be ready to fight off or rapidly flee from the territorial disputes their adult colouring might prompt.

200523 juvenile robin (3)

143/366 The des res

22 Friday May 2020

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Birds have some odd ideas about what constitutes their des res. Last year’s winner in the weirdest places to nest stakes was the Blue tit pair who’d chosen to raise their brood in a cigarette disposal unit on the wall of a public toilet block.

200522 blue tit nest

So far this year, the leading contenders are the Coal tits whose cheerily cheeping young are huddled cosily into an air ventilation duct underneath a local church.

200522 coal tit nest

136/366 Predation

15 Friday May 2020

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200515 blackbird egg

This is the one that didn’t make it. It’s a Blackbird’s egg, I think, and it looks like a hole’s been pecked in it, probably by another bird, like a Magpie or a Crow. It’s always a little sad to see things like this but it’s just the way the natural world works.