Category Archives: birds

Rook pair-bonding behaviour

18 Tuesday Feb 2025

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I’d read, on the British Trust for Ornithology website, that ‘Rook pairs spend a lot of time close together, feeding one another, displaying and vocalising together and preening’, but had never seen that behaviour until last Sunday when I stood watching eight Rooks grazing a horse field.

As you will see in my short video clip, one bird ‘bows’ to the other, while splaying out its tail feathers, then its mate feeds it. What a privilege it was to witness this pair-bonding behaviour.

Scurrying Turnstones

15 Saturday Feb 2025

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As is often the case, I heard them before I saw them, a huddle of perhaps 20 Turnstones, busily scurrying back and forth, flicking their way through the most recent piles of seaweed deposited by the outgoing tide and hooking their beaks beneath the smaller stones to find the delicacies hidden beneath.

Though my video only catches the distant sound of the waves, I could hear two other, different types of sound: as well as the clinking of the stones, the birds were also chattering to themselves and each other. I wondered what they were saying: ‘Look what I’ve found’; ‘This one’s juicy’; ‘That’s mine’; ‘It’s a good feast today’; ‘I saw that first’?

As walkers passed by with their dogs, completely oblivious to the delightful gathering just a few feet below their path, I paused to watch and enjoy these glorious little shore birds going about their daily business.

One-eyed

10 Monday Feb 2025

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Magpies are beautiful birds and I am often guilty of overlooking them so, when this bird posed nicely on a nearby branch, I admired it and took some photos.

It was only when the bird turned its head that I realised it had somehow lost an eye, Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be affecting its ability to fly or feed and, as a second Magpie was hovering in the trees very nearby, I presume it had also been successful at finding a mate.

My latest bogey bird

08 Saturday Feb 2025

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The Water rail used to be my bogey bird but, once my sightings of that beautiful skulker increased, the bogey bird title passed to the Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). I’ve continued to look for one, several times thought I’ve found one, only to work out for myself or be told by birders more skilled than me that I’ve been wrong.

That same thing happened with this bird: when I posted photos online, no one stepped up to proffer an opinion and the one birder who was prompted by someone else to give his judgment decided it wasn’t a Yellow-legged gull.

So, you can imagine how very delighted I was when I received a message from our county bird recorder that he was happy to accept it as a Yellow-leg. As he wrote, the bird shows: ‘uppers mid grey (darker than Herring [gull], paler than LBBG [Lesser black-backed gull]), large size, and [in this case, quite pale] yellow legs all consistent.’ And those features are precisely why these birds can be tricky to identify – unless you have all three gull species standing side by side, the colour ‘mid-grey’ can be difficult to determine, as can the gull’s size. I was fortunate than my Yellow-legged gull was standing next to a Lesser black-backed gull as that made the comparison a little easier. Now to find another!

A Jay day

05 Wednesday Feb 2025

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I was going to write about a different bird today but during this morning’s walk in central Cardiff I was approached by a young man who, on seeing me staring at a bush, camera in hand, very politely asked if I might know the name of the bird he’d just seen.

‘It was a bronzey pink with fluorescent blue in its wings. It looked amazing!’ The mention of bronze confused me but, when, together, we retraced his steps and spotted the bird, it was, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, a Jay.

He had never seen one before, which surprised me, but we had a lovely conversation and I know he will be looking for more Jays during his daily walks from the student halls to the university buildings and back. And that makes me very happy!

Jays have proved very frequent, more confiding and visible during our recent cold weather, a treat I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and taken advantage of with my camera, so the photos here were taken over several days.

Double trouble

01 Saturday Feb 2025

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This was really funny to watch though, after a while, I began to feel guilty for laughing at the poor little Blue tit because it was getting more and more agitated about that other Blue tit in the mirror.

Birds, of course, don’t understand the concept of a mirror or reflective surface, so think they are seeing another bird that has invaded their territory and try to chase it away.

In case you haven’t seen one of these mirrors before, they can be attached to a post opposite the entrance to someone’s driveway so they can more easily see approaching traffic when trying to exit their property.

Foraging Common sandpiper

29 Wednesday Jan 2025

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In recent years we have been fortunate to have had one or two Common sandpipers overwintering around the edges of Cardiff Bay so I see these stunning little birds on a regular basis, and they never fail to delight me with their scurrying and bobbing as they forage for food amongst the stones and along the water’s edge.

Yesterday, I watched this little one for quite some time and, as it was unaware of my presence, was able to make a short video of its behaviour. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did at the time.

Creeping ever skywards

28 Tuesday Jan 2025

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Treecreepers frequently elude me so it has been wonderful this month to have had the privilege of seeing several, and those at a variety of locations, though always in the wooded areas they call home.

I’m lucky that my hearing is still reasonably good so I can hear their tinkling call. Sometimes that is what alerts me to their presence; other times it’s a fleeting movement in my peripheral vision as they flit from the top of one tree trunk to the bottom of another, or from a high branch to a lower one.

Even then they can be difficult to spot; though their bellies are bright white, the variegated browns on their backs make for good camouflage, and they seem always to spiral as they climb, frequently disappearing from view. Given these challenges, I feel very lucky to have captured several reasonable photos of these beautiful little birds.

Nest excavation

25 Saturday Jan 2025

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Usually, when birds’ brains turn to breeding, they begin building their nests but not the Nuthatch. These birds raise their young in holes in tree trunks so they need to excavate their nests. Rather than dig out the entire hole on their own, they sometimes take advantage of a natural hole in the wood, perhaps where a branch had broken off, or, more often, they use a hole that has previously been used by a woodpecker.

Still, some remodelling or, at the very least, a good clear out would probably be necessary, and that’s exactly what I spotted this particular Nuthatch doing at Forest Farm earlier this week. It would dive inside, disappearing completely for a minute or so, then its head would appear, and it would give itself a good shake to release the tiny bits of wood it had excavated with its sharp beak. This went on for quite a while until a well-meaning woman came along and sprinkled some seeds on a nearby branch. That brought in several small birds and, when it realised food was on offer, the Nuthatch quickly became distracted. Still, I’m sure it will return to the nest hole, and I’ll certainly be checking out this location on future visits, keeping an eye out for signs the nest contains chicks.