Tag Archives: birds

The black-headed gull duo

06 Saturday Feb 2016

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Roath Park Lake, in Cardiff, last week …

160208 black headed gull song (1)

A Gull: ‘Is she still there?’
Gull Y: ‘Yep.’
A Gull: ‘What’s she doing?’
Gull Y: ‘Just pointing that black thing at us. Why do they do that?’

160208 black headed gull song (2)

A Gull; ‘I dunno. Ignoring them doesn’t seem to work either.’
Gull Y: ‘Shall we give her something to look at then?’
A Gull: ‘Righto. We could do with some practice.’
Gull Y: ‘Yeah. Let’s fly down by that tree and give her a blast of our new number.’

160208 black headed gull song (3)

A Gull: ‘The skies are alive with the sound of gull song.’
Gull Y: ‘With songs we have sung for a million years.’

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A Gull: ’The lakes fill my heart with the sound of gull song.’
Gull Y: ‘My heart wants to eat every fish it sees.’

160208 black headed gull song (5)

A Gull: ‘Well, a little appreciation would be welcome.’

Swamped with swamphens

05 Friday Feb 2016

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After reading my recent post The Moorhen, the gallinule and the pukeko, my friend Viv, who lives in Thailand, sent me this wonderful photo of their local swamphen. This is the Grey-headed swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) and Viv writes:

160205 Grey-headed swamphen

‘This was taken 4 years ago on a wetland area in a National Park down south in Songkla province. They were everywhere there striding across the water hyacinth searching for food. I have seen one Swamp hen locally, on another wetland area that borders the paddy fields but it’s not being managed and the reeds have swamped everything so spotting wildlife, especially birds, is difficult.’

One of my fellow bloggers, Theresa Green, also got in touch with details of the swamphens she saw when she lived in southern Spain. Hers were Purple Gallinules (Porphyrio porphyrio) and she has written an excellent well-illustrated blog about these birds and their antics that you can check out here.

Chatting to a nuthatch

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

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Forest Farm Nature Reserve, a few days ago …

160203 nuthatch (1)

Nuthatch: ‘Oi, you there. The lady with the camera.’
Me: ‘Well, hello to you too, nuthatch. How’re you doing today?’

160203 nuthatch (2)

Nuthatch: ‘Never mind the pleasantries. Where’re the sunflower seeds? Don’t ya know I prefer sunflower seeds?’
Me: ‘Sorry, I don’t have any seeds.’

160203 nuthatch (3)

Nuthatch: ‘Well, if you want photos, you’ve gotta pay, y’know. Is this my best side?’
Me: ‘You’re very demanding. Yes, very handsome.’

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Nuthatch: ‘Sunflower seeds or nyjer seeds are best. I’ll take this stuff if I have to but I prefer the seeds.’
Me: ‘I’ll make sure I bring payment next time. I like your bling.’

160203 nuthatch (5)

Nuthatch: ‘The bling? Well, I would’ve preferred black m’self but they don’t give you a choice, y’know.’
Me: ‘Silver goes well with your colouring. Thanks for the photos. ’Til next time.’

The moorhen, the gallinule and the pukeko

31 Sunday Jan 2016

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The British moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) looks very familiar to me as we have a similar bird in my native New Zealand, and I remember also being surprised during a visit to the Amazon jungle when I lived in Peru to see a bird I recognised from home – their purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus) looks remarkably like the New Zealand pukeko (Porphyrio melanotus melanotus). All three birds make the same high-pitched squeak and have that same cheeky strut, continuously flashing their white undertail as they sashay along, though there are some colour differences. The beaks of each are different, and the plumage of the moorhen seems much less vibrant to my eye.

160130 pukeko

New Zealand pukeko (above) & purple gallinule, from the Peruvian Amazon (below)

160130 Purple gallinule Manu

The moorhen (below) is widespread throughout Britain, second only to the mallard in the extent of its habitable range. Prior to 1954, when nest predation was made illegal, eggs were regularly taken for food – apparently they go well with bacon! The bird itself can be shot and eaten during the season, though I’m not sure how palatable their strong dark meat would be, and I really can’t imagine how anyone would want to kill or eat a bird that is so pretty and so highly entertaining.

160130 moorhen

Birding at Forest Farm

29 Friday Jan 2016

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Forest Farm Nature Reserve, just north of Cardiff, is one of my favourite places, for a wander alongside the old Glamorgan Canal, for ferreting amongst the undergrowth for fungi, for enjoying the fresh air and an invigorating walk, and for photographing the local birds. With three bird hides and numerous informal feeding places scattered throughout the reserve, it’s almost impossible not to see birds. Mostly, they’re the familiar woodland and garden birds but Forest Farm is also well known for those extremely skilful anglers, the gorgeous kingfishers.

Here are some of the more common birds I photographed yesterday.

160131 1 nuthatch

Mr Greedy, the nuthatch

160131 2 dunnock

Mr Hungry, the dunnock

160131 3 great tit

Mr Handsome, the great tit

160131 4 robin

Mr Grumpy, the robin

160131 5 great tit

Mr Scruffy, the great tit

Conversations with robins: 2

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

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Roath Park Wild Gardens, after a drenching from Storm Jonas …

160128 robin (1)

Me: ‘Hello, robin. How are you doing today?’
Robin: ‘I’m a bit hungry, lady. Do you have food for me?’

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Me: ‘No, sorry, I haven’t been to the shop to buy more birdseed yet.’
Robin: ‘Well, that’s a bit slack, especially when you expect us robins to pose for your photos.’

160128 robin (3)

Me: ‘Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I could scuff up some leaves for you. There are probably plenty of worms under there.’
Robin: ‘That would be good. Your shoes are already covered in dirt so a little more wouldn’t hurt.’

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Me: ‘It is rather muddy on these paths after all the rain that came with Storm Jonas.’
Robin: ‘It wasn’t very nice for us robins with all that wind, either. But thank you for the leaf scuffing.’

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Me: ‘I’ll leave you to fly down and look for worms, then. See you again soon.’
Robin: ‘Tra la la la la.’

Not one but three

24 Sunday Jan 2016

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I saw my first male Pochard on Roath Park Lake three weeks ago and was charmed by his handsome colours and markings. During my frequent subsequent walks around the lake, I keep seeing him and always stop to say hello and, as he comes very close to the lake edge, to take more photos. As I only ever see him on his own each time, albeit in different places around the lake, it never occurred to me that there was more than one bird … until today, when I looked more closely at my photos. Can you see the differences?

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Each of these birds – it seems there have been at least three! – has different markings on its bill, and this patterning of dark and light pigmentation on the bill is the main way to distinguish individual ducks of many species when conducting field surveys and research. So, if ducks used ID cards, they wouldn’t need finger prints or retina scans, they’d need bill prints!

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Perhaps he’s thinking, ‘Well, yes, did you really think we all looked the same?’.

Conversations with robins: 1

20 Wednesday Jan 2016

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Forest Farm Nature Reserve, a very chilly day after a heavy frost …

robin1

Me: ‘Hello, robin. You look like you’re feeling the cold today.’
Robin: ‘Yes, I could do with some food.’

robin2

Me: ‘What a little cutie, you are.’
Robin: ‘I’d look even cuter with food.’

robin3

Me: ‘I’m sorry I don’t have any food for you today.’
Robin: ‘I’ll sing if you give me food.’

robin4

Me: ‘You’re posing so nicely. Thank you for the photos.’
Robin: ‘You can pay me in food.’

robin5

Me: ‘You’re making me feel guilty that I don’t have anything for you.’
Robin: ‘Lady, FOOD!’

robin6

Me: ‘I do have a muesli bar for my lunch. Maybe you’d like some of that?’
Robin: ‘At last! Where is it?’

robin7

Me: ‘There you go. Just a few crumbs to warm you up.’
Robin: ‘Bit miserly but better than nothing.’

robin8

Me: ‘Gotta go. Nice to talk to you.’
Robin: ‘Tra la la la la!’

Trouble and strife

18 Monday Jan 2016

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It may officially be called the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) but this bird should probably be called the Global goose as it seems to have made itself at home in many countries around the world. It was originally introduced to English parklands around 1665, specifically for King Charles II to add to his wildfowl collection in St James’s Park in London, but these birds have since gone forth and multiplied to such an extent that they are frequently considered a nuisance. As well as being aggressive pursuers of the bread so many people dispense freely in parks (watch out for nips!), they also have the digestive capacity to process three times as much grass as the average sheep and the more alarming ability to poop every four minutes!

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The Canada geese at my local lake can be as entertaining as any television soap opera. This morning another male tried to muscle in on this chap’s female so, firstly, he chased the other male away (love the tongue!), then he returned to honk sternly at his wife as if she had been the cause of the trouble (note her submissive posture), and then they both glared at the other male. What a hoot!

From Goose barnacle to Barnacle goose?

17 Sunday Jan 2016

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Who could possibly believe that the Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) originated from driftwood? That was the ancient legend, that these geese were produced from the timber of fir trees that had been tossed about in the sea. The barnacle molluscs that can frequently be seen hanging from ships’ hulls were believed to be the birds’ ‘eggs’ and were named after the geese. This may seem crazy nowadays but the legend explained why these geese disappeared for months every year and were never seen breeding. The truth, of course, is that Barnacle geese usually migrate to foreign breeding grounds but our medieval ancestors weren’t to know that.

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Barnacle geese from the Arctic tundra over-winter in the north and west of Britain in huge numbers, with as many as 40,000 birds from Svalbard in Norway flocking to the Solway Firth and equally large numbers overwintering in the Scottish Hebrides and in Ireland. The geese in my photographs, however, live permanently at Roath Park Lake in Cardiff. They are friendly little birds and are happy to approach humans, pleading for food by making a noise that sounds a bit like a dog barking, though they are happiest eating leaves, roots and seeds.