Avian juveniles

02 Tuesday Sep 2025

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, fledglings, juvenile birds, long-tailed tit, robin, Stonechat, young birds

I feel like we haven’t had enough birds on here lately so let’s take a look at some of this year’s juveniles …

There are quite a lot of young Chiffchaffs flitting around the trees and bushes now, in the throes of making their first migration flights south for the winter, though, with the warming climate, many Chiffchiffs also now over-winter in southern parts of Britain.

This was the first juvenile Collared dove I’d ever seen and it was probably the fact that it was a juvenile that made it much less wary of this photographer’s lens than its parents would’ve been.

Though it hardly seems possible to be more adorable than an adult Long-tailed tit, I think the offspring outdo their parents in the cuteness department.

Likewise young Robins, which are even more endearing and much less feisty than the adult versions. And I do think their juvenile plumage is very attractive too.

This little one was my first juvenile Stonechat of the year, spotted last week at the local country park with an adult male. These birds will also be in the process of moving from their more northerly breeding grounds to warmer winter climes.

Hungry doves

17 Saturday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove

Usually Collared doves are easily spooked so, when I rounded the bend in a local footpath that winds between houses and saw these two on the ground in front of me, I expected them to fly off immediately. But no! Someone had sprinkled seed alongside the path and they wanted it. There was no way they were leaving until they’d consumed every tasty niblet. So, I waited, and used the opportunity to get several close photos of these grey beauties.

220917 collared doves

Nest-builders at work

04 Thursday Mar 2021

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birding, birds nesting on houses, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove, nesting birds, urban birds

I didn’t turn up any interesting birds during my woodland walk on Tuesday but, on my way home, I spotted a pair of nest-building Collared doves at work. One, perhaps the male, was flying out to collect the materials – I spotted a lot of pine needles – and the other, I’m guessing the female, was sculpting the nest, poking and prodding, sitting and twisting around to form the bowl. Now I know where they are, I’ll be keeping an eye out for chicks.

210304 nest building

Cooing doves

03 Wednesday Feb 2021

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove

Collared doves can be quite flighty I’ve found so, when I was out for a local walk recently, I was delighted to spot this pair grazing amongst the leaf litter on the pavement.

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As soon as I stopped to get my camera out of my backpack, they saw me and flew off. But I was lucky, as they had only flown across the road and were sitting on a stone wall.

210203 collared dove (2)

Using a van that was parked on that side of the road as cover, I managed to get close enough to get a few photos, then moved around the van and edged closer, very very slowly, to get more images.

210203 collared dove (3)

Happy with those shots, I then put the camera down and just enjoyed watching these beautiful creatures for some minutes, until other pedestrians walking along the street scared them off. I really value special moments like these, and I was cooing quietly to myself all the way home.

210203 collared dove (4)

36/366 Lovey-dovey

05 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove, lovely-dovey

It’s been a glorious day, with blue skies and sunshine aplenty. And everywhere I went, the birds were singing out their pleasure, announcing their availability, staking their claims on territories, and canoodling!

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In the churchyard at St Augustine’s, two pairs of Collared doves were coo-coo-cooooing from their chosen trees.

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One pair was hiding shyly in amongst the greenery but the other two were sitting on bare branches, basking in the sunshine, preening each other, and being lovey-dovey. I guess that’s where the expression comes from.

200205 collared dove (3)

127/365 The red eye

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, trees

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#365DaysWild, birding, birding out the window, birdwatching, British birds, Cherry tree, Collared dove

You all know how flash photography can sometimes make people look like they have red eyes – the effect can look quite devilish, almost evil. Well, in the case of this beautiful Collared dove, the red eyes are real and not at all devilish. I was working on my laptop when I heard the ‘coo-coo-coo’ and looked up to see the bird in the tree outside my living room window. I quickly grabbed the camera and moved slowly across the room to get a clearer shot, which is why the bird is looking at the camera, because it noticed my movement. It flew up on to the roof almost immediately but returned after a few minutes to shuffle its way around the tree looking for food.

Birding out the window: Collared doves

02 Sunday Sep 2018

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birding, birding out the window, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove, garden birds

180902 collared dove (1)

Sometimes you don’t even have to leave home to watch wildlife, even when you live in a first-floor flat with no garden. These two beautiful Collared doves were visiting the garden of a neighbour across the back lane. Although I can’t see them, this kindly person obviously has bird feeders that are always kept topped up with delicious bird treats, as quite a variety of birds visit the garden on a regular basis.

I wonder if they’re speculating about whether I also have food for them?

In a Pengam garden

05 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, bullfinch, Carrion crow, Collared dove, garden birds, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Woodpigeon

My friend Sharon has a lovely garden: an area of lawn bordered by flowers, shrubs and hedge; a separate area for growing vegies, the glasshouse and the beehives; and a lovely little bit of wild woodland at the end. It’s a paradise for birds, particularly because Sharon also has lots of feeders that she keeps stocked up with seeds of various kinds and suet blocks. As a person who lives in a first-floor flat with no garden, I just love visiting Sharon’s garden. I could sit watching the birds all day long.

180705 1 Pengam garden birds

My photos show just a few of the birds that entertained us yesterday – and these 14 species are not the only birds that visit: House sparrow, Blue tit, Great tit, Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Carrion crow, Great spotted woodpecker, Magpie, Robin, Dunnock, and Blackbird.

The Great spotted woodpeckers have been bringing their offspring to the garden this year

The Woodpigeon doesn’t look too happy about the Carrion crow being so close

A Blackbird with an odd beak

‘This is ours’, squawked the Goldfinch to the Bullfinch, but …

… the Bullfinch won out on the day!

A beautiful Collared dove

The habit of looking

03 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Collared dove, habit of looking

Someone asked me recently how you become a good birder. Well, I’m not sure I am, yet, a good birder but I was reminded of some thoughts I read in Simon Barnes’s most excellent book How to be a bad birdwatcher (Short Books, London, 2006) (which you really should read): ‘I have developed the habit of looking: when I see a bird I always look, wherever I am.’ And, in response to seeing a ‘How often do you go birdwatching?’ questionaire in a birdwatching magazine, ‘I don’t go birdwatching. I am birdwatching’ (my emphasis).

180203 Collared dove

This photograph is, I think, an example of what Simon meant. A couple of days ago I went for a wander around the local town of Barry and was at the station, waiting for my train home, when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement above me. Two birds were walking along the beams that support the platform roof. So, of course, I had to look closer to see what they were – two lovely Collared doves – and, as I had my camera in my backpack, I had to quickly grab a couple of photos before my train pulled in. I am always looking! I am always birdwatching!

Genetic mutation leads to immigration

13 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Collared dove, genetic mutation, Mutation affected sense of direction, Streptopelia decaocto

I came across the delightful bird in the series of three images below during a recent walk around Cardiff Bay. Sitting quietly in a tree by the footpath, it was indulging in a good preening, running its beak repeatedly down through its fluffed-up chest feathers. It’s a Collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), a bird you’re often more likely to hear than to see, its continuous cooing floating down from the leafy trees where it’s sitting.

Amazingly, these birds only immigrated to Britain in the 1950s – they’re native to the Middle East but gradually spread across Europe before crossing the Channel, and they’re now very common garden visitors in villages and towns across the country. In Fauna Britannica, Richard Mabey notes that this incredible spread, more than any other European bird in the past 50 years, has been attributed to ‘a genetic mutation that affected the birds’ sense of direction and encouraged them to move north and west’, though the British Trust for Ornithology believes natural selection has probably now reduced this tendency. If it hadn’t, the birds would all be flying off over the Atlantic, a trip they probably wouldn’t survive.

170413 Collared dove (4)