Never knowlingly seen a Manx Sheerwater...sounds fab if a bit mad
Hardly surprising. They fly at night (to avoid gulls) and spend almost all year out at sea. Google or Youtube the noise they make though, then multiply it by about 1000 birds.
Woodpecker heard, not Spotted
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Hardly surprising. They fly at night (to avoid gulls) and spend almost all year out at sea. Google or Youtube the noise they make though, then multiply it by about 1000 birds.
Beautiful photo's, we get a pair of these in the garden on the peanuts but up to yet I haven't managed a good photograph. They are incredibly nervous.Never knowlingly seen a Manx Sheerwater...sounds fab if a bit mad
One of my favourites is Lapwing aerobatic stunts....thats incredible to see - how they don't end up impaled on the ground I will never know?
Heres a couple of GSWs for you
GSW by British Red, on Flickr
Woodpecker by British Red, on Flickr
One of my brothers was working in a house with a big window on each side of the building so it looked like it was open all the way through to a bird.
One day when he was there he heard a loud bang and there was a woodpecker lying on the grass by the window. He had a look at it and left it for a while as it was still breathing but stunned.
After a while he want back to it as he was packing his tools up and picked it up to see how it was getting on, it seemed to recover a good bit and perked up. It climbed up his arm to his shoulder and stayed there. He said it got a hell of a grip and wouldn't let go. Just stayed there next to his ear.
Stayed on his shoulder while he packed his tools up and after about fifteen or twenty mins it perked up enough that it could fly off into a nearby tree.
One day when he was there he heard a loud bang and there was a woodpecker lying on the grass by the window. He had a look at it and left it for a while as it was still breathing but stunned.
After a while he want back to it as he was packing his tools up and picked it up to see how it was getting on, it seemed to recover a good bit and perked up. It climbed up his arm to his shoulder and stayed there. He said it got a hell of a grip and wouldn't let go. Just stayed there next to his ear.
Stayed on his shoulder while he packed his tools up and after about fifteen or twenty mins it perked up enough that it could fly off into a nearby tree.
Thats quite unusual Miyagi - Greens do drum - but rarely and its quite a faint noise in my experience compared to a Greater Spotted - lucky you for hearing it
I assume it was one of these?
Green Woodpecker by British Red, on Flickr
Yep, it had green wings.
Dunno if that's normal for up here in the Forth valley or not. Its taken me 45 years to see one anyway.
Lapwings, we have loads of them and I agree they whoop whoop and do some amazing "stalls".
Liam
I've only seen them since I moved up here. Heard the first one of the year a few weeks ago and got sight of one this morning whilst out walking.
Its funny the things we are excited by....or take for granted. I was dead chuffed when I saw my first Red Kite down South....and I think many Welsh guys were bemused.
Had the pleasure of being the nonchalant one recently when a group of us were out on the salt marshes and someone asked "whats that bird" to which I replied "hmmm oh, marsh harrier". Cue spluttery response from the bird watcher. They are quite common here though (well as common as anything can be that has a few hundred pairs in Britain).
I was delighted though when I first saw a field full of curlews....quite the sight for a moors and forest lad....farmer was amused and referred to them as "whistly bendy beaks" which I must admit is now my pet name for them.
Had the pleasure of being the nonchalant one recently when a group of us were out on the salt marshes and someone asked "whats that bird" to which I replied "hmmm oh, marsh harrier". Cue spluttery response from the bird watcher. They are quite common here though (well as common as anything can be that has a few hundred pairs in Britain).
I was delighted though when I first saw a field full of curlews....quite the sight for a moors and forest lad....farmer was amused and referred to them as "whistly bendy beaks" which I must admit is now my pet name for them.
When I was a kid I used to see Red Cockaded Woodpeckers on a reasonably regular basis. They were a bit of a treat but not really unusual. Now it's rare indeed.
Love the woodpecker pics BR - nice work :You_Rock_
With "drumming" woodpeckers you can call them in to you - I've had three no more than 6 feet from me and I have also found that other birds, such as nuthatches, will also either respond or come in close for a look- this has also included a family of tree creepers.
I tend to lean against a dead standing small diameter tree - obviously checking overhead dangers or and braches that could fall, once in place I knock on the tree in bursts of rapid drumming and I've found a pebble works the best.
Generally I've found the GSWs respond with a drumming in the distance and move in, however I have had it where a pair of GSW's came straight in an perched on the bark of an oak right in front of me.
Have patience and don't expect instant results and I hppe you are rewarded with a encounter of one of these amazing birds.
On another note - I had the pleasure of watching a pair of GW's rear their young two years ago at on of our teaching sites. I sat under the ash tree they were nesting in a watched them fledge - amazing experience and I managed a couple of picture too:-
The article is here http://www.badgerbushcraft.com/fauna/what-does-a-fledgling-green-woodpecker-look-like.htm with other pictures if anyone is interested.
All the best,
Phil.
With "drumming" woodpeckers you can call them in to you - I've had three no more than 6 feet from me and I have also found that other birds, such as nuthatches, will also either respond or come in close for a look- this has also included a family of tree creepers.
I tend to lean against a dead standing small diameter tree - obviously checking overhead dangers or and braches that could fall, once in place I knock on the tree in bursts of rapid drumming and I've found a pebble works the best.
Generally I've found the GSWs respond with a drumming in the distance and move in, however I have had it where a pair of GSW's came straight in an perched on the bark of an oak right in front of me.
Have patience and don't expect instant results and I hppe you are rewarded with a encounter of one of these amazing birds.
On another note - I had the pleasure of watching a pair of GW's rear their young two years ago at on of our teaching sites. I sat under the ash tree they were nesting in a watched them fledge - amazing experience and I managed a couple of picture too:-
The article is here http://www.badgerbushcraft.com/fauna/what-does-a-fledgling-green-woodpecker-look-like.htm with other pictures if anyone is interested.
All the best,
Phil.
We have a female Greater Spotted Woodpecker that regularly visits the bird table in our garden. She has just started to drum down by the riverside where I suspect she has a hole.
I was sat in a friends house admiring their bird table and the many birds they had when all of a sudden up pops a GSW. He visited again but he literally grabbed a few seeds then was away. Made me laugh after this discussion.
We have quite a few woodpeckers here. The reds come to the peanut feeders daily but the greens are usually more wary and keep their distance.
Usually. This one seemed to be a bit upset by the competition...
http://www.jubileegroup.co.uk/JOS/misc/dscn3567.mov
I'll leave this file on the server just for a few days as it's quite big and I pay by the byte.
Usually. This one seemed to be a bit upset by the competition...
http://www.jubileegroup.co.uk/JOS/misc/dscn3567.mov
I'll leave this file on the server just for a few days as it's quite big and I pay by the byte.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
It has always surprised me that great spotted woodpeckers along with tawny owls start setting up their territories so early in the season.
Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
They are amazing - we get greater spotteds and green woodpeckers in the garden here so both see and hear
