Saw something yesterday I have not noticed before and looked quite bizarre.

During a hail storm there was a flock of about 10 or 12 Feral Pigeon on our lawn, most were behaving normally but 2 of them had crouched low, tilted to one side, fluffed up breast feathers, raised a wing vertically above them like a sail and spread their tail. As soon as the hail eased off a bit they resumed normal posture but as the hail intensified they would resume the wing raised posture again, one other bird also assumed this same position briefly but all the others carried on as if nothing was wrong. I have never seen this behaviour during a normal rain shower so can only assume that by raising a wing in this way that it somehow deflected the hail from hitting the bird directly.
These birds are really quite a problem in our garden but are possibly the most interesting to watch in terms of behaviour except maybe Starlings and young Magpies. They always seem to be ahead of the game.

Craig Higson wrote:

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Two bits of interesting behaviour today round Viridor Wood. The first (and most interesting to me) happened just as I walked on site. A young Kestrel was perched in a hawthorn where a couple of Magpies were hanging about. What happened next I'm not sure but sudden squealing had me putting the bins up to see the Kestrel and a Magpie grappling with each other - the Kestrel looking far the more comfortable. However what happened next was the interesting bit, Magpies came streaming in from everywhere - at least 10 and possibly up to 15 suddenly in the same bit of hedge and basically defending their stricken colleague. In the end the Kestrel released the one it had grappled with and flew off, the Magpies quickly dissipating as well.

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Saw the same thing many years ago on the disused railway lines in Lowton St. Marys - I came across a large group of Magpies surrounding a Kestrel and a Magpie grappling on the floor. The other Magpies kept attacking the Kestrel. As I walked up all the birds fled, apart from the two combatants who remained locked together until I was a few yards away, when they too flew off. In Scotland I've also seen a family party of Hooded crows attack a male Peregrine when the raptor had caught one of their group.

Many years ago, we used to have one the same at Heaton Mersey CC, lived behind the clock on the old pavillion.
Used to drink bitter, eat crisps and peanuts.....

Me and my mate taught it to fly to us on a whistle and if we were fielding we caused chaos, fielders , umpires and batsmen diving for cover with me and my mate in stitches.

One of the old brigade whom used to sit under the clock, got so cheesed off after about 3 months with it, he demanded the hole got filled in and soon the Magpie disappeared

Watched a Magpie eating a dead Wood Pigeon on Jacksons Crescent in Manchester. Not what you want to see at half 7 in the morning!

I was on Fair Isle from 26th May until 7th June this year and three things interested me. First off were two Bonxies battling it out, another four or five dropped down, seemingly to watch the fight, as we got closer they all seemed to disperse, then one bird, I assume the original victim, struggled across the road in front of us before heading to the edges of a nearby Geo, obviously injured from the fight. A couple of days later, I saw a Bonxie bring another down and they started fighting, this time it attracted the attention of a Great Black-backed Gull, when this landed close to the fight, the original aggressor flew off leaving the victim, the GBBG just stood close by until the victim flew off. Also, while we were there, I saw a Bonxie swallowing what appeared to be a small rabbit, a GBBG landed close by and grabbed the part that hadn't been swallowed and started pulling the rest of the rabbit from the Bonxie, before swallowing it itself!

I believe Bonxie means 'bully' in Shetland dialect, so that would explain the first incident, but clearly they are something of cowards when it comes to confronting a GBBG! My wife and I have visited Fair Isle on a number of occasions since 1987 and this is the first time we have seen anything like this sort of behaviour, the Bonxie population is increasing on the isle, much to the detriment of Arctic Skua, maybe this is the reason for the aggression.

regards


Dave

PS. Fair Isle really is a must visit place for birders, we had what I thought was a quiet fortnight but still saw Kumlien's Gull, Caspian Stonechat, multiple Red-backed Shrikes, Quail, Marsh Warbler, Icterine Warbler (down to ten feet), Red-breasted Flycatcher and Blyth's Reed Warbler, the birds we missed included Temminck's Stint, Collared Flycatcher, Honey Buzzard and Common Rosefinch amongst others. The new observatory is stunning and the residents very friendly and helpful.

keith mills wrote:

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Yesterday evening, my Dog and I, were persistently attacked (similar to Artic Tern but not pecked)
by 2 screeching Jackdaws, near the Walkway 100 yards from my house. They were mainly going at ''Champers''

''Champers'' was pretty nonplussed and just looked puzzled at their noisy attention.I should add that in no way was this attack provoked by us, the Jackdaws coming down from nearby trees. My dog is totally non-aggressive towards birds, and often has Blackbirds/Robins inside of 10 feet as he sits on the Lawn without a problem!


-- Edited by keith mills on Saturday 14th of June 2014 10:59:13 AM

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As far as birds are concerned you, and especially your dog, are seen as potential predators. I would guess there was a recently fledged
Jackdaw on the ground close by probably trying to hide (which would explain why you didn't notice it), and the other 2 were the parents.
"Champers"? Is the dog named after your regular tipple Keith?

-- Edited by Tony Darby on Saturday 14th of June 2014 04:33:29 PM

male whitethroat displaying on the old railway line at amberswood, before the rain moved in.

Changing the subject from Herons does anyone know why Great Black-backed Gulls lounge around with Cormorants? I've seen this a lot on rocks on the North Wales Coast and recently on the shoreline at Marshside. Neither species seems bothered by the other and they are often only a few feet away. Why is this?

I take it Herons emit pellets like other birds of prey? How on earth does it go about dealing with huge bills?

Any huge bills I get, I go to the bank of Mum and Dad!!!

This conversation cropped up last year when a Grey Heron was reported eating a Snipe, and with reference to Tanmay's sighting with the Water Rail, what surprised me was how it dealt with the long bill on both birds.
But Herons eating Rabbits, Rats, Ducks, and fish as large as a Dogfish/small Shark (ref a YouTube video somewhere) then this comes as no surprise at all.
Most of the Herons and their allies Egrets, Storks, etc all eat live prey for the most part, and the size of the prey is 'usually' dependant on the size of the bird and probably also what the bird feels it can handle. If it sees it as fair game then why wouldn't it go for it?
Great Egrets take Mammals, small Birds, reptiles amph, etc.
Marabou Storks in Africa take what they can get including fairly large Flamingo chicks, unwary ground Mammals, and even Crocodile youngsters of a size they can cope with.
Jabiru's in the Americas take the same kind of prey over there. So basically if prey is deemed to be a possible meal due to whatever the factors are at that moment, in my view chances are they will go for it.
Cheers
Rob

Back in the early '00's I was working in Knutsford and used to wander down to Tatton Mere. A pair of Heron nested at the Knutsford end of the mere and were raising two chicks. One of the chicks succumbed and, one lunch time, I watched the rather macabre sight of one parent bird consuming the dead body ! It was not small and took quite some effort (which made it all the more grisly !!!)

I've seen a heron eating a water rail at Parkgate. It was a struggle for the heron to get it down but it succeeded in the end.
An almost fully grown mallard duckling is pretty impressive though!

I filmed a Heron the other day eating a Mallard duckling that must have been right on the threshold of what it could swallow. It was almost fully grown.

Hi Rick, I witnessed the same thing a week or so back near Orrell but thought nothing of it as I'm relatively new to birding. It was definitely a buzzard I saw too as I was watching on the fence before it flew off for it's kill. Would be interesting to know if this isn't common behaviour!

Had a male Wheatear singing to his mate today from about 18 inches away on top of a wall. ..... nothing spectacular but very low and intense.

As you say Tim ... oblivious to me about 12 ft away.

Think I've only ever heard them making the clicking sound before.

So one of those special moments that I'll probably never witness again.

Roger.

dave broome wrote:

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Tim Wilcox wrote:

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Witnessing a courtship dance from even our most common species is a moment of delight and wonder and isn't that often experienced. A Chaffinch courtship dance I witnessed at Millgate Fields, Didsbury over 10 years ago ranks in my top 10 birding experiences - seriously! Never seen it since. The male sang within 6 inches of the female perched on separate twigs and at the same time shuffled sideways to and fro. I watched from about 6 feet. They were oblivious to my presence like your Chiffchaffs

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Tim, a pair of Chaffinch were displaying like this on the ground at Binn Green recently, close to myself, John Rayner and Mark Rigby. It isn't something which I could recall seeing previously. Great stuff

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These are true birding moments really. Running about ticking stuff off is fun but in a way not real birding

Tim Wilcox wrote:

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Witnessing a courtship dance from even our most common species is a moment of delight and wonder and isn't that often experienced. A Chaffinch courtship dance I witnessed at Millgate Fields, Didsbury over 10 years ago ranks in my top 10 birding experiences - seriously! Never seen it since. The male sang within 6 inches of the female perched on separate twigs and at the same time shuffled sideways to and fro. I watched from about 6 feet. They were oblivious to my presence like your Chiffchaffs

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Tim, a pair of Chaffinch were displaying like this on the ground at Binn Green recently, close to myself, John Rayner and Mark Rigby. It isn't something which I could recall seeing previously. Great stuff

Just watched a pair of chiffchaff at close quarters down to about 5 metres in a hawthorn tree, they were totally unaware that i was watching [ it seemed like that anyway ]. the male was fluffing out his feathers and looked bigger and every few seconds would call out the familiar chiffchaff call, what i presume was the female would in response give out a simple high pitched cheap, this went on for several minutes with the male following the female round the tree.

Seeking any info on what turned out to be (to me anyway) a most extraordinary sighting at Binn Green this evening whilst failing to see any species of Crossbill. Two Red Grouse flew up the valley towards me calling with one bird attacking the other and pecking it repeatedly. They flew up to a height of over 80ft and carried on up the hill. Has anyone seen such behaviour in Red Grouse before?

Near Roman Lakes a juvenile Green Woodpecker was excavating an ant mound and tucking in. It was temporarily displaced by a Magpie that dropped in to sample an easy food source. It ate a few but apparently not to its liking and the Green Woodpecker resumed when it flew off.

Cheers John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Sunday 11th of August 2013 02:42:26 PM

Each morning the milkman places 3 x 4 pint plastic cartons of milk through the railings in the gate at my workplace in Salford. Occasionally one of the cartons develops a hole in it and we end up with a large puddle of milk, this is always blamed on the milkman's heavy handedness.

Early this morning as I arrived at work I noticed two of the local Carrion Crows in my works yard and they were taking it in turn to peck at one of the cartons eventually causing the milk to leak out. As a large puddle began to form both birds started to bathe and generally splash about. A third Crow flew down and a good time was had by all.

I let them have five minutes before I went to get the remaining cartons. I remember as a kid seeing Blue tits pecking at the silver milk bottle tops at my parents home but if these Crows start doing this regularly the poor milkman is going to get fed up with my manager moaning at him

<img src="www.sparkimg.com/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="biggrin" title="biggrin" />

See it regularly at houghton green pool,saw 2 pairs displaying the other day and a few pairs at penny,doas seem strange in winter plumage,but its not uncommon.I think its a bonding display when they have returned after say the water was too flooded and they moved away from thier normal water,when they return they display :)

Your right. It does not look as dark as the owl footage. I think he needs a timestamp on the videos for night filming. I have asked Alun does he know the actual time and i will post when i get a reply. great footage. cheers Den

Yeah very interesting about the bat hawking, the birds going into roosting starlings at night, Alan did not know what time the footage was took, he is experimenting with nightvision and motion sensors to trigger any movement to see what he can get, he has had barn owls as expected on the post at night but he did not expect a sparrowhawk,