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4A6F6B6B75 said :
Ok, that's cool info!

Sharp-shin said :
Unless, of course, another female sparrowhawk shows up here. > )
Support!
Cheerio! > )

Also regarding the magpies, recently one showed up which looks like an adult magpie, except that its tail was but a stump compared to that of a regular adult magpie. Apparently one couple decided to breed very early this year; it looks pretty funny when amidst a crowd of around 12 adult magpies, there's this one which sticks out with its very short tail. If I can get a clear photo of it, I'll post it here, but it's quite difficult because it's even more ADHD than a regular adult magpie.

I just don't understand why it's the only juvenile around; why haven't the others also bred, and what happened to the others in the same nest? I read that magpies lay 3-10 eggs, so it'd be quite unusual if there was only one this time, unless of course there were more and they just didn't make it.

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

23-Mar-2020 15:50:07

25-Mar-2020 04:09:57

S3njuUch1ha said :
One time when I was walking home there were about.... hmmm say, 6 galahs in a tree, trying to get some berry or nut, whatever it was... Two of them were hanging upside down by one foot, trying desperately to get to the food, its was quite funny really, and cute.

Also someone had a letterbox with a minature "garden bed" built into it. There were just weeds in there but there was three galahs sitting in it one time, which was also cute.
Lol, after seeing what a galah looks like, this sounds sensible: they look a bit like pigeons, and pigeons always do something funny.

S3njuUch1ha said :
Not birdwatching, but I had a budige, he was very cute, lovable, humourous, he had beautiful coloured plumage. It was a turquoise, almost opal type of colour. Not exactly green or blue, sometimes it seemed like his tail would glow at night because of how bright it could be. Anyway, unfortunately I had to put him down last week because he got a tumour, no known cause. I was really saddened by this (of course) and it took me about 3-4 days of mourning and a continous melancholic mood to get through it. I miss him, poor little bird. He was a great friend
Damn, that sucks, sorry for your loss.

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

26-Mar-2020 11:31:19

Dead fieldfare, it also flew into the window and died. They stay here year-round, but unless there's worms to catch from the ground or rowan berries to eat, they don't show up much. When those conditions are met though, they're everywhere, and make so much noise.

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

28-Mar-2020 09:24:34

Wilf said :
You could try putting silhouettes of birds of prey on windows which helps stops them flying into them if you've a problem with them flying into them
This is quite a coincidence, because until yesterday, it was 6 months ago since the previous collision. I was merely posting historical images because I felt like sharing them, it's actually pretty rare that a bird flies into the window here.

But then, like said, yesterday there was a new case, a bohemian waxwing:



A very pretty bird, but since it only comes here during winter to forage berries, it's not that familiar with the place. I'll see if I can offer it to the male sparrowhawk that comes by every so often, since sparrowhawks do hunt waxwings.

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

30-Mar-2020 15:02:09

Sharp Shin, thanks for your condolences. It's hard when a living being you're close to dies... I'm feeling better now than I was. He was buried in the back garden.

I got a new bird , a cockatiel this time. It's still a baby, I think she is 14 weeks old now. She's really attached to me and wants to be with me 24/7. It's nice and very cute, but sometimes it gets a bit much, but I understand it's only still a baby, so I'm probably like its mother to it. She is too cute and loves head scratches. She is still getting used to things of course. I am annoyed though the pet shop didn't feed her any fruit or vegetables, now it's hard to get her onto them... and it was exclusively a bird shop too..


That's unfortunate about those birds flying into the windows, poor things.

We have these concrete walls built along some high-ways here, some of them have glass built into them; I suppose for decoration, instead of just grey concrete. Anyway, someone pointed out to me the dead birds along the wall... :/ Now that is a problem. Insects probably fly into it too.

Fortunately we haven't had any birds fly into windows and die at my home recently, so that's great. We have had a few doves fly into our house though and couldn't get out. We came home one day to find one in our bathroom. He was hard to get out because we didn't want to scare him too much. We've had about 4 doves coming inside so far... recently.

I don't know if it's because they heard my birds chirping or if they just kept flying somewhere until they got tired and landed.

01-Apr-2020 15:22:51 - Last edited on 01-Apr-2020 15:29:10 by S3njuUch1ha

S3njuUch1ha said :
Sharp Shin, thanks for your condolences. It's hard when a living being you're close to dies... I'm feeling better now than I was. He was buried in the back garden.

I got a new bird , a cockatiel this time. It's still a baby, I think she is 14 weeks old now. She's really attached to me and wants to be with me 24/7. It's nice and very cute, but sometimes it gets a bit much, but I understand it's only still a baby, so I'm probably like its mother to it. She is too cute and loves head scratches. She is still getting used to things of course. I am annoyed though the pet shop didn't feed her any fruit or vegetables, now it's hard to get her onto them... and it was exclusively a bird shop too..
Hmm, that's interesting, so she's imprinted on you, even though you weren't the first person she saw? I've always thought that birds only ever see humans as a source of food at best (excluding corvids which have higher intelligence), but then again imprinting and raising a bird from a chick is quite unknown territory to me.

S3njuUch1ha said :
Fortunately we haven't had any birds fly into windows and die at my home recently, so that's great. We have had a few doves fly into our house though and couldn't get out. We came home one day to find one in our bathroom. He was hard to get out because we didn't want to scare him too much. We've had about 4 doves coming inside so far... recently.

I don't know if it's because they heard my birds chirping or if they just kept flying somewhere until they got tired and landed.
Just curious, but how do they get in? I'm guessing from an open window or maybe even an open door, but it's one of those things that has never happened to me so it sounds pretty bizarre. > )

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

03-Apr-2020 17:22:46

There used to be quite a lot of magpies around here until recently, when it seems like they've calmed down to start building their nests. From 12 magpies down to 2 pairs, one pair is building a nest just outside my window inside the hedgerow, while the other pair only comes to pick up sticks from the hedgerow, and builds the nest somewhere else further away.

I haven't seen many birds building their nests, so I don't know if this is normal or strange, but the daily routine of the pair that builds the nest outside my window goes something like this:

1. The pair arrives at around 8-9am from wherever they slept the night.
2. For around 15-30 minutes at a time, they either look for sticks on the ground nearby, or try to pull some from the hedgerow. Sometimes one of them is standing on the nest and either places the sticks somewhere or tests that the placed stick stays where it should. Rarely they both do the latter at the same time.
3. Once that time is up, they just go flying around in general, not really doing anything towards the nest building.
4. Around midday, the other pair comes to pick up sticks for their nest, and the pair that nests here is chased away by the other pair. The pair that nests here usually just waits nearby until the other pair leaves, then they fly away also.
5. In the afternoon, the pair that nests here returns, and repeats the steps 2-3.

This has been going on for over a week, but today, everything just stopped: only one magpie has been here today, and I can't tell which pair it belongs to, or if it belongs to either, because it just came by and left without picking up anything. Again, maybe that's normal, and it feels so random to me if it is, but I guess I'll just wait and see if they come back anymore.

"Volat Accipiter libera est; venandi sua natura est."

~Accipiter striatus

06-Apr-2020 13:47:26