h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Every now and then nature gives you a kind of tingley feeling, just now was one such moment.
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I saw what I thought was a Parakeet, grr, do one of their fly pasts past my window but something made me stand and watch. I saw another two and thought hang on they are a bit brown and on the next fly past around six feet of ground I saw it was two Swifts!
They came back time and time again from close to ground, only around six feet to level with my window only around six feet away at times.
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They were making that pinking call and doing barrel roles and sharp turns. They are clearly after the midges that bats here love and doing same acrobatics nearly, infact they are there nearest bird to a bat i have seen, simply fantastic, they are back again as I type!

Had the same stuff happening to me this afternoon with Swallows on my grass ,they were flying all around me almost touching me

It is fantastic isn't it Moonraker!
Nature can be great sometimes and I sometimes wonder if they know people won't harm them mainly, but something like a cat will.

I'm positive the birds trust me, I just stand still and they fly all around me, one went between my open arms and skimmed past my ear this afternoon, last year I had a baby tree sparrow land about a foot from my hand on the deck handrail it looked up at me chirped I said hello back then it flew away , magic

I am sure they know instinctively who to trust. The birds around me are quite happy to fly around and feed when I am in the garden. It is such a nice tingly feeling as you said SS.

The swifts here don't come down that low, at least not around the gardens. They may do in the nearby country park which I must visit soon.

Things await my attention so I must be off. Hope you see some good wildlife.

Websailor

On my walk this afternoon I saw four swallow nests , they are made of clay stuck on walls in the back of carports , on one a swallow was stood on the side of the nest looking in ,I couldn't hear anything so no babies in there yet I will I hope get a pic of babies in the nest when they are ready .

I also have just spent half an hour watching the bats outside ,as it's sunset here now and the sky is red it makes a very pleasant thing to do .

WS, I don't believe I remeber Swifts in my garden before. There are many in gardens around about and certainly at small tree height but can't get a good view of what they do there as trees in way. I suspect they swoop lower into other gardens here if there is a reason too, namely food. My garden always semms to have a dense cloud of midges around where Swifts and bats fly. My back garden is surrounded on all sides by buildings or trees so not an easy flight for swifts as quite large birds, bats are ok though. The Swifts have to use lots of wingbeats to maintain speed and direction. They can't fly particularly fast but still too fast for me to see. I think there are very many Swifts this year so perhaps space is limited and competition more fierce for food this year, hence using tight spaces like my garden
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The Bats and Swifts look similar in flight pattern as so agile, their colouring is very similar too. I saw some elsewhere the other day and two did a spiraling decent to very low down which could have been fighting or breeding, I suspect the latter. What is good is I always know they are in my garden due to their constant chattering call, almost bat like odddly.

Well I never!
I was looking out window and thought I saw, on waterbowl, one of the adult male Great Spotted Woodpeckers which is always nice to see. I took a closer look and realised it was a baby and seemed to be a male as has a fairly large red cap on top of head. I was really pleased, it took some sips of water and climbed into water a bit awkwardly and took a bath, climbed out and walked around a little then climbed back in! Eventually it stood on stump near waterbowl and flew somwhat waterlogged to a bush and I haven't seen it since.
A short while later dad G S Woodpecker turned up to drink too and flew to bush/tree. It then flew to old nest and pecked around for bugs but didn't enter. It was lovely to see what presumably is the youngster from nest. I mentioned before I thought there might have been two youngsters but by no means certain, I only saw one today.
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Incidently, I just saw a female Blackbird with a beak full of worms, and I have seen males do the same in last week. I think there are more young still being born as saw first young Blackbird nearly a month ago and saw another speackly brown and clearly very young blackbird yesterday, oddly another single youngster with a male parent. Last year a male had 4/5 young to look after in my garden.

The juvenile woodpecker could be male or female. It has a red patch on top of head, which will eventually disappear if female, or be replaced by a red strip on the nape of the neck if male.

I cant weigh up if our blackbirds have any young or not. They seem to take turns in feeding so it is possible. Fingers crossed. Jays and magpies look as if they are feeding families, hopefully not on other young birds

Websailor

What I meant is I read somewhere, but can't remember where, is that male young G S Woodpeckers can sometimes have a slightly larger red patch on top of head than females.

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I am lucky here as Blackbirds seem to like my back garden's lawn as although cut regulary it has no treatments, the rest of the garden is untreated too. The bushes and trees are only rarely cut which is good for birds too.

Hello Strangely Strange and Websailor! I'm happy to hear about your swifts Strangely. Over here we have several different species of swift. The two that are common over here in my home town are the Little Swift and the Palm Swift. Both are quite small swifts. The palm swifts have tiny bodies but long pointy wings and tails. They make their nests glued to the old dry leaves that hang down the trunks of palm trees. Since many gardens have palm trees here, they are quite plentiful in town.

The Little Swifts make mud nests and frequently nest on buildings, so they're quite common in town too. Our old church in the centre of town has quite a colony of them.

Other swifts I've seen: the Alpine Swift is huge for a swift - almost the size of a small falcon. I've only ever seen them cruise overhead at great speed apparently on their way to somewhere else. They're easy to recognise being black with a white belly.

One very special occasion was when I stumbled upon a nesting colony of Black Swifts. The occasion was my cousin Marina's wedding in the Free State. I didn't much like the party so I set off into the bush and climbed a little hill where I found an amazing variety of birds including several new species for me. On the large rocks at the top of the cliff there were Black Swifts nesting! They are large swifts, similar in size to the ones you have over there, and they also have this high pitched almost 'shrieking' call. They flew around me quite close like you describe as well and some were above and some were below so I could really get a good all-round look at them. Was a great experience. Swifts are amazing birds.

Pillowcase, you are right Swifts are amazing birds!
It is all the more interesting as they are only summer visitors from late spring and most leave in August. I love their speed and elegance in flight with spiraling turns and glides. What adds to their mystery is them not landing a lot, like normal birds do, they remain a bit distant, which has given me a thought, where do they get water from to drink, is it high up moisture?
It is going to be a fairly hot day here for this time of year 20-25c so birds are bathing early in my waterbath which is interesting to watch. There was little Thrush activity yesterday but can hear them massing in trees in my garden so much waterbowl emptying will be needed throughout day!

Not much to repoert in garden except lots of baths in waterbath as so hot and dusty. The young G S Woodpecker was a joy to watch as had a right old bath and sat right in water. It is still quite unsteady at times but can fly ok. I had seen it alone for last week but saw it with its dad again who fed it todsy.
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It is interesting to note that yet again a Blackbird pair are building another nest. I don't know if they are the same pair but I seem to have had young Blackbirds at every growth stage this spring/summer and single young so far, unlike last years 4/5 youngsters in one
brood.
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By chance I was just looking out my window and saw what I thought was a rare visitor to my feeder, a Blue Tit, hanging from the outside bars with its back to me, it then flew to Oak tree branch obscured by leaves mostly but I thought I could see messy Blue Tit yellow feathers.
It then flew to other Oak tree and settled on trunk upside down. After a while I thought it looked a bit odd for a Blue Tit, although tatty like one and realised it was standing still for too long. I looked again at its body bent like an 'L' and realised it was the first Nuthatch I had ever seen in my garden!!
It stood still, upsidedown looking around for 5 mins and didn't even move when neighbours used the dustbins. Eventually it walked upsidedown down the Oak trunk looking for bugs and went along a branch to not be seen again.
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I had seen one before once or twice at most in wooded park a mile or so from here, along with a Tree Creeper but was surprised to see one in my garden. It did look surprisingly like a Blue Tit at times and was really tatty and quite dirty.
I have looked for one before but they always turned out to be Blue Tits on the furthest Oak in my garden but perhaps shall look neven closer from now on!
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Other than that not much differant in my garden. I am constantly emptying my birdbath as either Woodpigeons are ruining the water with poo and pigeon white 'powder', Magpies are splashing all the water out or it is being drunk at an alarming rate, lol!
However, I am not a massive feeder of birds, just the one rarely used by small birds, but am happy to be a water supplier for local wildlife from from Foxes at night to the baby Robin who hopped in yesterday for a bath. Fortunately I leave a climbing out stone this time of year for baby birds although the baby Robin got the depth right more by luck than judgement as it came up ton its armpits, lol!

SS, there is something very special about a nuthatch, even a tatty one Perhaps it is an exhausted Mum. Ours look tatty too, which always seems odd as they are usually so immaculate and well turned out

Everything here is drinking too as it is hot and humid. Had a good rainstorm this afternoon which freshened everywhere up till the hot sun took over again.

Websailor

Yep, Nuthatches are wonderful birds, however WS if we were ever to see a Tree Creeper in our gardens we would be truely blessed!
I have been lucky to see one twice, and lucky is the right word. Unless it is moving it is like trying to see a piece of Oak bark hiden on Oak bark. I happened to be sitting on a fallen tree in local wooded park and look up and thought I saw a mouse walking under an overhanging tree branch. I looked again and just caught a glimpse of its white stomach and realised it was a Tree Creeper as by chance it is one on of my DVDs of birds.
I saw another one a few months later not far away. Again, I was only able to see it as was moving along a tree trunk. Their small size helps to keep them hidden, and their oak tree bark like feathers on back of course. yep, to see one in either of our gardens would be a surprise.

SS, I had one once, before I had a camera, and I don't think it would have been much use because as you say they are almost invisible. It was like a mouse going up the fence panel! I have never come across one since. I am much more observant than I was then, and I don't think I was recording bird sightings then, so it must have been quite a few years ago now.

Websailor

I stand corrected WS, you mentioned the Tree Creeper and your fence before in the past, but my memory isn't what it was, lol!

Neither is mine SS I am doing the RSPB swift survey, so I need to look at my records. If I come across the Tree creeper I will let you know, but I can't remember if it was before I started recording properly. I know it is a long while ago.

Websailor

I sat by river yesterday and noticed the same one winged Canada Goose there again in the small riverside garden. I believe it was there last year too, the damaged wing has a familar pattern to broken feathers. I wanted to give it a name so called the unobvious name of patch as has a distinctive pattern around eye like older cats get as fur wears out.
I beleive it likes it there as plenty of grass and people visiting garden have bread which they give birds but him too as has a broken wing. I believe it is a male as hissed at other geese when got too close to his lady friend in spring. His lady friend had a damaged leg and limped so they made a good pair due to limited ability to travel as expect she couldn't swim far.
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Both the injured geese seem to be coping ok with limited mobility as plenty of food and they seem to be happy, well as much as you can tell with Canada geese as can be grumpy sometimes, lol.
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If someone rang RSPCA about goose with one wing they, I suspect, might put it down as think it couldn't cope ok (it can). It is a differant story with the sad and quite now pathetic Woodpigeon in my garden who visits occassionally. It has fungus badly on both feet and can only see out of one eye. The problem is I would gladly kill it to end its missery but like all Woodpigeons the slightest noise and it is gone. It can hardley stand but flies away normally.