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

I just saw the young Robin in my garden again, the one with the more orange then red breast. Well more like half a breast really as surprisingly mongrel looking at moment. I say the "the" Robin but of course it could be more than one as a younger one completely speckled and no orange at all just arrived.
Mind you who can tell with Robins as you sometimes get stories of people feeding the "same" Robin for 10 years when of course they are such resourceful birds the original Robin has long since died and a new one simply moved into a good feeding opportunity!

I was just out in the garden watering some plants when I heard the noise of a bird taking off looked up and , Yah it was the female pheasant and she went down in my bit of wilderness reserved for her , for me that is great news

I just saw her again with half grown young in my garden

SS, we have several robins in various states of 'undress' from brown to speckled, to a tiny orange bib, to a big bib, and eventually a full redbreast. We can't figure out which juveniles belong to which adults as they seem to leave them to their own devices very early on. They are lovely to see, and being of a rather insignificant hue does, I think, give them some camouflage from predators.

They definitely learn from each other and other birds, as ours are getting proficient at using the feeders, even though they still miss their targets occasionally

Websailor

Moonraker, it must be lovely to have Pheasants in your garden especially as it actually is your garden rather than a communal garden like here. They do make a lovely very country sound too.
.
Ws, yes Robins, of whatever colour, do add to a garden and give something of interest to look at. Many birds, if not all, seem to have developed the best methods for them to survive. Robins, like their red breast, are bold and upfront and benefit from cheeky thefts of food and acting as if they are tame, but really just seeing people as another food sorce. Others like Dunnocks flit around at the bottom of hedges to aquire food and it works very well for them.
.
Each to thier own seems to work for wildlife, each taking advantage of an open opportunity to benefit them and us lucky nature watchers!

I often used to see the(old man, my nickname for him ) Male Japanese Heron very resplendent in all his feathers, quite often in many places around this area, then about 3 weeks ago I saw him just standing or sleeping in the same spot for a few days ,last week I decided to take some pic's of him and went to the tambo where I saw him last but he wasn't there,

About 4 days ago, on my way to the liquor store along the river bank I saw a crow pecking on something under the bridge where I had earlier taken some pic's of the birds feeding, I did stop the truck to have a look but wasn't sure what it was eating as it was half covered with sand, the next day and yesterday I checked it and I now believe that it is the old man or at least a dead Japanese Heron, I can now see the long neck and leg bones quite clearly plus the body .I do know that this is the time of the year that a lot of people die, my brother in law is very busy(he's an undertaker) and I suppose animals and birds succumb to it too.

Sadly animals we get to know a bit more than others do die from time to time. There were 2 Wagtail birds in differant places that used to regularly be in the same place, one in a carpark in Sainsbury's and another on path in my sanctuary, that disapeared. I would like to think that they moved onto better feeding grounds somwhere but suspect they don't live long and passed away to bird heaven! I used to look forward to seeing them as Wagtails have a way of making me smile as they bounce around looking for tit bits on ground.

Just filled up my water bowl for birds for second time in 3 hours as 29c and could even reach 30c today! My water bowl is actually a round plant bowl about 10 inches across and tapers towards bottom. It is deep enough for a young jackdaw to stand and bath in so not too deep. It is brown and is made of some sort of manmade material but not terracota like normal pots. The bowl is around a foot off ground as in middle of the sideways stump of a Damson tree that blew over sideways. Birds and Squirrels like the stump as has places to watch from and no nearer than 10 feet to a bush so cats can't smeak up!
.
There were 5 Jackdaws in garden just now and one was having a lovely bath by standing on bowl side and leaning forward which another tried to copy but was fearful of leaning too far forward and ended up wriggling in the air not getting wet until it discovered the water was shallow enough to stand in.
.
I went to my nature reserve and as so hot went to a tunnel of overgrowing trees across a path and layed on my back to watch the birds in tree tops avoiding the hot sun and was lucky enough to see a juvenile male GS Woodpecker and assorted Long Tail tits and tatty Great Tits not looking thier best.
I was pleased to see a GS Woodpecker in my garden again on water bowl, the first for a little while. I think it was the male youngster again that was raised here for sometime.

Lovely. How nice to lie under the trees and watch. Some of the birds are looking very scruffy, but they are going through a moult and will soon look spick and span again. You certainly have a lively garden. Mine was busy early this morning, but it has been so hot since mid morning the little birds are using the feeders under the lilac tree, and leaving the rest of the garden till it is cooler. The long tailed tits were here very late last night, about 9pm and again early this morning.

Websailor

Just had to change the water and clean my water bowl in garden. I looked out window and knew the oiley scum on surface meant a bird had pooed in it again! I suspect it is the Woodpigeon who tends to lay in it for 5 mins and comes out as dry as when it went in bizzarely.
A while ago I mentioned I would like to pul apart a dried foxes dropping sometime to see inside. Well I certainly saw inside the Pigeon's poo as it had eaten some sort of berry with yellow pips which were sitting in a neat pile at bottom of water bowl. I understand that pips are designed to go through animal's insides without being damaged to be planted wherever the animal poos. I don't suppose ending up in my water bowl was the intended idea but since I threw water in garden the pips might end up being planted anyway. What goes around comes around.....

Yes, yes, yes!
I looked out of window and thought grrr, there is a Parakeet on my waterbowl. Then I thought well hang on it's big like a Parakeet with green and red but it is a strange speckly type of thing and then realised it is a male juvenile Green Woodpecker!
.
It was so unexpected it didn't click in my mind what it was for a while. It was at waterbowl for only seconds and flew 15 feet off the ground to the oak tree in corner of garden and preened for 5 mins giving me a good binos view. A wasp flew near but it couldn't get it. I think it then slept for around 15 mins as it had moved around trunk a little so could only see a small area of green feathers which didn't move, then it flapped wings on and off and I believe it is still behind tree trunk nearly an hour later.
.
There are Green Woodpeckers in area as have seen/heard them but the only one I have seen in garden before was killed hitting a flat window, again it was a juvenile. They are really quite big birds compared to others that go to waterbowl. A lot bigger than Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

..... which is very appropriate. We get them here but I have every heard one. Nigel saw one a while ago.

it is the ant season so there should be a good chance of seeing it again Ss. A teaspoonful of jam would attract the ants and give it a feast, usually early in the morning

Websailor

I forgot to mention Green Woodpeckers are my favourite bird which is why I was so very happy to see one in my own garden. I love the way they bounce up and down in flight, walk around really wary and hide behind tree trunks when they see you coming which they always do...I love their funny looks too.
.
I just heard that lovely cackle in oak tree in garden and leaned out window to see same young Green Woodpecker land on grass again. It looked around very warely so I stood dead still and it drank at water bowl, cackled a few times and flew back to oak. It would be really lovely if it stayed here for a few days so I could watch its daily life some more!

I am so jealous

It is pouring with rain here so nothing much is venturing out. A juvenile jay was very put out to find the food floating as he couldnaaa't catch any! He looked so puzzled and cross, with his crest up in disgust

I shall go away and sulk now. I want one!!!!

Websailor

Today is a surprisingly busy day in my garden for wildlife. It is overcast and a little windy which makes it being busy more surprising, although it is still warm out there.
.
There is at east one Goldcrest in fir hedge and possibley two! There are two Jays which maybe juveniles due to tatty heads. There are two young Robins looking proud like Robins but the pride is somewhat spoiled by them being a mixture of orange and tattyness!. Someone has just put bread on lawn which was seen by a passing young Jackdaw so a group, perhaps six, are doing raids like jet fighters and rocketing in at top speed and grabbing bread litterally under the Pigeon's noses and are gone before they realise what has happened.
.
WS mentioned Starlings in her garden and I have noticed the lack of them since several months ago when around 20 youngsters were inm my garden. I checked Collins Field Guide and it seems we get a mass invasion from abroad from August to March to bulk up the fewer residents who live here. I expect I will be back to hiss and pop from Starlings constantly in trees in my garden soon and the hordes looking for worms as they squable on my lawn!

I love your descriptions SS. The tatty jays are are adult if they have any black and white on their heads, but juveniles if they have buff coloured heads. They also raise their crests more frequently than the adults. Excitable youth!!

Our robins are all at different stages of undress. Some are fat, some are short, some are skinny

Our British starlings (juveniles) are nearly grown up now and will soon have their full plumage, and we are not seeing as much of them now as they are more independent and there is plenty of natural food around. I shall watch out for the invasion

Goldcrests Haven't seen any this year

Websailor

Just been to my local wildlife sanctuary and for the first time all I saw land bird wise was one magpie in an hour or so which was odd, I could hear what sounded like greenfinches, dunnock and whitethroat but none came out of bushes and trees. what was great was on way out I walked in to what must have been a swarm of at least 30 mixed long tail tits, baby blue tits and baby great tits along with adults. They flitted around me from tree to tree and some sat only six feet away twittering on a branch! It was a truely magnificant moment and a joy.

SS, they are so cute and friendly aren't they? They always cheer me up too. The garden comes alive when filled with birds.

Take care,

Websailor

Blooming heck, sneaky squirrels!
I have watched squirrels often bury nuts in my lawn by holding nut in mouth and digging a hole with paws then covering it up again, even patting soil with paws to really cover it.
I just a short article in a magazine which said that squirrels sometimes bluff and pretend to actually put something in hole to fool watching squirrels who might pinch it.
.
They did a survey in America and found that on average around 15% of digs are bluffs but the more Squirrels there are there watching the higher the number of pretend hiding of food happens. It seems Squirrels also have larger dumps of food which are guarded. The researchers also found that if the researchers went and removed nuts from where the Squirrels had buried them the Squirels did increased bluff hiding of food in empty holes and buried the nuts in more difficult to find places under bushes, etc.
.
It is fascinating to learn things like that and it shows Squirrels are forward thinkers and planners and shows them to be even more cleaver than I already thought they are!

SS, they also do it to confuse magpies and jays who will often watch the squirrels burying peanuts, then steal them. I have watched them. It was particularly noticeable when I put a squirrel feeder up for them. The idea, as sold, was that with their own peanut feeder they would leave the other peanut feeders for the birds!! Did they heck as like!

They would empty their own feeder then start on the bird feeders! The clunk of the metal lid meant we could hear them helping themselves from anywhere in the house if the windows were open. Unfortunately they left a mess of peanut skins behind and consequently the smell of peanuts which attracted other furry things , so I had to take it down

I would so love to build an assault course for them but PHM is against anything that will attract them any more

Websailor