Tuesday 23 May 2017

Garden Birding in late May

With the sun reappearing again, I've been spending a little time in the garden, sitting on a chair staring up at the sky. A steady flow of mostly Herring Gulls have been around, as well as the local Swifts which are swirling around non-stop at the moment. A pair of Sparrowhawk have often appeared, and local birds are nesting again.
m Sparrowhawk

Gull sp. (Herring?)


juv Greenfinch

Swift

One thing, like many intermediate nature-lovers, that I can't get my head around too well are gulls. If all the gulls seen here in Britain lined up next to each other, I would possible get ID right. But this definitely needs a lot of work!

5 comments:

  1. Hi Arjun Another great post have another look at your f House Sparrow...p381 Collins see what you think?

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  2. Only noticeable thing is the beak, which is completely pink with no black. I don't have the Collins, just had a look in some other books.
    Have you noticed anything?

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    Replies
    1. Have a look at juv Greenfinch.... (The green wash down the chest and belly with streaking which extends around the neck. Eye large with pink bill, slight fork in long tail).

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  3. Thanks Kojak.
    Corrected now.
    Also, yesterday a raptor flew very high north at a fair pace over my house, looking like a Buzzard but flew like a Kite.
    I'll put some pictures on a post later on.
    Cheers
    Arjun

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  4. There are a lot of juvenile birds fledging at this time. Quiet a few tits in the nest boxes and a few being processed in the nets. They can be tricky to id but its a good opportunity to familiarise yourself with them. Keep checking the raptors the odd Honey Buzzard appears around this time of year. Good Birding!

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