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Naturefile

Apologirs for my disappearance ... a nasty case of family responsibilities got in the way if my nature ramblings.

Anyway, while I was out birding today, I managed to capture this handsome little Sand Martin in mid flight. Thought I'd share it along with one or two others from my stroll around the reserve.

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Hope you enjoy.
 
Welshman1952 said:
Apologirs for my disappearance ... a nasty case of family responsibilities got in the way if my nature ramblings.

Anyway, while I was out birding today, I managed to capture this handsome little Sand Martin in mid flight. Thought I'd share it along with one or two others from my stroll around the reserve.

a42642e6ec7ceb944afbe67269816261.jpg


cf8309bb79e02dfa7f727114de0fa64a.jpg


ccf693c542517adf5272f497c11dd44c.jpg


a236e09dc6a21a078c8a7a102dc27bfc.jpg


a81e8f7941d234b9c34644c7750e9b3d.jpg


Hope you enjoy.
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Gorgeous pics @Welshman1952, especially the baby robin - they are so impossibly cute!
 
I love this time of year and the chance to watch everything come alive. A few miles away, we have a pair of avocets. Last year they produced 3 chicks but so far there's no sign of anything. If anything appears I'll post pics of the babies
 
Does @Welshman1952 or any others know if this is a little Robin with special needs or another type of birdie? Taken in our garden a couple of weeks ago
 

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I confess that I am not very good at recognising ailments amongst garden birds. However, looking at the state of the little things head and beak, I lean towards avian pox. I know the cheek area isn't showing any sign of feather loss and wart-like growths but there is a type that displays quite like the photos.

If I am right could I recommend thoroughly cleaning all your feeders as this virus will rapidly spread, particularly amongst the local tit community. Don't worry about the virus affecting humans as it appears to be exclusive to our feathered friends.
 
I think your poor robin's suffering from mites. It's quite common at this time of year when birds are nesting and some species - **** particularly - seem to be more prone to it than others. The nest becomes a pretty grim environment after a month or so of raising chicks, and the warm weather too contributes towards perfect breeding conditions for mites and ticks. If you were to look inside a newly-vacated nest, it would probably be crawling with bugs!
Mites are contagious, but there's not much you can do about it and the birds will recover during the end of season moult.
I agree with @Welshman1952, too, that feeders should be regularly cleaned. We usually do ours about once a month, and move them to a different location each time (so you don't get a build-up of poo or dropped food, and so that sparrowhawks don't start to target the feeding areas). Ark Klens is a pretty good cleaner/disinfectant and Amazon sell it in various sizes.
Hope this helps.
Hugs x
 
Thank you for the info @debrasue. My hubby is the birdman so I'll pass the info on to him presently. He's currently filling the bird baths for the fourth time today. We have two sizeable stone baths set into our garden plus drinking stations and as we have had no rain for over three weeks now keeping the baths topped up is labour (his) intensive at the moment.
 
13lizanne said:
Thank you for the info @debrasue. My hubby is the birdman so I'll pass the info on to him presently. He's currently filling the bird baths for the fourth time today. We have two sizeable stone baths set into our garden plus drinking stations and as we have had no rain for over three weeks now keeping the baths topped up is labour (his) intensive at the moment.
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Sounds like a full-time job!
There's a fat woodpigeon who visits our garden every day, has a drink from the birdbath, and then invariably cr*ps in it before flying off with an air of great achievement. Drives me crazy!
:grumpy:
 
Yep! Ditto. Plus, we have old-fashioned washing lines where the birds perch, then deposit their doings all over the clean laundry as thanks for feeding them
 
13lizanne said:
Yep! Ditto. Plus, we have old-fashioned washing lines where the birds perch, then deposit their doings all over the clean laundry as thanks for feeding them
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Bless.... Nothing like cuddling up to your pillowcase and finding that a bird has been there before you! LOL
Ah well, as they say - some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.
:D
 
Galja said:
As we have three kinds of mosquitos in the DC area that can literally kill you, we have to be careful about standing water but I've noticed many birds taking dust baths.

Today a quite gigantic raven was swooping over the Potomac River as I was stuck on one of its bridges. I thought it a real blessing to have come at that moment when I was stopped so I could enjoy its flight, rushing swirling water below, a lovely cerulean sky and the only other creature moving, bikers in various states of undress.
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What a beautifully descriptive piece of writing, Galja! It makes me long to be there.....
:shy:
 
Galja said:
As we have three kinds of mosquitos in the DC area that can literally kill you, we have to be careful about standing water but I've noticed many birds taking dust baths.

Today a quite gigantic raven was swooping over the Potomac River as I was stuck on one of its bridges. I thought it a real blessing to have come at that moment when I was stopped so I could enjoy its flight, rushing swirling water below, a lovely cerulean sky and the only other creature moving, bikers in various states of undress.
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I sometimes sit in traffic and notice things like this, nature....in fact any life is amazing! But I do also wonder if any of my fellow 'jammers' take note or even see what nature is doing all around them?

BTW Galja you've just broken the saying 'A picture paints a thousand words' in about 62 words!
 
It appears that - if you're a bird - thunderstorms make you hungry...

1. The bluetits have fledged.
2. Bit of a barney over possession between an adult great tit and a baby coal tit (half his size, but not prepared to give an inch!)
3. Ditto above, but this time a newly-fledged bluetit has joined in the argument, and he appears to have the most to say!

:)

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I apologise for the quality of the pictures, but there was rain all over the window and the birds were pretty quick.
I got the peanuts and the foliage beautifully in focus, but I don't think Attenborough and his team have too much to worry about. :joyful:
 
How different your wildlife is to ours @Galja thanks for the picture and the story - earthquake! We very, very occasionally get a slight tremor in a part of UK and it's such an unusual event that it makes the front page of every Daily Newspaper
 
Galja said:
And here I was mourning the fact that it is high season for North Carolina Cave Crickets, our prehistoric local friends. Diplomats get tropical pay for having to endure Washington summers

Our cave crickets have been in the US since prehistoric times. After an earthquake we had that was 5.8, my chimney cracked a little and tiles came loose inside . We started having humndreds of the save crickets but didn't know they were living in the chimney. TRhe darlings were part of the reason we decided to reline in metal instead of clay, both flues :

http://www.yourwildlife.org/2012/03/a-cliff-notes-guide-to-camel-crickets/

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There's also a greyish brown kind, locally. One above is more or less life size. The only thing you can do is glue traps since they jump very high and are therefore hard to catch.

http://www.yourwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/P2231666.jpg
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What's the problem with the crickets? Too noisy?
 
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