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gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8628
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 24 9:26 am Post subject:
Sparrowhawk is eyeing up the laurel bush aka bird tenement in next door's garden

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 24 3:06 pm Post subject:

or the local takeaway as it is known to their family

grin at close range was interesting, grin having a laugh with my hair probably happened

raptors are a bit special, lunch learns to live, or die, with them

we are less than a mile from grin towers, ie faster than me from bed to the kitchen

grin has lots of options within 5 mins fly, look and shop distance, very polite here, maybe half a dozen serious attempts and 2 kills a year, passing by causes quite a bit of alarm though

a good strategy to not overharvest one place or dish

some of the more resident are getting a little too hormonal, flash and hansom need to get over it

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 24 3:25 pm Post subject:
i have mixed feelings about this, grin is special, eating a sparrow i know as i type i have some low res snaps so now im just watching the pigeon that is sitting watching does not seem to have grasped starter and main course

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 24 5:00 pm Post subject:

the catch was outside, 2.5M away, in the air

the movement got my attention so i saw how well it was done
adjust, grab, and land in a fraction of a second in airspace no bigger than a wardrobe with a sparrow that did not even twitch

kinetics and talons does fit the speed, aggression and surprise criteria
the sparrow did not evade, it was hit while doing sparrow stuff, it had no opportunity to be surprised

splendid flying in a very tight space at high speed, and i was lucky enough to be in the place to see it

for a month or two i lived on a beach top in kernow with grins 15 m up the cliff about 50 m away, they were interesting to watch on the "nest" and when hunting
that was amateur bird watching, this is amateur observations up close and personal, very personal for my sparrow chum, although a kind kill it was unaware of

the sparrows know something happened and being very cautious

that was a good wow wildlife moment, rather savage and now the sparrows, pigeons and daws are acting like nothing happened
who will be first on the duvet which is scattered for collection and awaiting reuse?

bird town is a bit shocked, another observation that requires being part of bird town and knowing the "vibe"

local, long term, constant vs a month being bothered by the landscape and not target critters and pathogens in a strange place?
my choice is easy, up the jungle with exotic "things" is best left to folk who live with them, explain why, share knowledge and "tools" if needed for them to share what they know and learn, study a few meters sq near the kitchen door and tell folk what you see

i have a top avian predator taking afternoon tea in a suburban yard, i must be doing something right

grin is a magnificent critter with a very good tailor

Efficiently kind for a predator kill, it makes hunting easier if they are got without knowing they were coming to dinner, kind is nice.

some of the local invertebrates are beyond savage, a few are efficiently kind(big up to the funnel webs)

having seen assorted "hunts", grin is the most talented of owt local, best trousers award as well

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15617

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 6:50 am Post subject:

The peregrine round our way seemed to drop quite a lot of its kills, but everything was probably higher speed as in the open. I got several pigeons for dinner that way. Ours never followed them down, but just left them.

Had a course in the woods yesterday and taking the people back to the gate in the van, we saw a roe deer and two hares. One of them had never seen a hare before, but they are quite common with us. Sometimes though you know a hare is squatting in the dead leaves on the ground and it is completely invisible even at close quarters.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 9:30 am Post subject:
it did not drop it to the floor, it landed with tea in its talons from a catch altitude of about 1.25M and an airspeed of maybe 60mph and then landing almost vertically in a very tight space to adjust it, then it took it to the bench to eat

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 12:00 pm Post subject:

the sparrows are more experienced, working as a flight with awacs and combat flying

they have lost their rather casual attitude to avian peril and are observing and evading as a team

the sparrow jackdaw pigeon combo is a robust flight, and they have interests that are compatible
they do seem to be a bit closer than tolerate, if any are alarmed all are alarmed, they feed together more often than i would have expected

they may fall out over eggs and chicks

or they will cooperate on such matters to repel the magpies which none of them like during nesting season
i will observe

watching coordinated air security and food sharing between 3 species is fun to see
i was lucky enough to get to hear cooperation between rivals and species in derbyshire, seeing a mixed flock up close is different to listening to alarm calls from sector to sector in a rain forest on a dramatic sloped environment

cross species awareness is effective for all of them, and handy if you know the ground predator calls and where they are coming from, what they are worried about, what it is doing and how fast it is moving

ttdntyas

thinking of temperate rain forest, it has been surprisingly wet for months
about 2" in the last 12 hours

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 1:18 pm Post subject:

a quick run through the snaps was interesting, a few have promise

i will upload them to the magic picture pooter and find a couple decent enough to clean up a bit if they are interesting
through a dirty window with a hand held phone is a bit random, phones have improved but they don't clean windows

the under ten seconds in "OI Pap, are you taking snaps of me eating?" one might be fun if i can get a half reasonable image by tweaking in photoshop
the current pro version is rather capable of getting a picture from a snapped mess when you learn to use it

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 2:48 pm Post subject:
do you think he saw me? the later ones on the bramble bed are not fit to rescue(without a huge amount of work, even then painting the scene in oils would be quicker and probably more accurate)

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 24 2:51 pm Post subject:
ps that is about 15 seconds after the catch and before starting tea

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15617

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 24 6:50 am Post subject:

That's a good picture Dpack. Small birds do cooperate a lot. We see flocks of mixed LBJs in the woods in the winter, mainly tits of various sorts, but including some others. Round here there were enough pigeons to go round for the raptors, but fewer conifers now and more raptors means there may come a time when all the birds need to cooperate to outmanouvre the predators. Judging by the gas guns locally, there are still plenty of pigeons on the fields, so that may only be in the more built up areas.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 24 4:10 pm Post subject:

it warmed up today, some bees and flapperfies(small brown/orange butterflies and other aerial anomalies and assorted bees)
slithery,walky stuff seems active as well
we have, well maybe had, loads of tiny inverts as the wren is busy hoovering today, ditto some of the sparrows

birdtown is keen on high protein high fat food, "fridge lurker" extra mature cheddar was popular with 4 species of avian, i hid the bit for the sammisons

so that will be 5spp

considering i am often awake during darkness, i might have a look at what is in the shadows with the cobra, tis amazing how many critters are out in the dark if you can see in enhanced night vis and/or IR at 4x and quite wide angle

owls and bats are plausible here, plenty of ambient light for the enhanced view, there are no floor level bits in eyeball that eyeball cannot see well

if there are bats, i will spot em in the sky, i have not seen any with naked eyeball this season

bat gnats, at least one sp of gnat is out in numbers im not sure if they night fly

the cobra can see moths as well as bats and owls and other things, if they are there
dont look wont know, it is not crossing the andes by frog

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15617

Posted: Wed May 01, 24 7:29 am Post subject:

Bat activity will depend upon night insect activity. At present it is quite cool here at night, so any bats will be out before it gets very dark and cold I think. It might be warmer for you in the city if the sun has been out warming roofs all day.

I saw what I thought was a thrush in the woods the other day, but then heard a sound that was more like a wren. We have had reports of nightingales, but not sure if there are any. Hoping there will be a bird survey soon, so we may know. Also found a hybrid spanish/english bluebell, so picked and put in the charcoal kiln. Need to keep an eye out round there in future years.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45548
Location: yes

Posted: Thu May 02, 24 2:44 pm Post subject:
warmed up a lot and less rainy, lots of critters doing spring at once rather than over a couple of months

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15617

Posted: Fri May 03, 24 7:04 am Post subject:
It was very humid with us yesterday and the sort of day where sitting still you needed a jacket but do anything; walk uphill, do some work, needed jacket off. Lots of little midgy bitey things out.

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