A to Z challenge 2023 – O is for . . .
My
theme for this challenge is Nature in all much of her wonderful
diversity. My posts will reflect the fact that I am resident in the south of
England.
All
photographs in this post are the property of the writer.
O is for Ornithology
. . . or, more precisely, a bit of birdwatching, mostly in the garden. If nothing else, it made me go through Lightroom and categorise afresh.
We have had 32 different species in our garden. At one time, the starlings were the most prolific and certainly the noisiest, with their bickering and squabbling.
We enjoy seeing any bird that deigns to visit our garden and they all bring a measure of wonder and delight, so I can’t say that we have favourites – they are all favourites when they appear!
Since we ceded the freedom of the garden to the cats we have stopped feeding the birds, though we have plans to situate a feeder at the top of a pole on the pond fence. We tried a window bird feeder, but it wasn’t successful. Maybe the watchful cats loudly chittering in close proximity to the window were a deterrent.
Herons have visited several times, attracted by the fish in our pond. They have occasionally feasted well, dropping what they don’t want or have finished with on the ground. They are huge birds but so wary that it is extremely difficult to photograph them. If they discern the slightest movement they fly away immediately, often with a harsh cry.
A rarer incomer has been the sparrowhawk. Again, it is a wary creature, although we did surprise one – and ourselves – one day, strolling along the garden path and chancing upon it as it tore into an unfortunate starling.
The rarest visitor has been a racing pigeon.
'You put your right foot in, your right foot out,
In out, in out, shake it all about . . . '
It stayed with us for several days and just as we were trying to work out how to capture it, having no experience with handling birds, it departed.
I have several birds visiting my front lawn, most common are the mourning doves, feed one and by next day you've got three dozen! I don't feed them but the upstairs neighbour throws out crumbs and oats for them. I get sulphur crested cockatoos, although I see a lot less of them now I've stopped feeding them, it got too expensive and they will manage fine just as they did before. Magpies are common here, different from yours, and spring/summer brings rainbow lorikeets. Piping shrikes splash about in the bird bath and I have seen a sparrow now and then. The pink and grey galahs don't land here but I see flocks of them flying overhead as they go to and from feeding grounds, in spring/summer corellas too morning and evening but not in the winter.
ReplyDeleteYou have a lovely selection of exotic visitors. They just put our modest birds in the shade.
DeleteI love watching the birds in our - handkerchief sized - garden, but we haven't got quite the variety that you've got.
ReplyDeleteWe actually had a racing pigeon visiting us on our balcony when we lived in a 12th floor apartment. xxx
Any bird visitors are welcome, though, however big or small your garden x
DeleteThe pigeon is just beautiful. What colors. We have migrating warblers here in spring and headed south in fall. Love to see their colors. And I bike past a large and growing Great Blue Heron rookery. What noise they make. And only a few hundred yards from a Bald Eagle nest.
ReplyDeleteHow fabulous to have bald eagles nesting nearby.
ReplyDeleteWe had a tired racing pigeon land on our yacht mid north sea on one crossing. Unfortunately we were heading to Germany and away from its loft in East Anglia. We did send news of its stay with us to the number on its tag. It flew off a day or two later straight into the setting sun - fortified (we hope) on porridge oats.
ReplyDeleteMakes a change from an albatross!
ReplyDeleteOne of the lovliest things to do in the evening is sit in the backyard and watch the shenanigans at the bird feeder.
ReplyDeleteI agree - and so do the cats!
ReplyDelete