A to Z challenge 2023 – O is for . . .

 

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.

 Whether it reached its Scottish home loft we never did discover. I hope it did – it was so beautiful, in the gleaming good health that only true athletes display. 

Sharing with a juvenile starling

 

Update on our Scottish visitor

It has been slightly cooler today after a few days of high heat and humidity and I suspect our visitor has flown, beginning her long journey back to her home loft. I guess she has at least 400 miles to fly, possibly more.
I contacted the Scottish Homing Union to seek advice as I was concerned that the local woodpigeons were beginning to bully her though she continued to feed, sharing the station with them and with the collared doves. She, and they, gave way to the harrying starlings and I can understand why. They're not fussy who or what they land on and the shrieking and bickering is enough to give any self-respecting creature a headache.
The SHU advised that stray pigeons can take about a week to regain body weight and muscle before they attempt to continue their journey. That we could not catch her was a good sign as it meant she was strong. Then they said that she would probably start to fly off in the early evenings and attempt to get home, which is a classic sign of an experienced bird.
This has confused me a little (not a difficult achievement!) because I asked Janie of 'Janie and Steve's Utah Trails' for some information. (Thank you Janie!) Steve used to raise racing pigeons when he was a teenager. He said that birds were released for racing in the early morning so that they had all day to fly and stragglers might arrive days or even weeks later but that as far as he knew they would not fly at night.Our visitor certainly flew in the evenings – from our roof to roofs two or three houses away (not a great distance) and then she would return to our house. It's now evening here and there has been no sign of her so I'm sure she has departed. I hope she makes it home – we'll never know. I gave the SHU her details and a couple of photographs so I suppose there's a slim chance that we might hear – I'd like to think so.

ABC Wednesday W is for Wondering and Worrying

Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and her Willing Workers Who organise and host this Weekly meme. To see more Ws please click here.

Since early Monday morning this Scottish racing pigeon has been feeding and drinking several times a day in our garden.

She seems undisturbed by the presence of other birds. This young starling is drinking, lifting its beak to swallow. Pigeons and doves don't need to do this and so they can drink continuously.

One foot in, one foot out! Our dogs do this with their food bowls to stop them slipping. Perhaps she's doing the same thing.

I think Woodpigeons are handsome birds but I have to admit they'd come second in a beauty contest with a homing pigeon.

I've read that stray racing pigeons Will feed and rest and then resume their journey after a couple of days. This pigeon is Worrying me now. She has been here for three days. She has eaten heartily and drunk the fresh water I put out daily for the birds. I know she can fly and I saw her preening her feathers this afternoon. The advice is to capture strays and put them in a safe container, like a cat carrier, but this bird sits on our roof  and basks in the sun and When she's feeding she's looking around Warily every few seconds, though she seems less Worried With each passing day. What is really Worrying me, though, is that the Woodpigeons are getting bolder. Last evening two of them were tentatively pecking at her as all three gobbled seed. She didn't seem concerned, didn't attempt to retaliate and calmly carried on eating.

If she's still about tomorrow I'll contact the Pigeon Fancy and ask for advice. Maybe she's decided she likes it here - free food and no races!