Favourite feathered bird?

[yenrod]

I was in the YOC for years and yearned for a sighting of a Goldfinch - then one day years later whilst hurrying somewhere I seen one !

Critically impressive !

 

[gbb]

so do herons, they ate all the avocet chicks at the london wetlands centre last year.

saw a water rail today... it swam past a hide at the wetlands centre. everyone else was looking out across the lake and missed it... for irony, it even looked into the hide. meanwhile i was so engrossed with it i forgot to take a picture.

I'm gobsmacked laurence... exactly the same happened to me once.

Only ever saw two of them. Theyre not rare, but very secretive. I had binos and my SLR with me to try to get some good shots.
This rail just appeared a few yards from the hide Christ...look at him son..i said. The colours really are rich and beautiful. We sat there and watched him for maybe two minutes...and off he went.

Then we looked at each other...i looked at the camera... Dohhhhhh

 

[Abitrary]

did you watch springwatch? might have put you off owls. chicks eating their siblings

Yeah, yeah. I actually meant to say pigeon. A bird that you can eat and is also a tourist attraction.

 

[gavintc]

I am with Fab Foodie, with Christmas coming, it has to be nice farm reared Turkey alhough I had a cracking pheasant yesterday.

I like the more unusual birds - hummingbirds are so beautiful.

 

[Pete]

Don't think I really have a favourite - nor an un-favourite, though I suppose the feral pigeon would come close - but may I put in a plaintive word for the humble Starling? Probably not everyone's first choice. I quite like to see them squabbling and pecking each other over the fat-block and feed table (reminds one of Soapbox a bit) and impressive to see the way they get in line and patrol across the lawn pecking for grubs. Always makes me think of a line of police like you see on the News, doing a fingertip search for the murder weapon... Alas the Starling is red-listed by the RSPB, they are at risk, though at the moment we still see plenty.

 

[laurence]

I'm gobsmacked laurence... exactly the same happened to me once.

Only ever saw two of them. Theyre not rare, but very secretive. I had binos and my SLR with me to try to get some good shots.
This rail just appeared a few yards from the hide Christ...look at him son..i said. The colours really are rich and beautiful. We sat there and watched him for maybe two minutes...and off he went.

Then we looked at each other...i looked at the camera... Dohhhhhh

birds know, you know...

i went to wetlands today and it was cloudy and grey, so i didn't get the camera out... first 5 minutes... little grebe swims across in front of the observatory, oh well. great spotted woodpecker flies to the top of a tree and call repeatedly - great views, maybe i should get the camera out. move closer and hear a noise in the reeds - it's a water vole that swims out in full view and is about 5 ft away from me. hmmmmm, really should have unpacked the camera. then into the hide and the camera comes out... change the lens, look left and there pops up a water rail. it hesitates as i take the lens cap off... it moves as i turn the camera on... it swims across and looks at me as i look back and say hello and admire its cute features and curved bill!

i'd make a crap wildlife cameraman!

i also saw one fly out from reeds and take cover later. it should have stayed where it was as i hadn't seen it before it flew out!

the other week a kestrel flew over me and i waved at it! took my hand off the camera to do so as well.

 

[laurence]

Alas the Starling is red-listed by the RSPB, they are at risk, though at the moment we still see plenty.

a lot of those around at the moment are migrant ones... the uk natives are endangered as they have been driven out of town as they make a mess! there used to be flocks of them in leicester square, but were 'evicted'.

same with sparrows, they're rare in london and most towns now as modern houses don't allow for roosting places.

 

[Aperitif]

Used to get field fare in a previous house...thought they were thrushes at first, but they liked the old fruit that had been left rotting - or the insects inside! A posh thrush. A jay was another visitor - used to eat the acorns and rummage at the bottom of the garden

 

[andrew_s]

saw a water rail today... it swam past a hide at the wetlands centre. everyone else was looking out across the lake and missed it... for irony, it even looked into the hide. meanwhile i was so engrossed with it i forgot to take a picture.

Not quite a water rail, but being very cooperative in front of the hide.

 

[Lardyboy]

The comedic Puffin for me, with the equally funny Penguin a close second.

 

[Speicher]

you could put the fluff on tree branches... or, get an old tennis ball and lop the top off and fill the inside with fluff and hang it from a branch or the fence. never know, might get a wren in there!

the nests are mainly for eggs, so spring is a good time, but some do have have nests all year round.

EMU!!!! that's a terrible insult for a Nene

I do apologise Nene. I started off on this thread by saying I did not know anything about birds. I think there is a tennis ball somewhere in the garage, so I will try that with the fluffy stuff.

 

[Van Nick]

I rather like Buzzards because they are fascinating to watch as they cirle round like vultures and I'm still amazed at the size of them when I suddenly see one perched in a nearby tree as I'm cycling by.

I think my ultimate favourite though has to be the Robin, because the one in my garden will take raisins or mealworms from my hand.

 

[gbb]

Yeah, yeah. I actually meant to say pigeon. A bird that you can eat and is also a tourist attraction.

I'd keep my head down bud....youre not having much luck with this post are you

 

[Pete]

If it's OK to nominate another anti-favourite - well I can't really say much nice about our dear old Collared Doves. Not, that is, since I saw one of them kill another in our back garden. It did it by throttling the poor victim with its wings, not pecking. In the end I ran out into the garden to chase off the assailant and prevent the slaughter: the attacker flew off but the victim, by now moribund and too weak to fly, crawled off under the bushes. The next day I found it dead: maybe a passing cat had finished the job, but I still hold the bird to blame. So much for doves being the symbol of universal peace! Also I find their incessant "woo-woo-WOO" call most irritating!

 

[Abitrary]

Oh, *all time* favorite and not just current one. That would have to be the Red-necked Phalarope.

I like that one because when feeding it will will often swim in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool.