For WHO's birders

[Nurse Ratched]

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

[Nurse Ratched]

Unintended consequences: I have spent a significant portion of my bank holiday weekend acting as a live 'scarecrow' against hordes of starlings who have worked out why the robins and great tits are flying in and out of my house.

[Far Cough]

"Cony, never mind lasers, the amazing Lyre Bird mimics chain saws, camera shutters, car alarms and more... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSB71jNq-yQ"

[Nurse Ratched]

"It's fledgling great tit day! Enormous commotion and racket in the tree and on the feeders. Babies shimmying and squeaking, begging their parents for morsels. I've been sending videos of the ABSOLUTE SCENES to my kids. No fledglings in my sitting room yet, but the parents, probably sensibly, don't seem to be encouraging them to come into my house."

[Cony Tottee]

When I say laser I mean the sort of sound you'd expect a laser to make when fired on a tv show!!!

[Cony Tottee]

Crassus There is a bird called the Eastern Whipbird which makes a sound a bit like a laser every 30 seconds or so. We had them near us when we stayed near Cairns but not sure where else they live.

[Crassus]

"Not so sure about quails, the sound was coming from half way up my eucalyptus, about 25ft Buggered if I know, but have reinstated Chirpomatic,so if I get a repeat I will check that out"

[gph]

It is rare. Those kind of brothels are usually sound-proofed. So I've been told.

[lowermarshhammer]

"Whip whip whip (wet my lips) Nurse has it right probably. Maybe maximum 400 to 500 calling males per annum in UK so definitely a decent heard not seen spot. I've only seen once in about 30 years now, that was about 5 years ago"

[lab]

Nurse ....arf !

[Nurse Ratched]

Quail?

[Crassus]

"Can anyone identify a bird call I heard today Heard this very infrequently and it is noticeably different to the normal chorus Changed phones so Chirpomatic is disabled Also live on the edge of village backing on to open farmland/hedgerows, so that type of habitat So, quite loud and shrill, no tonal variation It sounds in short and sharp bursts, each cheep followed by a pause of broadly equal time , repeated again after about 30 seconds WHIP WHIP WHIP Pause WHIP WHIP WHIP and so on Not the easiest task trying to describe a sound, but any ideas?"

[lab]

"Surface agent ,gph, I just think it’s unfair as corvids around town don’t have a predator and nature gets un balanced , I’m so sad there are not the garden birds around there used to be . I’m lucky enough to drive to the countryside where corvids are controlled. So much more bird song . Such an abundance of birds . It seems so much like what I used to remember . For this I thank game kept estates ."

[lab]

"Surface agent ,gph, I just think it’s unfair as corvids around town don’t have a predator and nature gets un balanced , I’m so sad there are not the garden birds around there used to be . I’m lucky enough to drive to the countryside where corvids are controlled. So much more bird song . Such an abundance of birds . It seems so much like what I used to remember . For this I thank game kept estates ."

[WHU(Exeter)]

"Nurse, just seen your post about the smaller birds and now eating from inside. That is absolutely brilliant, really envious. Had exactly the same problem years ago, lots of little birds of all varieties used to use it, loads of different tits, robins and blackcaps now and again as well. Then some magpies nested near and thought ""well that's that"", but the magpies were surprisingly 'decent' with the smaller ones, didn't bully etc and they'd just have their fill and eat it. They used to let grapes stay there as well after they'd learnt that it was better to eat the grapes when they'd been in the sun for a few days. (I think they used to get off their heads on them). A blackbird used to sit at the bottom of it and occasionally pick up some of the food that had fallen from the feeding table. Once saw it do it and the female blackbird appeared from nowhere and had a right pop at it, it was like ""Iwe're not eating that shit...go get me proper worms""!!! All of that ended when 3 or 4 wood pigeons comeletely took over and the galore of different visitors and sights each day was replaced by them 3 sitting on the bird table for 10 hour stretches and shitting all over it once they'd stuffed their faces. It wasn't really the same again and certainly no contender for a quick slot on spring watch. The wind snapped the feeder in half and we all had to move on. Yours has a much better ending!"

[gph]

"lab -WE'RE absolutely ruthless about our food, too. Even if most of us* keep the gorier bits of the process at arm's length. *Me included"

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"lab I used to have a tit box on the side of my house. I thought it would be nice for the little-uns to see the birdies come and go. Lots of my neighbours did the same. Sadly, blue tits all seem to fledge at the same time, so one day a year, they teeter, one by one, to the hole in the box, take a look around and plummet to the ground (usually). It's like the killing fields and for the cats and magpies it's Christmas, birthday, bar-Mitzvah, first confirmation and golden wedding all rolled into one, as they swoop upon the helpless slow learners. There seem to be a zillion chicks hatched though, so it's all part of life's rich tapestry. And magpies (and jays) gotta eat, too."

[Fo the Communist]

"It's been mentioned on the TV thread but My Octopus Teacher on Netflix is a very good watch for anyone with a brain, a soul, and an affinity for the natural world. And well done Nursey - taking twitching to an insanely enjoyable level. I'm envious."

[lab]

"Jays are very handsome birds,however like other corvids they are ruthless. I saw a pair pick off an entire group of young blue tits about five minutes after they left a bird box , not as bad as magpies though . I pull my hair out where I live ,so many garden birds have vanished . Between cats and magpies nesting birds struggle . Lucky if I see a blackbird these days ."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"Elephants, which, as we know, never forget, are in - dogs and cats not."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"Only ten animals have been proved to be self-aware. Chimpanzees, bonobos and the higher primates and whales are among the more obvious candidates. More surprising is the European magpie."

[gph]

"Octopuses are solitary, but their relatives, squid and cuttlefish are more social. There's footage of a two-faced male squid swimming between another male and a female. The male-facing half of the one in the middle displays skin patterning which says fuck off, the female-facing half shows ""I love you"" patterning. Shame I didn't post it when I found it, as I can't be arsed to find it again."

[zebthecat]

Octupuses are up there too which is pretty amazing given their short life spans. They are great at problem solving and decorate their dens like corvids. Certainly above dogs and cats at those and up with the primates.

[gph]

"Jays vs wasps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghuFd21MmGI American jays, that is. European jays are more closely related to magpies than to American jays. Anyway, the jays win."

[gph]

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H59GcPgXXv4 Much shorter video on bird brains - although a pigeon's brain is the size of a peanut, and other birds don't have much bigger ones, some birds have as many neurons as monkeys. Crows can answer questions about what they have seen - at least ""sort of"" - pointing at proper consciousness, which puts them in quite an elite group of animals."

[Crassus]

"Wonderful fred - top work Nurse and Soldo I can relate to my French mate, Sid the swan, hissy young cob that became my mate A year later, the bugger remembered me and my call, replete with his 'wife' and offspring Bloody bird was more akin to Jack Russel than a water bird when I called him Covid has stopped two visits now,but I would bet that he would recall the mad Englishman who hand fees him when I can get back"