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."

[Tomshardware]

"Would love to see greenfinches, sadly not seen any for ages, we do have daily visits from goldfinches though on the niger seed feeder."

[Hammer and Pickle]

Peregrine chicks have almost got all their flying plumage and are really gearing up now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdezYfZdYT4&fbclid=IwAR1ZJJ-BB41s5PSlJAUyZP0rnDP_1xD1U5EDZgvuPX47lPY25SdSzNqoXxs

[Nurse Ratched]

"Aalborg It's very sad https://www.gardenwildlifehealth.org/portfolio/trichomonosis-in-garden-birds/ I also have a pair of goldfinches. They always visit as a pair. Beautiful birds. Until this gorgeous Covid Spring, I had given up on being visited by goldfinches and greenfinches."

[Aalborg Hammer]

"Nurse...haven't seen a greenfinch for years although we have a 'charm' of goldfinches here ,a few Siskins and Redpoll..great news though"

[Nurse Ratched]

I saw a vicious aerial battle between greenfinches this morning over my sunflower hearts feeder. To a significant extent they have taken over my garden among the smaller birds. The tits are getting less of a look-in. The robins are less frequent. I am consoling myself with the knowledge I am playing a tiny part in helping towards restoring their numbers after that horrible parasite tore through them.

[zebthecat]

My small flock of Starlings has moved on. It is a lot quieter withough them.

[Hammer and Pickle]

The chicks are now venturing out much more. Note the first signs of adult plumage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdezYfZdYT4&fbclid=IwAR1ZJJ-BB41s5PSlJAUyZP0rnDP_1xD1U5EDZgvuPX47lPY25SdSzNqoXxs

[Hammer and Pickle]

The chicks are now venturing out much more. Note the first signs of adult plumage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdezYfZdYT4&fbclid=IwAR1ZJJ-BB41s5PSlJAUyZP0rnDP_1xD1U5EDZgvuPX47lPY25SdSzNqoXxs

[Hammer and Pickle]

"lowermarshhammer 11:50 Tue May 26 Yeah, that's the bird though someone needs to sort the blatant racism :)"

[Far Cough]

"eswing hammer 11:33 Tue May 26 Re: For WHO's birders My neighbor across the road , he‚Äôs a right fat cսnt and he‚Äôs Arsenal ,can see right over the back of his garden , about 2 months ago l see this heron stabbing around in his pond l think it got a fish then it flew off , l thought about knocking on his door but fuck him , then later l saw him looking in his pond , looked a bit puzzled but he knew ,l don‚Äôt stand up at the window all day but was looking out , then about a week later my misses see the Heron again and called me then we see it with a huge fish in its mouth ,my misses screamed and he went to fly off then fatso come bombing out but too late , he‚Äôs now got this life size Heron with wings that come up , guarding at the side of his pond ! He needs to call on the services of Gank, the Heron MURDERER :-)"

[lowermarshhammer]

https://www.sos.org.uk/recent-sightings If you enter 'white stork' in the search panel you will get some more info

[eswing hammer]

"My neighbor across the road , he‚Äôs a right fat cսnt and he‚Äôs Arsenal ,can see right over the back of his garden , about 2 months ago l see this heron stabbing around in his pond l think it got a fish then it flew off , l thought about knocking on his door but fuck him , then later l saw him looking in his pond , looked a bit puzzled but he knew ,l don‚Äôt stand up at the window all day but was looking out , then about a week later my misses see the Heron again and called me then we see it with a huge fish in its mouth ,my misses screamed and he went to fly off then fatso come bombing out but too late , he‚Äôs now got this life size Heron with wings that come up , guarding at the side of his pond !"

[Hammer and Pickle]

Could be the Eastern population then. Long way to their wintering grounds then. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-32504476

[Hammer and Pickle]

Really? Any idea where they winter?

[cholo]

"There is an ongoing stork reintroduction programme in West Sussex, I suspect these storks are part of that programme. There are also storks nesting in Norfolk but it seems less likely they are from there."

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Could be, could be. We're talking about the Black Stork here. There are two separate European populations, one that usually breeds around the Rhine in Alsace and Baden-Wurttemberg and winters in Spain and Portugal, and the other in Poland/Belarus/Ukraine that winters in Egypt (2000 pairs in Poland alone. We're having an unusually cold May this year so this pair could be Polish migrants. Have you noticed the ""clacking"" and the red bill?"

[cholo]

"Definitely Storks pickle, not sure if they are actually nesting in the area but they've been around for more than a week or so."

[Hammer and Pickle]

You sure they weren't cranes? Storks nest on chimney stacks and other man-made structures.

[Nurse Ratched]

Ah! Yes I thought you would have seen plenty in Spain.

[cholo]

I'm down here on the east sussex coast. I've seen tons of the ungainly bastards in their nests in Spain

[Nurse Ratched]

"Coffee - so it was a bit blowy, then? ?üòÅ (good, that) Cholo - I thought you were in Spain."

[cholo]

Saw two storks on Sunday that are resident in my local red beds. They are extremely rare in this country apparently.

[Coffee]

"Not entirely off-topic, a description of the cyclone that struck Calcutta last week. A pigeon clings to the neighbours’ overhang. It’s drenched and gives every suggestion of self pity, its head tucked into its breast, its wings drooping, heavy with water. The wind is now working itself into a frenzy. It roars like a hysterical jet engine, screaming and howling in turns of rising volume. There are the sounds of doors slamming, of things banging, booming and crashing. The rain alternates between vertical and horizontal, a concentrated shower of watery nails against the walls and windows. The walls tremble. My wife and I turn to each other and quietly acknowledge the shuddering floor. There is nothing we can do but sit and watch, listen, feel. We are equally spectators and potential participants in an immersive demonstration of pure energy. The windows become a screen for the silhouettes of trees, their dark branches flaying manically, reaching and stretching in desperate agony like madmen begging release from torment. Will the trees last the night? The lights flicker and the air is cool, almost but not quite cold, a delicious contrast to the heat of this normally most stupefying of months. In other circumstances, it would be thrilling, but this is nature expressing raw, unbridled anger and there is no telling what lies ahead. You shouldn’t really find it thrilling; it lacks respect. Awful is better, in its proper sense, because it’s impossible not to feel utterly disempowered in its presence. The pigeon has gone. There can be few places of safety for that bird tonight. There are more booms of crashing wood, of falling masonry and shattering glass. In the rabid caterwauling, the skins of mangoes and lychees, discarded wrappers, and more from the greatly varied detritus of Kolkata’s streets are dispatched onto roofs, into walls, through part-open doors and windows. Anything that is not securely fastened joins that soaring, delinquent dance. Then a brief pause, leaving only the rain drilling onto the balcony. But it’s a temporary respite, for within seconds the engine powers up once more. In the flat opposite an older lady, a widow, sits alone. Her back is straight and she has placed one hand purposefully on each leg just above the knee. She stares at the floor as she did twenty minutes earlier. Through waves of opaque rain, her lips move silently. And still the storm gathers pace, with each minute stronger, louder, faster. Yes, it is thrilling, but terrifying too. Not the terror of vulnerability, nor that of fear for self, but the kind of reflective terror that comes of being witness to hostility and wanton brutality."

[Alfie]

"The tiniest chaffinch has just flapped its little wing upon my window. It knows I am wankered beyond all reasonable boundaries and it's small concern is for me and me only: chaffinches are known to hold concern for human piss artistes. Its little chesty concern is enough to bring me back from the brink. chippy tap upon the window pane. Like a tiny chisel. My children will no doubt be grateful, for this little chaps concern."

[gph]

"Reminiscent of the Crakers' blue organs? (FFS, don't tell Golden Oldie about the sterilisation plot)"