Tag: Coal Tits

Getting ready for nesting season!

A very sunny day here in Edinburgh, spring feels really in full swing and we were cutting back a privet hedge today to make sure itā€™s done before the birds start nesting. Ā Found an old nest in the hedge from last year, which hopefully gives promising signs that there maybe nest building and young birds in the garden later this year. Ā Hopefully Iā€™ll be out with the camera a bit more soon, my hands are starting to feel slightly better, hereā€™s the list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion Crow x 1 ā€“ flyover
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Woodpigeon x 1

Lovely sunny day in Edinburgh Scotland, great for a garden bird list.

A very sunny and beautiful day in Edinburgh which produced a decent garden bird list including the 3 main tits, only 1 of each but I was still happy with that!

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 1
  5. Great Tit x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 6
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Woodpigeon x 1

This weeks Bird Guides photo of the week is a great pic of a crested tit ā€“ Bird Guides ā€“ Crested TitĀ ā€“ a fantastic shot of a very startled looking bird.

Small amounts of snow brings out a few birds. Plus photo of a Robin.

Today started off slightly white, pretty sure itā€™s the first snow for just over 2 weeks and then finished very wet. Ā The birds were loving a left over vegan pancake from yesterday. Ā The bad weather brought out the birds today and one of the longest lists Iā€™ve had in a few days:

  1. Blackbird x 4
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 4 ā€“ fly overs
  4. Chaffinch x 1
  5. Coal Tit x 1
  6. Dunnock x 1
  7. Feral Pigeon x 1
  8. House Sparrow x 3
  9. Robin x 1
  10. Woodpigeon x 3

Hopefully get Robins nesting in the garden this year, below is a photo of one that was collecting my hair that Iā€™d had cut and put out for the birds:

Robin collecting hair for nest building

Robin collecting hair for nest building

Not sure why but colours have washed out a lot on export.

Not a lot of birds for me today. Also signs of Spring.

Sadly spent most of my day in bed,Ā succumbedĀ to one of these winter colds, the small chance I did get to see any birds this is my count

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Coal Tit x 1
  3. Woodpigeon x 4

It seems Iā€™m not the only one noticing that spring seems to be starting, this was from Jim on the Lothian Bird News Yahoo group:

It felt as if Spring had sprung at Gosford this morning:

2 pr Heron on nests
2 singing Chaffinch
3 drumming GSW
4 Nuthatch (2 singing)
lots of singing Song Thrush, tits, Dunnock, Stock Dove etcā€¦

Another new bird for the year, Song Thrush & Tawny Owl is back.

Sadly when moving the website to a new server I lost a lot of internal links, sorry that the links on here do not work.

My bird list isnā€™t as exciting as Wesā€™s (A good day at Rainham Marshes) but I have a new one for this years bird list and the Tawny Owl was back last night, there was also a Song Thrush in the front garden today, very happy with that! Ā There were roughly 20 geese flying east to west over the Pentland hills ā€“ photo of Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh today, strangely they were flying in one straight line and not the VĀ that weā€™re all so familiar with, wasnā€™t sure what species of geese they were so havenā€™t added them to my list.

As well as the Dunnocks ā€“Ā Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.Ā ā€“ showing mating behaviour the other day, the two woodpigeons I saw today were also getting ready to nest, it has been a very mild winter here in Edinburgh. Ā Hereā€™s my garden bird list that I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 3
  4. Coal Tit x 2
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 3
  7. Magpie x 1
  8. Song Thrush x 1
  9. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  10. Woodpigeon x 2

This list below is from Wes, you can see his latest updates on:Ā https://twitter.com/WesDonze

A good day at Rainham Marshes

Visited the RSPB site at Rainham Marshes today and had a good visit there for about 3 hours ā€“ 42 species in total

So here is the list in order seen

Magpie, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Robin, Dunnock, Lapwing, Blackbird, Coot, Shelduck, Carrion Crow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Starling, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Shoveler, Dunlin, Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Kestrel, Mute Swan, Marsh Harrier, Herring Gull, Golden Plover, Canada Goose, Little Grebe ( heard only), Cormorant, Pachard, Cettiā€™s Warbler, Stonechat, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit,Blue Tit, Common Pheasant, Black Headed Gull,Lesser Black Backed Gull, Redshank, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon

 

Best ever view of Cettiā€™s Warbler ā€“ previously only had fleeting glimpses but today the one i saw was showing well

Another very quiet day in the garden, where have all the birds gone!?

Another very quiet day in the garden, but I did see 21 Carrion crows flying overhead, there was also a flock of what looked like starlings, 9 birds however I could just make out silhouettes and at a distance, so not 100% sure, also 5 gulls flew over, but once again not 100% sure what type they were. So Iā€™ve left it as my garden list and the crows:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Carrion crow x 21 ā€“ flying over
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 1
  5. Magpie x 2
  6. Woodpigeon x 2

Young Starling begging for food in my old garden, so far not had any starlings at my new place:Ā 

Feed Me - Starling Chick - feeding time

Feed Me ā€“ Starling Chick ā€“ feeding time
Pretty sure this was taken with a Canon 20D and Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

Dunnocks showing mating behaviour, my garden bird list.

Yesterday Iā€™d forgotten to add a Robin to my list, it wasnā€™t in my garden and i hadnā€™t written it down when I saw it, so edited the post and all up to date now. Ā Today all seen in the garden or flying over, first time thereā€™s been a great tit for a while and the dunnocks are displaying a lot of mating behaviour. Ā Hereā€™s the list of birds I saw today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 3
  5. Great Tit x 1
  6. House Sparrow x 7
  7. Lesser black-backed gull x 3 fly overs ā€“ a new one for this year, although probably seen them at a distance theyā€™d never been close enough to ID.
  8. Magpie x 1 ā€“ heard only
  9. Woodpigeon x 3

A new first for the year ā€“ Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Thatā€™s right I saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, not in my garden but a tree opposite my house, so very pleased with that one! Ā The rest of the list is from my garden today:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Black-headed Gull x 1 ā€“ flyover.
  3. Blue Tit x 1
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 1
  6. Greater Spotted Woodpecker x 1
  7. House Sparrow x 3
  8. Robin x 1 ā€“ not in my garden on the street nearby.
  9. Woodpigeon x 2

Heard a Tawny Owl & saw very few other birds!

It was another very quiet day in the garden today, a few carrion crows flying overhead and the tawny owl was out and about last night but very little else so Iā€™ve added some photos from the balcony of my old flat in Sydney Australia:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Carrion crow x 4 ā€“ flyovers
  3. Coal Tit x 1
  4. Dunnock x 2
  5. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
Rainbow Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet at the flat in Sydney.

Rainbow Lorikeet takes a bath

Rainbow Lorikeet takes a bath

Rainbow Lorikeet shakes after a bath.

Rainbow Lorikeet shakes after a bath.

Our flock of Rainbow Lorikeets

Our flock of Rainbow Lorikeets

Grey Heron and Tawny Owl show up on my list for first time this year.

Just after midnight last night I heard a Tawny Owl, first Iā€™ve heard since moving into my new place a bit further down Corstorphine Hill than I used to live, a bit of a surprise as thereā€™s a lot less trees around here. Ā Thanks to Edinburgh Hawkwatch for their page on ā€“ Tawny Owl ā€“ EdinburghĀ for a little more detail about Tawny Owls in the area. Ā Whilst watching the Rugby I noticed a very large bird arrive on the horizon I thought thatā€™s too big to be a gull it has to be something else, it continued to fly straight towards me and it was a heron, another first for the year, hereā€™s the garden bird list Iā€™ve seen today:

  1. Blackbird x 3
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Chaffinch x 4
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Grey Heron x 1 ā€“ fly over
  6. House Sparrow x 6
  7. Tawny Owl x 1 ā€“ heard only
  8. Woodpigeon x 1
  9. Wren x 1