Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~

[Myssterry]

Just did my Big Garden Birdwatch, and, typically, the rarer visitors didn't appear.  I did see two long-

tailed tits, great tits and blue tits. 

[Muledeer]

I just googled tits.  I was wondering if they were known by a different name over here.  The search results for blue tits and great tits showed only Eurasian habitat.   Are there no tits in America? 

[Tja]

10 hours ago, Muledeer said:

I just googled tits.  I was wondering if they were known by a different name over here.  The search results for blue tits and great tits showed only Eurasian habitat.   Are there no tits in America? 

I've read that the great tit was introduced in Ohio, but were unsuccessful. Not sure why...

[daveb]

There is the American Bushtit, but I'm not sure if it is related to tits.

[hatpin]

Chickadees are your North American equivalent.

[Skycaptain]

15 hours ago, Muledeer said:

I just googled tits.  I was wondering if they were known by a different name over here. 

@Muledeer, off topic, but that made me laugh 😂 

 

I'm rather wondering what the end result of that search was 

[Muledeer]

haha, I wondered what I would dig up with that search too, @Skycaptain.  Amazingly, as long as I included the words "great" or "blue" tits, the Wiki link came up first.

I didn't know chickadees were a kind of tit, @hatpin.

[Myssterry]

There are loads of British tits.  Great, blue, long-tailed, bearded, penduline, willow, marsh, coal, crested....

 

My garden is full of them at the moment, but only great, blue, long-tailed and coal.  These all love visiting garden feeders.  The long-tails especially love suet blocks, and land on them to feed.  The others love peanuts, and will take dried meal worms too.

 

I am not seeing so much of the robin which is disappointing, but I have heard him singing.

 

A friend has given me a rather handsome looking bug hotel, which I need to find a suitable spot for, and a "teapot" specially made as a robin nesting box.

 

A goldcrest was in the garden earlier, such a beautiful little bird.

 

I see foxes wander across the garden quite often, I hope there are still hedgehogs - my old dog used to yap when he discovered hedgehogs, which alerted me to them being around.  I love to have a garden full of wildlife. 

[Skycaptain]

Rather to my surprise, I saw a fox walking across a main road at 0930 today 

 

There was a report published today which says that the rural hedgehog 🦔 population has halved , although the decline in urban hedgehogs is less severe 

[teatree]

22 minutes ago, Skycaptain said:

There was a report published today which says that the rural hedgehog 🦔 population has halved , although the decline in urban hedgehogs is less severe 

What are the causes?

[Tyke]

2 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

 

 

There was a report published today which says that the rural hedgehog 🦔 population has halved

So there are twice as many of them now? And how do they do this body splitting? 

[Skycaptain]

@teatree, the usual ; loss of hedgerows, increased pesticide use, habitat loss 

[Muledeer]

I just met a pet hedgehog last week.  I didn't know they were like little porcupines.  He seemed shy but friendly.   We don't have those animals around here.  Too bad they are in decline.

[Muledeer]

Did someone say foxes?

[LVG]

It's been a while since I've seen a fox. There was one stalking around my street a few years ago on Thanksgiving. 

[GeoAmy]

Sunday I went to a state park near me in search of an American Bittern.  I was excited to find one where I thought they typically were and it had brunch!  Its a type of heron that isn't particularly common and is known for its camouflage.

[Tja]

2 hours ago, GeoAmy said:

Sunday I went to a state park near me in search of an American Bittern.  I was excited to find one where I thought they typically were and it had brunch!  Its a type of heron that isn't particularly common and is known for its camouflage.

Fantastic! Looks like a shot straight out of National Geographic. 

[LVG]

Great picture, Geo! 

 

I posted some bird pictures in the photo thread, but here's my favorite. 

 

 

Male Northern Cardinal getting his fill of seeds. 

[Tanwen]

Urban foxes are getting quite cheeky - idiots keep feeding them - other day when I pulled into Tesco's car park, there was one trotting across it like he owned the place 

 

[GeoAmy]

19 hours ago, Tja said:

Fantastic! Looks like a shot straight out of National Geographic. 

Thanks @Tja!  So much of nature photography is being in the right place at the right time.  The fish was eventually consumed, but only after it was dunked in the water several times in about 10 minutes.  I couldn't quite figure out what purpose that was serving, but it was fun to watch.  If any one ever visits Houston, I can't recommend Brazos Bend State Park enough.  Lots of cool things to see there!

[GeoAmy]

3 hours ago, Tanwen said:

Urban foxes are getting quite cheeky - idiots keep feeding them - other day when I pulled into Tesco's car park, there was one trotting across it like he owned the place 

 

I really don't like when people feed the wildlife.  And then people complain they are being a nuisance...  And most of the time it's food the animals should never eat 

[Muledeer]

3 hours ago, Tanwen said:

Urban foxes are getting quite cheeky - idiots keep feeding them - other day when I pulled into Tesco's car park, there was one trotting across it like he owned the place 

 

We don't have urban foxes in my town.  In fact, seeing a fox in the wild is kind of rare.  In the seven years I have deployed trail cameras in the mountains, I have only photographed three different foxes.  I have photos of hundreds of Mule deer and dozens of elk and moose.

[Tja]

3 hours ago, GeoAmy said:

Thanks @Tja!  So much of nature photography is being in the right place at the right time. 

Tell me about it!

This one was flitting about so quickly, I decided to photograph the flowers instead, and got lucky.

[daveb]

@GeoAmy, @LVG, @Tja; great bird photos! Tja, is that bird in Australia?

 

And cool wildlife photos from your trail cameras, @Muledeer!

[Tja]

11 hours ago, daveb said:

Tja, is that bird in Australia?

I haven't seen him in 3 weeks, but I assume he's still there.

 

At a botanical garden in Australia, but, for the life of me, I can't remember where it was.

The place was spectacular!

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tanwen]

10 hours ago, GeoAmy said:

I really don't like when people feed the wildlife.  And then people complain they are being a nuisance...  And most of the time it's food the animals should never eat 

They sell special 'Hedgehog' food in many stores - but hedgehogs need all the help they can get 

 

[Tanwen]

The RSPB have a big garden bird watch at the end of January every year - so many of the birds I knew as common are dropping in numbers - I used to watch the starlings from our back door (and we were in the middle of a huge housing estate) now murmurations are rare 
https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/

 

[Decaf]

On 1/14/2018 at 8:42 PM, smack12776 said:

These are amazing. Stunning!

Thanks!

[Muledeer]

Here is an unbelievable article about an Elk that brought down a helicopter in Utah.  This just happened.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/02/13/elk-brings-down-helicopter-in-eastern-utah/

[Skycaptain]

3 hours ago, Muledeer said:

Here is an unbelievable article about an Elk that brought down a helicopter in Utah.  This just happened.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/02/13/elk-brings-down-helicopter-in-eastern-utah/

Police are investigating for any potential breaches of elk and safety legislation