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


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Saturday we walked from Eastleigh to Winchester. There wasn't a huge variety of butterflies, but those that were around were very abundant - especially Brimstones 

 

Yesterday I had a walk along the old railway from near Groombridge to Ball's Green, again not variety but quantity, also lots of woodpeckers, and I nearly stood on a pheasant whilst looking for a Peacock :P:P

 

*the butterfly, but I had to *

 

 

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Lovely walk through the bluebells at the local nature reserve.  Singing birds everywhere.  I saw orange tip butterflies and brimstones.  There were four or five blackcap warblers together and singing, so I wondered if they were newly arrived summer residents and will be setting up their individual territories soon.

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@Tja is @Glyn the name of that beautiful bird on its nest or your human friend?  I like the new leaf colors and how close you must have been to that bird - is it a dove?

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Trosley country park today. Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Small Heath, Peacock, Brimstone, Green Vein White, Orange Tip, several different sorts of bees, numerous birds 

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On 4/16/2019 at 3:06 PM, Tja said:

I met @Glyn in the Cotswolds! 😂

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Ssshhh.... don't blow my cover!  I'm on a super secret Stunt Pigeon mission and stuff!! :P 

 

 

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8 hours ago, Muledeer said:

@Glyn the name of that beautiful bird on its nest or your human friend? 

@Glyn is my wonderful Ace friend, here on AVEN. :)

 

8 hours ago, Muledeer said:

is it a dove?

A pigeon.

 

I have a small pocket camera, with a decent zoom.

I bought it for myself, for christmas, to take on vacation. *Appropriately named the Elph*

Spoiler

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6 minutes ago, Tja said:

@Glyn is my wonderful Ace friend, here on AVEN. :)

 

A pigeon.

 

I have a small pocket camera, with a decent zoom.

I bought it for myself, for christmas, to take on vacation. *Appropriately named the Elph*

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16785-1000x-0.jpg

 

**Hugs Tja!**

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I nearly had a turkey run into me today. They seem to be everywhere all of a sudden. 

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9 hours ago, LVG said:

I nearly had a turkey run into me today. They seem to be everywhere all of a sudden. 

We Stunt Pigeons never have that problem.  Turkeys are flightless birds by and large, and us Stunt Pigeons are always on manoeuvres in the sky, always ready to defend the mighty territories of AVENland!! 😜 :P 

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13 hours ago, Glyn said:

We Stunt Pigeons never have that problem.  Turkeys are flightless birds by and large, and us Stunt Pigeons are always on manoeuvres in the sky, always ready to defend the mighty territories of AVENland!! 😜 :P 

And poop on unsuspecting bystanders. 

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On 4/24/2019 at 12:02 AM, LVG said:

And poop on unsuspecting bystanders. 

We prefer the term "Bombing raids on enemies of AVENland!" :P 

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A pair of elk, having dinner.  Note the bull is already re-growing his antlers after shedding them this spring!

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57 minutes ago, Muledeer said:

Note the bull is already re-growing his antlers after shedding them this spring!

So they grow them throughout the Summer, Fall and Winter? Or is it unusual to start so soon after shedding?

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 They grow their antlers from the time the old antlers are shed in April until breeding season in September.  When they are done growing, they lose their velvet.  The velvet is actually skin with blood vessels that supply nutrients to the growing antlers.    I was amazed to see so much antler growth this early in the spring.  It's probably not unusual, just remarkable.   

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How fantastic to see such magnificent animals.  I should make the effort to go and see the deer near here.  There is a beautiful deer park, with fallow deer, which you can see from the old churchyard.

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10 hours ago, Muledeer said:

 They grow their antlers from the time the old antlers are shed in April until breeding season in September.  When they are done growing, they lose their velvet.  The velvet is actually skin with blood vessels that supply nutrients to the growing antlers.    I was amazed to see so much antler growth this early in the spring.  It's probably not unusual, just remarkable.   

Ah. Cool. Thanks for the info. :) 

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I saw my first tiger swallowtail butterfly today. At first glance, I thought it was a goldfinch because of the yellow wings. It seems early for them, but it has been warm, and everything was a bit behind last year due to a very cold March and April. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Myssterry

I was excited to see a red kite circling overhead yesterday as I drove along.  They are rare in this part of England.

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So many uncommon birds migrating through the area. I saw a blue-winged back warbler last Thursday. Never saw one before. Very neat looking little bird. 

 

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@Mz Terry my son lived for some years in the middle of nowhere in west Wales. It was ( is) a stronghold for red kites - as common as seagulls. They are beautiful birds and it's good to hear that they've now reached your part of the UK. I wish we had them here in Kent.

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AllThisTime
15 hours ago, LVG said:

So many uncommon birds migrating through the area. I saw a blue-winged back warbler last Thursday. Never saw one before. Very neat looking little bird. 

What a beautiful warbler, I know I've never seen one and I don't think I've heard of it either. It will be great when the warblers start migrating through our area. The Baltimore orioles have arrived. Yellow warblers are stunning and I love the sound of the name: Blackburnian warblers, as well.  

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So, I went out hiking and saw so many birds! Two of them were completely new to me. 

 

Hooded warbler

 

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Kentucky Warbler 

 

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Apparently the second is rare for our area, so double yay! 

 

Honorable mentions: ruby-crowned kinglet, indigo bunting, red-eyed vireo, and pileated woodpecker.

 

I just wish I could have gotten some pictures. Birds aren't exactly cooperative when in comes to photos. 

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13 hours ago, LVG said:

So, I went out hiking and saw so many birds! Two of them were completely new to me. 

 

Hooded warbler

 

64456461-480px.jpg

 

Kentucky Warbler 

 

36734821-480px.jpg

 

Apparently the second is rare for our area, so double yay! 

 

Honorable mentions: ruby-crowned kinglet, indigo bunting, red-eyed vireo, and pileated woodpecker.

 

I just wish I could have gotten some pictures. Birds aren't exactly cooperative when in comes to photos. 

Thank you for posting photos of the birds you see, even if the photos are not ones you have taken.  I really enjoy learning about these creatures and I would not normally take the time to look them up.  My friends gave me this really cool bird chart of the birds native to Utah, with color photos, and it is laminated so it is wear resistant.  

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I use an app called Merlin from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It's really helpful and fun to look at all the different birds. 

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They are very pretty birds @LVG.  I heard my first cuckoo of the year yesterday. It's one of those wonderful bird calls that seem to travel miles. I love the sound that curlews make as well. 

 

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