Wildlife January 2012

[Anthony Darby]

Some amazing wildlife pics.

[Stephenb]

Yes, I agree! They are really good! The pictures are taken quite a bit north of my place where there are more eagles, but it is not uncommon to see them here either. The most I have seen at the same time here is 5. But some years ago when I visited northern Norway I counted 15 eagles at the same place and that without bait. The lady who pictured these birds tells she counted 23 at the same time.

We have a really good on-line reporting system for birds here. I wondered what the largest observed flocks of White-tailed Eagles (Havørn) would be, so I looked it up. Within a minute I was able to generate this numerical list of the highest numbers of White-tails in Norway. The biggest "flock" was over 48 birds (estimated to 50)! Just imagine there being too many Eagles to count accurately! My personal record is also about 15 seen from a boattrip on the seabird island Runde.

Some of the biggest flocks you will see have been observed on the island of Smøla where a controversial wind farm has been built and many birds have sadly been killed.

[Maggi Young]

Pine grosbeaks are a winter bird here, arriving in December and leaving in late February, and we have had an extraordinary number of them this year, gobbling up sunflower seeds at our feeders. I decided to have a go at getting them to come to my hand, not something I would ordinarily do, but we have had a mild January so I could stand still for a while with hand outstretched without fear of being frozen solid. Success !
These pictures were taken last weekend.  Since then they are getting braver, approaching me for a handout even when I am away from the feeders.
Sharon

Beyond exciting to have these wildlings come to you, Sharon. And what superb photos (tho' I expect nothing less from the Illingworths!)

[Peter Maguire]

Lovely pictures of the Grosbeaks, and it's good to see wildlife that can be so trusting.
They must know that they are (literally) in good hands.

[mark smyth]

Very nice Grosbeaks.

Bob Gordon over here used to have an assortment of birds follow him around his large garden. The tamest were Blue tits, Parus caerulea, Great tits, Parus major, and Chaffinches. Fringilla coelebs. The latter would flutter in front of his face if he didnt feed them. He alsways had seeds in his pockets. He doesnt have any tame ones these das

[mark smyth]

A gull that should be on the Pacific coast of North America is here in N Ireland. How do those guys in to gulls know how to tell the 1st winter, 2nd winter and 3rd winter juveniles apart. Handy enough this one is darker than the rest.
[youtube]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thayer's_Gull[/youtube]