Wildlife January 2012

[TC]

Fascinating birds Ravens.  A couple of weeks ago we were up the coast checking on a pair of Peregrines which nest there every year.  They also have a pair of Ravens as neighbours.  Three Ravens were in the air and one bird had a large feather in its bill.  It would fly several hundred feet in the air and then drop it. As it fell it would watch it and then dive with closed wings  and then pull out underneath and catch it.  Then it would indulge in aerobatics and start the procedure again.  We watched this for about 15 minutes.  It was a juvenile bird and the other two were its parents.  One of the adults gave a series of loud "cronks" and the young bird let go of the feather and joined them,  No doubt it was told to stop mucking about and get to the roosting site.
We now have Ravens nesting in the town hall spire, on the roof of Culzean Castle and we now see them commonly round the countryside.

[Lesley Cox]

Where is the Pets..cats..dogs.. etc thread? I've been back 10 pages in the General Forum to July 2011 and can't see it. I want to show you my new reticulated python. The Search button says "no results."

[Graham Catlow]

Where is the Pets..cats..dogs.. etc thread? I've been back 10 pages in the General Forum to July 2011 and can't see it. I want to show you my new reticulated python. The Search button says "no results."

It's in the 'Members Board' area Lesley. About 18 threads down the list.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks very much Graham. I made the assumption it would be in the General Forum section. Silly me. I read in a Dick Francis book just yesterday of a policeman telling someone that the most pathetic words spoken by police when justifying a wrong decision re someone's guilt or otherwise, are "I assumed....."

[Stephenb]

Eh....since when did soaring overhead make it a garden bird

Yes, I thought someone might pick up on that. My argument is that White-tailed Eagles very occasionally (when desperate) may go for domesticate animals. I don't have a cat myself and the neighbour's cat was in the garden, so I reckon that the thought crossed the mind of the eagle that that would be tasty, before flying down over the bay in a failed attempt at taking a fish. Definitely a garden bird I reckon!

One that will ruin the statistics was a flock of 450 Jackdaws that landed in the garden for a momentary rest on the way in to the roost just west of here...

This morning on the way in to work a Glaucous Gull flew over in the middle of Trondheim on the River Nid.

[Hoy]

Speaking of eagles: (from NRK)




You'll find more here:
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/more_og_romsdal/1.7975439

[mark smyth]

great photo

[Olga Bondareva]

My Crimea friend Ilia Turbanov works as a chasseur. Here are some of his shoots.

[Peter Maguire]

Great photos - those wild boar look a little scary!

[Armin]

Olga,
realy great photos from Ilja.
The hare ran for cover is marvelous.
Certainly a lot of time and patience necessary to make such beautiful shoots from wild animals.

Hoy,
a realy good photo series in the attached link. I know the white tailed eagles only from the books and movie documentations.
Must be phantastic to see so many majestic birds and photo shoot them in the wild.
Were they fed with carrion near the coast?

[RichardW]

Olga that last shot is stunning!!  

would your friend mind me having a high res version? for my own use only.

walked around some of my Barn Owl nest box sites this eve, 3 owls seen and I've heard there are also owls at another site, hoping we will be up to 3 pairs this year.

[Hoy]

Hoy,
a realy good photo series in the attached link. I know the white tailed eagles only from the books and movie documentations.
Must be phantastic to see so many majestic birds and photo shoot them in the wild.
Were they fed with carrion near the coast?

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.

The pictures shown are from a place where they regularly put carions.

[Lesley Cox]

Amazing pictures!

[illingworth]

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

[Lesley Cox]

What a privilege to have wild birds do this. Such beautiful little birds too.