All About Books discussion

Anyone up for a wildlife and natural history thread?

The female sparrowhawk appeared in my garden again this morning. As I stood by the sink the sparrows suddenly disappeared from the feeders and the sparrowhawk flew in towards the feeders (and the window!) and then zoomed up towards the roof! I looked out and she was sitting on the gutter peering down at me and looking around, then dropped off the roof and tried to grab hold of the fascia and soffit with her talons, scrabbling as she flapped upside down! She tried this a few times before she gave up and flew back up and then disappeared along the roof.

I've no idea what she was trying to do, I've certainly never seen that before!

Great idea!

I have sparrowhawks too, at my feeders. I can distinguish between them. We've got a juvenile female and an adult male.

We have all of these birds at our feeders: https://www.google.se/search?q=stegli... Maybe the steglits is my favorite. They come in flocks of about five. The stjärtmess are cute. At night they sleep together in clumps of birds. The steglits like to eat thistles so I leave some of them in our yard.

Good idea for a thread!

No exciting sightings to add at the moment though...

I love this idea, but like Leslie, I have nothing to add right now....

What a striking bird! I have American goldfinches here, but I don't see them much in the winter. I love birds and have lots of bird feeders. My favorite at this time of year are the downy woodpeckers. For 2015, I'm doing a "birds" challenge - reading a number of books with birds in the title, like The Goldfinch, The Plover, The Dovekeepers, etc.

Chrissie wrote: "Great idea!

I have sparrowhawks too, at my feeders. I can distinguish between them. We've got a juvenile female and an adult male.

We have all of these birds at our feeders: https://www.google.s..."

The Goldfinches are lovely birds, I enjoy hearing them singing. They like teasels as well, I see them gathered on the patches of seed heads by the river in the wintertime.

I rarely see the male Sparrowhawk here, though occasionally when I walk along the river on the far side of the main road, where we also get Kestrels and the odd Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon, Barn Owl and Hobby.

So they are called Goldfinch in English?! I have to point out that Swedish steglits do NOT look like American Goldfinch.

Laurel, The Plover looks good! Thanks for the tip.

I have seen quite a few Bald Eagles here in Fl. If you drive down some of the highways you can see nesting platforms. I know that we have other birds of prey in the area, I don't know what kind, smaller than than the eagles that's for sure. I've seen on FB a link of an eagle cam, I'll have to go back and look for it and post it......

And I did see a couple of cardinals this year. I used to always see them in NJ, but since moving to FL it's very rare.

Cardinals are so beautiful! It is kind of amazing that such a beautiful thing should exist. You don't find them in Europe.

Laurel wrote: "What a striking bird! I have American goldfinches here, but I don't see them much in the winter. I love birds and have lots of bird feeders. My favorite at this time of year are the downy woodpecke..."

Oh, I will have to keep that in mind for 2016! :P

American goldfinches are everyday birds for me -- they love the thistle seed (now called nyjer)! I agree with Paul that they have a lovely song. This year I am also getting several house finches, which are less pretty but still have the beautiful song and calls.

I do occasionally catch a cardinal and his mate visiting my bird feeders, more often in winter. I see them in the woods more frequently than at the feeder.

@Julia -- I still get excited seeing bald eagles even though their population has risen considerably since DDT was banned! The most common raptor here is the red-tailed hawk, but there is a Cooper's hawk that frequents the woods behind my condo.

Leslie - I had to go on-line to see what the red-tailed and Cooper's hawk looks like.... they're beautiful, and they look smaller than I thought they would be.

We had these stenknäck today: https://www.google.se/search?q=stenkn...

Everybody knows what an American Goldfinch looks like, given the books popularity, but that is NOT what I have here in Sweden. I think it is so strange that one name really gives the wrong impression of what we are seeing.

Chrissie - both birds seem to have the same body type, the coloring is quite different. I didn't realize that the goldfinch is such a bright yellow, I don't think I've ever seen one. The stanknack is quite pretty with those bold browns. The past couple of days I find my self becoming more aware and watchful of the birds I see during the day....

Julia, yes the body shape is similar. It is the coloring that is so different. I don't know if the two birds behave differently. The steglits stay together in a family group. The Swedish name is supposedly how they sound, but that does not seem correct to my ears. Bird songs are a great tool in distinguishing between different kinds. The strong beaks of the stenknäck is what is pointed out in the name, which means "crack a stone". That is how I remember it!

Yesterday, I heard a familiar screech and looked up expecting to see sulphur-crested cockatoos flying over. Was very pleasantly surprised to see black cockatoos instead. see link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tail...

I haven't seen any since I was a kid growing up in Sherbrooke in the Dandenong Ranges, Vic. They are apparently common on south western coast Victoria where I now reside. The trouble being that farmers hate both black and white cockatoos and have a good try at shooting as many as they can. The cockatoos eat the grain and grasses in the fields.

Gosh, fantastic birds, Bette.

I had to look it up, but various websites told me steglits are the European Goldfinch. Yes, very different coloring from our American goldfinch. Just like the American robin is not very much like the european robin. Now I shall have to look up stenknacks!

That would seem to be a Hawfinch. We don't have those here either. I'm in Minnesota.

Laurel wrote: "I had to look it up, but various websites told me steglits are the European Goldfinch. Yes, very different coloring from our American goldfinch. Just like the American robin is not very much like t..."

Do you mean that stenknäck are Hawfinch? Oh yes, I checked it out and they look exactly the same. They are quite a bit bigger than the other finches though. Yeah, people refer to robins as domherrar, but look(https://www.google.se/search?q=domher...) they are not the same! They do that with so many birds and it kind of drives me crazy because they are so different. Blue jays are gorgeous and nötskrikor, which they are compared to, are not as nice:https://www.google.se/search?q=n%C3%B... We have them at our feeders. They are shy so that pleases me.

Local names are a bit of a minefield! The domherrar are Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula in scientific binomial), but European Robins are Erithacus rubecula - the American Robin is a thrush, which is broadly in the same genus (turdus - named because they sometimes retrieve seeds from the droppings of other birds) but the European Robin is a 'chat' rather than a thrush.

Hawfinches are a bird I'd love to see; they are really rather rare here now, though I hear that sometimes they can be seen at a site a few miles from where I live (but difficult to reach without a car). They are quite the bruisers, with such large beaks but seem really shy and retiring.

American Goldfinches seem to be from a somewhat different family to the European Goldfinches. The European species has some different sub-species and is quite widely spread, right across Europe, into Asia and north Africa.

Paul, I feel terribly privileged to have hawfinches constantly at my feeders!

Oh my, we call Erithacus rubecula a rödhake. They are smaller than American robins and really don't have the same shape. The domherre LOOKS more similar, and it is this we tend to compare to American robins. Yeah, the birds are all different. Although not the Hawfinches.

Thanks for all you info.

Paulfozz wrote: "Local names are a bit of a minefield! The domherrar are Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula in scientific binomial), but European Robins are Erithacus rubecula - the American Robin is a thrush, which is..."

Paul, had a laugh at thrush = turdus:D

We have the Australian or Australasian Robin; rather dull compared to it's US or European cousins. :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroicidae

I can't recall ever seeing one but I've certainly seen their nests.

On Aust tv is the Richard Attenborough Bower Birds The Art of Seduction special tonight (re-run). Those birds can build an impressive love-nest for their mates. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsyn...

I was coming home after doing a small shop and as I was backing into the driveway I saw a bunny hopping into our front bushes. I hope he's warm enough tonight.

B the BookAddict wrote: "We have the Australian or Australasian Robin; rather dull compared to it's US or European cousins. :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroicidae

I can't recall ever seeing one but I've certainly seen ..."

They're only distantly related to the European Robin but some seem to really closely match the body form. The two sexes are quite different (sexual dimorphism), which sets them apart from the European species.

Robins are the national bird in the UK, a firm favourite with the public as they are just such chirpy characters. They have a lovely light song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrw9x...

(not my video) and will often become very tame, following gardeners around as they work the soil (probably as they used to do with creatures like wild boar, who would root around in the ground and stir up worms and insects) and sometimes coming to your hand for food, but they are very belligerent to one another; territorial fights can be terminal.

I'm currently reading The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes: And Other Surprising True Stories of Zoo Vets and their Patients. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I think that the people who follow this thread would enjoy it.

This book will also be of interest to those of us on this thread: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. I personally thought it was worth five stars.

Thanks Chrissie - sounds interesting, I've added to my TR shelf.

Julia, and I added your book to my lists!

Yesterday morning walking to my car in the rain, I was greeted by such an array of screeches that it drew even my morning-bleary attention. And when I looked up ... parrots. A whole tree of vibrant green parrots! I'd heard that released pets had formed semi-wild flocks, but how surreal to actually see a flock of them in Long Beach. Boy parrots are noisy! Beautiful though.

A lovely sight Greg. There are ring-necked parakeets in London (and spreading into metropolitan Essex) but I've yet to see them.

I tried out my new wellington boots yesterday afternoon and went for a short walk along the river. The water meadow was really marshy so I was glad of the boots; the water was up over my ankles and there was very liquid, sticky mud everywhere. It was very quiet, pretty typical for a winter's afternoon, but I saw a Kestrel on the overhead wires, a small bird perching nearby that may have been a Linnet or a Meadow Pipit, some Little Grebes fishing by the mill lock and a flock of Linnets perching high on a tree top, waiting to go to roost in the bramble patches by the paddocks. A Green Woodpecker was yaffling from a spinney and from the undergrowth I was watched by a Robin, peeking out from amongst a tangle of thorns.

Greg and Paul, what great walks! Ooooh, I am envious.

a similar thing has happened in Brussels, Greg. There are flocks of teeny green "parakeets"! I don't know what their Latin name is. They to were birds that had been let loose and then multiplied in number.

A green woodpecker, do you mean a Gröngöling? https://www.google.se/search?q=grongo...? I s that what you saw? They are very easy to recognize from their song. Last fall one hit our window and was killed. :0( Unfortunately that happens so we have a bird cemeteary outside our yard in the woods. They do not come to our feeders but we see them in the pines around the house and on walks. Sometimes I see them under suet balls.

Bette, I am still thinking about those large cockatoos you saw! Think if I could see one of those.

I have a question about hares/rabbits. Yesterday we saw many, many foot prints in the snow. On a path they seem to have congregated. Some seem to be rolling around or rubbing their body in the ground. What are they doing? Are they scratching themselves or something?

Chrissie wrote: "Greg and Paul, what great walks! Ooooh, I am envious.

a similar thing has happened in Brussels, Greg. There are flocks of teeny green "parakeets"! I don't know what their Latin name is. They to w..."

Mating, maybe?

Greg wrote: "Yesterday morning walking to my car in the rain, I was greeted by such an array of screeches that it drew even my morning-bleary attention. And when I looked up ... parrots. A whole tree of vibrant..."
One of my best nature moments was watching a parrot in Anaheim being harassed but more than holding it's own against some crows. Neat!

B the BookAddict wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Greg and Paul, what great walks! Ooooh, I am envious.

a similar thing has happened in Brussels, Greg. There are flocks of teeny green "parakeets"! I don't know what their Latin n..."

Isn't it the wrong season? The beginning of winter?!

No idea Bette - weather changes are so mild here in Long Beach - maybe the poor things are confused. The rain seems to bring them out ... or at least make them more vocal.

What a wonderful sight Greg!

In the area where I live, there are always plenty of white gulls (I read on other posts about the collective noun "screech of gulls" and thought: how appropriate!) Their quiet moments are when they lounge about in single files on floating logs near a quiet riverbank. From a distance it looks like lines of shimmering white dots.

Alice, gulls are aggressive creatures, but as long as I'm not trying to eat in peace on the beach, they still have their charms :)

Greg, those around here don't seem too fierce, but their screeching can be quite hard on the ear :)

I've only experienced aggressiveness from gulls once, when I was too near to a gull's nest in Cornwall one of the parents dive bombed me and pecked my head; though I was wearing a hat thankfully. I rather like gulls, though they're a nightmare to identify as many look so similar. The black-headed gulls I see most often I am very fond of; they are beautiful birds and bob on the water's surface so daintily.

On the beach here, they'll actually swoop in and steal food right out of your hand!

Chrissie wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Greg and Paul, what great walks! Ooooh, I am envious.

a similar thing has happened in Brussels, Greg. There are flocks of teeny green "parakeets"! I don'..."

lol, I'm on the other side of the world, it's just begun summer here and everything is doing IT.

Bette, so of course you thought that! :0)

Greg wrote: "On the beach here, they'll actually swoop in and steal food right out of your hand!"

Yes, they do that in Maine too. It must be places where there are tourists who foolishly feed them that they show that behavior. My nephew, when a small boy (4?), was once eating a slice of pizza when a gull walked up screeching and stole the pizza! Not quite from his hand as he had dropped it in his fright. Now, every summer, he remarks on "oh this is the place where that gull stole my pizza!"

I live in New England so daily we have wild life running through both front and back yards. (We have a lot of untouched land.) But with the snow, things are pretty quiet. Every spring, we have turkeys, usually 3 moms, and roughly 12-15 babies running through; we also have jack rabbits that live under our deck; and on occasion we have a black bear come by, but they are usually alone and take off when they see you. I don't feed any of them.

I'm on the Essex/London borders, and we've seen parakeets for a while now. A flock of them started following the M25 around London a few years ago, so I should think odd ones of them will drift your way soon Paul!

We had a couple of them on our bird feeder this week - it does make you give a second glance to see such brightly coloured birds in dear old England. :D

Paulfozz wrote: "I've only experienced aggressiveness from gulls once, when I was too near to a gull's nest in Cornwall one of the parents dive bombed me and pecked my head; though I was wearing a hat thankfully. I..."

The gulls here seem to love playing in the water, and the crows are much more aggressive than gulls in the presence of food :) But I've seen some food-snatching gulls in the Stanley Park area (in Vancouver) :)

I'm in Fl and the gulls, crows and squirrels here are terrors. They become used to people feeding them and they become quite aggressive.

We did have a gator a while back sitting across the road between our neighbors houses. It was quite a shock b/c even though you know they're there, you don't expect to see one when going out for breakfast. The local sheriff dept had the street blocked off, but we was that he was a big guy. UGH!!!

Wow, that must have been scary Julia!

Julia wrote: "I'm in Fl and the gulls, crows and squirrels here are terrors. They become used to people feeding them and they become quite aggressive.

We did have a gator a while back sitting across the road b..."

Oh heavens! Yuck!

Don't get me talking about squirrels. We have squirrel-free feeders, but they can get into any bird feeder! They climb even up a smooth metal pole. It is really pretty funny to see how they eat pine cones. At the foot of tall spruce you see only teeny sticks left of what had been pine cones. They look like thin eaten corn on the cobs. They are welcome to the pine cones! They DO have to eat too.