Birds Bathtime.

[mike]

I saw something today I have never seen before, and I thought I knew a lot about birds and Nature. It was raining here in Coventry yet again around dinner time,I happened to look out the bedroom window to the garden, and two Wood Pigeons were sitting on the garage roof lifting each wing in turn, to allow the rain falling down to wash each side of its body. And on the fence another Wood Pigeon was doing the same, preening afterwards like it enjoyed the shower.I have seen all sorts of birds wash/bath in puddles in the road, and even the water feature in the garden as well, but for me this was a first today...

[mike]

Twice this week I have seen two Buzzards over Coventry very high circling each other, when the one turns over mid air to pass claw to claw the other bird something, I think its a bonding thing where the male passes the female a snack to show his love....I saw that once last Summer as well, it looks wonderful to watch it happen, and I imagine for a bird hard to do upside down and not miss.

[mike]

A really wonderful sight in Summer is when the Swallows pass overhead catching flies on the wing and they come dancing over chatting away to each other. Same as the Swifts late Summer rushing up and down the roads screeching at each other in groups of 8 or 9 birds in a sort of catch me if you can, with the new type of soffit and fascia on houses they have lost so many nesting sites, now you will find them near older houses with the old type guttering.

[Migrant]

It's the first time I've been relieved to see the swifts go off to Africa - we're having a new roof and had to hold the builders back until the all clear.
When the scaffolding goes up, we'll make sure that there are plenty of nest-holes up in the eaves. They need an access slit that is too small for a jackdaw, about 30mm I think.
Amazing to think that they will stay aloft, sleeping on the wing, until they return next April, and such a relief to be following their southward migration myself in a few days.
Winter? No thank you.
Migrant.

[mike]

Will I fit in the suitcase, is there room for a little one ?

[Helen-Healing]

Fascinating info about swifts:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Amazing% ... 279347.pdf

[mike]

Thanks Helen, now I know a lot more about Swifts, I love the way they gang up in a small flock and tear up the roads at zero feet sometimes in a sort of game of tag, trying to catch the first to rush off and start the game. At home in Yarmouth as a youth the Swifts would rush up and down my road every night before dusk, all calling and chasing each other before zooming up high, before they start the game again at lower levels. Those were good times and this was something I will always remember from my home, plus the Curlew calling over Breydon at dusk, when the tide pushed them off the mud flats and they would retire into the marshes to wait out low tide.

[Migrant]

Will I fit in the suitcase, is there room for a little one ?

As they say in Spain Mike - my house is your house.
Unfortunately the car is so stuffed I can only take my smallest ukulele, but I'll collect you from Malaga Aeropuerto anytime.
There's no substitute for sunshine.

migrant.

[mike]

Yes Migrant the Sun brings the best out of us all, thats a very nice offer, without much exercise I have lost that much weight in the last couple of years, I think if you wait till Christmas I will fit easy in a large Jiffy Bag. I walked a little up town today and Im paying for it now, sore all over. But I HAVE to keep moving, or I seize up and cannot stand upright at all, Im just glad Google Earth is active and I can visit anywhere in the world or the planets when I feel like it, its a lifeline to me just now.....We have a baby Wood Pigeon in the tree in the garden at the moment, so Im a father folks, well not me but you know what I mean.

[mike]

Well the pigeon has flown the nest with another baby I never saw the first time round, but they are all staying close to home as I feed them each day mixed corn, mum and dad pigeon all come with the new family and sit on the fence waiting for me to fill the bird feeders... I saw today right over the house 3 Buzzards soaring on the wind and thermals at about 2 hundred feet up, and they still looked big...Most of the Swallows have gone now, just the odd chattering family passes over going south,off the Spain and warmer weather, lucky Bs, birds I mean.

[mike]

Seen 4 Buzzards very high over my home just after 1300 hours, they must have been 400 feet up at least, but the sight of them wheeling around on a thermal is exciting.

[simonwheeler]

I often sit in the back garden with a view of Wigtown Bay in the distance and listen to the mew of buzzards. Looking up, it is not unusual to see them being harassed by crows- and the crows tend to win. Fascinating air battles, though!

[mike]

I have seen sea gulls mobbing a single Buzzard, and they seem to enjoy the tussle, Im glad they are getting more common again, as they hit a low couple of years ago around here in Coventry.

[mike]

Im sure the two baby pigeons who hatched in our garden come back every day to eat corn from the feeders, okay all pigeons look the same right,but these two share the food and get on so well.Most of the other pigeons will fight over the food, and spend all their time fighting instead of eating, while these two share all thats offered. I have more mouths to feed, oh well thats life, Im paying back for the damage I did while shooting, still have night mares of the birds and animals I wounded and killed, it will never leave me I think.

[mike]

Can I please remind everyone who reads the post on this forum to take GREAT care with changing the cars anti freeze, dont spill or leave any on the road or driveway, as its a deadly poison to birds and animals.They love the anti freeze as its sweet and nice to them when they lick or drink it, BUT it rots/burns the animals intestines and causes a long painful death, and in most cases vets cannot do much to help once its absorbed....Seen a few Buzzards this week high over Coventry and the area,they seem to be all singles and no family groups now.Plus I have seen two Woodpeckers fly past while driving, and a Jay, another shy bird you dont see very often. Geese fly over my house often now as I live close to lakes , and when they call it reminds me of home and the Breydon Water and marshes when I was a lad.Every flood tide all the waders would fly about and call along with the ducks pushed off the mud banks by the rising water, it happened every day and night, you was never alone with this chorus of bird song for long.