Author Topic: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.  (Read 931 times)

Raven

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Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« on: May 29, 2020, 11:43:38 AM »
Don't understand what happened in the previous post. If this won't work then I'm stumped.
As I said was sitting watching all the rushing about at the feeders,











Ashy

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2020, 03:47:08 PM »
Brilliant, and if you click on each picture you can see it in all its glory.

klondike

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2020, 05:21:24 PM »
Typical kids though - hollering for food that they could just as easily get for themselves  :)
So long and thanks for all the fish

zoony

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2020, 05:49:34 PM »
The little sparrows are brilliant..Barely able to contain themselves, shivering, begging and tweeting loudly when, as already said, they're standing ankle-deep in food..Think I might buy a budgie toy and see what they make of it..
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

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Jacqueline

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2020, 06:13:41 PM »
Typical kids though - hollering for food that they could just as easily get for themselves  :)


We have woodpeckers on the bird feeders, last year baby woodpecker was feeding on his own for ages on the nuts, along came mum, he stopped, beak open to be fed and she fell for it silly bird..


Beautiful photos Raven, thanks.

Cee Gee

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2020, 08:46:05 PM »
Lovely pictures Raven.... made my evening. :)

stellamaris

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2020, 09:00:57 PM »
I've been watching all the ducklings and goslings in the park today.  There are some wading birds there which are tiny and fierce and swim like Paula Radcliffe runs [head rolling a bit].  They are all becoming capable of feeding themselves but their mothers are still feeding them. It is so cute and touching. But the bird world is just so brutal if you watch long enough. I'm sure there are fewer baby ducks and geese than there were 5 days ago.  Or hopefully they were sleeping in the reeds.   


We've got another park with a very big lake and that has lots of geese and swans as well as other random species but I haven't been there this year.
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zoony

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2020, 09:14:11 PM »
I've been watching all the ducklings and goslings in the park today.  There are some wading birds there which are tiny and fierce and swim like Paula Radcliffe runs [head rolling a bit].  They are all becoming capable of feeding themselves but their mothers are still feeding them. It is so cute and touching. But the bird world is just so brutal if you watch long enough. I'm sure there are fewer baby ducks and geese than there were 5 days ago.  Or hopefully they were sleeping in the reeds.   



 Walking in my local water park one day, myself and my companion were horrified and fascinated to see three male ducks, obviously in a mating frenzy, gang-raping the upside-down corpse of a female. An 'attack' that went on for many minutes..I was so struck by this that I wrote to a Dutch professor who specialises in such behaviour. His reply assured me that it was a rare thing to observe but it was well within the normal sexual behaviour of the species..Blimey..bet you're glad you're not a duck Spud!
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

stellamaris

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2020, 09:26:06 PM »
Yes I think we have spoken about this before Zoony.   Earlier in the week we were watching the females keeping a wary eye on the surplus drakes who looked to be out for drowning some of the babies out on their own.  Quite a bit of fighting going on all the time. And there was a ginormous herring gull floating about the other day.


My sister saw a crow take the head of a sparrow chick in her garden last week.  Funnily enough my grand-daughter was saying today that if there was such a thing as reincarnation she didn't want to come back as a female duck. ;D ;D
Keep on chooglin' - John Fogerty
Pronouns: She/Her/Beautiful/Wondrous one/Dearest Heart

zoony

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2020, 10:09:41 PM »
 ;D ;D Smart kid..
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

klondike

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2020, 10:28:02 PM »
I've been watching all the ducklings and goslings in the park today.  I'm sure there are fewer baby ducks and geese than there were 5 days ago.
It's something I've noticed. There is a small lake on the caravan park where my van is and lots of ducks and some geese. The young ducklings follow their mother usually in a line. It can be 9 long at first but as the days go by invariably shrinks. I expect that is why they start out with so many.


Duck sex is always a quite violent affair even if there is only one male involved. They peck the back of the female's head and towards the back end of the breeding season some can be very bald at the back. Two or three taking turns is common too.


The geese seem far more settled with just pairs and they seem to have less goslings to start and a better survival rate. I imagine a pair of geese are more than a match for a lot of predators.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Raven

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2020, 09:36:34 AM »
I often walk up the river and have to pass the duck pond, I think ducks are not good parents. They bring their babies out into the open when they can be seen and picked off. The wee black Moorhens on the other hand make their babies stay in the reeds when they're wee. The parents come and get the food and take it back to them. A lot more Moorhens on the pond than ducks because of this.

klondike

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2020, 09:39:19 AM »
I stood on a bridge looking into a river once. Can't recall where. A duck swam along with a line of ducklings in tow. A swirl of water and a flash of silver and there was one duckling less.

Young moorhens look like tiny aliens to me. Were it not for the nearby parents I'd  never guess what species they were.
So long and thanks for all the fish

Cee Gee

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #13 on: Jun 02, 2020, 10:35:05 PM »
I often walk up the river and have to pass the duck pond, I think ducks are not good parents. They bring their babies out into the open when they can be seen and picked off. The wee black Moorhens on the other hand make their babies stay in the reeds when they're wee. The parents come and get the food and take it back to them. A lot more Moorhens on the pond than ducks because of this.


Raven, I once saw a Heron get close to some Mallard ducklings....and POW about a dozen drakes attacked the Heron holding it under the water in an attempt to drown it ....The Heron did very well to escape.

Raven

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Re: Feeder Birds....AGAIN.
« Reply #14 on: Jun 03, 2020, 10:32:36 AM »
WOW, Good for them. I wish the ones here looked after their young like that. It's mostly the huge gulls that take the wee ducklings here. The pool is close to the nesting cliffs so it's very busy bird wise..