BIRD
and
ANIMAL WATCH

What have you seen around lately - please let us know?

Over the last few months we have been visited by very many birds including the more normal British garden varieties such as robins, blue tits, sparrow, magpies, crow, pigeons. We have, however, also seen a woodpecker and nuthatch on the bird table, which is a little more unusual for us.

Our garden in the South East of England is regularly visited by rabbits, squirrels, foxes, moles and pheasants but, just recently, we saw a stoat in the middle of the afternoon.

No matter how old your are or where you are situated in the world, please let us know what you have seen recently in your own locality.

These can then be included in this page and it will be interesting to build up a picture from around the globe.

25th March, 2014 - For several days now a goldcrest has been attacking my bathroom window; I assume he thinks there is another bird on his territory. Goldcrests used to be a rare sight but, apparently they are now seen more frequently.

17th July, 2013 - As we have recently been enjoying a long, hot spell here in the UK I was sitting in my garden in West Sussex, UK reading when, lo and behold, a badger calmly walked passed me across the lawn. As you can imagine I was very surprised as badgers are nocturnal animals and it was midday. Apparently daytime visits can mean they are in trouble but there was no obvious sign in this case. I have also read they sometimes come above ground in hot weather so, hopefully, that was the reason for this unusual sighting.

June

I have just seen a stoat in our back garden we live in Barton on Sea, Hampshire.

Ann Payne

We saw a pheasant sitting in a bushy tree on Mitchell Street, EC1V 3PX (London) yesterday afternoon 03.04.12. After about 30 minutes it eventually flew off towards the open space on Radnor Street. We were all amazed - the bird seemed to be quite relaxed even though people were playing football near by.

Jenny Goble

Foxes have been seen in a garden in Oxton, Wirral; they look healthy, we think they live under the privet trees

Sue Littler

Two deer feeding in the garden in West Sussex.

17 pheasants, male and female, walking through our garden in South East England.

I live in East London and was amazed and privileged this morning to see a gorgeous red stoat at the edge of a stream on my local nature reserve.

Ruth

I am pleased to say I have now received some entries from other parts of the world, I have copied them as written as I personally find this all part of the charm - more friendly. like speaking to old friends:-

We saw a stoat on our decking outside our back door today (6th January, 2007) - I think it is living underneath it as there appears to be a couple of little dug out tracks leading underneath it that are stoat sized!

Karen Gray, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

We think we saw a Stoat at about 2.30pm on the 02-May-2005.

It was reddish colour (similar to red squirrel) with what seemed to be a long black tail. (it wasn't a red squirrel that is for sure)

The location was the village of Huncote in Leicestershire (LE9 6AD)

A couple of times it darted out of a hedge row, ran along the path for a few yards and then darted back into the hedge.

Observations from Neil Bywater

"I am lucky enough to live to a wooded area in Wirral, Merseyside (UK), close to marshland which the developers have not yet got their hands on! but unlucky enough to be a mile or so from major industry and docklands.

In the garden over the last month we have seen nuthatches and mistle thrushes along with the normal sparrows, blackbirds, collared doves and robins. In the evening we have an owl over in the woods, which passed closely overhead the other night and also bats and a couple of herons. In the woods are grey squirrels, a couple of jays and magpies. Quite a diverse selection and great fun to watch."

Thanks to Stephanie Roddick for this snapshot of the North West of the U.K.

"My family lives in east central Kentucky right in the middle of a small rural town. I wanted to let you know what we see in our backyard and garden most days. We have numerous birds including robins, wrens, blackbirds, titmouse, cardinals and a family of bluebirds have made it home. Although the bluebirds are beautiful, they can be quite mean at times. We had a couple of hummingbirds last year but have not seen them so far this year. There are also squirrels and rabbits. Also the occasional pest, oppossums and skunks. I have many feeders for the wildlife and love to see them all, well almost all of them!"

Thanks to Reva Moore for this insight into life in Kentucky.

"Here in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, we have many beautiful birds. If you have a garden you will have a large variety of birds turning up for breakfast, the magpies, butcher birds, spangled drongos, blackfaced cuckoo shrikes and magpie larks all love a feed of mince (hamburger meat). Some are very tame and will take it from your hand, then when the tummies are full they will serenade you with a song. There was once magpie lark (or peewee as they are called) who came up the steps and in my door demanding a feed of cheese. You may also have some very colourful birds, the rainbow lorikeets: when the bottle brush trees are in flower the trees will be covered in lorikeets. When there are no flowers available they gorge on bread soaked in syrup of honey and water. You may even have a visit from a kookaburra who will sit there and laugh his head off."

My thanks to Mary Jo Gray for this lovely account of the birds who visit her garden. The names alone are so beautiful, let alone the birds!

"We have just moved up to the Mountains in Showlow Arizona. I put out hummingbird feeders and one just isn't enough for those little critters. We have 14 hummers. My Cockatoo has taken to mimicking their buzzing. We have also seen several horney toads which are the strangest looking things. I won't dare pick one up though. I don't want them spitting blood at me. So I have been told, there are also a couple of mountain lions that live on the mountain side (Dutch Mountain). I really have no desire to see them near my ranch unless we are out on a horse back ride and they are far away from my home."

Unfortunately no contact name given for this contribution - but thank you!

"We live on 5 acres in California. Frequent visitors are lots of deer, wild turkeys and an occasional Coyote and Mountain Lion. Our most frequent visitors are two Hummingbirds. The female, I have named Hummy and the male, I have named Hammy, because both names fit. They come often to partake of the flowers as well as the water from the fountain."

Contribution from Inda Hill (I think) - thank you.

"I love and encourage wildlife around our lakefront home in the Ozarks. We enjoy the antics of the squirrels, rabbits and the many birds. The deer are really dear, until they start to lunch on my flowers. I discover which flowers they like and sprinkle them with red pepper. They soon find another eatery. Ivory soap may work, if they are not too hungry or thirsty as they are this dry summer. They are welcome to nibble on non blooming shrubs etc. I have some neat pictures of them having a meal on a shrub near our deck."

Thank you Betty Owens for this contribution.

"I saw and took a photo of a huge monarch butterfly. The picture shows all his spots on his wings so awesomely. Also we have a pesty mole."

Contribution from 'ronanddeec' - thanks.

I'd love to share outdoor experiences and other things with you and your web site.

My fiance, 12-year old son and I are located in northeastern Ohio which is in the southeast portion of the great lakes of North America.

Among a variety of birds similar to yours in England (i.e., robins, sparrows, titmouse and the like) we have found ourselves in the middle of a possible highway for North America's various migrating birds. Some we have identified originate from points much further south. Among those noted are one or two varieties of ruby-treated hummingbirds and a 2-foot (yes 2- foot) tall piloted woodpecker. He looks a lot like the cartoon character woody-woodpecker. He appeared VERY close to our dining room window where he enjoyed a snack of honey-covered sunflower seeds. He stayed on for about 2 weeks and then was off to points unknown.

The hummingbirds stayed long-enough to bear a some one. I noticed that once it was feeding alone they too where off to somewhere south. From information learned from our national audobon bird book they fly as far south as Peru.

Another "strange" creature appeared under our dining room window early in the spring - a female turkey. My understanding is there is quite a few out here in this area. We are quite rural. Although no one has noted one coming as close as she did. Its amazing with the dogs being let out so often.

In addition to what I have mentioned above we have also noted a few hawks, eagles, mallard ducks and Canadian geese. Most of which are native to this part of the country. My understanding is that the hawks are as recently introduced as 5 years ago.

In the evening skies we have witnessed MANY brown bats which have chanced to visit our living room during supper. My only consolation with this is that they are most curious and help reduce the mosquito population. Owls are a great comfort in the evening however my eyes have only briefly caught their fast flying pass through deep into the evening. I would love to get a pair of night vision goggles to few them up close in tree tops of the woods behind us.

Our thanks to Lynda (soon to be) Koszewski

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BIRD and ANIMAL WATCH

BIRD
and
ANIMAL WATCH