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Birds: Miscellaneous Notes, Observations, Etc.

hunck said:
I’ve just started noticing some birds have recently started singing at close to 11.45pm each night. They're quite punctual - just now noticed them starting at 11.36. Not full on but sporadic. Don’t know what kind of birds. They keep it up for a few hours.

I know birds have started singing when there’s less traffic to compete with but the fact I haven’t noticed it before at this time leads me to think it’s a fairly new thing round here. I’m not on a busy road & it’s pretty quiet long before 11.45.
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I've noticed that the blackbirds (Merula) are singing in the dark around 20.00. That's strange, because it is neither the time nor season for birdsong.
 
hunck said:
I’ve just started noticing some birds have recently started singing at close to 11.45pm each night. They're quite punctual - just now noticed them starting at 11.36. Not full on but sporadic. Don’t know what kind of birds. They keep it up for a few hours.

I know birds have started singing when there’s less traffic to compete with but the fact I haven’t noticed it before at this time leads me to think it’s a fairly new thing round here. I’m not on a busy road & it’s pretty quiet long before 11.45.
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Effects of light pollution, maybe? Round here there are so many dazzling security lights I'm surprised the birds and animals get any sleep at all.
 
Blackbirds are notorious for being up late and early mornings.
 
Went to the park and visited the bird houses. I'm always surprised how little the budgies mind the frost.
They have heating but don't use it at all:
1640200105610.png

While the zebra finches are all clustered around their radiator:1640200175387.png
 

Thousands of cranes killed by bird flu in 'worst blow to wildlife' in Israel's history​

An outbreak of avian flu has killed more than 5,000 migratory cranes in Israel, prompting authorities to declare a popular nature reserve off-limits to visitors and warn of a possible egg shortage as poultry birds are culled as a precaution.

"This is the worst blow to wildlife in the country's history," Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg tweeted as rangers in hazardous material suits collected carcasses of the cranes from the lake at the Hula Nature Reserve and outlying marshes.

Hundreds of thousands of chickens had been culled, she said.
Authorities were looking to ease import quotas and bring in eggs from abroad to head off an egg shortage due to the cull.
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uair01 said:
I've noticed that the blackbirds (Merula) are singing in the dark around 20.00. That's strange, because it is neither the time nor season for birdsong.
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Probably a rave'n the dark!
 
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Abandoned for a younger bird.

Love is for the birds.

The Denver Zoo’s famed same-sex flamingo couple, Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass, has broken up after several years together. The zoo slipped the bombshell into an otherwise celebratory Pride Month post on Facebook last week in which it mentioned that flamingo flocks consist of “collections of partnerships” which include “not only male-female breeding pairs, but also strong bonds between same-sex pairs.”

During their years together, the two male birds made national headlines and even attracted the attention of the human Lance Bass, who tweeted his approval of his avian namesake.

Their split actually happened in 2020, zoo spokesperson Carlie McGuire told Denver’s KUSA-TV. Now Freddie, 52, has paired up with a 14-year-old female flamingo named Lommi.

Apparently, no one saw it coming.

“Lommi has been around Freddie for nearly her entire life without any indication of a bond before, so keepers aren’t exactly sure why these two decided to pair up,” the zoo said on Facebook.

Lance, 20, has not been as lucky in love post-breakup. Zookeepers haven’t noticed him in a “concrete bond” with any birds.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/same-sex-flamingo-couple-break-up_n_62bb3d0de4b094be76a90e3b
 
ramonmercado said:
Abandoned for a younger bird.

Love is for the birds.

The Denver Zoo’s famed same-sex flamingo couple, Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass, has broken up after several years together. The zoo slipped the bombshell into an otherwise celebratory Pride Month post on Facebook last week in which it mentioned that flamingo flocks consist of “collections of partnerships” which include “not only male-female breeding pairs, but also strong bonds between same-sex pairs.”

During their years together, the two male birds made national headlines and even attracted the attention of the human Lance Bass, who tweeted his approval of his avian namesake.

Their split actually happened in 2020, zoo spokesperson Carlie McGuire told Denver’s KUSA-TV. Now Freddie, 52, has paired up with a 14-year-old female flamingo named Lommi.

Apparently, no one saw it coming.

“Lommi has been around Freddie for nearly her entire life without any indication of a bond before, so keepers aren’t exactly sure why these two decided to pair up,” the zoo said on Facebook.

Lance, 20, has not been as lucky in love post-breakup. Zookeepers haven’t noticed him in a “concrete bond” with any birds.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/same-sex-flamingo-couple-break-up_n_62bb3d0de4b094be76a90e3b
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And switched from a male to female partner.

I never heard about such a case in human society. Do you know a case of going from gay to straight? I only know straight to gay cases.
 
uair01 said:
And switched from a male to female partner.

I never heard about such a case in human society. Do you know a case of going from gay to straight? I only know straight to gay cases.
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Well, I thought I was gay for a while, then I realised I was bi.
 
Will the fall in birth rates worsen because of this? Vid at link.

Electricity and drought killing white storks

The number of white storks is falling in many countries.

The extreme heat this summer is just the latest of many hazards they face - in Europe, in Africa, and on the long migration routes in between.

Nick Thorpe sent this report from Hungary, on a sudden spike in stork deaths there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-62690344
 
uair01 said:
I've noticed that the blackbirds (Merula) are singing in the dark around 20.00. That's strange, because it is neither the time nor season for birdsong.
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I hear a blackbird singing away in a neighbouring garden every evening between 9.55pm and 10pm. I’ve often wondered how / if it knows its exactly that time, regardless of when sunset is, and why it does it.
 
curious-sam said:
I hear a blackbird singing away in a neighbouring garden every evening between 9.55pm and 10pm. I’ve often wondered how / if it knows its exactly that time, regardless of when sunset is, and why it does it.
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I mentioned on here before that a while back, round my way I noticed some birds started singing at around 1am. Very punctual & I don’t know what sort of birds. I’ve stopped noticing them more recently so they’ve either stopped, moved on or maybe migrated. Or maybe I’ve just got used to them. I’ll have a listen out.
 
curious-sam said:
I hear a blackbird singing away in a neighbouring garden every evening between 9.55pm and 10pm. I’ve often wondered how / if it knows its exactly that time, regardless of when sunset is, and why it does it.
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Apparently it to do with territories. In between the blackbird singing away you'll hear a reply in the distance.
 
Most animals seem to have a good built in clock, hedgehog's turn up
here about the same time most nights, we had a second in command
that was a semi alcoholic he never owned a watch but could always
tell you the correct time, his brother was a minister and one night
after yet another attempt to get Skip to mend his ways he put a curse
on him, not that it made the slightest difference.
such fun.
 
kesavaross said:
Apparently it to do with territories. In between the blackbird singing away you'll hear a reply in the distance.
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Well I did wonder about that, although this blackbird has been singing away every night when pretty much all other blackbirds seem to have disappeared for the later summer months. They’re starting to come back now; our little fellow is still giving it loads
 
RaM said:
Most animals seem to have a good built in clock, hedgehog's turn up
here about the same time most nights, we had a second in command
that was a semi alcoholic he never owned a watch but could always
tell you the correct time, his brother was a minister and one night
after yet another attempt to get Skip to mend his ways he put a curse
on him, not that it made the slightest difference.
such fun.
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I thought you were referring to an alcoholic hedgehog for a minute!! Yeah, ours are pretty regular here as well (both alcoholics and hedgehogs…)
 
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uair01 said:
Shocked to see a proud stork reduced to eating from trash bags
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They feed on rubbish heaps in Spain, so much food they don't have to migrate all the way to Africa !.

Saw four a few weeks back on a house in the middle of the town. Migrating birds from the Knepp Estate here in Sussex, captive breeding of injured birds obtained from Poland, the young are released and it's hoped they will return as adults to the UK and breed.
 
I was told by a vet to be very carful handling gulls as they
feed on the local tips and can be carrying Botulism.
 
Long distance record.

A young bar-tailed godwit appears to have set a non-stop distance record for migratory birds by flying at least 8,435 miles (13,560 kilometres) from Alaska to the Australian state of Tasmania, an expert has said.

Birdlife Tasmania convenor Eric Woehler said the bird was tagged as a hatchling in Alaska during the Northern Hemisphere summer with a tracking GPS chip and tiny solar panel that enabled an international research team to follow its first annual migration across the Pacific Ocean.

Because the bird was so young, its gender is not known.

Aged about five months, it left south-west Alaska at the Yuko-Kuskokwim Delta on October 13 and touched down 11 days later at Ansons Bay on the island of Tasmania’s north-eastern tip on October 24, according to data from Germany’s Max Plank Institute for Ornithology.
The research has yet to be published or peer reviewed.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40994018.html
 
It's the time of year we get lots of swans and thousands of geese flying in
for the winter, they bring bird flue with them loads of dead birds around
here at the moment, if you see a bird doing a odd head bobbing thing
keep away.

:omr:
 
RaM said:
It's the time of year we get lots of swans and thousands of geese flying in
for the winter, they bring bird flue with them loads of dead birds around
here at the moment, if you see a bird doing a odd head bobbing thing
keep away.

:omr:
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I have volunteered to do a dead bird count regularly over the winter for Nature Scotland. I hope I don't find too many. :(
 
6 swans on a short stretch of the cannel a few days ago never seen a dead swan
that I can remember before, lots along the sea wall by all accounts and up the
riverbank, all seem to be near water but your never far from water round here.
 
RaM said:
6 swans on a short stretch of the cannel a few days ago never seen a dead swan
that I can remember before, lots along the sea wall by all accounts and up the
riverbank, all seem to be near water but your never far from water round here.
Click to expand...
:(
 
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