Wild Birds of Europe 🦆

[JohnPD]

have a look at this,

What a sight... truly amazing to see so many of these birds together.

 

[Jan1977]

This one is my favourite. I think it's really nice.

Thanks. I think the green colors contrasting to the bird help for that.

 

[Jan1977]

A herring gull in flight:

 

[Jan1977]

Another species hard to get due to them being high up in the tree between the branches (in my neighborhood at least). I could hear it all the time, and based on the sound of the pecking I knew it which tree it had to be, but it was hard to discover. A great spotted woodpecker.

 

[Levina]

Another species hard to get due to them being high up in the tree between the branches (in my neighborhood at least). I could hear it all the time, and based on the sound of the pecking I knew it which tree it had to be, but it was hard to discover. A great spotted woodpecker.
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I hear them often but it’s wicked hard to get decent shots of for the reasons you mention, Jan. I had one opportunity for a super shot once, when I was on my way home from the park and one landed on a tree right in front of me, 2 meter away, in full view. And my battery was drained so I couldn’t shoot him. It was years ago but I still feel the pain.

 

[Macstory]

Jackdaw, noisy, especially at this time of year, but fairly approachable where I live.
(Lens: Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD <> Camera ID: Canon EOS 7D Mark II).

 

[sidknee]

That is truly amazing footage, Sid. I now understand the difficulty in shooting them. Especially since there are so many of them, flying around and diving.

I wonder though, that's an awful lot of kites in one area. Where do they come from? They can't all be resident birds, can they?

They come from miles and miles around and you'd be surprised at how quickly they all disappear again once the feeding is over. They will come en masse for not very much at all, I've been putting 15 or so tiny pieces of chicken out, the buzzards have a couple of them, the magpies crows and sometimes the raven all have a bit but then there are up to 30 kites all swooping for the other few bits and most of them get nothing at all. With yesterdays 13 kites I think only 3 or 4 got any food the rest went with the buzzards and corvids.

incoming raven

outgoing raven with more than his fair share

 

[Levina]

They come from miles and miles around and you'd be surprised at how quickly they all disappear again once the feeding is over. They will come en masse for not very much at all, I've been putting 15 or so tiny pieces of chicken out, the buzzards have a couple of them, the magpies crows and sometimes the raven all have a bit but then there are up to 30 kites all swooping for the other few bits and most of them get nothing at all. With yesterdays 13 kites I think only 3 or 4 got any food the rest went with the buzzards and corvids.

I see. Seems like a waste of energy though, to fly for miles and come away with nothing. But so many of them flying and diving sure is something to see!

Good for the raven though, getting more than his fair share.

 

[Blackbird]

outgoing raven with more than his fair share

I loved the video.
I'm curious, how do you tell a raven from a crow?

 

[Jack Dawe]

I loved the video.
I'm curious, how do you tell a raven from a crow?

With difficulty. The Raven is almost the size of a Buzzard or a Red-tailed Hawk, although this is often impossible to judge. The easiest way to distinguish them is by their calls: the crow caws; the raven has a gutteral croak which is very distinctive once learnt. When flying the Raven has a diamond-shaped tail; the crow's is more rounded. Also, the Raven's wings are more centrally placed (the neck and head are almost as long as the tail), whereas the crow's head is much shorter. The wing-tips are much more 'fingered' too. The Raven's bill is thick and massive compared to the crow's with the end of the upper mandible much more strongly curved. This is a lousy photo, but it shows the Raven's features well.

 

[Blackbird]

With difficulty. The Raven is almost the size of a Buzzard or a Red-tailed Hawk, although this is often impossible to judge. The easiest way to distinguish them is by their calls: the crow caws; the raven has a gutteral croak which is very distinctive once learnt. When flying the Raven has a diamond-shaped tail; the crow's is more rounded. Also, the Raven's wings are more centrally placed (the neck and head are almost as long as the tail), whereas the crow's head is much shorter. The wing-tips are much more 'fingered' too. The Raven's bill is thick and massive compared to the crow's with the end of the upper mandible much more strongly curved. This is a lousy photo, but it shows the Raven's features well.
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You know birds. Impressive! Thank you.

 

[sidknee]

I see. Seems like a waste of energy though, to fly for miles and come away with nothing. But so many of them flying and diving sure is something to see!

Good for the raven though, getting more than his fair share.

They are wide ranging scavengers and spend most of their time flying miles looking out for a meal, if they see others diving for food they may as well be over here where there is a chance of something as over there where they haven't found anything yet and because they are flying around anyway........

The raven(s) are getting braver again as are the crows

raven

carrion crow

 

[sidknee]

I loved the video.
I'm curious, how do you tell a raven from a crow?

Jack has given some good info there although ravens are bigger than buzzards but not as big as a red kite. Once you've heard a ravens cronk you won't forget it! The pictures above show the difference in bill size in comparison to there head size, crows is smaller whereas the ravens is almost as big as it's head and it also shows the tail shape differences.

 

[pcs]

House sparrows

 

[Jan1977]

Jack has given some good info there although ravens are bigger than buzzards but not as big as a red kite. Once you've heard a ravens cronk you won't forget it! The pictures above show the difference in bill size in comparison to there head size, crows is smaller whereas the ravens is almost as big as it's head and it also shows the tail shape differences.

Based on all your great photos of the buzzard, I would have expected the buzzards to be bigger than the red kites. You are getting way too good closeups

 

[pcs]

Incoming Common Snipe, if they don't move you don't see them.

 

[RichardB]

Incoming Common Snipe, if they don't move you don't see them.
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They certainly are well camouflaged! Good job.

 

[JohnPD]

Incoming Common Snipe, if they don't move you don't see them.

I think you birders have all developed eagle eyes! Very good set of images.

 

[Levina]

I think you birders have all developed eagle eyes! Very good set of images.

I haven't...

 

[Jan1977]

Incoming Common Snipe, if they don't move you don't see them.
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Luckily they are also moving in the last photo, otherwise you would have missed over a dozen of them ;-) Nice series.