Starlings

The daily squabbling early morning visitors are now in full voice. Each morning a mob invades the feeders and crowds into the bird table. Fortunately for the Blackbirds and other ground feeders Starlings are in such a hurry to grab food before anyone else that a fair proportion ends up being scattered all over the place.

For a bird which is sociable enough to gather in thousands for their nightly roost they spend an awful lot of time squabbling when food is in the offing.

(If you have never seen the spectacle of thousands of Starlings gathering for the nightly roost then nip over to The Heart of the Levels Wildlife Group HERE for a spectacular video of the event.)



The other day Matron of Down on the Allotment asked me an interesting question: "... do you know what are the starlings nearest relative?"  It was a subject I had never considered so I had a look round the internet.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica they are in the family Sturnidae, order Passeriformes which consists of Starlings, Mynas and Oxpeckers. The latter seems to be open to question with some authorities. There are many different Starlings around the world. So it would appear they are not related to any other type of native British bird but to Myna birds.

There is a list on Wikipedia.

As Matron said - it is not surprising that Starlings and Mynas are related as both are very good mimics of other birds and of sounds around them. I remember years ago when trim phones were popular that Starlings would spend ages imitating the sound. Once they have had their fill things calm down and many roost in the Leylandii at the bottom of the garden where they make an almost endless succession of quiet whistles, peeps and various other sounds until they are ready for their second helpings.

Another bird which has a fascinating range when it comes to mimicking other sounds was shown on television last night in the David Attenborough Life - Birds programme. One Bower Bird not only imitated other bird calls but could also make the sound of a Pigeon flapping its wings. There is a video clip  HERE on the BBC site.

A Noisy Day all Round

Yesterday started with the usual invasion of Starlings squabbling over anything which looks remotely like food. There are times when you can hardly see the fat ball feeders or the floor of the bird table. The two inch mesh round the bird table is no barrier for a determined Starling.



Later in the day I could hear some alarm calls. There were two Great Tits setting up a din as they took it in turns. I don't think they were arguing with each other as later on they were both taking seeds from the feeders. Most probably there was one of the local cats in the bottom of the bushes.



The normally tranquillity of the village was broken by the third night of fireworks as families celebrated the failure of Guido Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. This year was the first time I have tried to film some from the kitchen window. In the past I have failed miserably to get still photos. Sound is a bit tinny as I was using the same outdoor microphone I use for capturing the sound of birds.

Friday at the Flicks - a Magpie and its Hoard

Do Magpies hoard food I have been wondering. I know some of the corvid family do. The behaviour of one visiting Magpie has got me wondering. I had filmed it on the lawn grabbing the occasional peanut. Although I missed part of the action I am sure this bird was putting the peanuts in cracks in the earth.



Early the next morning the old Hedgehog camera caught the Magpie apparently at one of the spots where it may have buried a peanut and seems to be eating it. My apologies for all the glitches on the video as the recorder seems to have been in a 'mood'.



I cannot be absolutely sure it is the same place on the lawn as the recordings are made from different viewpoints. The long zoom used on the first video foreshortens distances but it seems to me to be one possible interpretation of the Magpie's behaviour.

Starlings think they are Blue Tits

Each year I buy the odd coconut fat feeder for the Blue Tits. Last year I tried those with an opening in the bottom and they were ignored. This year I have a couple of coconuts with a slice cut out. Unfortunately the Blue Tits haven't managed to get a look in yet as the Starlings have decided they make easy pickings.



OK so the photo layout is a bit fancy but I have been experimenting with Comic Life and found a way round its dreadfully slow thumbnail building. I don't bother with that as the photos can be dragged and dropped from any ordinary folder view which I find more useful.

What a change in the weather! Especially the temperatures. On the last two early morning walks it has been 6C and only achieving 12 during the afternoon. Bobby always goes out in the garden when I go out but doesn't stay out very long these colder days. He races back in, leaps on his chair and covers his nose to keep it warm.



I feel like doing the same as my nose is decidedly cold at the moment!

Return of the Goldies

As I haven't seen any sick birds for a while I have put back one thistle seed feeder and one Sunflower heart feeder. While the seed feeders were packed away the Greenfinches made short work of the two large Sunflower heads I had left for them.



All the time the thistle feeders were packed away at least one Goldfinch would visit each day to check things out and it didn't take long for a few to arrive once there was free food back at the Birdy Bistro.



Also starting to return is the occasional Rook. So far they have just visited the fat ball container near the bottom of the garden which is not removable even by the craftiest corvid - famous last words??  They are as shy as ever so only a silhouette as one beat a hasty retreat.



 The collage at the top was made using a program called Comic Life which I found out about from Roy of The Fenland Walker, Birding and Countryside Blog when I asked how he had made a particular collage. At first I though it was a program only for the Mac but there is a Windozy version. The large 'collage' choice makes a change from the few in Picasa and it is so easy to drag and resize pictures.  The only problem I found was it is painfully slow at scanning folders of photos. As my main folder has over 7000 files it was taking minutes to reach the end. Pity, as otherwise I would have upgraded my 30 day free trial.

The Early Magpie

Since I turned the video camera which used to observe the Hedgehogs round so it looks across the garden it has been interesting to see which birds are the early risers. Most mornings there is a Blackbird busy looking for scraps by 6.30 a.m.. This morning it was followed about 15 minutes later by a Magpie just as it was light enough for the camera to go back to colour.



There has been no sign of the Heron for several days, not since I fixed the wildlife camera permanently in position so it could monitor 24 hrs a day. Another bird with a built in camera detector?!

There is a pleasant bit of Sunshine this morning. Very welcome after a couple of dreary days. At one stage yesterday morning I wondered who kept ringing the door bell. In the end it kept ringing continuously so I had to remove the bell push. With the Southerly wind blowing heavy rain on the front of the building water had entered the push and was triggering it continuously. Having left it indoors to dry I put it back in position this morning and it appears to have come to no harm and works perfectly.

Wet and Windy Sunday

I think this sums up how we both felt this morning.



We were lucky at 7 a.m. when Bobby took me for my morning constitutional as the rain arrived about half an hour after we got back and continued for the next four hours. Only a few brave Sparrows and the odd Greenfinch braved a drenching to grab an early meal. The sound is not me frying eggs and bacon for breakfast but the rain beating down near the microphone in the shed wall.



As I write this the worst of the rain seems to have passed through but there are still very blustery winds out there.