Bird feeding

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I had some bread to spare, the sun was shining this afternoon, so I got into car and drove a few miles along the coast to feed some ducks. And, ofcourse took my camera to try and get some interesting shots.

As you can see, as well as the ducks I had the seagulls flocking in.   It`s amazing how they seem to know when there`s food about, even if they`re nowhere in sight to start with.   Guess they must post one as a lookout somewhere! 

I even got the seagulls flying to take bread out of my hand before I`d had a chance to throw it to them.  Just wish I`d had someone else with me who could have taken a photo of that.   I found it difficult trying to use a camera with one hand and feed them with the other!

And, out of all the photos I took, this one (although it could have been a bit sharper) is my favourite.  It appears that one is giving another a piggy-back!    [click on it to get a full size one]

What are these birds flying in for?.......



Here`s the answer.... Driving along the coast this afternoon we stopped by the sea wall at Walcott. It was a breezy afternoon, and gulls were soaring over the waves as they broke.
I remembered that I`d got a few bread crusts in the car, so got out to throw them for the gulls, but the wind being strong blew the bread back onto the seawall and pavement. The gulls seemed too timid to come and take the bread from there, so I got back into the car (I didn`t want to be had up for dropping litter! - can one, I wonder, be charged for bread thrown and not eaten by the birds??)


I`d not been back in the car many seconds when I spotted one of these smaller wading birds land on the sea wall, then two, then three and very quickly about a dozen or more of them appeared. They really seemed to enjoy the treat they`d found.

Amusing shots

Enjoy another couple of photos from the other day!

A new breed of Crane?? two heads and three legs!

Balancing act!

(and, it`s not camera or editting trickery, the duck really was up there.)

Beautiful !

"Follow the leader"

I went to one of my favourite places yesterday afternoon for a leisurely stroll round in the autumn sunshine, and ofcourse took my camera with me. It seemed to be bath day for a lot of the birds as they were all splashing away cleaning and preening their feathers. And, as you`ll see in the last photo, one in particular seemed to want to show himself (or herself!) off, as, as I stood there he/she extended its wings to the full extent - beautiful.

"Having a splashing time!"

"Is the water cold?"

"Aren`t I beautiful?"

Him or Her

Looking at this lovely picture on this Blog, and a comment I made, set me thinking....

Why is it that when watching birds, or sometimes animals at a distance (unless the distinction is obvious), we tend to always refer to them as "he"? They could just as well be a "she" but we never tend to think of that, and I`ll guess it`s not only me that does it, is it?

A Walk in the Park

Enjoying a walk round a large lake in a park today, we came across these beautiful swans with their two cygnets. The (I assume) male one on the left was very protective of his family, and as we went to go down some steps on to the path, he got up and started walking towards us, as if to say you`re not to come any further, I`ve got babies here. And, so, knowing how strong such a bird could be, we retreated and joined the path a bit further on where I managed to turn around to capture this photo after he`d settled down beside his family having seen the "danger" off.

An Early Spring

Is it spring?

It can`t be spring already, can it?

We`re still in January, but it doesn`t feel a bit like January, it hasn`t been really cold once, ok, I admit that people living here, who`ve not been brought up here, may think it`s cold being on the East coast, but there`s been no frost, hail, sleet or snow. The weather here especially these last few days has been exceptionally mild, sunny and really springlike.

The birds must be feeling it too because they`re tweeting and singing away in the trees. At Pensthorpe where I enjoyed my Sunday afternoon walk the wildfowl on the lakes were starting some of their courtship displays. It was a joy to watch.

Black & White beauties

I wonder why it is, that standing (or sitting) watching swans on the lake is such a relaxing pastime? These looked so graceful just floating on the water in the sunlight.

A Wonderful sight

I must share with you today a wonderful sight I came across this afternoon. It really lifted my spirits to come across such a marvellous thing purely by chance. I was out for a drive, trying out my new "toy", and the sun was just beginning to go down. As I drove down a country lane I stopped to admire the setting sun, and then in the distance I saw this.


At first they were just dots in the distance, but as they got closer, it became a real spectacle.


There were hundreds and hundreds of birds - geese I think - and the sound of them was tremendous, all honking away as they flew. Skein after skein of them filled the sky, pattern after pattern they formed above me as they flew onwards to the setting sun.


And the sky turned more and more orange as the sun set.



It was totally awe inspiring.


(If you click on the pictures, you`ll see the birds a bit clearer)

Daring the Waves

I had a good walk the other afternoon, and spotted these small birds, they seemed to be playing the same game as children often do - dodging the waves. As I stood and watched them, they would stand near the edge of the groyne until they saw a wave coming then they`d run back to try and avoid getting splashed, as soon as it had splashed up back they ran to the edge! It was quite amusing watching them.

I`ve really appreciated this week being able to come and go as I please, to do things on the spur of the moment, without a lot of preparation, just doing as the mood takes. But that will all end today.

Home

Well, homing pigeons do go home.... but.... not to their rightful home. Guess what I found on the back lawn when I opened the door this morning?!


Yes... one of them was back pecking about on the grass, but although he came and ate some seeds from my hand again, we didn`t see him again for the rest of the day, and there`s no sign of the other one. I`m worried

Betrayed

I`m feeling awful. I`ve betrayed two creatures that had trusted me. Yes, it`s those pigeons I`m talking about (yes again!, sorry if you`re bored with reading about them, but this may be the last post about them).

The advice I was given about them, was feed them for a few days then stop feeding them and they`ll go home, or away. So, since Saturday I`ve not fed them, I didn`t even go out into the garden for them to see me Sunday or Monday, and yesterday - no sign of them. Opening the curtains first thing this morning, what do I see... the two pigeons back. Looking out of the window at them dinner time I saw that they were merrily pecking away eating the leave of all my plants in the pots I`d set last week, and my parent said they`d been doing it most of the morning although she`d been trying to frighten them off. And, seeing her waving her walking stick should have been enough to send any of us running off! But, to no avail there they remained.

The time had come to do something more drastic, I thought, so getting a couple of cardboard boxes with lids, and the bag of sunflower seeds, I went out into the garden this afternoon and they came running towards me. Once they were pecking away at the seeds on the ground, I managed to get hold of them, one at a time, and pop them in a box each, put the lid on, made some holes in the lid, then boxes into the boot of the car, and off I went into the countryside about 20 miles. Stopping in a layby in a country lane I got the boxes out, put some seeds on the ground and let the pigeons out. Got back quickly into the car and drove off leaving them there.

But, I now feel awful, that I`ve done that to two creature who had trusted me. That I`ve abandoned them. Will they be alright? Will they find their way to their rightful home? Will they get run over, or get caught by foxes or anything, I do so hope not, they were such lovely birds. Part of me is wanting to go back and get them!, So much is going through my mind. It feels that I`ve betrayed them. I`m regretting what I`ve done. Was it for the best for them?

Have a look at one more picture of them. Their plumage was so beautiful in the sunlight, almost at time fluorescent. Yes, he/she is sitting on my hand, they were so tame.

Feather brained

My pigeons, well, not mine really, but just seeming to have made this their (we hope) temporary home, set me thinking on how insulting some of our expressions are to birds. For instance the definition of feather-brained as being - lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; silly, not serious in content, attitude or behaviour. And of bird-brain as being stupid.


Yet watching the behaviour of birds, they do have brains and they do use them sensibly.
Ok, maybe these 2 pigeons didn`t use theirs sensibily enough to fly home yet, but they certainly know how and where to come and get food. Having given them some seeds this afternoon, I put the bag of sunflower seeds on a stool in the summerhouse where I was sitting, and it wasn`t many minutes before one of the pigeons spotted them there, so he (or she) trotted up to the entrance, round the door and jumped up onto floor of the summerhouse and then proceeded to jump up onto the stool to peck at the bag of seeds!

"Where`s my Tea?"

"Where`s my Tea?"

I thought when I got up this morning that the pigeons had gone, they were nowhere to be seen in the garden.... but then at dinnertime they were back, plodding round the corner of the garden by the house, and eagerly came to eat seeds from my hands again when I went out into the garden to see them after dinner.

Then, at tea time when I was in the kitchen getting tea, and D was laying the table, they were out there again. Looking up from my cooking I saw that one of them was standing looking up at the kitchen window. Next thing I knew he (or she) had flown up and was sitting on the kitchen window sill looking in at us! and, not content to just sit and look it kept jumping flapping its wings against the window trying to get in.

D went out with some bread for them, and they came to his hand, but finding it was just bread they pecked at it without eating it - they wanted something better than bread! I went out and gave D some sunflower seeds which he held down to them and they soon greedily scoffed them from his hand.

So, they`ve not left us yet.

Pigeon Post

The pigeons are still with me, As soon as I went out into the garden this afternoon and stooped down they came to me... so I just had to come in and get some sunflower seeds for them. And, this is what happened....and they both came and stood eating out of my hand.




So then I came indoors and tried to find who to ring to report that they were here. First I looked in the phone book, nothing under pigeon racing, homing or other such words, so I tried the RSPCA found a number and rang it, but again without a lot of success as the nearest one that I rang only works a few hours on certain days, according to the recorded message, and today wasn`t one of them!

I then searched the web for Pigeon racing/homing, but on not finding anything useful, tried searching for the Rspca and at last found a contact number for Kings Lynn, so I rang them. There, the girl answering the phone was very helpful and she gave me a number of the pigeon racing club to ring.... I rang them. The young lady there was also fairly helpful. I had got the number off one of the birds leg rings, so on giving her that and she found it almost straight away as belonging to someone in Leeds! I couldn`t read all the other ones number so we couldn`t search that one. She then gave me the phone number of the person the first one belonged to for me to contact them. I said, don`t you get in touch with them, but she said no, I had to! I`ve now rung that number and left a message as it was an answer machine! So, I await them ringing me.

We`ll see what the next installment is tomorrow!
Unless ofcourse the birds have flown off before then!

The tale of a pigeon

Looking out on to our garden though the rivulets of rain running down the window on Saturday, I spotted a pigeon in the garden. Nothing very unusual about that you may think, and at first neither did I. But yet, it looked different to the wild ones we sometimes get, it`s plumage had a different colouring and appearance. Then I noticed, as it plodded (yes, it`s quite fat, so seems to waddle and plod around), that it had rings on both it`s legs. So we assumed it must be a homing or racing pigeon and that it would soon fly off again.

Next morning, on looking out again through the wind and rain, it was still there - but, now there were two of them and they had almost identical plumage. No, we weren`t seeing double! One had a yellow ring on one leg and a pink ring on the other while the other one had a yellow ring on one leg, but a blue ring on the other. Wonder if it`s a blue one for a boy and pink for a girl?!

It`s now four days since they appeared, and they`re still staying around our garden. Maybe because it`s rained constantly for four days they don`t want to fly in the rain?, are they homing pigeons that have lost their way home with the wind and weather this weekend? are they "on holiday"?

They both seem to keep together and keep pecking about in the gravel by the window and looking at the window. So this afternoon, when it had at last stopped raining, I went out with some sunflower seeds, thinking they`d probably fly off when I approached, but no, one of them, now up on the shed roof, put it`s head on one side and look curiously and enquiringing at me. So pouring some of the seeds into the palm of my hand I held it up towards the pigeon. Taking a tentative step or two towards my hand he (or she) then stretched its neck and started pecking the seeds from my hand. Having eaten one handful, I offer it another one which it immediately came to eat and this time came so near that I could feel the silkyness of its breast feathers brushing against my hand as it ate. A lovely moment. To think that I could get so close to it, and that it trusted me to not harm it. It also confirmed my thoughts that it wasn`t a wild bird, but must be used to being close to people.

Managing to get close to them, I managed to see that on the rings on their legs were numbers, but now the problem is, what to do about them. Someone, somewhere is no doubt missing them and waiting for them to come home. Maybe, hopefully, now that they`ve rested, been fed and the weather has improved they`ll find their way home again.