May 2013 has settled into what must be the coldest and wettest in living memory! Consequently, birding has taken a back seat to huddling by the fire with a book but, as D H Lawrence noted, 'you never see a bird that feels sorry for itself' and so they try to continue about their business.
A welcome visitor to the garden has been a spotted flycatcher perhaps the same one that nested here last year. Other birds that are nesting either on the house or in the garden include kestrel, wren, house sparrow, starling, blackbird, cirl bunting, chaffinch, goldfinch, black redstart, serin, moorhen, white wagtail and wood pigeon; there could be others but it's too wet to go and look.
I've had a few glimpses of golden orioles at the tops of nearby trees, and cuckoos are still calling. On a rare warmer evening a couple of days back a hobby appeared above the house and caused some consternation among the swifts. Hen harriers and hoopoes have made occasional appearances in nearby fields.
Hi
ReplyDeleteNot really a comment on your post but we need a bit of help with owl identification. One flew into our glazed door just before sunset this evening! It hit it with a terrific thump and when we got over our shock we looked to see a medium sized owl sat on the doorstep. It only sat there for a second or two before flying off so it can't have been too badly hurt. From the short time we had to observe it we saw a typical round owl face, paleish plumage heavily streaked brown and very obvious yellow/orange eyes. We guess the eyes rule out a tawny owl. The closest matches that we can find in our guides or on the internet are the short or long eared owls. From what we have read, it was the right time of day for a short eared owl and the description fits well but they are apparently quite rare, especially in spring/summer. One source (Wikipedia) suggests only a hundred pairs in the whole of France. On the other hand, we did not observe any trace of the long "ears" of the long eared owl. So, we know that you have spotted a short eared owl in winter but is it likely that we should see one here at this time of year? Also, do you know whether all long eared owls have long ears and if so can they flatten them?
We know that it is not much to go on but any insights that you (or anyone else) can provide would be welcome.
A long -eared by the sound of it. They could be hunting in the early evening at this time of year and are probably quite widespread but overlooked as they make few sounds.(young in the nest make a 'creaking gate' sound) I had a pair roosting in my garden a couple of years back. Their bright yellow eyes are very distinctive. Short-eared are more commonly seen on migration here and in open country during the day. You were lucky to see him; he was lucky to survive.
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