Wildlife -January 2010

[Anthony Darby]

It is referred to simply as "Jay" (Garrulus glandarius) in our old Birds of Europe... who knows how often the common name may have changed since then, though?

Edit:  And, I should add, it may well have been reorganized into some other species since that publication... I wouldn't know.

Neither name has changed Lori. They are quite common in the woods near me, but rarely come into my garden.

[angie]

A friend in Holland just sent me this photo of a wonderful bird in her yard.  She says in Dutch it is a Flemish Jay. Can someone identify it?

johnw

We have a pair visit our garden every year, they seem to be shy, they stay back until most of the birds have ate there fill. I never see them in the summer must disappear into the woods behind our house. The first time I saw one I thought it was a bird from another country as the were so colourful. Are they related to the Magpie family as they are similar.
Angie

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Angie, Jays are in the Crow family......... just really well dressed!

[angie]

Yes, Angie, Jays are in the Crow family......... just really well dressed!

Liked that one Maggi
Angie

[mark smyth]

The European magpie is a crow also

[Ragged Robin]

Walking up the road I saw tiny Wren hopping from rock to rock and then it disappeared into this hole - a winter hideout    

[Lesley Cox]

Usually they are seen flying across the road when you are driving through woods. You don't often get to see them close up.
Susan

That's exactly how I saw one, many years ago, in the far south of the UK. East sussex, if I remember. Just a flash of blue and it was gone but never forgotten.

[Lesley Cox]

Walking up the road I saw tiny Wren hopping from rock to rock and then it disappeared into this hole - a winter hideout    

Are you sure it wasn't a rock-hopper penguin Robin. Seems cold enough.

[Stephenb]

I checked the number of observations of Wrens in Norway this weekend compared to last weekend (with -20C in many coastal areas where they overwinter in between). 70% drop in observations in only a week! Sad, but not surprising for a bird that rarely takes food from us. A silent spring for the fantastic song of the Wren I fear  

This reminds me of a BBC programme years ago where they slowed down the song of different birds (a kind of sound microscope) and revealed a new world. For the wren "One song phrase 8.25 seconds long, when stretched out to 66 seconds, reveals 103 notes, which means that the bird is singing at a rate of 740 notes to the minute!" We have to slow down the song of the wren about 10 times to be able to separate the individual notes! It seems that it's now been proven that birds like the wren do actually hear all the notes....

I got the details from the following site: http://www.bl.uk/listentonature/specialinterestlang/langofbirds6.html

[Stephenb]

You can also listen to the slowed down song of the closely related (with similar song) North American Winter Wren (click on the mp3 link). The Internet's amazing isn't it? A 25-year old memory brought to life in a moment....

http://www.birdnote.org/birdnote-transcript.cfm?id=406

[Anthony Darby]

Walking up the road I saw tiny Wren hopping from rock to rock and then it disappeared into this hole - a winter hideout    

I saw a couple of wrens yesterday. One completely disappeared right into a snow covered tussock of grass, and only when it reappeared was I sure it was a wren and not a mouse. The tussock is just to the left of the wren.

[mark smyth]

Robin the species name for the wren means cave dweller!

[Ragged Robin]

Stephen, thanks for the Birdsong link , fascinating listening - I do so love these little birds and was thrilled to find a spot where maybe might see it again - many more birds have come on the scene since the sun came out but it is very cold.

The Wren looked very agile even in the cold, Lesley, meanwhile I feel like a penguin in my winter outfit  - it's like a long black sleeping bag with a hood  

Anthony, lucky you to have seen two wrens - do they just shelter in these places or do they nest in these same holes in walls and tussocks in the Spring?  

Mark, you always come up with such interesting information - I had always thought of Wren's in mossy nests but this one definitely lives up to its name as a cave dweller and I wonder what it is like inside  

[Anthony Darby]

These are not shelters. They are very actively looking for food in these holes and tussocks. Wrens roost in communal holes such as nest boxes and, I would suspect, not head there until after dark, as they spend all the time they can hunting for insects etc.

[Ragged Robin]

Anthony, I noticed that a spiders web was attached to the side topside of the hole - would the Wren have been after anything in caught in do you think?  I stood for some while watching for it to exit the hole but it didn't.  Will keep an eye on this spot in future in the hope of seeing it again - it was indeed late afternoon low light when I saw it hopping about.