Wildlife -January 2010

[Richard Green]

Hmm.  Luckily my Bergenias are all well covered with snow just now, and I hope the deer will have gone - permanemtly - back up the hill behind our house before spring comes.  This year has been the worst winter damange by them we have had for many years.

[Ragged Robin]

Surviving the cold in the Swiss Alps you need a feather duvet....like this bird in the hoar frost this morning!

[angie]

Robin,  lovely picture, I just wonder how these little chaps survive these cold frosty nights. I always am out first thing to make sure there feeders are full. I like Michael keep my pond running as this gives them water at all times.

Dave we love building walls some are drystone and some we have to use cement . Would love to see some pictures of your landscaping.
Angie

[mark smyth]

That's a chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Robin and Angie. They are quite adaptable in the winter and eat small to large seeds.

The fieldfare was in the garden until after dark so I suppose I will find it frozen in the morning

[angie]

Oh Mark I hope not
Angie

[Ragged Robin]

That's a chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Robin and Angie. They are quite adaptable in the winter and eat small to large seeds.

Thanks Mark for naming this lovely little chaffinch, they have great character they queue up on the flight path to the seed dispenser with other birds in the trees close by....

This evening the young fox returned and apparently looked through the window at me pressing its nose to the glass as it stood on top of the table outside - all this seen by Anthony from his office whilst I, unaware, was on the Forum with my computer screen hiding the fox from me!  It had returned for the remains of turkey trimmings...

[Lesley Cox]

I can imagine that many more foxes will be lining up for a dinner of that calibre Robin!

We saw on TV news a couple of nights ago, a brand new ice breaker ship about to go to the Antarctic. I can't remember the name or where she was registered, but it occurred to me that maybe she should have a few mallards on board. I think it was a luxury tourist vessel. but Google has let me down this time.

[t00lie]

From my aviary

Canary---poser  

Male Quail --very hard to get a good pic of this fellow    --he's always on the move.

Couple shots of the native red crown  ?? parakeet--Kakariki --Unfortunately in the wild they often feed on the ground rather than in the canopy, making them susceptible to predators.

In the close up pic i see there is a bit of yellow on one of the birds forehead -- at one stage i had yellow crowns as well ,(they are very similar --just smaller with yellow crowns ),so there may have been some interbreeding.

They have a rapid, direct flight, usually above the canopy and often accompanied by a rapid loud chatter: "ki-ki-ki-ki-ki".  When feeding they are either silent or babble.
My ones ,(2 males i bred--1 old female) ,chatter to each other especially when i provide them with stems of the native fuchsia and other flowering/berried natives.

Cheers dave.

[Anthony Darby]

I expect you may find the deer dead later, Richard.... a friend in Aberdeenshire did after it ate her rhodos a few years ago.... no injuries, just well grown but dead deer. Her son is a vet and said  he thought it was likely the rhodo foliage was the cause of death.

A friend of a colleague regularly shoots roe deer. His family won't eat it unless it has been made into burgers or sausages! I despair!

[Michael J Campbell]

A few pics taken through the window of the birds feeding in garden this morning. The temp has risen to -6C today.

Where did you put those  mealworms.
Waiting for a drink
Goldfinches
Having a drink
Nice juicy apple
The last of the ham.
Where did that piece of apple go?
That's my slice of bread, (yes I know I shouldn't feed them bread.)

[mark smyth]

Lovely selection of birds Michael.

Dave, before I read your post I guessed your kakariki had yellow genes. In the Uk they are known as red-fronted and yellow-fronted. The mutations available over here are amazing blue, pieds, yellow, cinnamon, buttercup, red splashed yellow. Are they available in NZ?

Kakarikis are famous for being the only parrot that can climb without using it's beak. That included upsidedown

[Gwenblack]

The  wholesaler from whom we buy wild bird food has run out of supplies twice since Christmas   That tells us something about folk around here AND   what might happen to the bird population if we didn't feed them.   I tried twice unsuccessfully this morning to take a photograph, fit to post, of one of the large windows in our  first floor sunroom   The whole room  is prone to bird strikes despite our glittery stickers,  especially when young birds are about but......yesterday and today,   we had two strikes   one from a wood pigeon and one from a collared dove  both leaving powdery imprints of both outspread wings and the central body on the glass.  We are becoming expert in saving the victims lying stunned below the window by bringing them indoors, keeping them warm, dark and quiet for as long as it takes for them to announce that they are ready to fly.  The most precious was a goldcrest   a great delight to hold the tiny thing,  but greenfinches, Great tits, siskins and chaffinches are the most numerous of the rescued.

[mark smyth]

Pigeon ghosts on windows look like snow angels

[mark smyth]

The fieldfare is still alive this morning

[Martinr]

Not all birds are lucky! I looked out of the window 5 minutes ago and, for the first time in weeks, there wasn't a single bird hanging around the feeders. Thought it was a bit odd till I spotted the Sparrowhawk having lunch on the bridge over our stream. Ah well, that's another bird successfully fed