The Trajectories of Birds

[owd git]

Ooops! I think we've stated an Ornithology Thread. 

you wouldn't believe the miles my family did following t' peak district vulture last year ' Vigo' was magnificent. saw her 5 times in differing locations, bought a proper scope and ironically saw her  less than 10m away in flight.
priceless!!!

 

[tony from suffolk]

Despite living amongst the towering, magnificent mountain ranges and vast chasms of Suffolk, the only place we get Peregrins is on the cooling towers of the sugar factory in Bury St. Edmunds & on the hideous BT carbuncle near Ipswich. We do, however, get lots of Kestrels and those bullet-like assassins that are Sparrowhawks. The latter come hurtling down our side hedge, nip over by the bird tables, and snatch collar doves in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a cloud of feathers.

Numbers of Buzzards are increasing and as a result, the hare population took a bit of a dive for a couple of years, but the latter have now learned to stick to the edges of the fields, rather than dash around in the open. I did spot a Red Kite only a few miles away the other day, so hopefully, they'll soon be drifting around our local skies. They do make the most peculiar noise though.

 

[tomferry]

Are breeding programme locally helped massively in the local area and they are definitely spreading further a field https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/people/peculiar-case-corbys-dive-bombing-birds-2882266%3famp

The buzzards numbers as far as I can remember personally have always been strong  neither of these birds have ever caused a issue locally I am aware of , the red kite though when I am at my sisters her daughter has a rabbit in a run outside and they do  glide the thermals watching this they have never tried to take it but I think their knowledge is starting to increase.  As I am writing this now I can hear a pair of kites calling each other they are very common here is brilliant

 

[topcat]

I was witness once to waking with a friend and his real
Rabbit skin hat took the interest of a buzzard ! It landed on his Head trying to pull it of I would love to of got this on video !

My dad used to tell a story of when he was night fishing.  Sitting quietly in the early hours he had an owl land on his head !  We think he was mistaken for a  tree stump or fence post.
He was very embarrassed not to ID the species of owl as he never saw it, but in the darkness it couldn't have been anything other than an owl.

 

[mikem]

What was he wearing, as they have pretty sharp claws?

 

[tomferry]

The talons on any bird of pray definitely are sharp obviously for their duty to hunt , my friend kept / flew birds of pray teaching them is a dedication like no other definitely keeps you more occupied than your wife , the reward is amazing though to go out fly a Harris hawk or kestrel and watch it dive bomb , I imagine he would of got some marks but nothing to serious as the owl would of wanted to perch not grasp  .

 

[Ian Ball]

Just ask Michael Peterson! 

 

[Fulk]

This reminds me of the time when we were having some work done on the house and the young man carrying out the work said to me, ?Do you mind if I bring my bird tomorrow?? Well, I was a bit nonplussed and started stuttering a bit . . . ?err, no, I don?t mind . . . errrr, what will she do all day?? ?Oh, it?s OK, she?ll be happy to sit on her perch in the garden?. So the next day he rolled up with a peregrine falcon; it was brilliant to see such a magnificent creature close up. Having talked about falconry with this guy, I think that Down & beyond is right ? taking on a bird like that is quite a commitment, and potentially an expensive one. This lad told me that he?d only had his then-current bird a short time, as his previous one had been taken out by another peregrine; it seems that he?d been unwittingly flying her in a wild bird?s territory, and the latter had got pissed off and swooped on her and killed her. He?d then bought his current peregrine for ?2000.

 

[mikem]

Peregrines are widely recognised as not being the brightest of birds.

 

[tomferry]

I remember another short story  we was out in the Landrover down one of the local byways as you do when it?s pouring it down with rain it had been raining extremely heavy for the past few days so we thought brilliant let?s get the truck plastered, I was with my mate who flew the birds of pray , at one section we stopped and beside us was a buzzard very young absolutely drowned in the rain could not fly at all definitely would of been ate by a fox that night , we threw a jumper over him and took him home , I kicked my Scottish deer hound out of his kennel he had to sleep with the hounds for 2 weeks while we reared him back up to full health to release , eventually after a few weeks he got his weight back and strength and we set billy the buzzard free was amazing !


Is a shame I have some photos but because I on mobile device it won?t let me share 

allow me, Pegasus

 

[topcat]

What was he wearing, as they have pretty sharp claws?

Either a flat cap or a deer stalker: moved in both ends of the social spectrum

( But was flat cap born and bred). )

 

[tomferry]

Two more photos of billy the buzzard coming up soon hopefully. Thanks for the assistance.  He will be shown in a resting position one foot up showing he is relaxed also in flying shape for his release back to the wild .

 

[Ian Ball]

I'm no fan of birds I usually say but the birds of prey are certainly majestic.  Top effort D&B!

 

[yrammy]

How about this then. On the way to the caving library a couple of weeks ago I saw this Barn Owl stoop for its kill and the Kestrel stealing it!

 

[tomferry]

A lovely photo their thanks for sharing ! It?s a great experience

 

[shotlighter]

I think this was a sparrow hawk. Anyway it clobbered a blackbird that was feeding on the lawn, poor thing just seemed to explode when it was hit.
The hawk devoured the lot, glaring at me as it did so. All that was left was the two feet & its beak.
Typical, ate its fill & left me to pick up the bill!

 

[mch]

It does look very like a female sparrowhawk but it could also be a goshawk.

 

[mikem]

Sprawk on relative size to pile of feathers

 

[andys]

Sprawk on relative size to pile of feathers

And the yellow eye. IIRC adult Goshawks have an orange eye.

 

[Laurie]

S'funny, every photo I've seen that includes the eyes of raptors almost all seem to be staring straight at the camera.