ChaffinchNearly 8.45pm, and there's a blackbird still singing his heart out right outside the door.
I love spring. Full of life and song.☺
Samuel@Chaffinch I get to listen to them and a few other different song birds on my way to the station in the morning, it's the best way to start the day! A few weeks ago, I saw a goldcrest; it was tiny, and I was so chuffed when I found out what it was.
@patchwork_mind Oh, that's lovely. It really is the best way to start the day. Once you recognize their songs, the air is just full of music.☺
I'm jealous! I've never seen a goldcrest. I bet you were chuffed - I would be, too!
@Chaffinch I'm not quite there yet; I know blackbird, but the rest is just passerine melody. Eventually though!
I had no idea what they were at first, just two tiny, tiny birds flitting about the hedgerow, but they were so small and striking that they left an impression.
@patchwork_mind Passerine melody - I love that! What a lovely way of phrasing it. I've managed to distinguish a couple of different birds by their song, but I've still got a long way to go.☺
I'd love to see one goldcrest, let alone two. I've had a similar encounter of tiny birds skittering along a hedgerow, but they were long-tailed tits instead. The sight stays with you, though.☺
@Chaffinch Thanks ^.^ I can't quite even do that yet, so congratulations! A friend of mine studied birds as part of her zoology degree; I was incredibly jealous of her unfailing ability to pick out birds by ear. It was incredible.
It really does stay with you! We don't get too many passerines around here; lots of gulls and corvids (buckets of magpies; my favourite!) and buzzards, so it's nice when something special comes along.
@patchwork_mind I'm so envious of people who can do that. I'm just about able to tell dunnocks and robins apart by their song. It must be amazing!☺
I love magpies too, but sadly we don't get many round here. We get a lot of passerines; sparrows, goldfinches, that sort of thing, and loads of starlings but the 'something special' is usually the red kites - absolutely stunning. I miss buzzards, though.☺
It really is a treat to see.🙂
@Chaffinch it's amazing, like they're high level rangers in a fantasy game. xD
We seem to get tonnes of magpies; I saw five sat in a tree day before yesterday. I don't what conditions are so favourable. It's no good if you're superstitious! Ooh we don't get red kites much! We get them in Brecon ~40 mins away from me, but I don't go up often enough to see them.
Is it just birds that you like or are you interested in other natural history too?
@patchwork_mind High level rangers - that's a great way of putting it. I'm glad I'm not superstitious about magpies, too - seeing one is quite common round here, and if the rhyme is to be believed... 😛😁
I'm in Lincolnshire, so there's quite a few red kite colonies round here and they're starting to come into the towns, too. It's quite a sight.
I like all nature, but I do have a soft spot for birds.🙂
@Chaffinch Haha, if I can keep seeing five and six magpies at a time, I'll gladly be superstitious, but so far, I'm no richer! :P
We don't get enough birds of prey around here for my liking; the occasional owl, in the summer, but once it's woken me up, (damn it) it's usually too dark to see it!
I'm kind of greedy; I love it all, but plants are my very first love. They're so varied and intricate.
@patchwork_mind Haha! I'd love to see that many magpies together. Must be a regional thing.🙂
Another thing to be jealous of - I've never seen an owl around here. They might haunt the other end of town, but I've yet to see one.😀
I can see why you'd love plants. So much hinges on them, but they're mostly overlooked by everyone else. I'm fond of wildflowers, but I'm only an armchair expert.
@Chaffinch I think it must be: I wonder what condition around here makes them thrive, I have no idea.
To be fair, I've never seen one, just had to listen to them be gobby at each other at night. It's less endearing when they wake you up the fiftieth time than the first! :P
They're so vital! And interesting; they have some novel solutions to ecological problems. I'm an armchair naturalist as well; I studied Biology at uni, but not since then.
@patchwork_mind It's good to have another armchair expert here.☺ I've not studied them on any educational level, just for my own enjoyment, and I feel a bit richer for it. It certainly makes walks in the coutryside more interesting.☺
@Chaffinch Definitely more interesting. To be honest you probably know more than me; it's weird but they don't teach much species ID or natural history stuff on a biology course.
@patchwork_mind Hmm. I'd have thought that would've played a fairly major part, too. That's a bit odd, really.
Most of what I've learned comes from wildlife books/documentaries and Springwatch!😀
@Chaffinch You cover lots of specific stuff about general taxonomy: major clades of fish, mammals, insects, birds, microbes etc, and then lots of stuff on ecology and behaviour. How to study animals safely and non-invasively, that kinda thing. Not a lot of "these are finches, these are trefoil, these are crickets" XD
I did a lot of plant ID during my dissertation (that was learn it yourself) but the rest from books and documentaries!
@patchwork_mind It sounds really weird to not learn that sort of thing. Seems to me like books and docs are the way to go, once you know the scientific parts.🙂
That, and getting out and about to observe it in its natural habitat.☺