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sgt.colon



Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 20 7:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice take off shot DPack.

Went down to the allotment the other day and this little nuthatch was trapped in my greenhouse.



Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun May 31, 20 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice pictures Sgt. Colon and Dpack.

We saw a jay sitting out in the open the other day. We have plenty; in fact I have seen up to 4 together looking for their stash of nuts, but don't often see them like that.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 20 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

nice snap of the nuthatch, first time i saw one doing the up and down a tree trunk i decided they were rather funky wee birds

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 20 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

a rather perceptive birder article

as i get to know them better their intelligence and social skills are more impressive than i thought before after watching them in detail, up close and personal

anything that can do 3 dimensional acrobatics has a pretty good set of sensors and control gear

colony life and multi species cooperation for mutual benefit needs social skills, "business"skills and a good memory

the problem solving stuff is requires knowledge, protocols and imagination

etc

that they are as sophisticated as they are with a very compact set of control gear is rather amazing

compared to many of the wild birds chooks are pretty stupid, but they are far smarter than most folk would give them credit for both socially and as problem solvers
that still does not exclude the odd one that will swallow a diesel soaked rag:roll:

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 20 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i decided to play invertebrates

the birds have been quite efficient with aphids, even mint aphids

the vermin on one mint pot(ummm) made good bait for the tunnel web spider, snaps of both to follow(eat my roots, feed a spider although she did not drag it indoors it was bitten for later)

the bramble is starting to flower so i am practising bees

something put an egg on the aqualegia

snaps later

having been in bird town for a bit the inverts are a nice change for a wee while

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 20 7:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Birds and other animals have skills and use senses that we either lack or make so little use of that we are unaware of them. I am sure the average human being is capable of using a lot more of their senses than we are aware of. As for intelligence, they have developed ways of surviving, and I am sure do learn new ones. They are not 'programmed' and can think things out, but whether they have 'human' feelings is something we will probably never know.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 20 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

early morning breaking news from birdtown

another clutch has fledged, 3 of them, one is unusually grey and the other two are greyer than usual, both parents are the normal brown and buff

i recon that makes it into double figures but it is hard to identify newbies as individuals until i get to know them and there may have been a few casualties as there are at least two who do not seem to visit any more.

keeping track of the youngsters needs observation to find out how to individualize them
the adult males i recon i have sorted , adult females less so and a baby unless strikingly "different" looks like the rest to me

tweed is still shopping and almost certainly does not have chicks of her own
she has not been seen with a husband
handmaid seems very plausible, interesting

i will play with yesterday's snaps while the sun comes over the yard arm

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 20 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    



a bit better but still hand held as i discovered the tripod is a bipod at 3 extensions

hey ho i hear new mannfrott legs with a singing and dancing wig calling me, ah well at least i can even if i do need a good un to do this well.


i am a bit behind with showing a new, sort of ok, snaps due to technical difficulties which might now be sorted so tunnel spider first

more will follow

bird town is steady with parents working hard and youngsters learning to be birds

little bracket is a girl so no dought mrs brack will chase her off to her new home fairly soon but at the mo she pops in to feed and is looking well

the bramble is coming up to full flower so i hope there should be bee snaps soon

if you dont like spiders, sorry, if you do there will be better snaps of this one, it aint friendly but it can be managed

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 8:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

young bracket just regurgitated something onto the shed roof, tis too early to see what it was but i have not seen that from a blackbird before

maybe she ate something nasty, maybe it is an "owl pellet" sort of thing?

i will observe and report.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I have read that owls and bops aren't the only birds to cast pellets. I seem to recall that Robins have been seen doing so. It makes sense to get rid of indigestible stuff in that way, especially if you eat a lot of dirty things (worms full of and covered with soil etc). Observe, collect and examine!

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 9:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i am feeling brave, i will poke bird vomit

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

sample collected, now i need some glass, i just realised my rather nice (unbranded but top end) microscope is on the farm

i will improvise for this one

mk1 eyeball detects mealworm husk but there it is a dark brown blob with that poking out of it.

iirc water and a pair of needles are the tools for separating such things to see what is in them, is that correct?

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i just realised, there are often "blobs" like this one around, i had assumed they were from the rear but comparing this one that i saw happen to rear end ones they are very different in both colour and consistency.

it might be a regular thing

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack wrote:
sample collected, now i need some glass, i just realised my rather nice (unbranded but top end) microscope is on the farm

i will improvise for this one

mk1 eyeball detects mealworm husk but there it is a dark brown blob with that poking out of it.

iirc water and a pair of needles are the tools for separating such things to see what is in them, is that correct?


Mounted needles, of course, but yes. Mealworm insides are pretty unpleasant. When feeding them to bats it was always best to squeeze the guts out first. Maybe dried ones give birds indigestion?

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 20 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    



the dried ones seem very popular, i recon they are ok to eat and quite tasty if a bit crunchy like shrimp

i will report when i have teased it apart

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