Red Kites and Buzzards

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JoanG
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Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by JoanG »

This is for the bird lovers amongst us. I live in a village where we have lots of Red Kites and Buzzards overhead every day, this morning as I was cleaning the kitchen sink my shiney (yes I had just cleaned that too) granite worktop gave me a reflection of the Buzzards and Kites directly above our house being attacked by the resident jackdaws. Obviously every bird is now jostling for its nesting rights, the Kites and Buzzards nest over the road in the wood but seem to work it so that one has the top end and the Kites nest at the bottom. I, however, want to give a heads up to the humble jackdaws, they nest round the village chimneys and big trees and they are tireless now, watching and waiting for the birds of prey and then they bravely harass them, dive bombing and even locking claws and tumbling over. It carries on all summer, the Kites sometimes look really scruffy as they have their feathers pulled by these excellent parent jackdaws. It seems like the jackdaws call up the reserves and they all come together to drive their enemies away.

How sad am I, I've lived here for nearly 13 years and the sight of all the birds gives me as much pleasure now as when we first moved in. The red Kites are just beautiful, especially in the sunlight and such expert fliers and they fly very low eyeballing you it's very special.
Joan and George x
Liz5353
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Liz5353 »

Hi Joan
Thank you so much for that, we also have Red Kites where we live in Northumberland, last Sunday there were several cruising around over our house, I see them very often when out walking and they fly very low above us.
When we moved here 30 years ago we planted a small wood between our garden and paddocks, we get dozens of beautiful birds everyday, I have several feeders which I fill up each day, they are a pleasure to watch. I have s hedgehog house and squirrel feeder,, it is a hive of activity.
I was upset a couple of weeks ago one of the beautiful doves was decapitated, we think it may have been a sparrowhawk.
Thanks Joan for sharing
Love Liz Shelly Bonnie Molly Polly x
JoanG
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by JoanG »

Hi Liz your garden sounds wonderful, we had a big garden at our other property but this one is just a normal size. I've stopped putting the bird food out as my next door neighbour bought a Bengal cat, absolutely stunning boy but deadly for birds, bees and anything that moves :1967: We have a video of a sparrow hawk who chased a collared dove into our kitchen window, breaking the dove's neck and who then proceeded to pluck the feathers off and eat it on our front door step. We didn't want to disturb him as the bird was dead anyway but I hadn't given a thought to the mess left behind. There's a lot more feathers on a bird than you think and they were everywhere and stuck to the driveway. It was a real job to get everywhere clean :2008: but we had some incredible photos.
Joan and George x
Lins
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Lins »

I really enjoyed reading these posts.

I am a bird watcher too. I'm not a "twitcher" as such, I just like to know what I am looking at. Mind you, I am in Birds Britannica for my efforts over 10 years studying Twite - LBJ (or little brown job as they are called.)

Whilst out this morning with Molly, I was 99.9% sure I saw an Osprey, but, surely this is too early. Having said that, with the weather being up and down, you never know. I did doubt myself but, it really couldn't have been anything else. Far larger than a buzzard and very bird of prey like with the tell tale white backside!

As for garden birds, we feed daily. We have a 'charm' of gold finch, also green finch, the full array of . etc. Last season, I had a female blackbird that used to come in the back door, into the middle of the kitchen demanding Earl's red seedless grapes. We called her door step Doris.

Just awaiting the arrival of the Ospreys in Scotland now so that I can watch them on live feed. It's not quite the same as when Lady was nesting, I really miss that record breaking bird.

I have also been privileged to hold a peregrine chick whilst out with ringers. That is something that will stay with me a long time. I could go on but, I won't.

Thanks for your posts ladies, it was a good read. I envy you your red kites.
Lins, Molly and Scooby

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Liz5353
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Liz5353 »

Hi Lins
Thank you for your lovely post, it is very interesting. The only time I have seen ospreys is when we have been in the north of Scotland, I do not know if they come to Keilder forest, we only live about 30 minutes drive from there. As well as the kites around our home we see goshawks and buzzards, all lovely to see.Some of the beautiful photos of Molly that you have shared with us, the scenery is really stunning and you must live in a beautiful area.
Our house abroad is in the mountains quite high up, we see regularly very large birds of prey, although I have a book I do not know exactly what they are, a few years ago some friends from our village here came to visit, one-of these extremely large birds landed on our balastrade, we could not believe what we saw, one of our visitors screamed so of course the bird took off before we could get a picture!!
Well time to feed the birds in the wood.
Love Liz Shelly Bonnie Molly Polly x
Joe + Hilary
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Joe + Hilary »

I enjoyed reading all the above posts. The best I can add at the moment is that last weekend a huge flock of cranes flew over. Always a sign that the spring and summer are well on their way.

Hilary, Rowley & Douma
JoanG
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by JoanG »

Lins I remember a post you made years ago when you were still working about the Twites and as I'd never heard of these birds I thought you were having us on, so this post made me smile, as I used to love hearing about your days in the "office" with Molly and Scooby. We get Osprey's at Rutland Water which is about 40 minutes away and through your posts I enjoyed Lady returning each year too and watched her live on her nest. She was a tough old girl.

A couple of years ago we explored Vancouver Island and stayed for a while on the Pacific Rim National Park area, which is rain forest plus amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, we were in a place called Ucluelet and in the trees in front of the house was a nesting pair of bald eagles. They were huge and were raising two chicks, but they were so gentle when they passed the food to their tiny chicks. We had great views of them and it was one of the things on my list that I really wanted to see on that trip.

Like you I'm not a twitcher but I also like to know what I'm looking at, I loved the tale of door step Doris we had a male blackbird who sang his heart out from really early morning until dusk, he was lovely but he's disappeared now, don't know if it was the cat, the sparrowhawk or age :(
Joan and George x
Lins
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Lins »

JoanG wrote:Lins I remember a post you made years ago when you were still working about the Twites and as I'd never heard of these birds I thought you were having us on, so this post made me smile, as I used to love hearing about your days in the "office" with Molly and Scooby. We get Osprey's at Rutland Water which is about 40 minutes away and through your posts I enjoyed Lady returning each year too and watched her live on her nest. She was a tough old girl.

A couple of years ago we explored Vancouver Island and stayed for a while on the Pacific Rim National Park area, which is rain forest plus amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, we were in a place called Ucluelet and in the trees in front of the house was a nesting pair of bald eagles. They were huge and were raising two chicks, but they were so gentle when they passed the food to their tiny chicks. We had great views of them and it was one of the things on my list that I really wanted to see on that trip.

Like you I'm not a twitcher but I also like to know what I'm looking at, I loved the tale of door step Doris we had a male blackbird who sang his heart out from really early morning until dusk, he was lovely but he's disappeared now, don't know if it was the cat, the sparrowhawk or age :(

Let's just hope it was age.

I have been lucky enough to see a Scottish eagle whilst on one of our several fishing holidays. I would have loved your experience with the bald eagles. I really appreciate all wildlife, I just wish they taught more of it in schools. After all, the youth of today is the caretaker of our wildlife's future.
Lins, Molly and Scooby

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12_paws
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by 12_paws »

Have loved reading this thread ladies though my knowledge and recognition of birds of prey is not great, to spot one is a real treat.
I was going to say that we're not so lucky hereabouts then read Joan's post
JoanG wrote: We get Osprey's at Rutland Water which is about 40 minutes away :(
.... Rutland water is probably about 45-50 minutes from us in the opposite direction and when we had Zak, Kobe and Max as youngsters we did often head over, something we've got out of the habit of. Time to revisit this spring I think,
thanks ladies,
Des x
Des x

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Liz5353
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Re: Red Kites and Buzzards

Post by Liz5353 »

I am really enjoying reading all these lovely posts, thank you.
We are having extremely bad snow where we live in Northumberland, yesterday I feed the birds twice in our little wood and I have fed once today so far. We have a beautiful selection of all the usual garden birds, and also a very handsome cock pheasant strutting about.
Keep feeding the birds everyone and keep warm yourselves.
Love Liz Shelly Bonnie Molly Polly x
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