Birtie's jungle is starting to grow back...

Oh what a very cute photo what a charmer! Hel.xxx.

Great photo Sid !

Brave Birtie in the jungle. :o)

Couldn't work out if he is an intrepid explorer or just a poser! :)

He's lovely.

"'Doctor Livingstone, I presume', Stepping out of the jungle gloom, into the midday sun! What did you find there, Did you stand awhile and stare, Did you meet anyone?".... (all credit to Ray Thomas!) All she needs is a pith helmet!!

Lovely Birtie....she has that glazed look that Pops has when she knows your watching her! lol

Thanks for the nice comments everyone :-)

Gee - don't think she's either really - it's actually really hard to get a good photo of her coz she doesnt stay still long enough....and she's not very intrepid - in fact she's a bit of a wimp and if she finds something new she'll creep around with her belly close to the floor and spend ages just poking it with her foot until she's satisfied it's not going to bite her!

Lori - LOL - she may have met a frog ;-) She was watching a seagul flying over when I took the picture...

a frog, you say? harrumph...says Birtie!

OH Sorry!...did you mean "frog" as in "some day my prince will come?" LOL... i get 'em....eventually!

Great photo Sarah....

Lori - I meant a frog, as in "eats slugs and scared to death of the French".

lol....

We can still see you Bertie.

This pic could win awards - what lovely bright eyes!

Thanks Greenfingers :-) She was watching a seagull.

What was a seagull doing in Hereford?? Lol!

Funnily enough, that was what Birtie was wondering...... lol

We've got LOADS of them here! When I was a kid you only ever saw a seagul at the seaside - in the car it was always a game - first one to see the sea and the first one to see a seagull lol These days they're everywhere.....

The seagulls and the crows are the worst scavengers on garbage day!
I always put my garbage out after 6 a.m. because those who put their's out the evening before have it scavenged by raccoons and skunks, and at sunrise every gull for a hundred miles shows up ...spreading garbage down the street and screeming like a banshee while doing it...to warn off the other 800 who are waiting their chance to descend~!!...ain't nature great? lol...

Oh dear! Must say, the gulls don't do that here (YET!!! - they will probably work out how to do it before long tho), but some places foxes tear bags open and I've had hedgehogs do it before now. Got a big plastic wheely-bin now, so that's sorted now. In some seaside places gulls are a real nuisance - they have learnt to swoop low over peoples shoulders and snatch icecreams/sandwiches/pasties etc. Some places have imposed fines for people caught deliberatly feeding the gulls. They are big birds and it's quite scary when they swoop past you like that :-(

Not only that but they will whitewash you if you're not careful! I can attest that they learn very quickly and don't need to be shown a tactic any more than once to spread the word. Since we are on the St.Lawrence Seaway there are plenty of gulls about and they love the fast food places...where they find the odd french fry bonanza if someone's careless about their garbage! have you seen the e/m that's circulating about the gull who walks thro the open door of a convenience store and snags a bag of doritos from the display...then makes off to share it with friends?! it's a real chuckle!!! .. not gull related, but ...yesterday I was out in my garden (it's still very cold here) raking and cleaning up when a sharpshinned hawk crashed into the cedar hedge and made off with a little sparrow...makes you feel complicit, when you've fed the sparrows and built them homes and the hawk uses my birdhaven as a cafeteria!! I was shook... Mandy and I made noise and yelled at him as he made off with one of ours...just hope he thinks twice before coming back to my garden! I'm concerned for my rabbit...

Yes I did see that clip of the gull stealing the Doritos - I bet the bird was impressed with himself that he could make those doors open just by walking towards them! ha ha....

Sorry to hear of your poor little sparrow.....I don't know how big a sharpshinned hawk is (do they have sharp shins by the way?!) - I can understand your worry about the rabbit if they're big. We have a sparrowhawk visit our garden sometimes, but being in a city, we feel quite priveliged to see it really. It's only about the size of a large, elongated pigeon, so don't have to worry about ol' Birtiekins being carried off x-) The biggest bird of prey in the area are buzzards, they look big, but it's mostly wing really. And they are really lazy hunters - prefering to search of worms on the ground or scavenge carrion from the roads. They wheel around in big circles on the warm air currents and mew to themselves - I like them :-)

When they perch their legs are prominent and apparently they have a structural peculiarity of the legs..hence the name... they are not an extra-large bird but will take robins, bluejays and any other birds they come across...there is a clip on youtube of one killing a bluejay...I just couldn't watch it... it seems so cruel. It must have been a young bird as he was anything but efficient in dispatching the poor bluejay.
My sister had Mallard Ducks that they had raised from babies (they thought that a fox must have got the mother) took the nestlings home and fed them and let them swim in a wash tub!! they lost one of their ducks to this type of hawk... Have recently seen peregrines too... They are about the size you describe and very graceful looking birds...
Like you I love to watch buzzards (we have turkey vultures) they soar so easily...makes you feel dreamy watching them... but they are intent on something less than dreamy I realize. Most people find them disgusting but like some insects they have a valuable niche in nature...they are the sanitation crew! We have the Canada Geese here and they congregate in great numbers...once endangered, like the peregrine falcon, they have made a dynamic recovery...and now they are so plentiful in the parks along the St. Lawrence that you have to "tiptoe through the tulips" as they are excellent digesters...and leave proof everywhere! I'm just glad they are no larger than they are.... would be like cow patties!

'Structural peculiarity of the legs' ? Sounds like the John Wayne of the bird world ;-)

We have peregrin falcons too - don't know whether they're the same species tho? Meant to be the fastest animals on earth when they go into a dive - reach something like 200mph. Ours specialise in pigeons and so are hated by pigeon fanciers/racers. Most people here care very much about birds of prey tho. Think it's because this island of ours is so very over-crowded that anything truely wild is very much appreciated. Peregrins 30 years ago were facing extinction due to poisening by the pigeon brigade and gamekeepers and also egg collectors. They are coming back slowely and are heavily protected and many of the most successful pairs are in cities where of course there are plenty of pigeons! The city councils love them! lol. Buzzards are very common in this area, but the further east you go the fewer they get. There are no buzzards in the south east - not sure what the situation is with them in the north of the country. I don't think anyone finds them disgusting....no more so than the rooks and magpies that also hang around after carrion. They are indeed in the vulture family tho. But the closest thing we've got to an eagle in this area!!

Canada geese - for some reason - are very common here too!!! Certainly not endangered here! And yes, they make a right good mess! They are protected (which I find strange as they are not native and usually (tho I don't necessarily agree with it) non-native species are not protected and can be shot). I hadn't realised that they had been endangered in Canada, so maybe that's why they are protected here?