I've Had Worse Days .....

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

Boss said he'd be up around Noon, today. Reckoned the weather was said to be shit till about then.

 

I was up at 08:00 and it was fine. That was a little off pissing, as I considered how we'd miss the best part of a ringing day.

 

Then, I found a PM, from another forum, offering me a handful of yellow birds

 

This posed a quandary. I only have the one (Double) cage and want that for my Blue and Fawn birds. Very awkward situation.

 

I was sitting here, mulling over all this. Alternately glancing out the window and at the clock. When, at 10:30, my bosses motor came down the track!

 

Today, rather than just running a net through the hedge, as he customarily does. He ran Two nets. Thus pretty much cutting 'Eddie's' field in two.

 

He also set out the CD player, featuring a, widely reportedly, absolutely killer Redwing call lure. One that everyone's saying drags them down like a magnet. Even where others have no effect.

 

I've never handled a redwing, yet. Love to see one that close. Also, Boss says he'd sooner I start by extricating a thrush sized bird from the net. Rather than a tit.

 

(I think I mentioned how I've finally grown a set and have decided to learn how to get birds out of mist nets?)

 

Anyway; A decent enough day followed. We processed over two dozen birds. Great tits would be the majority. Most of them re traps. Birds we'd already caught and ringed.

 

But, there were enough unringed birds to leave a pleasant taste in the mouth. A great tit. Blue tit. Few coal tits. A dunnock, goldcrest and a lesser redpoll.

 

I must admit; That little redpoll really hit a chord with me .....

 

We never did get a redwing though. A little gang of seven were sat in a tree. Listening to the lure. Couple of them came down to the ground. But, they just refused the net.

 

Boss reckons the light is just too much out there. Suggested running the net parallel to the field hedge, next time. Get them as they seek a roost.

 

Truth is though; There just aren't the Winter Thrushes about, yet, though. I've seen winters when that home meadow was a sieving mass of fieldfares, redwings and a few mistle thrushes

 

This just isn't ~ yet ~ one of those Winters. We'll wait and see.

 

 

Meanwhile; Handling all these birds. Thinking to myself, as we waited for the next hit. Chatting to my boss and bouncing thoughts off him .....

 

By twelve hours later, I'd come to a conclusion, about those yellow birds:

 

F**k, yeah! Yes, Please! I'll just have to buy ~ or build ~ more f**king cages, as I come to need them.

 

F**k it. Okay: I'm actually sitting here, idly letting the considerations drift through my mind ..... Which room would make the best Bird Room?

 

I'll need those Natural Light strips. A timed dimmer. And, of course; A f**k off great block of cages!

 

[comanche 3,278]

Used to get loads of redwings and fieldfares on my apple tree. it was some ancient variety that held its fruit through to january. It conracted some sort of timber beetle -coincidentally after they opened a wood yard behind my house- and it was dead in a year. Since then I've barely seen either species close enough to be sure until today .I was walking the dog through a very squelchy field and the place lifted with em.

I'm guessing the optical problem has been sorted if you are gleefully handling blue tits .

Edited December 30, 2013 by comanche

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

I'm guessing the optical problem has been sorted if you are gleefully handling blue tits .

 

 

Not exactly, mate. A few times I just had to give up and ask my boss wtf it said. Thing is, I have this new, shop bought, pair of x10 spec's and they work. If I can get then in exactly the right position on my face.

 

But, I tend to put rubber bands on my glasses, so I can walk around with them on my head and bring them down as needed. And the bands I put on yesterday I just didn't knot quite So. So they were tending to pull the specs right against my eyeballs. It was f**king murder!

 

Then, the ones I read the rings with make the bird itself a blur! So, I'm having to rip pairs of specs off and on. One pair to measure the wing and generally give the bird the once over. Then, the other pair to note the ring number I'm putting on it. FFS .....

[J Darcy 5,871]

Dunnocks are one of my favourite birds.....and proper nasty sods too!

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

Dunnocks are one of my favourite birds.....and proper nasty sods too!

 

How so, JD? Something to do with nesting?

 

You want nasty? Try the f**king great and blue tits! Vicious little bast@rds! For their size. They can scream and bite like demons! Angry little f**kers!

 

Funny. Coal tits are quiet as mice. It fascinates me; How different species react, in the hand. And how uniform their reactions seem to be.

[fireman 11,383]

Recon the Goldcrest and Redpoll would have done it for me Pete,i've never seen a wild redpoll let alone catch and ring one and well done indeed mate,Dunnocks are one over looked little bird of great colours if you study them,greys and blues and something i'd like to keep one day.

[paulus 26]

good numbers of redwings here and a fair few thrushes in the field hedges, when the weather turns the starlings and redwings flock together to feed on what they can find close to the spinney s that border the spring barley fields as the ground is softer there

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

I've never seen a wild redpoll .....

 

My god! Then sort out where Alder trees grow, any where near you, and lurk about them. You'll see redpolls

 

In fact, just about any hedgerow, with alders in it will show ye redpolls, as they fly along it, raiding the alders. They tend to fly near the tops of the trees.

 

Just something about them. The ones we get are Lesser Redpoll. Dinky little things. But, so calm and sweet in the hand. Absolutely adorable little birds

 

Goldcrest? Yeah. It's a bit like handling a used gas mantle! They weigh in at five grams, ffs!

 

But, again, they almost fall asleep in ye grip. Maybe it's that they're so tiny and also frequent the tree tops, sparrow hawks don't bother with them? Perhaps they're not a prey item, and so don't have fear hard wired into them?

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

Good numbers of redwings here and a fair few thrushes in the field hedges .....

 

I don't know where you are, Paul. But, I suspect you're east of me. And this is the thing, mate; The weather's, relatively, glorious for this time of year!

 

I've seen the vast thrush (and, yes, starling) flocks here. But, it's always been in the harder weather.

 

Not a lot's happening at my latitude. Nor will it, unless your weather tightens up and sends stuff west.

 

Right now though, with me? Most is pretty stagnant. I'm taking names. But, they're usually the same old ones.

 

Hey ho. This is science. Entertainment is a happy side effect.