If you spend as much time outside on British Columbia’s rural Galiano Island as professional gardener Ana Todorović does, it’s a sad inevitability that you will encounter dead birds. But when Todorović returned home from work on May 16, she noticed something distinctive about the goldfinch-size, streaky-brown bird corpse on her lawn: It had a […]
Tag: Goldfinch
Italian Officials Investigated for Eating Illegal Birds at Secret Dinner
A group of Italian officials was caught by police during a secret dinner that included songbirds like goldfinches and chaffinches, The Telegraph reported. The group is now under investigation for the lunch, as some of the birds were from a rare species. The meal also violated COVID-19 guidelines set by the country. 20 officials from […]
Turtle dove flies towards extinction as numbers halve in UK
The turtle dove, Britain’s most endangered bird, continues to plummet towards extinction, its numbers having halved over five years, according to the latest data. The turtle dove’s 51% decline from 2013 to 2017 is the most drastic of a continuing slump for a quarter of farmland bird species. However, there are signs of recovery for […]
Rusty-tailed Flycatcher near Samarkand
This morning our Rockjumper tour went up to the mountains south of Samarkand. We had a fantastic morning around Takhta-Karacha mountain pass, at about 1700 m. We saw so many wonderful birds, including Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Irania, Upcher’s Warbler, Indian Paradise flycatcher, Red-headed and White-capped Buntings, ‘vittata’ Pied Wheatear, Lammergeier, Grey-headed Goldfinch, Hume’s Lesser Short-toed […]
Pond visitors
Its nice sometimes to just stay at home in the backyard and see what birds turn up at my small reflection pool. On this occasion one of the Long Tailed Tits that visit the feeders came down briefly for a drink, as well as the more usual Collared Dove, Goldfinch, House Sparrows, Great Tit and […]
Bowland – Early Doors
At this time of the year with plenty of daylight I like to make early morning excursions into Bowland. Bowland’s lanes and backroads are very quiet and especially so early on a summers morning. I left home around 4am and before I had reached Longridge I came across two roe deer feeding close to the […]
Christmas in Norfolk
A nice cottage Christmas break in Norfolk over the last week saw me manage to eat and drink far too much encouraged by my daughter in law who’s currently eating for England. Birding was limited but I did manage to pull myself away for three main targets. Purple Sandpiper at Sheringham. Shore Larks at Holkham […]
Letters from Listeners: Odd Things Birds Eat
In the past few weeks, I’ve received a couple of letters from listeners about their backyard birds eating unusual items. Craig Magnuson of Forks, Washington, wrote that he’s seen Evening Grosbeaks, during several different summers, eating cold campfire charcoal shortly after dawn at the Lake Kachess campground in the Wenatchee National Forest. He noted that […]