Six crows trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish will be put to work next week at a French historical theme park, according to its president. “The goal is not just to clear up, because the visitors are generally careful to keep things clean” but also to show that “nature itself can teach us […]
Tag: Jackdaw

Winter Birds
We really don’t have too much snow down here on the Devon/Cornwall border, so a covering of the white stuff was a bit of a novelty on two separate weeks in March. I could have panicked and ran around with my long lens and end up photographing nothing at all or just stay in the […]

6 Fascinating Facts About the Misunderstood Magpie
Magpies are often maligned as pests, but they’re actually quite interesting birds that are usually overlooked for both their beauty and their intelligence. Here are six interesting facts about magpies. 1. Magpies Don’t Like Shiny Things — They’re Scared of Them Magpies have a reputation as thieves out to steal your shiny jewelry or take […]

Wildlife Licences: Can’t Shoot Robins, but Egyptian Geese are Game
Landowners wanting to be allowed to shoot robins, pied wagtails, starlings and other favourite birds seen eating their crops have been rebuffed by the government. But shooters will be able to legally kill or destroy the nests of Egyptian geese and trap and release protected birds like song thrushes, blue tits and dunnocks found foraging […]

Jackdaws protect their nests ‘with bright eyes’
Researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, tested whether the dark birds’ striking blue-white eyes help them to protect nest sites. They found that jackdaws avoided nest boxes when they could see the eyes of a jackdaw inside. Experts suggest this is the first evidence that bright eyes could act as signals in the bird […]

Migration across to Europe
It’s quite a long photo post this week and please scroll down and enjoy the views we’ve been having. I’ve been quite busy and wanted to write up more but I was out in the field most days and had lots of emails and other office work to do. Black-eared Wheatears continued to show up […]