Brit Bird Watchers A’Twitter
It seems an American Robin has shown up in a garden in England. That is to say a Red-Breasted Thrush. (The birds we Americans know as "Robins" are not the same birds the English know by the same name). Speculation is that the wayward bird got caught in some nasty tailwinds and got sent to England.
"Up to 30 ornithologists, decked out in binoculars, cameras and anoraks, have descended on a residential street to catch a glimpse of the "turdus migratorius," a blackbird-size thrush with a reddish-brown underside".
I could arrange for a few more to make the trip. Two are trying real hard to nest right above my front door. I knock the start of the nest down, they build right back. (No it’s not cruel, these birds are messy and I don’t want bird droppings trampled into the place.)
It is only a matter of time until the Great English Robin Invasion is blamed on Bush.
After all, a bird in the hand…………
Weird Stuff | Gaius Tuesday, 28 March , 2006
By Black Jack, Wednesday, 29 March , 2006 @ 8:52 am
In California, we get the annual return of the swallows. They make a big deal out of it in San Juan Capistrano, but the little forked tail dynamos are everywhere. There are several varieties, Barn, Cliff, Tree, Bank, and one familiar to Easterners, the Purple Martin, by far the largest of the swallows.
Some swallows nest in pairs, but unfortunately for home owners and property managers, swallows are highly sociable and prefer to live in large colonies. The pesky birds build nests of clay or mud on open beams and rafters or under eaves. Each nest holds 5 to 8 eggs and the results are quite messy. On the positive side, they eat mosquitoes.
BTW, George W Bush has nothing to do with it, it’s all Richard Nixon’s fault.
By Gauis Arbo, Wednesday, 29 March , 2006 @ 10:43 am
We have some swifts that nest under our deck every year. They are busy little suckers, always hunting bugs - and buzzing the cats, which is really funny to watch.