Our Summer Visitors

Seth Brundle

I saw some swallows today around Lyons & Boston hills and also on the other side of the N7 on Slade hill.

Loyal Lady

feartuath wrote: »

Cuckoo has arrived.

Here too (Limerick). Made my (yester)day.

vistafinder

Grasshopper Warbler heard while out walking the dog late yesterday evening.

deadlybuzzman

I heard 1 very talkative cuckoo a few times yesterday by Lough Talt in Sligo

New Home

I heard my first swallow of the year yesterday. It have a feeling they might have been around before now, but I'm not sure the notes I heard last weekend were enough of a chattering to be certain it was them.

Curiousness99

Heard the cuckoo in the glencree valley in Wicklow earlier today, hopefully one will make it across the border into the Dublin hills over the next week or so; so I can hear it from the garden

TitianGerm

Anyone have any idea what this little fella is? He's been in our garden the last few days but never saw him before this year.

Tiercel Dave

TitianGerm wrote: »

Anyone have any idea what this little fella is? He's been in our garden the last few days but never saw him before this year.

Male Bullfinch.....

TitianGerm

Tiercel Dave wrote: »

Male Bullfinch.....

Thank you for that. We've had robins, thrushes, blackbirds and blue tits but that's the first bullfinch.

We do have a pheasant in the garden the odd day as he lives in the field beside us. There are two Buzzards nesting in the field as well.

Ish66

No Swifts spotted in Dublin yet. Over a week late ?

Birdnuts

Ish66 wrote: »

No Swifts spotted in Dublin yet. Over a week late ?

Not surprising really given how cold the last few weeks have been

Seth Brundle

Saw a good few swifts flying in the Phoenix Park this morning.
There's a couple now flying over Leixlip this evening.

Ish66

Its 8.30 Sunday evening in Clontarf. Ideal time, I will give it 20 mins on my steps outside, Normally ideal, Nah 30 mins, Nothing...
Update... Nothing.

Del.Monte

Swifts back in Enniscorthy in small numbers today - about a week later than last year.

Simon Gruber Says

Have a Corncrake in my field in Donegal. He's been going non-stop the past few nights. Neighbour keeps an ear out for them and reports them.

Birdnuts

Del.Monte wrote: »

Swifts back in Enniscorthy in small numbers today - about a week later than last year.

Parents said they arrived in North Kildare late last week - seem to be in similar number to last year

Pretzill

The swallows were quite late coming back to our shed - they are here about a week now and building a new nest - just like last year there are three - two female and one male and they seem to be all working together.

Bsal

Saw my first Swift of the season today near Swords.

Seth Brundle

Our swifts have decided to nest in our eaves again for a second year in a row (now that they managed to finally get the starlings out).
They are more vocal and you can hear their chirps and screeches during the night which is both lovely and a bit of a PITA. They didn't do that last year at all..
Still no interest from other swifts in the nestbox close to the hole in the eaves.

Silent Running

My Swallow chicks fledged yesterday. It's a very nervous time, with feral cats in the vicinity. The parent Swallows keep them at bay though. The cats are very nervous with the birds diving at them constantly. Local Magpies are getting attention too.

Curiousness99

I eventually heard the cuckoo from my house this morning, very late this year up the dublin hills

hirondelle

A pair of swallows have literally turned up in my shed today- are they in time to raise a brood?

Silent Running

hirondelle wrote: »

A pair of swallows have literally turned up in my shed today- are they in time to raise a brood?

Yeah, it's late for them to be nesting, but if they do they might get two broods out this year. Three broods is my normal, but they did four broods one year.

Spanish Eyes

Great thread.

I'm not well up on identifying birds but I love listening to them and following them as they swoop and move around. Am in suburban Dublin backing on to a park so get plenty of feathered visitors.

HOWEVER..... I've been severely deaf for many years, but recently got state of the art new generation hearing aids. OMG I can hear the grass growing now, and the birds. They are noisy feckers, but I never realised how loud they are until now. There's a gang of them that squalk and cheep and make an awful racket, so I remove the hearing aids until they move off. Then put them back in when I see the blackbird going into his territory near the shrubs and trees at the end of the garden. Such an absolutely beatiful song they have, great to be able to hear them now.

odyssey06

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I'm not well up on identifying birds but I love listening to them and following them as they swoop and move around. Am in suburban Dublin backing on to a park so get plenty of feathered visitors.

There's a free app called BirdNet which I have tried out while walking on Bull Island... it identified a meadow pipit and skylark.

You can record the bird song snippet and then hit analyze, result in a few seconds.

x567

Saw a female Whitethroat in the hedgerow yesterday - a new one for me...

NIMAN

A small bird (sorry unsure what It was) about the size of the palm of your hand or smaller, hit our window hard today.

Went out and it was lying on the ground, and a few little grey feathers were still blowing about.

I watched it for maybe half an hour, it was obviously very badly stunned, as it staggered around and tipped back and forth, often only it's beak hitting the ground stopped it from falling over. It then didn't move for about 10min and I assumed it had died.

Moved a flat spade beside it to move it on to it as gently as I could, and it opened its eyes. I moved it out of the open and on to a covered rockery area to give it some protection in case it was unable to fly away.

Went out another hour later and it's gone. Had a good look around in case it had walked off, no sign. So either it got it's senses back and flew away, or else some predator got it?

Hopefully the former.

I assume hitting a window can do serious damage to a bird?

New Home

Yes, hitting a window can do some serious damage. The bird could have flown away, though, sometimes it takes them hours to recover. I once found a badly stunned blackbird in a train station early one morning, I rang a rescue place and they told me to keep him in a box (with holes for air), by lunchtime he was only beginning to stand and open his wings, but he was way to dizzy to be set free. The rescue place told me they would keep him in an aviary for observation; he was already much better by that evening, but the next day he was so well they released it again. He was lucky, but I was told he wasn't a unique case.

NIMAN

Kids already had plans in place to put him in the garage overnight for protection.

But hopefully he recovered enough to fly off.

New Home

Just playing the devil's advocate, could he have hopped off and have hidden somewhere? It could be a bit cold and wet for him outdoors tonight if he hasn't fully recovered.

NIMAN

New Home wrote: »

Just playing the devil's advocate, could he have hopped off and have hidden somewhere? It could be a bit cold and wet for him outdoors tonight if he hasn't fully recovered.

I had a good look around the area, it's quite thick with shrubs and bushes, and I couldn't see him.

But then again he was quite a dark drown, and he could easily be in the undergrowth and hidden.

Will get another look tomorrow.

Silent Running

Ohhh... In a way, I hate this time of year.

I live in a house with big corner windows and every year at this time the newly fledged chicks are at risk of blundering into the glass. Because the glass is 3 layers thick a lot of them see it in time to swerve and just bounce off the glass and fly away. I can tell by the "thunk" at this stage whether help is needed or not. Blackbird chicks are by far the worst. I've never had a Swallow strike the glass, although one did come into the room to visit us one day and needed help finding the exit.

I have a small box lined with soft material and a small water bowl glued into a corner. If a bird is stunned, I pick it up and put it in, then it goes high where the feral cats can't get to it. Normally it flies off after an hour or so. If it has an obvious wing break I'll take to the vet. Sadly, sometimes there's no saving them.

I know that picking them up will stress them out, but it'll certainly be stressed a bit more if the feral cat gets to it first!

The good news is that I save many, many more than I lose.

Silent Running

NIMAN wrote: »

Kids already had plans in place to put him in the garage overnight for protection.

But hopefully he recovered enough to fly off.

The likelihood is that it was stunned and recovered, flying off.

If you plan to keep a bird overnight to recover, make sure it can fly away if it chooses to. A closed garage might not be the best option.

odyssey06

Silent Running wrote: »

Ohhh... In a way, I hate this time of year.
I live in a house with big corner windows and every year at this time the newly fledged chicks are at risk of blundering into the glass. Because the glass is 3 layers thick a lot of them see it in time to swerve and just bounce off the glass and fly away. I can tell by the "thunk" at this stage whether help is needed or not. Blackbird chicks are by far the worst. I've never had a Swallow strike the glass, although one did come into the room to visit us one day and needed help finding the exit.

I have a small box lined with soft material and a small water bowl glued into a corner. If a bird is stunned, I pick it up and put it in, then it goes high where the feral cats can't get to it. Normally it flies off after an hour or so. If it has an obvious wing break I'll take to the vet. Sadly, sometimes there's no saving them.
I know that picking them up will stress them out, but it'll certainly be stressed a bit more if the feral cat gets to it first!
The good news is that I save many, many more than I lose.

Could you put something on the window that would steer the birds away without wrecking the glass?

Silent Running

odyssey06 wrote: »

Could you put something on the window that would steer the birds away without wrecking the glass?

I would have to poke my wife's eyes out first. That's probably not an option.

She loves the big corner windows and the view they provide.

Yester

We have very aggressive swallows this year. I know they get defensive when their chicks hatch but this lot have been on the attack since they arrived. Never seen them behave like this before. We can't even step outside the door without being constantly dive bombed and tweeted at. It was funny for a while but they are starting to piss me off at this stage.

Seth Brundle

That's odd Yester.
The swifts in our attic have gone very quiet compared to a week ago. They're there alright as you hear the odd movement or call but I've not seen them coming or going.

Silent Running

Seth Brundle wrote: »

That's odd Yester.
The swifts in our attic have gone very quiet compared to a week ago. They're there alright as you hear the odd movement or call but I've not seen them coming or going.

They're probably afraid to go out in case they meet Yester's swallows.

I find that the swallows are a little softer this year. They usually give the magpies a hard time and see them off the premises. This year, the magpies are being given a free run of the area.

Yester

Silent Running wrote: »

They're probably afraid to go out in case they meet Yester's swallows.

I find that the swallows are a little softer this year. They usually give the magpies a hard time and see them off the premises. This year, the magpies are being given a free run of the area.

Wanna swap?

NIMAN

Had another bird strike today.
This one was a fatality. Instant by the look of it.

Strange that I have never had it before, now 2 in 2 weeks.

Mimon

Silent Running wrote: »

I would have to poke my wife's eyes out first. That's probably not an option.

She loves the big corner windows and the view they provide.

Can put those bird of prey stickers on that are small but may help keep birds away.

Bsal

Every year for that past few years I get a Chiffchaff in the garden around the end of August, spotted one in the olive tree this evening!