A pair of Goldeneyes

 

A pair of Goldeneyes

Read more about these handsome waterfowl in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: A pair of Goldeneyes

Egyptian goose

 Egyptian goose

Read more about this locally rare waterfowl in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: An Egyptian goose comes to town

Little egrets

 

Little egrets

Read more about these beautiful little birds that are becoming much more common these days in Britain in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: More herons at the lake

A Common tern up close

 

A Common tern up close

Read more about this stunning bird in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: A Common tern up close. There's even a video with this one.

Smart Magpies

 

Smart Magpies

Read more about these very intelligent birds in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: Smart Magpies

Grebe vs eel

 

Grebe vs eel

Read more about this tussle between a Great crested grebe and an eel, and find out who won the battle, in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: Grebe vs eel

Starlings and bee-flies

 

Starlings and bee-flies

Read more about Starlings and bee-flies in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: Starlings and bee-flies

Rook pair-bonding behaviour

 

Rook pair-bonding behaviour

Read more about Rook behaviour, and see a bonus video, in my daily nature posts on earthstar.blog: Rook pair-bonding behaviour

Marsh tit

 

Marsh tit

Read more about this rare bird in my daily nature posts on earthstar.blog: Marsh tit Monday

British birds: A jay’s search for food

Though a shy bird by nature, the Eurasian Jay’s colouring is anything but. With a vivid blue patch on its wings, a body of dusky pink, pretty little black-and-white stripes atop its head and what looks remarkably like a black moustache, this bird is chic. No surprise then that ‘jay’ was once used, sneeringly, to describe a flashy dresser.

Like most members of the crow family, the jay (Garrulus glandarius) can be loud and noisy, and an excellent mimic. As well as copying other birds, they’ve been known to imitate the sounds of cats, dogs and even telephones. Some of their actions even mimic squirrels – they bury large quantities of acorns and show incredible skill at remembering where they’ve buried their hordes.

This afternoon I spent the most delightful 10 minutes watching this one particular jay search for food. Most thoroughly, it picked up leaves in its beak, then flung them to one side or the other out of the way. It then turned its head first to one side then the other to see if it had unearthed anything interesting. The bird was so engrossed in what it was doing that it hadn’t noticed me and my camera standing on the path directly in front of it and came walking directly towards me.

And, finally, success! I’m not sure what it found – it looked, perhaps, like some kind of seed – but the triumphant jay gulped it down whole and then looked directly at me with such a smug look on its face, before flying off, no doubt to repeat the same process all over again.

This is why I watch birds! 

The eagles have landed

In 1782 the American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) became the official bird emblem of the United States because of its majestic beauty, great strength, long life, and because it's native to North America. It appears on the Great Seal of the United States, is stamped on the reverse of several American coins, and its image can be found in a multitude of locations, situations and media throughout the United States.

I’m a passionate birder so you can, no doubt, imagine my delight that I got to see Bald Eagles on my very first day in the USA. 

My friend Trudey had been following these eagles right from the time the three eaglets were born, about a week apart, back in March, and had shared some fantastic eaglet photos on Facebook so I was hoping I would be lucky enough to see them when I arrived. The birds had fledged, in stages, about two weeks prior to my arrival, so were no longer on the nest but were still spending most of their time in the immediate vicinity of the nest, in a park alongside the Fox River near Green Bay, Wisconsin.

We visited the park several times during the first few days of my visit so I was fortunate to get photographs of the three fledglings in various places and poses. I only saw one of the adult birds and that one only once, but I did get a closer look at two adult Bald Eagles being cared for at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary near Green Bay.

Bald Eagles are fascinating birds but rather than repeat all their cool facts and figures here, I’ll let you read them for yourself on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

I feel very privileged to have spent several hours watching these magnificent creatures and I hope you enjoy looking at these few of the hundreds of photographs I took of them.