onlyonebrenda

Sorry Tres first one here was heard on April 1st - and I'm not fooling
Do like your photo though.

treskillard

I'm off for a few days.
Have fun.
A nightingale.

LizB

What a great idea to discuss bird sightings and I enjoyed the link to the website with names in French and English..thanks for that!
So recently we have seen cirl buntings, fieldfares, a ringed ouzel(a first for me) and a stork.
But the one that's puzzling me is a small bird nearby which I see most days in the same area..it appears completely white to the naked eye. Have yet to view it with binoculars. What could it be?

Also what is everyone's favourite bird? I love those busy starlings, but for me its the robin every time. So lovely to watch...

val50

How small is small
Could it be a white egret - we get lots of them in Normandy.
My favourite bird, apart from the buzzards we get flying over the marshes here, are the swallows. I could watch them for hours.

LizB

Hi Val,
Well the white bird is only sparrow size I would say. Could it be an albino?

val50

Could be, although apparently they are extremely rare.
Was curious and did a search on Google

what about white wagtail or a bunting?

onlyonebrenda

My favourite bird is a wren. They are so tiny and sing their hearts out with the most glorious song. Have to say I'm stumped on a small white bird though.

treskillard

Hi Brenda, sound like an albino to me too unless it is an escapee (a British caged bird in search of peace and tranquility)...

onlyonebrenda

Reminds me of the day I went into Bristol to buy a washing machine and came back with a canary. I wrote a poem about it. It's true. Would I make a thing like that up.
Anyway I could do with some ornithological skills. Today I finally got out into the garden to do some gardening and to feel the sun on me. Wow! What a novelty!
I saw two birds, one looked like the bluetit family but was not one I had ever seen in England. It had a black head and black tail but was otherwise rather colourless and dull.
The other bird, slightly smaller than a sparrow, was inordinately interested in the pile of wood at the bottom of my garden. It was a warmish brown, with a cht, cht call and an insect eating beak. Its tail looked quite pinkish with the sun behind it and it and it was constantly moving it. Its front was buff and I'm guessing it was one of the warbler family.
The river runs at the end of my garden so they might both be waterside birds. Any ideas anyone?

Le Chant

Just found out that it's 'Le Festivale de l'Oiseau' until the 20th April up in Abbeville! Don't have a website link or anything, sorry!

Dazzo

Hey, don't really know too much about birds, but we have just bought a house in 8 acres of woodland and a duckpond with a few ducks but mainly geese. We have just bought a pompom duck which has such a great personality, we have 3 mallards, a redbeaked duck?? 4 grey and white geese, a white goose and 2 chinese swan geese.

We have a resident woodpecker and cuckoo very close to the house and although it makes for a pleasant change, the noise which if its not coming from one its coming from another gets a little tedious after a constant 15 hours a day! But hey, I'm not complaining, coming from the English seaside I would take this anyday over seagulls and pidgeons!!

onlyonebrenda

[QUOTE=Dazzo;6223939]Hey, don't really know too much about birds, but we have just bought a house in 8 acres of woodland and a duckpond with a few ducks but mainly geese. We have just bought a pompom duck which has such a great personality, we have 3 mallards, a redbeaked duck?? 4 grey and white geese, a white goose and 2 chinese swan geese.

If the red-beaked duck is rather large, irridescent black and white it could be a muscovy.

Dazzo

It is not that big at the moment, it was about 6 months old when we bought the place allthough it's mother was quite big and as you described untill a fox took her!

We did have more but the previous owners did not have the birds fenced in properly and by the time we got round to it we had already lost 3.

The mother went first and then her other 'chick' laid 19 eggs outside of the pond area, we did everything we could to protect her. but 2 weeks into her nesting a fox took her and all the eggs.

We also lost one of the chinese swan geese.

As soon as we had chance, we fenced them all in and built a little hut, we have recently found the female goose nesting in there on 10 geese eggs, so we should have more very soon.

onlyonebrenda

Sounds exciting. bit of a chore if you have to lock them all in at night, which you will to keep that pesky fox away. Have you come across the book 'rural Living in France'? Quite useful on livestock rearing.

Dazzo

I will look out for that, that could be very useful for us, thank you!

It's actually not that bad, The pond area is quite large so it is not like they are couped up, it is quite like a small nature reserve! We have a heron that sits by the side of the pond most days too!

Most of the birds fly, and during the day they are either wandering around the grounds and pecking at the back door for food or they stay round the pond, but always fly over the fencing back to the pond when we feed them in the evenings.

I have been researching geese and ducks and have found a place quite local, that sell a very large species of birds (Including peacocks!) and would like eventually to have a lovely collection of various birds. http://www.fermedespins.monsite.wanadoo.fr/

We have gites so this is such a lovely attraction, we have just built a bridge and created seating areas to just sit and watch the birds (and the fish - they are just as energetic!)... very very hypnotic! and a far cry from my 3 bed semi in Blackpool!!