What's buzzing or flying near you 2025 ?

Spotted Flycatcher.

 

On holiday in a very stormy North Wales at the moment. But the thing about storms during autumn migration is they can bring in special birds. I found this Grey Phalarope the other day and shortly afterwards I found a juvenile Sabine's Gull. Both birds breed in the high Arctic and seldom (if ever) encounter humans so they're extremely confiding.






Sabine's Gull (taken with OH's phone) showing diagnostic upper wing pattern

 

Ooooh, give us a wave @LunarSea

 

No picture, but still a hummingbird at my vine. thought it would be gone south by now. Put out a fresh feeder.

 

This is a Brown Thrasher, an elusive bird that people seldom see. I waited almost twenty minutes for this one to come out from behind some reeds.

"The Brown Thrasher is considered a short-distance migrant, but two individuals have been recorded in Europe: one in England and another in Germany.

• An aggressive defender of its nest, the Brown Thrasher is known to strike people and dogs hard enough to draw blood.

• Brown Thrashers are accomplished songsters that may sing more than 1,100 different song types and include imitations of other birds, including Chuck-will’s-widows, Wood Thrushes, and Northern Flickers."

 

The geese are on the move here a little later than last year. I checked my post in 2024's thread and they had started to migrate on 11th September.

 

There was quite a chill in the air around sunset, so much so that I wore a light jacket. This Tufted Titmouse was also feeling the chill as it sat, mesmerized by the setting sun. I had to wonder what was going on in its tiny brain, was it capable of appreciating the beauty of the sunset? I don't think we know as much about nature as we think we do.

 

On the move, is that in coming or out going.

 

I can't be certain @pete. One lot were heading north east, the others south east, within a few hours of each other. @strongylodon may be able to give us a clue. We have more than one species of geese here too.

 

Haven’t seen any small birds( ie blackbirds, sparrows, robins, starling) for weeks. The neighbourhood has been invaded with collared Doves ( large pigeons to me): pigeons and white doves that all decided to rest and a spend a lot of time on the rooftops nearby. I am not a fan of them.

 

I still have some pigeons coming round but no where near as many as I did when I was just putting food on a bird table and some on the ground.
I now only use sun flower hearts and fat balls, the seed is all in feeders so that the pigeons only get to clear up the bits other birds drop.

 

Collared doves are much smaller than wood pigeons @Songbird . I'm delighted we have more of them this year. The breeding season has been very successful for many birds here due to the weather.
The white ones will be domesticated ones [ie formerly from a dovecot somewhere] or ones which have bred with others - feral pigeons sometimes.
My little youngster has gone. I think he's got out of the garden and has therefore been killed. Probably by one of the umpteen 'pets' round here.
His Mum was looking very lost yesterday. I knew there was nothing else I could do if he could fly enough to get up on the fence, and then get outside, but not be flying well enough to get away from any predators. I could only 'help' while he was staying in the garden itself. Nature's tough eh?

 

@Ladybird, yes you’re right about the collared doves. I should know that as two nested in next doors garden last year and their offspring played around on top of one of our clematis. I’m getting mixed up. Maybe wood pigeons but big ones!

 

We have plenty of collared doves around these parts. In the winter I keep two ground feeders covered over so that they can't get in and leave one open for them and the corvids.