Fetch Birdwatchers
165 watchers
Aug 2019
7:35pm, 4 Aug 2019
2,147 posts
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J2R
Just returned from a trip to North Macedonia which was, I have to say, somewhat disappointing, or perhaps, rather, frustrating, from a birding point of view. I actually got a pretty decent haul of birds, but it's an area with loads of species which are rare or non-existent in Britain so I was hoping for far more. It was odd, as I was finding myself in terrain where I expected all kinds of birds - mixed scrub on the edge of woodland, for example - but where it was as if they had all been gassed or something! I tried to find a vulture feeding station I'd read about at a place called Vitachevo, but extensive Googling didn't reveal a location for the place until it was too late, I was already moving away from the area. And at Lake Ohrid, where I was promised a bounty of all kinds of interesting water birds such as Dalmatian pelicans, and birds of the margins, I saw very little - some distant pelicans, and a fair few pygmy cormorants. The other frustrating thing was that I saw quite a few interesting-looking birds which I was unable to identify because I couldn't get a good enough view of them (for example, some grey birds the size and shape of mistle thrushes on a high mountain side, which may, of course, have been mistle thrushes but behaviour and location didn't seem right). Anyway, enough whining! I did see some interesting species. Lovely views of bee-eaters; frequent calling and one glorious sighting of golden oriole; flocks of tree sparrows in many places; within 10 minutes at the amazing ruins at Stobi, my first ever great grey shrike, first ever definite black-eared wheatear, black woodpecker and the aforementioned oriole; lots of storks; willow tits; regular wheatears; alpine accentor; crag martins; little grebes; a little flock of quail we accidentally flushed on the mountainside; spotted flycatcher. I am sure that a couple of raptors we saw were small eagles of some kind, and we saw a large hawk a couple of times we couldn't identify. Interesting country to visit, with lots of wild mountain landscape, and dirt cheap to boot. |
Aug 2019
10:01pm, 4 Aug 2019
5,287 posts
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Northern Exile
bbc.co.uk
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Aug 2019
10:03pm, 4 Aug 2019
13,220 posts
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Rosehip
^ 
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Aug 2019
10:31pm, 4 Aug 2019
17,705 posts
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KinkyS
A lone swift in Keswick today...
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Aug 2019
11:17pm, 4 Aug 2019
468 posts
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C-Cat
Green finches on feeders at mums house this afternoon. Not something I have ever seen when watching the feeders at my house.
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Aug 2019
5:27pm, 7 Aug 2019
9,985 posts
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NDWDave
A few house martins for company in Croatia this week |
Aug 2019
5:52pm, 7 Aug 2019
33,387 posts
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Derby Tup
No swift seen now for two days
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Aug 2019
6:00pm, 7 Aug 2019
40,459 posts
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alpenrose
I went to Poole Park this morning and was very surprised how few birds there were there then I found out that they had the lake drained most of the winter until about April. Hope they come back again over the next winter - Canada geese can stay away if they want.
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Aug 2019
6:09pm, 7 Aug 2019
33,390 posts
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Derby Tup
I’m off out fellrunning this evening with the club. Target species SEO 
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Aug 2019
6:51pm, 7 Aug 2019
1,143 posts
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um
First time I've seen a nuthatch* at the garden feeder. *and if not a nuthatch, please feel free to crrect me ! |
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