Pigeons

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have a bird table in my back garden for attacting birds. Mostly it attacts pigeons, not that I mind particularly. Last Thursday, I arrived home to find the back garden covered in pigeon feathers -- big ones and all the downy ones. No sign of a carcus, but obviously one of the cats or a fox struck lucky.

Anyway, on to the point... What I have noticed is that since Thursday, there's not been any pigeons in my garden, nor can I see any for several garden's radius. There are normally always a few to be seen in the trees and rooftops. Even the two magpies which were around have vanished. Also, the food on the bird table which normally lasts only half a day hasn't been touched since then, so much so that spiders have built webs across the bird table openings which haven't been disturbed.

I guess I'm rather amazed that the birds were apparently so truamatised by the capure of one of them that they've left the area. I went round the lawn with the mower at the weekend, mainly to suck up all the feathers, but even now they're all gone, still no birds. This perhaps implies a higher level of awareness than I would have previous attributed to the birds.

[Rod]

Quite possibly a raptor (is that the right term?) - something like a hawk, falcon or similar bird of prey. Spectacular if you see a pigeon one minute and a light dusting of feathers the next.

[Keefiedee]

Perhaps a sparrow hawk has taken up residence nearby?

Keith

[The Natural Philosopher]

don't rule out owls and other birds of prey. Bit big for a kestrel, but a peregrine or tawny owl is a fair match.

Also don't rule out the bird simply dying..Ive fod dea piegons in prefect states of preservation in te wooods..just - died!

I suspect a lot of so called 'birds killed by cats' were actually carrion before the cat came anywhere near.

Our cats and dogs found a qsuirrel on the lawn..young. Looked like its back was broken. I surmised it had jumped and missed..

Pigeons are smart bastards.

Round here they fly away even if you point a stick at them.

Never mind a 410.

[Andy Hall]

It could be sight or could (more likely) be scent, although are the cats normally around in the garden?

Some birds are smarter than the credit given to them. Some are believed to be able to count to a small degree. So for example, when I go to a hide to take photographs, one trick is to have two people and the second one leaves. The less bright birds take this as a signal that all is clear - can't tell difference between one and two people. Smarter ones like crows and certainly raptors are not fooled by that.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for normality to return in your garden. Are the birds feeding all that much at the table anyway at this time of year? I tend to tail that off in the summer and let them tuck into other things such as a rowan treee which is laden with berries at the moment.

[Andy Hall]

That would explain the observed scenario. Sparrowhawks are quite plentiful in Berks, Bucks, Oxfordshire and Hampshire especially in areas surrounded by trees. I just missed photgraphing one on Saturday, but did make up for it by managing to find a Kingfisher at a nearby lake. That 500mm prime lens is becoming ever more tempting.

[Huge]

LOL. We get hundreds of the damn things in the garden. Except if I take my shotgun outside. Then, not a single one.

[Huge]

The greater spotted woodpeckers attacking the sides of the wooden feeders instead of the mesh fronts where the peanuts are, certainly aren't.

:o)

[Huge]

I have a 300mm in a Nikon DX (so, the equivalent of a 450mm in 35mm) and it isn't long enough for decent bird piccies. I'd go longer than 500mm. When I was still using 35mm film equipment I had a 1000mm catadioptric (aka "mirror lens") for bird piccies and I even used an optical doubler with it sometimes.

BTW, can anyone recommend a decent Nikon DX macro lens? I was taking piccies, or rather trying to, of cinnabar moth caterpillars at the weekend and I could do with one.

[Rod]

Clever birds are crows.

[Lobster]

I had a Pigeon Incident about half an hour ago, curiously enough. Was driving through town at about 10 mph when - as happens all the time - a pigeon waddled out into the road about 25 yards ahead of me. I don't usually make a habit of suddenly braking or changing course when a bird travels in front of my car as (a) there's a risk of another vehicle behind me running into the back of me and (b) 999 times out of 1000 the bird gets out of the way in time anyway.

Not this time though. TBH I can't ever even remember it happening before, but there was sickening 'splat' sound as Pidgie burst rather comprehensively under my nearside front wheel, followed by a scream from a passerby on the footpath holding her toddler by the hand. All rather unfortunate... But thinking about it afterwards, maybe it will make the kid think twice before running into the road in the future? "Squash a pigeon, save a child..."

David

[ARWadworth]

Perhaps a sparrow hawk has taken up residence nearby?

Keith

Not long ago a sparrowhawk grabbed a pigeon out of my parents garden at set of at full speed. It crashed straight through the garage window. Both birds survived. The garden is still full of birds though.

Adam

[Rod]

My most impressive bird demise, from my POV, was when a skein of ducks passed overhead. But not quite. One was just too low and hit the screen just in front of the rear view mirror. Very, very loud thump. They are quite heavy, solid birds and I was very glad it had not been a little lower and to the right. I was quite surprised that the windscreen took many months to crack much more.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Keefiedee writes

ISTR sparrow hawks can only lift off with de-feathered prey up to blackbird size.

Last week we had blood on the wall and a pile of feathers/intestines on the lawn and wondered. The stripped carcass of a collared dove was found

20 yards away and binned. Shortly after that a juvenile hen sparrow hawk turned up.

They tend to perch in tall trees overlooking a likely food source and are clever enough to use buildings and even moving vehicles as a way of approaching targets unseen.

regards

[Andy Hall]

I know. I was thinking about perhaps using the 300mm plus a 1.7 teleconverter with a DX. In principle that should be reasonable although not quite as good as a prime. This has the advantage of being somewhat less massive than the 500mm, both on weight and price.

There's 600mm from Nikon but it's a very large beast. I suppose

500mm with 1.4 could be an option. I'm currently using a DX format camera (D300) but am thinking about getting a D3.

Was this good? Mirror lenses seem to have fallen out of favour.

Do you specifically want a DX lens? I have the Nikon 105mm and that gives excellent macro results as well as being a respectable walking around short telephoto. They do do a 60mm as well, which is a little less expensive. However, on trying both, I preferred the 105 because of being able to be a bit further away and the VR capability which is useful on occasions e.g. hand held shots in low light.

Some form of support or clamp for the plant is a real help. One could improvise something, but I needed to send an order to Wimberley in the U.S. so it was easy to add their Plamp to this.

I've been doing quite a bit of macro work lately. Apart from the standard and obvious flowers and insects, there are plenty of other subjects such eyes of animals.

[Andy Hall]

No images. Either this doesn't work or they are going to publish something spectacular.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Reminds me of an incident when I was a child and family was on holiday in the Lake District. Driving along a country road, we thought we hit a pheasant that darted out of the verge at the wrong moment, although us kids in the back couldn't see where it went when we swung round and looked out the back window.

About half an hour later, we were stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of Cockermouth. A bloke steps off the pavement and pulls the pheasent out of the radiator grill where it was apparently dangling, trapped by its head. He took it home to cook.

[Andy Hall]

That's the irony. I'm given to understand that it's legal for him to do that but not you.

[chunkyoldcortina]

It's too Orangey for crows. It's just for me and my dog.

[Rod]

And fungi.

The problem I always have is sufficient light. I don't always want what flash (even multiple flashes) brings to the picture. A good diy topic - making a reasonably inexpensive, portable, lightweight-enough, non-flash lighting rig for macro/close-up work.