There seems to be quite a few people banging on about a superb owl appearing in Santa Clara California tonight. I wonder if our resident ornithologist Col is aware of it. It must be some kind of wildlife spectacular because they're also mentioning that panthers and bronco's will be seen in the vicinity too.
According to the BBC 'spangly pop super vixen Beyoncé and beige British glum rockers Coldplay' are amongst the twitchers out in force in Santa Clara.
I wish the superb owl had swooped down and carried off Lady GA GA during her painful rendition of Star Spangled banner.
I switched on my Gogglebox to see what all the fuss about this superb owl was all about and my glass eye fell to sleep! Zzzzzzzz
Any truth to the rumour that Gwyneth left Chris Martin because she was fed up with his constant whining?
I've seen many more Barn Owls this winter.................which is good news, as they're in real decline.
We had a Hobby hunting in the garden over the summer, Col. Amazing sight, it was taking dragonflies at over the tops of the trees and eating them midflight. The speed and acrobatics were a wonder to behold. Came at dusk, stayed for about 45 minutes
Wow! That's quite unusual to see them over a domestic garden. They are superb flyers, hunting down large insects and also acrobatic enough to take swallows in flight too. Arguably the most handsome of all birds of prey.
The garden here is surrounded by fields, there are a lot of trees and there's a valley with a stream and ponds down it, from which lots of dragonflies and damselflies emerge. I've never seen a Hobby before and at first, such was the speed of the bird, I thought it was a peregrine. Peregrine's roost down the road at Chichester. But the fact that this bird was feeding on insects and the manner of flight - long sweeping runs and then turning on a sixpence, as a opposed to a stoop from height, helped me to identify it. It's clearly greatly a feared hawk. While it carried out it's hunting foray, every bird in the garden took cover including the magpies!
Fantastic to watch aren't they? They're often spotted above marshes and fields. Very often, if you notice that all the birds have "****ed off" very quickly, have a scan around as there is quite likely to be a bird of prey in the area. The other birds will spot it long before you do! I think the only bird of prey I've watched live that was more spectacular was indeed a Peregrine. I'm still waiting to see a Goshawk hunting through a forest, which would be truly spectacular, as they weave around the trees at incredible speed. I've only seen them roosting or soaring above the trees in Spring. You probably get to see quite a variety of birds of prey the way your garden is situated? Marsh Harriers may well like it there. They are stunning too, with a 3-4' wingspan.
I have only ever seen one unusual bird of prey down here before - obviously, we get a good deal of buzzards and sparrowhawks, kestrels (but not as many of these as 10 years ago) and occasionally a red kite, which seem to be making their way south gradually, and barn owls, tawny and little owls though rarely during the day. I saw the unusual bird about 12 years ago. It was June 16, I can be sure because it was the start of the coarse fishing season. I belonged to a club that had a small lake of about 3 acres a couple of miles from here. It's full of stocked carp. It's remote and difficult to get to - down unmade up tracks and then a farm track in a spiral downwards to the pond at the base. No one lives around there. I got up early and arrived about 6am. There were a couple of anglers at the other end of the lake. I'd caught a carp of around the 5-6lb mark when I heard a noise above me - a ripping sound - the best way I can describe it is like the canvass of a sail on a yacht when it catches the wind. I looked up, and there a huge black and white bird trying to take a pigeon. The sound was the air on its wings. It made the pigeon look small. The pigeon jinked and the bird of prey flew over me empty handed, wings set back in flight. An osprey. I assume it had spent some time at the lake in spring feeding. Ideal, due to the fact that there was a great source of food and no one would have gone anywhere near the lake because it's so inaccessible. I spoke to our local bird man and he said osprey's were seen in the area occasionally. He thought it would be on its way north. I think on that day, the osprey was too shy to fish with the anglers there, got hungry and tried for a pigeon instead!
Wonderful! I've watched visiting Ospreys take fish from a lake, turn them in their talons to make them more aerodynamic and take them to a high perch to eat. Very unusual for them to go for a bird and I'm not surprised that it failed to catch a pigeon.
