Jackdaw Coloeus monedula
Variously known as Jack; Daw; Caddaw; Caddy/Caddy (from Norfolk, so clearly correct); Cardaw. In Scotland was called Kae; Ka or Ka wattie and in Holland as Kauw. As with many birds in the UK it is associated with rain (yes it rains a lot here, so good chances of that one working out). In Wells it was said " whenever a jackdaw has been seen on one of the vanes of the cathedral tower we shall have rain within twenty-four hours", and in Norwich there is a rhyme
" When three daws are seen on St. Peters vane together,
Then we're sure to have bad weather "
Apparently, seeing just one alone was back luck, and a flight of Jackdaws down the chimney was thought to portend death of one of the inmates of the house (and a sh..load of soot on the floor I imagine). They do have something of a reputation when it comes to nesting on top of chimneys, I assume they just enjoy the warmth, certainly I watched local birds competing to perch on the rim of an 'active' chimney-pot.
Well, all that aside they are an intelligent, active, gregarious, and noisy species, always seeming to have something to say to each other, perhaps it's "why do you always stink of bloody smoke?" I like them, a lot. We have a large roost (colony) in trees close by, and I find their constant chatting cheerful beyond measure. The collective noun for a group is apparently a 'clattering', I'd prefer a 'chattering', but I don't get to decide such things.
" When three daws are seen on St. Peters vane together,
Then we're sure to have bad weather "
Apparently, seeing just one alone was back luck, and a flight of Jackdaws down the chimney was thought to portend death of one of the inmates of the house (and a sh..load of soot on the floor I imagine). They do have something of a reputation when it comes to nesting on top of chimneys, I assume they just enjoy the warmth, certainly I watched local birds competing to perch on the rim of an 'active' chimney-pot.
Well, all that aside they are an intelligent, active, gregarious, and noisy species, always seeming to have something to say to each other, perhaps it's "why do you always stink of bloody smoke?" I like them, a lot. We have a large roost (colony) in trees close by, and I find their constant chatting cheerful beyond measure. The collective noun for a group is apparently a 'clattering', I'd prefer a 'chattering', but I don't get to decide such things.
ol' blue eyes
ok, that isn't right really, because only the juveniles have blue eyes, they fade to white with age.
I could watch these active birds for hours, their upright stance when walking giving them an intelligent and confident 'air'. They can be hard to approach close tho' to get a nice picture, sitting quietly in the sun and waiting is the best way.
I could watch these active birds for hours, their upright stance when walking giving them an intelligent and confident 'air'. They can be hard to approach close tho' to get a nice picture, sitting quietly in the sun and waiting is the best way.
prettier
a somewhat prettier picture I think, showing how the same bird, at almost the same place and time, can make a very different picture. The poor bokeh of the RF100-500mm, that spoils the picture above, is mitigated here by a low camera angle that fortuitously combines with gentle undulations in the surface of the heath to recreate the narrow focus zone typical of much wider aperture lenses. A lot nicer than the image above.
this is the same bird as above but the different sun-angle here also shows the silver-grey nape typical of this species. This is, I suspect, a bird 'born' the year before, It's still got blue eyes (characteristic of juveniles) but the grey nape (characteristic of adults) is becoming apparent.
this is the same bird as above but the different sun-angle here also shows the silver-grey nape typical of this species. This is, I suspect, a bird 'born' the year before, It's still got blue eyes (characteristic of juveniles) but the grey nape (characteristic of adults) is becoming apparent.
Carrion crow Corvus corone
I am sure their ubiquity and lack of colour means most folk turn a blind eye these bold, sleek and intelligent birds. Sure they are less noisy and gregarious than Jackdaws and Rooks but I find it's still worth stopping for a few minutes to watch one or two patrolling around a field looking for food. Somehow you can see an intelligent purpose in their walk and poise, well I can, perhaps I'm odd.
As with Carrion Crow many of this bird's earlier names relate to its habit of scavenging the flesh of dead animals, hence: Car crow, Carner or Carener crow, Flesh crow, Midden craw and Gor, Ger and Ket crow. The Latin name for crow gave us Corbie crow, Corbie and Craw.
Black-nebb'd craw and Black neb unsurprisingly comes from its colour, with its call giving us Hoddy, Huddy craw, Dob and Bran.
As for rhymes and songs I have to prefer this one from Suffolk
" There was an old Crow
Sat upon a clod:
There's an end of my song
That's odd "
Funny buggers those East Anglians.
Swainson (1885) notes that superstitions regarding Carrion Crows always paint the bird in the worst and sinister way, representing death or night or winter. In Hungary it was called the 'bird of death', its cawing also portended evil and the sight of one to the left of the viewer was fraught with ill results. In German Switzerland a crow perching on the roof of a house in which lay a corpse was a sign that the soul was irrevocably lost while in Sussex it was said that its cry, thrice repeated was a sure token of death.
Well, that's all cheerful stuff, but I still like them!
I am sure their ubiquity and lack of colour means most folk turn a blind eye these bold, sleek and intelligent birds. Sure they are less noisy and gregarious than Jackdaws and Rooks but I find it's still worth stopping for a few minutes to watch one or two patrolling around a field looking for food. Somehow you can see an intelligent purpose in their walk and poise, well I can, perhaps I'm odd.
As with Carrion Crow many of this bird's earlier names relate to its habit of scavenging the flesh of dead animals, hence: Car crow, Carner or Carener crow, Flesh crow, Midden craw and Gor, Ger and Ket crow. The Latin name for crow gave us Corbie crow, Corbie and Craw.
Black-nebb'd craw and Black neb unsurprisingly comes from its colour, with its call giving us Hoddy, Huddy craw, Dob and Bran.
As for rhymes and songs I have to prefer this one from Suffolk
" There was an old Crow
Sat upon a clod:
There's an end of my song
That's odd "
Funny buggers those East Anglians.
Swainson (1885) notes that superstitions regarding Carrion Crows always paint the bird in the worst and sinister way, representing death or night or winter. In Hungary it was called the 'bird of death', its cawing also portended evil and the sight of one to the left of the viewer was fraught with ill results. In German Switzerland a crow perching on the roof of a house in which lay a corpse was a sign that the soul was irrevocably lost while in Sussex it was said that its cry, thrice repeated was a sure token of death.
Well, that's all cheerful stuff, but I still like them!
frosty morning
December, -4o C, Stirling University campus, pre-dawn.
In search of a few duck to photograph in the early frosty light on a sharp cold morning I came across this rather dejected-looking Crow. I couldn't work out what he was doing, indeed I still don't know. He's nibbling at the frost, mebbe simply after some water perhaps, and everywhere is frozen. The light was too poor for a decent picture, but here it is anyway. And that really is frost on his back and wings.
In search of a few duck to photograph in the early frosty light on a sharp cold morning I came across this rather dejected-looking Crow. I couldn't work out what he was doing, indeed I still don't know. He's nibbling at the frost, mebbe simply after some water perhaps, and everywhere is frozen. The light was too poor for a decent picture, but here it is anyway. And that really is frost on his back and wings.
we all like to be beside the seaside ........
I've always been intrigued by seeing corvids on the coast, somehow they just look 'wrong'. Please don't ask me why, it's just a thing.
Can I presage this story with a single interesting little fact. Sand and saltwater utterly destroy cameras and lenses. So let's just say I get nervous even thinking about taking pictures down on the beach. Well it's a sunny sunny day and I have to confront this issue, so I decide to take a trip out to a quiet beach in search of a few seabirds.
The first bird I see is this sweet little chap, he's slowly promenading along the beach, looking cool, occasionally stopping to turn over a piece of algae, or inspect other odd 'bits', washed up by the tide. Key thing is he's slowly walking toward me. If ever there was an opportunity to stare my fears in the eye this is it. Well I lower my rucksack to the sand, lay the camera on top, then I join them, laying prostrate in wet, wet sand, lovely.
I follow him through the viewfinder as he draws closer, he seems totally oblivious of me, and very relaxed. He's at the seaside, who doesn't relax at the seaside? As he walks past I snap a few, light isn't prefect but if I waited for perfect light I'd never push the button.
Can I presage this story with a single interesting little fact. Sand and saltwater utterly destroy cameras and lenses. So let's just say I get nervous even thinking about taking pictures down on the beach. Well it's a sunny sunny day and I have to confront this issue, so I decide to take a trip out to a quiet beach in search of a few seabirds.
The first bird I see is this sweet little chap, he's slowly promenading along the beach, looking cool, occasionally stopping to turn over a piece of algae, or inspect other odd 'bits', washed up by the tide. Key thing is he's slowly walking toward me. If ever there was an opportunity to stare my fears in the eye this is it. Well I lower my rucksack to the sand, lay the camera on top, then I join them, laying prostrate in wet, wet sand, lovely.
I follow him through the viewfinder as he draws closer, he seems totally oblivious of me, and very relaxed. He's at the seaside, who doesn't relax at the seaside? As he walks past I snap a few, light isn't prefect but if I waited for perfect light I'd never push the button.
beside the seaside II
Is that it? Not quite. As I watched him walking the wet sand, recently exposed by the retreating tide, I noticed a couple of people walking toward me, but much higher up the beach. They were too far away to disturb my friendly corvid and I thought no more about them.
After a while I began to hear their voices, getting louder as time passed, but then they stopped walking about 50m away, and stared at me. I had a bird to photograph so I ignored them. After a few minutes I was all done, I rolled over and sat up, they were still there. As I moved they started walking away.
So why were they staring at me? Was it because they were genuinely interesed in a man photographing a bird, or perhaps they wanted to see me destroy thousands of pounds worth of gear. Well, as I replayed their actions I became totally convinced they thought I was a washed-up victim of drowning. I had been laying still at the water's edge for over 20 mins, long before they came down to the beach, and all they had seen was someone and a rucksack laying completely motionless at the water's edge, for a long time. The things I do. Whoever you are, if I alarmed you, I apologise
After a while I began to hear their voices, getting louder as time passed, but then they stopped walking about 50m away, and stared at me. I had a bird to photograph so I ignored them. After a few minutes I was all done, I rolled over and sat up, they were still there. As I moved they started walking away.
So why were they staring at me? Was it because they were genuinely interesed in a man photographing a bird, or perhaps they wanted to see me destroy thousands of pounds worth of gear. Well, as I replayed their actions I became totally convinced they thought I was a washed-up victim of drowning. I had been laying still at the water's edge for over 20 mins, long before they came down to the beach, and all they had seen was someone and a rucksack laying completely motionless at the water's edge, for a long time. The things I do. Whoever you are, if I alarmed you, I apologise
Hooded crow Coloeus cornix
Everything I said about the crow, but now with another colour! Has been called Hoodie (still is by me) together with Hoddie, Dun, Grey-backed and Grey crow: all obviously from its plumage. Local names included: Royston crow and Royston cick, Kentish crow; Market Jew crow, Scremerston crow, Cawdy mawdy, Corbie, Craa, Scald crow, Praheen cark and Bunting crow.
As it was supposed that numbers of hooded crows found on the English coast in winter came from abroad, they have also been given the name Norway crow, Danish crow and Harry Dutchmen. In Norfolk they were known as Northern crows, heck 'The North' was more than foreign enough those folk.
The only 'song' that Swainson (1885) notes is from Moray. Before fully and truly enjoying this ditty we need to know 1: Gule is a local name for a voracious weed that reduced corn crops (prob. Corn marigold) 2: Gordon's were (are) a Scottish clan known for destructive raids. Right, now we are up to date with all that, I give you:
" The gule, the Gordon and the Hoddie craw
are the three warst things things that Moray ever saw "
Absent from much of the UK they are generally distributed at the northern end. Locally here in Strathnairn Hoodies appear to have become more frequent in the past few years. That's all for the good as far as I'm concerned.
Everything I said about the crow, but now with another colour! Has been called Hoodie (still is by me) together with Hoddie, Dun, Grey-backed and Grey crow: all obviously from its plumage. Local names included: Royston crow and Royston cick, Kentish crow; Market Jew crow, Scremerston crow, Cawdy mawdy, Corbie, Craa, Scald crow, Praheen cark and Bunting crow.
As it was supposed that numbers of hooded crows found on the English coast in winter came from abroad, they have also been given the name Norway crow, Danish crow and Harry Dutchmen. In Norfolk they were known as Northern crows, heck 'The North' was more than foreign enough those folk.
The only 'song' that Swainson (1885) notes is from Moray. Before fully and truly enjoying this ditty we need to know 1: Gule is a local name for a voracious weed that reduced corn crops (prob. Corn marigold) 2: Gordon's were (are) a Scottish clan known for destructive raids. Right, now we are up to date with all that, I give you:
" The gule, the Gordon and the Hoddie craw
are the three warst things things that Moray ever saw "
Absent from much of the UK they are generally distributed at the northern end. Locally here in Strathnairn Hoodies appear to have become more frequent in the past few years. That's all for the good as far as I'm concerned.
dawn light
one of the very few joys of getting your car serviced is it makes me get up early for a change meaning I can be out and ready for dawn over the Moray firth!
This chap was sitting enjoying the first warming rays of a cold December dawn when I saw him way off. Sadly he was safe inside a secured local highways authority compound and I couldn't get any closer than this. So sadly it aint the best picture of a Hooded crow, but right now it's the best I have ! It does capture the moment tho' I think.
Well at least he was getting warm, I was ........ cold, and I'd forgotten my gloves, idiot.
This chap was sitting enjoying the first warming rays of a cold December dawn when I saw him way off. Sadly he was safe inside a secured local highways authority compound and I couldn't get any closer than this. So sadly it aint the best picture of a Hooded crow, but right now it's the best I have ! It does capture the moment tho' I think.
Well at least he was getting warm, I was ........ cold, and I'd forgotten my gloves, idiot.
Iberian Magpie Cyanopica cooki
Currently I cannot find any literature on either vernacular names or mythology of Iberian birds so, regrettably, cannot regale (bore) you with interesting facts and bon mots on this Iberian magpie. If such things exist I have not found them. I still look.
So without further ado, here's a picture!
Currently I cannot find any literature on either vernacular names or mythology of Iberian birds so, regrettably, cannot regale (bore) you with interesting facts and bon mots on this Iberian magpie. If such things exist I have not found them. I still look.
So without further ado, here's a picture!
Iberian breakfast
I have to admit that I rarely sit out on a balcony and have breakfast before sunrise. For some reason the scottish highland weather isn't that conducive to such things, and yeah I don't have a balcony.
But in southern Portugal apparently you can do this sort of thing, in November too! Coffee to the sounds of birds waking up. Excellent.
A small group of Iberian magpies were amongst these, I confess it was a while (and coffee - that wine was nice last night) before I thought to get the camera. When I did, of course they didn't make it easy, perching behind power lines or miles away. The best I could do was against the ever-brightening sky and it's not great.
Still right now it's the only pretty Corvid I have so it will remain till I get back to the Iberian peninsula.
But in southern Portugal apparently you can do this sort of thing, in November too! Coffee to the sounds of birds waking up. Excellent.
A small group of Iberian magpies were amongst these, I confess it was a while (and coffee - that wine was nice last night) before I thought to get the camera. When I did, of course they didn't make it easy, perching behind power lines or miles away. The best I could do was against the ever-brightening sky and it's not great.
Still right now it's the only pretty Corvid I have so it will remain till I get back to the Iberian peninsula.