Hobbies and Crafts

Quite a bit of activity today :-D :-D,and bird song again.
Also the last couple of mornings about 5.30/6am there is an owl screeching .Trouble is it is too dark to see where it is.I just know it is close by.

Hello Jane....bless you keeping Ann's thread moving:)

Talking about Owls...we hear one now, have done for the past few days:)) l keep looking for its pellets...lol

We're very quiet here apart from loads of sparrows still and a few tits, also the odd crow/jackdaw....ooo and a dunnock and robin.

My sister in Chepstow says its very quiet there too:(

As Ann says....it will pick up when the weather turns.

It was mentioned again on telly about cleaning the bird tables and containers weekly because of this nasty disease !!

We have loads of orangy berries on a bush, but l don't know the name of bush! l watched a Stock dove munching the other day:)
Off now, take care
jude x

Mystery to be solved - any ideas?

My garden is surrounded by several large trees, oak, sycamore etc.
For the past few weeks, and late evening, after dark, I can hear a very strange sound that is best described as a cross between a hiss and an asthmatic wheeze, coming from the trees. The sound is constant, but will cease for a few minutes when I go into the garden with the dog.
This is obviously a bird, possibly an owl, and sometimes changes location from tree to tree.
I have never heard this sound before, and am curious. I wonder if anyone here has heard this before?

When I say constant, I mean rythmic, like someone breathing badly.

Regards to all,
Tec.

I had to chuckle at the description lol.I have no idea what it could be Tec.I am very curious now.Hopefully someone will know the answer

It is rather comical Jane, but fascinating. My OH listened to it the other night, and said "Oh that's just a big bird with a bad chest" lol, but it can't be that simple.
Last year we had an owl that sounded like it had laryngitis, maybe it's him lol.

Tec.

http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Tyto-alba-3.mp3

Try this Tec...if not this one go to

http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php and check em all out:))

You lucky devil:)

jude

Sounds creepy tec!!!, not something scratching the bark is it?


No birds at all in our garden since we got home. It doesn't help that they emptied the bird feeders. Once empty they go somewhere else, it will take a while for them to return I suppose.

Thank you Jude - wasn't able to raise the first site, but the second one is very interesting with all the owl calls. I am wading through the ones applicable to the UK.

Yes Ann, it is a spooky sound, and it would freak some people if walking through woodland at night, especially with a vivid imagination.
Definitely a bird, not something scraping wood. If I can identify it through the site Jude sent me I will put on here straight away.

Tec.

Hi birders

Tec, it sounds like a barn owl

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/barnowl/index.aspx

Lucky you if it is, I hope you get a sighting :-D

What time of night was it Tec?I have been wracking my brains and can't think what it might be.
There seems to be lots of little birds here at the moment that walk up the tree trunks .I saw a group of them fly in earlier to the big pine tree in the garden.I don't know what they are,but look like the tummies are a pale yellowy colour.
They are too quick to see properly.

Hi Jane
I wonder if they could be Goldcrests? Although they scurry about rather than walk up the tree trunks, that habit is more like the Nuthatch but thay are larger.

Well - I've searched through the owl sounds that Jude sent me. I can't identify it. The only owl that "hisses" is a Great Horned Owl. Can't possibly be one of those as they are in America.

Jane I hear this anytime from around 11 pm. Maybe your little birds are one of the tits, especially if they are in groups.

Island - Thank you for the link. It could be a Barn Owl. We do have them here, among others. I saw one flying over the field at the back of the house early morning about six months ago - beautiful sight.

I am going to sit in the garden late tonight, if it's dry, to see if I can get a sighting of this bird. If you don't hear from me again it's because OH has had me taken away LOL.

Tec.

Hello Tec....

have just found another site, scroll down till you find the Barn Owl:) Sorry that last link were birds from everywhere in the world but UK...doh, interesting though:)

Hello Island...wheres you bin??

Byeee ....jude
http://www.10x50.com/sounds.htm

Will be thinking of you later Tec,as you sit in your garden lol.I have to say I would be doing exactly the same as you ,and be waiting to be taken away in a straight jacket by my OH.
I can hear a wheezy sound now!!!!!!!!!!! ..........no it's not a bird ,but my dog snoring his head off on the settee :-S :-S

Mystery solved :-)

It is a barn owl.

I'm not sitting in the garden as it's now raining here in Wales, and I'm not that deranged - yet.

Shaun who posts on the Welsh thread has e-mailed me. He has had Barn Owls on his land, and has described the noise perfectly. He describes it as like a snoring noise, with a hiss and a wheeze, but that's just what it's like.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions.
If I'm lucky enough to see it, I'll let you know.

Regards to all,
Tec.

In our house its me or the cat that snores! Barn owls are lovely, but so are all birds, I think. Dont encourage them in our garden now because one of the cats is a hunter of anything that moves, but there is water available all through the year, we keep the waterfal running especially.

Glad you have got that sorted Tec. and without having to sit out in the rain. How lovely to have barn owls in your garden, I envy you.

Yes Ann, I am rather pleased about that. Haven't actually seen it yet, though may stand a better chance when the leaves have fallen, if it still perches there.

Jean I can't believe you snore like a Barn Owl - your OH would leave home :-)

Tec.

It would be good if you could get a photo Tec, but I think they are too clever for that!

Yesterday morning we watched out of the conservatory as about 20 goldfinches took off from a tree in the garden that butts onto ours at the end of our garden. We didn't have any nyger seed as we'd been away so haven't seen any in our garden until today. We'd replaced the nyger seed but this solitary one goldfinch was eating the sunflower seed!!!