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21
Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by GeordieBorn on September 07, 2018, 11:28:42 AM »
I'm no Orni, but it is a bit like Linseeds Tits... Here they go missing in summer after nesting and like you the crows (ours are mainly hooded) also go. I suspect it is the heat and an abundance of food further up the mountains where they reside in summer to keep cooler. At the moment they are all fighting over the walnut trees as most such as the crows, magpies and jays seem to love the nuts.... Storing up for winter I guess.
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by levissima on September 07, 2018, 09:08:49 AM »
Can you ornithologists settle something for me? In Montefino we have crows or rooks, not sure which. In winter and spring they are a real nuisance, they perch on my TV areal, and make a racket and a hell of a mess. I don’t see them during summer, when the pigeons take over. Do they migrate somewhere else or are they still about but just not nesting or bringing up young?

P.s. I’ve just recently noticed they are back but not in large numbers yet.
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by popinjaykev on September 07, 2018, 07:49:06 AM »
Yes I had my annual flypast on Wednesday probably 60 or more - they are on there way back to Africa and unfortunately it is a sign that summer in Italy is over for them this year. I always get excited when I see them like this and it makes me so happy.
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by Brush Strokes on September 06, 2018, 08:01:02 PM »
Been hearing these birds and seeing them from a distance at our house for sometime now, but never close enough to appreciate the colours. However the house I have been working on this week, they are flying around much lower, but also perching on nearby trees, giving plenty of time to admire these fine creatures.  :)
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: What have you seen today then?
« Last post by Rustychain on August 27, 2018, 10:05:22 PM »
The young ones & the adults look totally different...
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: What have you seen today then?
« Last post by GeordieBorn on August 27, 2018, 05:26:28 PM »
It may be the bad picture, but it had a very distictive yellow and a black band collar, but I'm only going from info from the web. To me it looked very young. Nothing like the >1M black looking guys we see very often here.
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: What have you seen today then?
« Last post by Rustychain on August 27, 2018, 04:38:32 PM »
I'm pretty sure that a young Western Whip Snake Geordie. The adults tend to be black around here. By the way, it's generally the Grass snakes & other 'water' snakes that play dead; these Whip snakes are as fast as greased lightening & will clear off at any possible opportunity.

By chance, I came across a recently road-killed Asp viper whilst out on my bike yesterday. Lovely looking creature, but even 'dead' vipers need to treated with caution... Some hapless bloke in America earlier this year came across a rattlesnake in his garden, went to fetch his machete, promptly chopped its head off then went to pick up the *bits* for disposal when, rather surprisingly, the thing bit him. I seem to remember he had a week in hospital to think about the rather unlikely chain of events that he'd unwittingly been party to. Talk about having the last laugh.  ;D
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by Rustychain on August 27, 2018, 04:30:30 PM »
Like Geordie I always hear these lovely birds before I see them; a really nice warm, tumbling call. They tend to fly high above us & have an unmistakable silhouette when seen from below. And of course they look absolutely stunning when seen up close.

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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: What have you seen today then?
« Last post by GeordieBorn on August 27, 2018, 03:06:24 PM »
I'm sure this post fits here.... This poor chap I found after strimming :-[ . Oddly I could not find a mark on it and I know they pretend to be dead, but the picture was taken near on two hours after I found it. The second of these spotted in two days, perhaps the same one as yesterday, but it was alive then ??? What a shame as it's a lovely looking creature, but so are the wall lizzards and the babies around at the moment are likely what it is after...
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Nature. Flora and fauna / Re: Bee Eater birds
« Last post by GeordieBorn on August 26, 2018, 04:32:37 PM »
If you chuck your spiders up in the air the bee eaters might take them ;) , but their favourite is the big hornets which they bang on a wire or branch and then throw it up in the air catch it and swallow it in one go. The wasp spiders are lovely looking and always around at this time in big numbers. I really like them and am sure I check that they are okay regards bite. I just wish they would not string their webs across between my tomato plants ::)
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