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erastesI saw the most amazing bird this morning. I think it’s the same one I saw flying past a couple of days ago but in that case it was definitely flying from A to B – this time, if it was the same bird, it was wheeling over a cornfield looking for small crunchy things for breakfast. I dashed to Dad’s and looked for his “Spotting Birds” book we’ve always had since I was a kid but no sign of it, it must be in a box in the attic, so I’ll have to wait until I can get connected to check online. It was a bird of prey and LARGE. If I didn’t know better (because we don’t have buzzards over here to my knowledge) I’d say it was a buzzard. It was brown (d’oh) with black feathers on the wings and a distinctly beige tail. It could be an escapee, I suppose. Anyway, I’ll try and find out – and I’ll certainly look in that area again.
ETA: It was even more exciting than I realised. It was a Marsh Harrier. Wow. Wow wow wow. (not my picture)
“I Knew Him” at 20k today despite the outrageous heat. Everyone else in the country seems to be getting rain apart from the south east. it’s 95 here again today and that’s without any sun. Unbearable.
Sometimes writing is just like pulling hair out by the roots. One at a time. And wondering if it’s madness, crud, idiocy or art. Perhaps I should just display my bed and make a fortune.
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Date: 2010-07-20 07:25 pm (UTC)I'm surprised you don't have buzzards. They're ugly, but they do serve a purpose. What kind of scavenger birds do you have? Maybe you have buzzards but call them something else? (Given the sometimes weird differences in our "common" language, maybe you call them canaries...?)
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Date: 2010-07-20 07:30 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Buzzard
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Date: 2010-07-20 08:10 pm (UTC)http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore_raptors/vultures/turkevul.html
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Date: 2010-07-20 07:41 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Vulture
Vultures aren't the same type of bird as a 'buzzard'.
American 'buzzards' are called 'hawks' in the States.
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Date: 2010-07-20 07:47 pm (UTC)On my recent vacation to Estes Park--a town not far from the Rocky Mountain National Park--I has the rare treat of seeing a red tailed hawk, two elk and hundreds of hummingbirds, most of them ruby throats.
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Date: 2010-07-20 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 02:51 pm (UTC)http://www.esteswildwoodinn.com/photo-gallery/
Some days are busier than others on the camera. Last time I looked there were about a dozen hummingbirds visible.
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Date: 2010-07-20 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 08:42 pm (UTC)One of the closest encounters I ever had with a bird of prey in the wild was in Cambridgeshire (somewhere between Cambridge and Ely!) back in the 1980s (I think) - the G&S society were camping near Cambridge to go punting (etc), and some of us went on a day trip to Ely. Four or five of us, in one car, and we were going along back roads, when something, probably a mouse or vole, scampered across the road in front of the car, the driver braked sharpish, and a hawk (probably a kestrel? fairly small) came down INCHES from the front wheels to grab its prey. We were still moving, too!
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Date: 2010-07-21 05:29 am (UTC)Turkey vultures are often called buzzards in Western movies, and they actually are called that by the locals in a lot of the dry empty spaces out here.
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Date: 2010-07-21 11:11 am (UTC)On the M4 corridor red kites have been introduced and we often see them if we're in the area. they are so spectacular.