A small selection of some the birds with brown feathers that visit our spot.
Female Thick-Billed Weaver.
Mannikin Fledglings
Common Bulbul.
Olive Thrush.
This is a Dikkop chick, or a Spotted Thick-Knee (Burhinus capensis) as it is also known.
Ems and I encountered the chick while walking the dogs one morning. The mother was going a bit doolally and came within snapping distance of Cindy as we walked past. Naturally, Cindy remained as calm and unruffled as always, but it was obvious something was amiss. A closer inspection of the area where the irate bird was doing what looked like a war dance revealed her chick hidden among some undergrowth. Unfortunately, it had a broken leg and was unable to flee even if it wanted to.
This was a job for International Rescue. We gently picked up the bird and carried it home, whereupon it was secured in a shoe box, with paper and straw to keep it warm and minimize shock and wotnot. Then it was a call to a local bird sanctuary, and before long two volunteers arrived to collect the bird and ensure it received some proper TLC.
As always, thanks to Lisa Coleman for the challenge.
Ark.
You folks are such good people to look after our feathered (and other) friends … ❤
Nice pics!
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Well, after all, God’s little creatures , yes?
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Whose creatures?
BTW, just came across this … and thought you might enjoy.
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2021/01/24/949995715/learning-to-love-bird-photography-thanks-to-a-competitive-collaboration
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Thank you, Nan. That was a nice read, and the photos are beautiful. What a marvelous location.
But so far I’ve got her beat. 53 (photographed) species to date.
On half an acre!
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They need to write an article about YOU!!! 🤩
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*Shrug* You do what you can I suppose.
We have a few pigeons nesting in a small space between roof and gutter.
Today, we saw Cindy walk across the wet lawn with one of the fledglings in her mouth. Ems ran to the garden. Without any prompting Cindy dropped the bird at Ems feet and wagged her tail.
I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen the dog do it.
The bird must have fallen out the nest or been booted out by the parents.
The bird was cleaned up, and wrapped up while I fetched a ladder and then it was placed on the roof where it scurried back to its mum and dad!
Cute eh?
This afternoon the boxers found the thing. It had fallen out the nest once more.
”Doug”, my wife called. ”Ems says you must fetch the ladder!”
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Well, if it was “booted out,” I guess it becomes a matter of simple survival.
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We’ll see what transpires tomorrow.
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‘Spotted Thick-Knee had me laughing out loud. Your Thick-Billed Weaver’s beak reminds me a lot of our Grosbeaks. By the way, are many of your birds thick in one way or another? I guess can’t tease you when one our woodpeckers is called a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I hope you are well. 🙂
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As well as can be expected under the circumstances. And a lot better than so many people, for which I am very very grateful.
I sometimes get knots in my stomach just thinking how tough it is for a great many people across the globe.
All our birds must be pretty smart, especially if you consider how many cats and dogs they have to navigate around to get to the grub that’s on offer!
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You have wonderful brown birds, Ark! I love your story of rescuing that hurt baby bird. You can read about my bird rescue here if you are interested. We’ve had other rescues but this one was a weekend of care because it was a Saturday that we found the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. You can scroll down to the story if you’d like. 🙂 https://oureyesopen.blog/2020/10/02/bird-weekly-photo-challenge-macro-close-ups/
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Great shots, Ark. Especially the bulbul and olive thrush. I remember them from our Nairobi garden.
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Thank you Tish.
Both regular all year round visitors.
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