Weird effects of the CV - birds

[Casino218]

I live in the suburbs of Leeds. Yesterday I was sat in my garden and I looked up to see a red kite hovering above the neighbours garden. Then it swooped down and tried to go for the neighbours little dog. I ran to the fence and it flew away. The neighbour hadn't seen it happen.

I'm thinking that some of the red kites hover over the takeaway food shops in Leeds and that source of food has dried up.

Just another weird effect of CV.

I saw an epic squirrel fight on a tree outside my office. Honestly, they were screaming at each other, screaming! Fuck knows what'd happened in Squirrel World this morning but seriously, drama.

Well at least you don’t all need to watch pigeons shagging on top of your green house, they don’t do it quietly either, lots of flapping about. No gentle loving there.

Attention seeking pervs of the bird world imo 😂

Red kites don't hunt. They're more like vultures really. Hopefully it was just going for the dog's bone/scraps! Weird

You're probably onto something though, loads of animals must be struggling right now

I reckon the birds will have a good spring, it's so quiet so they can all hear one another which has got to help in nesting season.

We saw a fox on our once daily allowed walk Ystd, it was very early evening - he looked us straight in the eye!

Pigeons are just rats with wings

It might be a shite year for humans but it's hopefully going to be a great year for endangered ground nesting birds if we can significantly reduce the amount of dogs and humans on moorland.

That coupled with the DEFRA badger culls that have happened throughout the country over the last 2 years should mean that the birds get a fighting chance for a change.

We had a red kite right over our garden yesterday.
And what i think was a greytit singing its little song in the tree even though me and my cat were in the garden.
Dont ģet many birds because of the cat other than a mummy blackbird and a couple of wood pigeons.
I think its a combination of being at home more to notice them and everything being quieter.

Plus they have all their batteries changed

Dont get many foxes round here, we live right next to the countryside.
When we lived in the town we had foxes that were practically pets, hand fed, same time every night. I hope they do ok without so many scraps to live on.

you obviously haven't witnessed the red kites in Harehills Leeds swooping in on the scraps of fried chicken from the takeaway shops!

I was going to say the same- they can open the bins.

Less roadkill for red kites maybe?

There were 7 over our garden last week one day which is unusual.

I’m a bit worried about rats. We all know there’s,loads of them in cities. Will they have more, or less, to feed on now? And how will that alter there behaviour! All these closed cafes and restaurants-are they all rat proof? Does someone patrol or check them?

I’m hearing no birdsong at dawn.

I’ve been hearing the owls hooting earlier too, one tIme it was barely dusk. Been going on for a few months and they seem to have quietened down now.
Quite rural where I am, so no real difference in traffic.

Whoever's missing their starlings, you can have the pair that have decided the gutter above my bedroom window is the perfect place to nest if you like? There's bird poo all down my window, and they are incredibly loud at half four in the morning (it honestly sounds like one has a football whistle). The blue tits are much less trouble!

I swear the wind has been different here in East Kent. Gusty and swirling and relentless for weeks, I’m wondering if the lack of planes and pollution is changing up the atmosphere a bit.

For our entire week of lockdown so far a pair of long-tailed tits have been systematically attacking our downstairs windows like a cuter version of Hitchcock's Birds. Possibly trying to chase off their own reflections? Love those birds but I keep thinking someone's knocking at the door and it is a bit irritating.

Hearing lots of lovely birdsong around my city. There's no traffic muffling it all. The urban foxes are happily strolling around too. Got the roads to themselves.

We’ve had a bloody big buzzard sit on the trampoline in our back garden and watch us watching it calmly dissect a rabbit and then leaving it’s bloody entrails for me to deal with. Now keeping the dog and toddler out of the garden in case we end up with a bolshy buzzard trying his luck with one of them.

There have been a couple of changes with our birds here. The crows are all grouping together in the park, huge groups. They aren't in the back gardens any more and magpies have started moving in instead, who are tussling with the squirrels who had got along just fine with the crows. No real change to the little birds, though they seem more wary and fly off when the magpies are about. I think less traffic = less roadkill, so the bigger birds are moving about.