An eagle Christmas shopping....................?

[Rach]

"I've just seen and eagle in the Gyle [Edinburgh] shopping centre car park" were my husband's first words to me when he arrived back a short while ago. . No he hadn't been drinking. He was walking out to go to the car when he saw a large bird just metres away from him. Just to confirm what he was thinking he asked another onlooker what kind of bird it was. "A very tired eagle", he said, as the bird flew rather unsteadily up onto the canopy. Poor thing. Hopefully it will be o.k. after a rest.
Was anyone else there today who saw this unusual sighting?
Rae

[Ted]

Hi Rae

I saw it today in the Gyle area - but it was a Buzzard - not an Eagle - but fairly similar in appearance - still pretty splendid to see close up - unusual in that flat area - but perhaps blown across from the Pentlands due to the high winds today. It did seem to be a bit injured but flew off eventually, maybe been at a Christmas lunch in the area

Regards

Ted

[Russell]

Hi Rae & Ted

I use the southern bypass quite frequently going between Glasgow and Musselburgh and I have seen 8 or 9 buzzards working the verges of the roads for prey. There are so many fields and wooded areas where they can nest and roost. The only problem is, they are not streetwise yet and can get hit by a truck or passing car. If they catch something some of them haven't the sense to take it off the roadway into the fields.
Lovely birds too.

Even the strong flyers like swans had real difficulties with the fierce winds for the last couple of days. They had to tack from side to side to make any headway at all and were still flying back to roost overnight on Castle Semple Loch well after dark.

Russell

[Rach]

Oh well, not so exciting but unusual in a car park nevertheless. I don't know how he didn't recognise it as such as there are plenty round about us, although normally seen being chased by rooks high above the trees. Must buy him a bird book for Christmas!
Rae

[sporran]

Hello,


I live on the outskirts of a small town, and the nearest woods are 2-3 miles away. The neighbouring houses form almost a rectangle, with a gap in one corner beside me. Our back gardens cover about 70 by 40 metres, with at least one pond other than mine, and several bird tables. As a result, the area teems with wildlife, and there are even a couple of bats doing aerial acrobatics at dusk.

During the spring, I was surprised by something big flying low past my study window, so I went to the back door so see what was happening. To my surprise, a male sparrowhawk (unmistakeable: long yellow legs and squared-off tail) was on my fence about 3 metres away looking at me in a nonplussed way. Meanwhile, one of my bushes was shaking with petrified sparrows jumping around and making a cacophony. After a few minutes, the sparrowhawk flew off over the gardens, low and with slow wingbeats, but not looking as if it was interested in hunting. Normality returned.


Regards,

John

[SarahND]

Well, as long as we're doing birds... Last July at dusk I looked up and saw an enormous owl sitting on the top of a dead tree. As I watched in awe, it started doing some odd head-rolling exercises and finally, majestically... coughed up a pellet Quite cool, I thought, if mildly horrifying!
Regards,
Sarah

[Rach]

Goodness, Sarah, I'm glad that doesn't happen every time I roll my neck!

[SarahND]

Goodness, Sarah, I'm glad that doesn't happen every time I roll my neck!

I'm sure your family is glad too

[pinkshoes]

Nothing to do with eagles or buzzards, but when we returned from holiday in the summer, I opened the back door to do some garden checking. There on the step of the conservatory was the most magnificent looking bird - bright turquoise, bits of red and a long black & white tail feather. Wow. Turned out to be a Lady Amherst Pheasant, most likely from someone's collection, though how it got into our garden I don't know.

Anyone interested in the beast can have a look here :
http://www.gbwf.org/pheasants/amherst.html

I was overwhelmed, but even more so when I realised he had uprooted a lot of plants, eaten most of the sweet peas, and had a field day in the herb garden.

Seems he'd been around for a few days while we'd been away, but the only sign my friend who'd been caretaking the garden had seen was huge piles of pooh and some sick looking patio plants which she thought she'd been over-watering

I can only top the story with the one about the peacock. I had a phone call from my neighbour suggesting I might like to look on my garage roof! From the garage, it somehow made it to the perspex roof of the conservatory. Now that was a worry as it had feet like an elephant.
Sounds like we live in a stately home, or even a safari park, but all this in a pretty average sized back garden, fenced on all sides. I'nt nature brill.

Best wishes
Pinkshoes

[Rach]

Apart from the mess it made [ ] it must have been wonderful to see as the majority of garden birds are not quite so exotic looking. Most of the birds around us seem to argue about who is on the feeders and savage each other: the crows who worked in a gang on a starling and the sparrow hawk who decided to eat his prey in the garden, scattering feathers everywhere. During the shooting season in a local estate one of the pheasants took sanctuary in all the back gardens around here until he felt it safe to return!