British Birds

there were more than 500 species of birds that's even live in the UK or our visitors for part of the year the four main ways to identify them are by their size shape and color by where they live by how they behave do they live in Paris for example or in a large flock and by the sounds they make even if you can't actually see a bird you can identify it if you know it's song here's a guide to 15 different birds you may recognize more but these are all those you're most likely to see in the UK you black-headed goals aren't just seagulls in fact you won't see black illegals far out to save their more home near land they like open spaces where they can look out for danger and can often be seen in parks or open fields anywhere in the country the name black headed girl is a bit misleading for most of the year they have white heads with a small dark hair patch in the spring and summer the adil squirrel chocolate brown face feathers but they are not black and never cover the whole head the male of female look the same you can tell the adult bird from other girls by their small size and the line of white feathers along the front edge of their wings if you see fawn feathers on its back and wings it means the bird is a youngster it would grow its full adult feathers until it's two years old black and a girl's nest in noisy colonies usually at the coast but sometimes on islands in lakes and reservoirs they will eat almost anything and make much of their living by stealing scraps from each other and from other birds they are really pirates in disguise male blackbirds have a which black plumage and white orange yellow beak and a yellow ring around the eye they also have a long tail which they raise as they land young male and female black birds are the same size and shape but a dark brown sometimes with paler spots on their front black birds sometimes lay three or more clutches of three or four eggs and the brown feathers of a female help her to keep hidden when she is sitting on her nest they are birds of woodland and Heath that have readily adapted to farmlands and Gardens they like areas with bushy shrubs and trees close to open ground with short grass adult black birds are lucky if they live more than three years cats sparrowhawks and cars are some of the hazards that they face black birds have loud and beautiful songs it's easy to think that the one you hear singing on a summer's morning is the same one that visits your bird table in the winter but that may not be so one black bird nests in Norfolk spends his winter in Dalian two hundred and fifty miles away the charming little blue tit is one of Britain's favorite birds because of its bright colors and the way it has adopted gardens and nest boxes the head of the male blue tip may look slightly bluer than the females and the brighter blue his head the more likely the female is to choose him looters live here all year round and make it through the winter by flocking together with other tips finches tree creepers and goal craft a winter flock can contain as many as a couple of hundred Birds a nest box is ideal for bluetooths and they time their nesting to coincide with a spring abundance of caterpillars they are renowned for their acrobatics hanging upside down or even by one foot to get the food they are so light blue ters can get to the very tips of twigs or branches that heavier birds can't reach salutis eat mainly insects and spiders unless peanuts or sunflower seeds are available one family of blue tits may eat 10,000 caterpillars before the youngsters pledge no wonder blue tits a popular bird to have in the garden carrion crows are big weary sleek and entirely black in parts of Scotland and Ireland they are replaced by hooded crows which have black and gray bodies they are intelligent birds and may be on their guard around people but they are bold around other yard line the carrion in the name is a clue to crows habits carrion is dead meat and crows have been quick to notice that roadkill provides a ready meal and their rubbish disposal services are valuable unfortunately crows tend to be blamed for killing something even if they are just making the best of what they can find they tend to be loners but flocks of up to 40 may be seen in the summer as youngsters hang around together and in the winter crows sometimes come together to roost along with their relatives that jackdaws and looks in his summer feathers the male chaffinch is a handsome bird the plum red front gray crowned bright green worm and white flashed wings really make him stand out the female has the same patterns but much grubber colors all the better of course to hide while she is on her nest chaffinches live almost anywhere woodlands hedgerows parks all Gardens any location in fact where there are trees to nesting in spring it seems that almost every tree in the land has a male chuffing singing his cheery but repetitive descending trill the song is a chaffinches way of defending a patch of land to keep rivals out and to attract a mate chaff inches are likely to flock together to eat seeds being in flocks helps them keep an eye out for predators they have a chunky beak for cracking the seeds open and separating the grain from its chaff hence the birds name unlike other finches they don't generally land on bird feeders but prefer to hop about on or under the bird table despite the increasing number of cats and Sparrow hauls traffic numbers have risen in recent years they are one of the most abundant birds in the UK both the male and female great yet have the same yellow and green coloring with a glossy black haired and big white cheek patches they also have a black stripe on their chests which makes them look like they're wearing a tie bigger more successful males have the widest eyes females have the shiniest they make an interesting range of noises even experience bird watchers say that if you can't recognize a singing bird it's probably a grated greatit's are the largest birds in their family much bigger than the blue tip they are often seen with they are very agile feeders but because they are heavier than their bluetick cousins they can't reach the tips of the branches they can also be seen feeding on the ground more than the other tips great--it's are active and inquisitive birds originally a woodland species they have adapted to man-made environments they naturally nest in holes in trees but readily take to nest boxes they can also be found nesting in very odd places such as post boxes lamp posts and security lights in winter they often jaw with blue tits and other species to form roaming flocks that scour the gardens and the countryside for food greatit's are among the boldest birds that visit feeders and they can be quite aggressive fighting off smaller birds the greenfinch is a heavy muscular bird with a strong bill long wings and a short forked tail its twittering and wheezing song and flash of yellow and green as it flies make us flinch a truly colorful character green finches look better the older they get the males get more yellow on their wings more gray on the head and look brighter green the females go through a similar change but are brown and have less yellow on their wings an old female can look brighter than a young male green finches are very much Birds of towns and villages you usually see them in flocks with other finches on farmland or at the seaside many small birds join feeding flocks in this way they're thick beak is just right for cracking the large seeds that make up most of their diet rose hips and cereals are preferred but they will also catch insects to feed their young although quite sociable they may be aggressive and squabble amongst themselves especially when defending a patch of land in which to nest the patchwork of lawns hedges and ponds that make up towns suit in very well they are one of the most common but overlooked visitors to bird tables how sparrows are one of the most familiar little birds in towns and cities as well as the countryside sparrows leaping up from a roadside is a common sight throughout the UK as our small Huddle's sometimes called hosts or tribes of sparrows heading into dense vegetation to find food or to roost they don't sing but make sheriffing calls a flock of noisy cheeping sparrows is full of chatter and bustle usually the males are the most boisterous and more likely to be in the center of the flog the females have much paler markings to hide them when they are nesting sparrows build their own tidy nests in trees bushes and nest boxes but they also commonly nest in roots and holes and buildings although they nest in small colonies they don't set up home too close to their neighbours usually keeping an arm's length away the house burrow has the chunky beak of a seedy tail it is just right for cracking seeds open to get to the nourishing fence but they spend much of the summer chasing insects to feed their chicks in recent years their numbers have dropped sharply which could be caused by the lack of insects for the sparrow second and third broods Magpies are bold and intelligent they are known for their striking black and white plumage long tail and cackling call it is a very successful bird that has adapted to almost any environment from woodland and grassland to right in front of our cities they often look simply black and white but if you do see a magpie in good light its feathers shine with greens blues and purples Magpies are scavengers predators and pest destroyers they're challenging and seemingly arrogant attitude wins them few friends one reason Magpies are unpopular is because they eat eggs and chicks of other birds but for most of the year they eat beetles fruits seeds and also dead creatures otherwise known as carrion this is a bird with a reputation and a history there are lots of rhymes and beliefs associated with the night bone such as it being unlucky to see one on its own this is because they spend most of the year in pairs or family groups so seeing a lone male is unusual except in April or May when one parent will be on the nest Magpies have a liking for shiny objects and have been blamed for the theft of jewelry their nests may contain small shiny objects that the male has collected such as coins bits of glass and brightly colored strips of fabric it isn't known why he does this pheasants originally came from Asia and were brought to the UK by the Normans you can find them in woods fields marshes and anywhere that isn't too mountainous it will usually be the male that you spot first with his dark green and red head and chestnut golden brown and black body he is bigger and much more brightly colored than the mottled Brown female around 30 million pheasants are bred and released in the UK every year to be shot for sport those that survive without being caught by foxes or shot by hunters may learn that bird tables provide easy pickings the male pheasant will look after several females in his harem his job is to be the lookout and to raise the alarm newly hatched chicks will find their own food very quickly but still come to their mother for warmth at night the pheasant is one of the very few birds in the UK that raises its young this way most pheasants don't last more than a couple of years and the unsuccessful males who haven't attracted a band of females probably won't survive more than a year Pied wagtail x' live all over Britain and Ireland but hardly anywhere else in the world they prefer habitats near water but citizen farmland also suit them well Pied wagtail can be sociable birds you may see flocks of them feeding together where food is plentiful the mail is pure black and white while the female has a grey aback neither any color at all in their feathers listen for their sharp Chizik call which is often delivered just before they fly off they usually flock together before roosting at night and town rousseff Pied wagtail scan number hundreds of birds Pied wagtail czar delightful sprightly little birds and like any wide-open spaces where they can run they can often be seen chasing after flies and jumping in the air to catch one as it takes off wherever they go they always wag their tails and we still don't really know why they do it it seems to be an action that water birds do more than others we like to think of Robbins's tame because they are so approachable they often follow people working away in their gardens as digging or pruning can unearth the Robins food to befriend a Robin offer it mealworms they can be trained more easily than any other garden birds and you may even get one feeding from your hand if the male and female look identical and their red breast is an aggressive signal to other Robins sure enough throughout the spring male Robin sing to proclaim a territory that they will defend against all comers then that's quite low to the ground often in open fronted nest boxes but they are also renowned for nesting in odd things like teapots baby Robins are brown and spotty rather than red breasted which enables them to keep hidden from predators and to prevent their parents from mistakenly beating them up as rivals as the young Robins molt has taught to look like adults their parents will drive them out so the youngsters set up territories on their own by August the breeding season is over and at this time both males and females will sing to establish their separate winter territories of course winter is a time when many people notice Robins especially around Christmas Sparrow Hawks are birds of prey and feed on smaller birds which they catch him flight or on the ground they are similar to class rules but have a longer square a tail and they don't hover like a Kestrel either a hunting sparrow hawk picks up speed with a distinctive flap flap glide flies and then surprises its victim by nipping through a hedge two pounds if the sparrow book doesn't snatch a bird immediately the bird may escape a sparrow Hawks tire easily they tend to have traditional territories and build new nests each year they prefer pine woodlands but recently have spread into urban parks and cemeteries the female and young males have a brown back with gray bars underneath the male has a slaty blue bag with rusty orange barring across his underside the real surprise is that the female may be as much as one-third bigger than the male so while the male preys on blue tipz and chaffinch is the female is able to cope with larger birds such as blackbirds and pigeons both have long legs sharp talons and fierce yellow eyes in the 20th century the number of sparrowhawks fell drastically as woodlands were cut down and they were poisoned by pesticides new laws banning these chemicals have helped their numbers recover wood pigeons are almost the largest birds that you are likely to see in your garden they are often ignored but they are fascinating and handsome birds the male and female look the same they have a deep rosy pink breast shimmering green feathers around the neck and white flashes on the neck and waves these bold white winged flashes are clearly visible in flight and distinguished wood pigeons from the smaller town pigeons which are of course the different species large flocks can be found on farmland fales wood pitches are often quite shy in the countryside but can be more confident in towns when a pigeon spots danger and needs to escape it does so with a quick burst of acceleration and a startling clap of its wings wood pigeons are doing very well in the UK and numbers are increasing in towns and cities starlings have fantastic songs full of whistles gurgles and pops they can also copy other birds and sounds like ringtones or squealing car breaks in winter starlings appear to be covered in white spots just like a starry skies the spots are actually just the white tips of their feathers by spraying these spots have worn off revealing a shiny plumage it reflects blues greens and purples for a few weeks in the spring male starlings have a blue streak at the base of their beaks whilst the females have a pink one young birds are easily identified by their light brown plumage and often look patchy whilst molting into their adult feathers starlings are noisy social birds they often form bands of kin 250 to both protect themselves from predators and to find the best food stock when one Starling pounds a good source of food it will attract the rest in the winter feeding flocks of starlings converge to roost this used to be a common sight in city centers but now mainly occurs in the countryside as one bird turns its neighbors react incredibly quickly so they all stay the same distance apart and ripples of movement spread throughout the flock over the last 40 years Starling numbers have dropped by two-thirds but there are still millions of starlings in the UK especially in winter where their numbers are increased by visitors from Germany Poland and even Russia you

Channel: EDCHAT®

Views: 18,697

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: education, teachers tv, teaching, learning

Id: ghGwrBeuCiM

Length: 27min 4sec (1624 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 24 2013