The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!
One of the postcards I sent this month (a lovely one of magpies from the “Wild Cards” set by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris) made me think about this a lot: what are the birds like where you are? As I wrote on that postcard, I know that British robins are quite different from North American robins, but I think (and the recipient confirmed) that our magpies are the same. So that’s this month’s writing prompt: let’s talk about birds!
The back garden of the house I grew up in has a lot of bird visitors, because my dad has hung up various different kinds of bird feeders and fat blocks to make it a friendly place for them. There’s running water from a fountain, and to top it off, my dad throws out sultanas to them every day as an extra treat. The main visitors—the ones we always watched for the most—are blackbirds (a kind of thrush, apparently, with the scientific name Turdus merula). They’re really common birds in the UK, but we got to be fond of them and the way they ran around our lawn, officiously trying to chase off other birds.
We actually have a family of blackbirds that visit our garden who all have partial albinism, with just a streak here and there of white against their black feathers. So we can sometimes recognise individuals… and there are also blackbirds who are becoming rather tame, and will come right up to my dad to demand their sultanas. They’re less keen on me, though, since I don’t usually come bearing gifts.
What about you? What birds do you see locally, or which birds do you especially like? You can answer in the comments here, but you can also use it as a prompt for your postcards this month, if you’re not sure what to write!
57 comments so far
A great idea :) I am in the mountains of Greece, we stay in the village, and so far the most popular bird here is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirundo
They even had a nest in our house :)
Why don’t we write about the blue bird that suddenly disappeared lately? 😂
Australian magpies are different, and they are definitely superior! ve the most beautiful songs, and are super smart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lymQjNqR1t8&ab_channel=TheDodo
In Krasnodar, in spring and summer, with strong winds, swifts fall out of the nest. I fed a swift chick with crickets for 2 weeks. When he grew up, I let him go and he flew
muy bien aqui donde vivo en un pueblo de GERONA en la pared de mi casa hay un hueco en el que hace 10 aos aprox. a princiìos de primavera anidan una famiia de MALLARENGUES es el nombre en CATALAN crian 4 0 5 pequeñuelos les pongo de comer nueces a y piñones a trocitos y ellos lo toman como postre pues primero salen a coger insectos y luego comen lo que les pongo y cuando las crias estan con plumas salen del nido y se marchan ,,,no se donde??? hasta el proximo año..
Lovely post! Every summer, my favorite thing to do is feed the ruby throated hummingbirds that visit here in the warm months.
Here in Belgium, Zonhoven, the Bittern and the Kingfisher are protected. When I was in Greece to do a Mosaic course, I made a mosaic from a Bittern, in marble. We have lots of birds in our wild garden too.
We are on the edge of a small town in the south east of the UK. We have lots of birds in our urban garden, thanks no doubt in part to having a hedge of trees on one side, and perhaps the fact that our garden is also semi wild. Wood pigeons are some of the most common and make their home in our oak tree, while we have blackbirds nesting in the bushes, as well as blue tits, and are visited by robins on a regular basis, along with magpies, starlings, crows, sparrows, various finches, and the occasional rarer visitor such as a woodpecker and a pheasant. We also keep our own, not so wild, chickens!
As you can see by my profile picture I adore Grackles, they are beautiful birds, maybe talk about them. I know sometimes they can be incase to people's gardens but none the less they are very smart and interesting
Postage stamps with bird pictures are always GREAT.
The scariest bird I ever saw was a buzzard with its wings spread open in the middle of the road in Texas - I had no idea what it was - they're HUGE
Oh wow! Such a good topic.
I want to take this opportunity to ask (and remind) you. Please donate money, food and toys to wildlife rehabilitation centers (including bird centers). Please try to volunteer at an animal shelter near you for a while.
Thanks for your attention and help!
Buzzard do that to cool off I'm told. Hummingbirds are plentiful in my yard. Learned that if you rub Vaseline up and down pole, ants can't get in feeders. It works but it can melt. Any other ideas?
I like peacock and my memory with my late father is when he spotted a peacock on the balcony early morning and he sounded very excited about it. 😀
I always have been fond of penguins too.
Birds give an aspiration to fly and dream high
I hope we don't get the flu anyway by the beautiful byrds.
Hard to pick a favorite! I have feeders and birdbaths active all year, but I think my winter favorites are the blue jays. They are the spot of bright blue against the snow that is lovely to have. =)
I too feed the blackbirds and sparrows in my humble back yard. I love watching them alongside my elderly cat. He's too old to chase them but gets very excited watching them. One particular blackbird that I feed sultanas to has a tail feather gap and he's very cheeky coming right up close. Some mornings there are around 50 sparrows and little finches amongst them. They all love apple too.
I have a Silver Birch tree in my backyard and the Wattle Birds love to feed on the seeds, also have my favourite Turtle Doves visiting my pagola and to get a drink of water which I always provide for them.
I just recently got into birding, I can't wait to write everyone's ears off about birds! I've been really taken with barn swallows lately, I love the way they fly.
There's nothing like watching the blue flashes of bluebirds flying, but I also nominate the woodpeckers here. Their black, white, and red colors are stylish, and I like how determined they always act.
I also have many bird feeders in my yard. Lots of hummingbirds, downy headed woodpeckers, blue grosbeaks, cardinals, tufted titmouse, chickadees and purple house finches.....to name a few😂 It's such a stress reliever to just sit and watch them.
Every morning in my back yard I am greeted to the beautiful Swallow, with tail feathers in the shape of a "V", these beautiful birds sun themselves in the early morning sun, they duck and dive in a zigzag pattern when they fly, only a small bird, they feed on insects caught while flying. These beautiful birds sit on our sail strap and sum themselves while I work in my office.
https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/welcome-swallow
Aloha from Hawaii Nei.
Hawaii has some of the most endangered species (484) of the US. Did you know that out of 142 bird species only 33 remain and are endangered birds that are only found here and nowhere else in the world.
I
Hello from Germany 🇩🇪
My favorite bird is the seagull. I like the Hering Gull very much. They are so intelligent and I watch them everytime and everywhere I found them ♥️
We have two lovebirds with the name Danzel & Rosie.
They like to be taken on a photo with a card I gonna send!
My favorite sighting this year was when a pair of scrub jays (we call them Bubba and Babette) brought their fledglings to our yard to show them how to get seeds from our feeder. I did not see if they were successful, but it was a good show.
We had a blackbird with a small white patch on its wing when I was a teenager. He used to raid our raspberries.
The Anna Humming bird is very common here on Vancouver Island and I see them daily on our hummingbird feeder. They're so cute.
Minnesota is the only US state with the loon as its official bird. While they favor the northern boreal forests, they’re fairly common in less populated areas. But during migration , urban residents , like me, can view them on Minneapolis lakes. Their eerily haunting calls make for a hair-raising listening experience.
There are so many birds, that I really love. Recently I've been wondering, whether birds give me the greatest joy of all animals. <3
I don't have a garden, terrace or balkony, so on my way to work/from work or some other places in my city, I feed the crows. Sometimes (especially in winter) I am accompanied by up to 50 crows. They get almonds mainly, but also, sometimes, hazelnuts or peanuts (in the shell).
Some are very tame and walk next to me like a dog and there are 4 crows, that take the nuts from my hand. I love them sooo much!
That said, I have a kea friend at the zoo and love all the parrots they have there, especially the Pionites leucogaster parrots. They are super sweet and I could watch them for hours and hours.
I've never seen any in real life, but shoebills/Baleniceps rex and kakapos/Strigops habroptilus totally fascinate me!
All in all: birds: <3<3<3!
Great topic, thanks!
When on holiday I take my bird feeders with food with me, so I can see other birds then at home. And I love the song of a blackbird so much, it makes me happy.
Birdwatching and photography of birds is my hobby. At this moment for 3 years i saw more than 300 species of birds, mainly in Russia. My favourites - owls, especially pygmy owl, like on my avatar.
On the 15th of August Australia will get new maxi cards and stamps which are bird themed! Love the coincidence of this months prompt. 🦜
I'm an avid birder! I love watching the birds at my feeders. Most common visitors are: Cardinals, wrens, titmice, chickadees, red-bellied woodpecker. I love watching the Ruby throated hummingbirds. I have a deep passion for Whooping Cranes. If I had better camera equipment, I'd be photographing birds all the time! :)
I can see swallows outside of my window, they are amazing
The title of the blog caught my eye! My username says it all! I recently lucked into finding some postcards with my favourite bird, a Cedar Waxwing, featured as the subject. I bought up all 10 that the Park's visitor centre had in the rack.
My favorite by far is the wood duck; such beautiful plumage!
My fav bird the swallow and the rest of them :)
Funny facts about birds from SOR - Romania direct affiliated to https://www.birdlife.org/
"The semi-collared flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata) is a species that was thought to appear in Romania only by accident. It is a breeding species in South-Eastern Europe, in Bulgaria, and in Greece. It is closely related to two species found in Romania's fauna, the black fly and the collared fly. Unlike the black, the half-collared flycatcher has more white on the wings and tail, forehead, and sides of the neck."
"Another absolute novelty for Romania in 2016 was the white-winged gull (Larus glaucoides). A specimen of this species, which nests in Greenland, accidentally arrived in Romania. The bird was observed by the SOR Brașov coordinator, Dan Ionescu, in Dumbrăvița on January 13. The seagull stayed here for only a few days and then left."
and also something to watch: https://www.youtube.com/live/kErrJzsvfmM?feature=share
Birds Month on Postcrossing :) Happy Postcrossing
My favorite bird is the Kingfisher, I never forget the first time I saw one.
That beautiful blue in the feathers when he flashes by.
I got some cards with the Kingfisher on it, I was so surprised when I received them!
Wonderful idea! Similarly to your blackbird, I am fond of our Robins here in North America, for the funny way they bob around our yards. I am also partial to the male Cardinal and the American Goldfinch. It always brings me joy to see the yellow wings flit across the treeline.
The comments are great. Now I finally know I'm not the only one who loves birds. A common buzzard once landed in my flower box on the balcony. My cat fell off the windowsill in fright. The buzzard had chased a blackbird hiding under the balcony table. When I went onto the balcony, the buzzard flew away and the blackbird flew steeply over the balcony railing. - I live in Hamburg (Germany), but on the city limits. A beautiful nearly white buzzard was a common sight last year. Great spotted woodpecker, crows, jays, magpies, blackbirds, great tits, blue tits, robins, wood pigeons and in spring starlings are very common. I saw a parrot the other day, I thought. But it was a green woodpecker. - I like them all and always imagine that they watch us humans as we watch them.
I actively feed the birds since two seasons, the most difficult is to stop feeding them when it's spring. Last year we had a terrible draught so I fed them in summer, in case they could not find worms. I give them water all year long and this is a real job to clean often and change the water (and the food in autumn/winter).
The one I prefer is a blue tit, there are also great tits, ans sometimes a robin.
The blackbird does not come to the bird feeder, I've read they eat directly on the soil. But I see them from afar.
There are also (too many) pigeons (trying to make a nest in my plants), some magpies (a couple wiuth a big nest at the top of the chesnut tree in front of my windows), and crows.
The Père Lachaise cemetery is very near, it has a wider variety of birds, including rose-ringed parakeet (hopelessly).
I dream to see a goldfinch one day, and also a bullfinch. But probably not in the city.
Sparrows are slowly disappearing from Paris, 3 ob 4 have disappeared ! and there is a program now to protect them, that includes schools and others. We see them less and less, but in some public gardens I can see they are still there. They are very territorial and you will not see them anywhere. Also starlings are more rare than before.
Ah birds are a subject indeed, but will all this fit on a postcard :))
Beautiful birds come to my feeders daily. Cardinals , yellow finch, bluebirds, sparrows and doves to name a few. Also turkeys stop by for the seeds that fall to the ground. Nature heals.
My favorites are those that visit my garden and enterntain my indoor kitty daily. She especially enjoys the beautiful blue Steller’s jays who come to snag (and then bury among my flowers) the in-shell peanuts I leave out. She also loves interacting with the Eurasian collared doves and comes running when I imitate their ‘hoo HOO hoooooo’ call. 🐦🐦⬛
If you live somewhere where scorching summer temperatures are happening now please remember to check, and refill, bird baths in your yard/garden daily. Even twice a day if it is so HOT. The birds appreciate it very much. I get to see white-crowned pigeons, mourning doves, bananaquits, northern mockingbirds and other birds through my bedroom window as they visit the birdbath under my sugar-apple tree.
My favourite bird is the swallow. There is a nest in my neighbourhood and the chicks are so cute. My bird memory is of a trip to Monkey Mia in Australia, where I was chased by a large pelican that almost bit me on the head. But it was great fun.
Out here on the archepelago of Haida Gwaii, there are many large birds. mostly seagulls and raptors, such as Eagles, osprey owl and hawk. The great blue heron and sandhill cranes make appearances. the migratory birds (geese and songbirds) are seen seasonally. its a joy sharing with the birds. i have sent many a postcard featuring birds of the region.
Bittern is on my wishlist to spot
This is actually a topic I request from senders. I love to hear about birds all over the world and senders have been very cooperative! One of my best memories while birdwatching was seeing the battle between a Great Blue Heron and a water snake. I watched the fight for at least 30 min. (Winner- bird!) Last week I actually received a card of a Secretary Bird battling a snake and it is moments like this that make me just stop in my tracks and be thankful for this community.
One bird I dream of seeing is a Hoopoe and I received a card of one without the sender knowing this. 🥰
I love birds!!! My favourite is eagle because it is love free and it is very clever!!! I want to be like this!! 💖
the bird are all verry cute!!!!!!!!!!
I love them all!!!!!!!!!
I watch birds every day from my dining table. I kayak rivers to photograph them there and visit rural areas to see the grassland birds. I love them! A favourite is the owls I am lucky to see. Barred, Great horned and Snowy.
Thanks for this topic.
Birds of small size are pretty cute...I especially like their rounded body and the way they hop lightly🥰😇
We had a tame Blackbird when I was growing up. It had got some thread caught around its legs and my grandparents rescued it. After that we called it Hoppy and it was a frequent visitor to us. One summer my gramps was building a porch on the back of the house and while waiting for the cement to set, Hoppy came and left his footprints for us.
Hello from Germany! Just yesterday we were able to look at swarms of swifts in the sky in our garden, ready to head south. A sign that the summer is slowly coming to an end. Birds are so smart.
Greetings from Germany, I 'my a diligent observer of the feathered friends. From autumn there are hidden treats in the bushes. How good is it for the soul to watch them
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