Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA
Jackdaws are great
Thanks for the recent long article on Jackdaws (Bird Watching, May). We have a family of these lovely birds who nest and stay around all year in a hole in the thick stone wall on the third floor of our Victorian tenement in Edinburgh. I have observed their behaviour for many years now, and would like to add to your notes that their behaviour is very polite. They rarely squabble when queuing up at the fat ball feeder, letting each of them get a little something in turn. They are shy of pigeons though and I often wish they would be a bit more daring on that front. They don’t drink from the bird bath, and they rarely walk about on the ground.
When the five youngsters start to emerge from the nest each spring, they also queue up to take the plunge and flutter wildly to reach the tall Birch tree. They are wonderful birds!
We love Costa Rica
I thoroughly enjoyed Ruth Miller's article on her trip to Costa Rica (Bird Watching, April). It brought back some wonderful memories of a trip I had there a few years ago. Over two weeks we crossed from the east to the west of the country. It included two nights at the Arenal Observatory Lodge.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the summit of the volcano, owing to heavy, low, cloud cover. Like Ruth, we also did a boat trip. This one was on the west coast on the Rio Tarcoles. Heading towards the river mouth, we turned onto a mangrove river, and got all our target birds, including Boat-billed Heron, Mangrove Cuckoo and American Pygmy Kingfisher. I went on an organised trip, but you can do your own thing or tailored trips. To anyone who has never been, I would highly recommend it. I have included a couple of photos which I hope readers who have never been will enjoy; and, maybe, whet some appetites.
Travellers beware
I recently returned from Egypt and Jordan, mainly seeing the usual tourist sites but always birdwatching. Taking binoculars into these countries, and presumably to all the Middle East, represents a serious security risk for them and therefore for us visiting birdwatchers.
At immigration, binoculars are, w
