PDA

View Full Version : Photo competition



gavin
11-03-2011, 01:10 AM
Not for the faint-hearted, here is a new competition. A photo competition. Prizes? Oh, I don't know. I'll think of something appropriate.

Although I have the permission of the person donating this material to be open, I think that I'll keep his identity secret. If he wants to come on here and fess up, that is up to him!

Here is one of perhaps a thousand wax objects lying about his yard. Mostly wax anyway. From a distance I thought they were queens cells, but they are a little larger (I'll measure one tomorrow). What are they, and what made them?

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/mystery%20wax%20object.jpg

Gavin

kevboab
11-03-2011, 03:47 PM
This is annoying the life out of me already. I'm thinking along the lines of bird pellets however its the quantity that makes me think it could be something else.

gavin
11-03-2011, 08:00 PM
Well done! It was given to me as the product of the other end of the bird, but having thought about it I think that would be anatomically impossible.

Second half of the question: what bird? The object at the thicker end is about the width of the thin end of my little finger.

G.

kevboab
11-03-2011, 08:13 PM
First thought was barn owl however pellets are usually always dark coloured regardless of prey eaten. Now thinking kestrel or sparrowhawk.

gavin
11-03-2011, 08:16 PM
Nope! Not a bird of prey or an owl. No seagull mess in the yard either.

kevboab
11-03-2011, 08:42 PM
This could take a while. Kingfisher ???

Neils
11-03-2011, 10:54 PM
Woodpecker? (no idea if they spit pellets, but if it's wax then what the heck for a stab in the dark guess).

nonstandard
11-03-2011, 10:57 PM
My guess would be chickens, perhaps from feeding drone comb?

gavin
12-03-2011, 01:15 AM
Excellent suggestions, I see where you are going with this. But no, not kingfisher, woodpecker nor any kind of domesticated fowl.

Get the right bird family and I'll give it to you.

I probably shouldn't reveal that a private correspondent suggested that it might be a cut and paste merchant's (one very seldom on this forum) <ctrl> key, but clearly that hasn't been through a bird so it can't be that either.

gavin
12-03-2011, 01:33 AM
Here are a couple more examples of the detritus lying on the ground and on objects in that beekeeper's yard. Lots of them. In a suburban setting.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/three%20wax%20objects.jpg

These other ones were a bit more fibrous but still essentially wax - from a bird not noted for its fibre intake.

kevboab
12-03-2011, 09:06 AM
Hmmm. Could it be from one of the many corvids ?

Rosie
12-03-2011, 09:23 AM
It's not from a bee-eater is it?

gavin
12-03-2011, 11:46 AM
Not a bee-eater (this is local) nor one of the many corvids (they're too smart to eat wax in quantity!).

kevboab
12-03-2011, 08:40 PM
This is rippin ma knittin now. Swallows/martins?? Finch ??

gavin
12-03-2011, 08:50 PM
Not them nor their close relatives. Apparently there was one individual doing this, then a family of them at it last summer. I can't see why they would want to - stupidity presumably and maybe a sweet tooth/bill wanting the remnants of the honey on the frames? I can't imagine that there was much brood remaining. There are boxes stacked outside after comb was cut out for pressing for heather, and the birds have taken to sneaking into a building where there are more. Numpties.

To save your knitting further distress I'll give you the answer before I turn in tonight, unless someone gets there first.

Mellifera Crofter
12-03-2011, 09:49 PM
... starlings?

kevboab
12-03-2011, 09:52 PM
Sparrows??

gavin
12-03-2011, 09:57 PM
:)

Close, kind of.

Next one will get it I think. Maybe.

kevboab
12-03-2011, 09:58 PM
Robin?

gavin
12-03-2011, 10:03 PM
Ah! I said that a bird in the same family would do it. Blackbirds and robins are both thrushes. 'Twas blackbirds.

Presumably they have been well and properly fed at a bird table nearby, otherwise surely they would have succumbed to anorexia by now.

For your prize I'm wondering about sending you the pellets?

kevboab
12-03-2011, 10:04 PM
Tit's? Like us for wasting a saturday night guessing which bird chews wax.

gavin
12-03-2011, 10:06 PM
:p

I thought that someone would try them.

I can't believe that I went along with the suggestion that they exited the rear end of a blackbird!

kevboab
12-03-2011, 10:14 PM
I'll sleep better tonight now. I still cant picture blackbirds throwing pellets like that out though.

Jon
14-03-2011, 02:59 PM
Surprised noone has posted this yet!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lorVUJAp8LU

HensandBees
15-03-2011, 11:28 PM
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gavin
18-03-2011, 09:00 AM
Hi Folks



I can't believe that I went along with the suggestion that they exited the rear end of a blackbird!

Well, you deserve some clarification. I was wrong. They *do* pass right through the bird from one end to the other, exiting in a rather strained fashion. I'm thinking of contacting the RSPB to set up a hide for visitors! Additional detail just in includes the fact that there is a hen blackbird right now shovelling wax down its neck from a barrel of crushed cappings from their wax press.

I thought that I should bring this to you right away, early in the morning so that Kev can assimilate it before the time for nightmares later.

G.

Jimbo
18-03-2011, 10:40 AM
Do you think the blackbird thinks it is a wax bill or even a wax wing!

kevboab
18-03-2011, 08:01 PM
:-D Very good Gavin.

gavin
18-03-2011, 08:10 PM
... and special thanks to Jimbo for the biggest groan of the week. Maybe they're keen to be immortalised at Mme Tussads once their time is over? Ooops .. very groan-worthy too.

Jon
18-03-2011, 09:17 PM
Gavin I hope this photo competition is not based on differing sizes of pellets - the object being to guess which bird ejected the specific pellet.

Number 28 in an ongoing series - the bullfinch pellet!