Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live.

SeanBM
I don't understand what kind of information you expected? This is common "dzięcioł". Nothing special about this bird.

Here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picidae

Polish for headbanger...?

Polish for woodpecker I think

Not really - in the word "dzięcioł" there is nothing about head or banging. :-)
Dzięcioł is dzięcioł. You can spot it in the middle of the city. Nothing special about it. Photos of birds like "głuszec" or "dudek" - that would be something!

By the way - photos of "deer" you can see in this thread are more like "sarna". Sarna is quite common. Big rabbit on the long legs. ;-) I remember that bunch of sarna on the main square of my hometown were common issue in the summer time. From time to time we've got a families (around 10 pct) standing in the middle of the road blocking the traffic. (that's was funny. They pretended to "not give a damn" to the city environment, and ignored any attempt to remove them from the road. Wild boar were worse - they can be pretty aggressive.) Anyway - "deer" is a "jeleń" in Polish. Much bigger and more decent species.

Either do I :)

I am a city boy from another country and I know little to nothing about about Polish wildlife, so any information is appreciated, thanks.


Perhaps some information on what particular species it is, there is always something interesting if you look deeply enough :)

I think this particular species is a male White-backed Woodpecker (Wiki)


And perhaps not so common either


209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:JYB37h-7k48J:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ White-backed_Woodpecker+leucotos&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pl&client= firefox-a

I also just found this piece of information on our friend, also on this thread, the green woodpecker:


209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:vSvYjNyVzOEJ:birds.poland.pl/didyou /article,Woodpeckers_tongue,id,91302.htm+woodpecker+poland&cd=2&h l=en&ct=clnk&gl=pl&client=firefox-a



Two for Sarna (pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarna), we'll go with that.

it's a Great Spotted Woodpecker

I had looked at that because it is similar but I thought it wasn't for two reasons.
Firstly, it is not spotted but striped.
The White-backed Woodpecker


And secondly


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Spotted_Woodpecker

And it was minus 20 last night and minus 12 today and he was still knocking his head against the frozen tree.

I could be wrong as it does have a large white shoulder patch common to the Great Spotted Woodpecker but again it doesn't have a black line zigzagging from the shoulder halfway across the breast nor back to the nape, which is the distinguishing feature of the Great Spotted Woodpecker but it is very difficult to see on the photos.

Here are the last of the photos I have of him, they are terrible but hopefully they will give more information as to the identity of this headbanger.

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I am starting to think you are correct, as it is too difficult to see a black line zigzagging from the shoulder halfway across the breast and back to the nape.

It has a white patch on its shoulder and does not have a white lower back but a black one.

Edit*
Yes, I am convinced, it must be a Great Spotted Woodpecker as opposed to a White-backed one as it's back is clearly not white :)

Dzięcioł, meaning woodpecker, is very special to birdwatchers, and a woodpecker is not just a woodpecker. It would be equivalent to saying: a falcon is just a falcon. It depends which one you spot, some are rare. Imagine someone seeing an Ivory-billed woodpecker in Northern America and saying that they just saw a...woodpecker. Perhaps, in Poland the distinction is less clear, but in NA a sap-sucker or a flicker, although they look like woodpeckers and fly like them, they are not.

What would be something though, is a picture of an aquatic warbler, or even a glimpse - black belt stuff.

SeanBM

If you have access to that tree, and smear some suet on the bark, your chances of watching and photographing this bird will greatly increase.

I will also put photos of crows on here, although found in abundance all over Europe, I like the way they look, walk and act.

There are very many birds here, surely they do not become interesting only if they are rare?

I will continue to post about the animals here, be they common or not.

And thank you for the suet tip, I will try it :)

I have been seeing lots of pheasant recently.

Pheasant in Polish is 'Bażant'.

There is a very good player that I have not seen before on Wiki, it plays a recording of the sound the bird makes, Common Pheasant.

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These guys have recently taken to hanging out in front of the apartment. Opening the window gives me a quick godlike moment.


pheasant is my favorite game bird :)

The first two photos are of a pheasant and the third one is of a cat.
There has been some debate about what kind of cat it is, I think it is a domestic (if a cat can ever be called domestic) tom cat but my friend was convinced it was a lynx but I will let you decide for yourselves.

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lynx has a short tail and this one does not. Isn't lynx bigger then the domestic cat?

Yes but my friend was convinced that this was a lynx.
I thought it looked like a normal cat because of the ears.
Lynx have those distinguished triangular ears and yes, the small tail is an indicator and then there is the well fed domestic cat.

well, that could have been a wildcat- ŻBIK in Polish. My cat had a marking similar to zbik.

Can anyone tell me what species of bird this is, please?

There is a huge population of birds where I live. Morning times resemble the sounds of a huge city, except the population are all birds.

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redchested macaroon;) aka Blasonicus redicus Polonicus

As robin red breast and blue tit are the only two small birds I know, due to being a city boy with a dirty mind, It looks to me like a mix of the two.

chaffinch. I love birds:) Used to go bird watching in the borders.

I thought you were joking at first, like a chav Finch or somfink :)
Thanks.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaffinch#Behaviour

I love this function on Wiki when you can hear the bird
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Fringilla_coelebs_short.ogg

It is very common in Europe, which to me means it is well evolved for it's surroundings, a survivor.

zięba in Polish:). I am not joking this time.

Hehe, its one of my old secrets that I dont tell people, I like nature and bird watching:)

Best done on a sunny day with a beer on the rynek.

St.George's square in Glasgow...well there are many drunks drinking beer. Though I gave that up a long time ago (It seems long, about 4 months) :D

The looking or the imbibing?

My condolonces, whichever the case might be...

Both, need to think of decent excuse to start again, going to the Scottish Highlands on Friday and on Saturday going to a barn dance. Maybe......just maybe....

If it's a deer you can figure sex but not age.


Walking pattern and an indication of size is crucial.

Depending on species, age traits are very subtle. I do a passable job with Whitetail deer just by having 35 years of experience doing so. (Keep in mind that 6 or 7 years is max you are ever likely to find) The definative way to age a deer is through the wear on the teeth.

Wow, I'm impressed! I have never meet anyone who can do that with competence. Total respect!
I have some experience but not to that point.