Kitty Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Yesterday, where I live in the Medoc, I witnessed thousands of starlings flocking in fields ready for their journey south. What a noise they made. I clapped my hands and up they flew, an enormous black cloud, wave upon wave, of birds. I had my four children with me, which made the experience more exciting.Then this afternoon, at dusk, the sky was full of V-shaped formations of noisy geese, flying south (to Africa?). With my 9 year-old son, we lost count of how many hundreds there were. (EDIT: now told that the geese that I thought I saw were in fact cranes.)What do these birds talk about when flying up there? Why are they so noisy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mme poivre Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Hi CathyWhat a wonderful experience for your children, mine had to be content with watching fly away home yesterday[:D]Judith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Cathy ....The squadron leaders are instructing them to pull their formations in tighter.....plus the comments like "Does anybody know where we are going ? .... who is in charge...? and who decided to take us this way ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 It's cold up here ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I suspect that your Geese may have been Cranes.http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1408988/ShowPost.aspxChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krusty Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 [quote user="Frederick"] Cathy ....The squadron leaders are instructing them to pull their formations in tighter.....plus the comments like "Does anybody know where we are going ? .... who is in charge...? and who decided to take us this way ? [/quote]And of course when they passed me they said "look there`s Krusty`s house" [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Thanks Chris. It was dusk and they were so high up that I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I wouldn't have noticed but they made such a racket up there. Over the space of about an hour, there were at least 15 "V" formations and one that wasn't in a "V" but a very, very long diagonal line.Do they stop at night or do they carry on flying?How can there be enough food for all of them, when they would need so much to make such a long journey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 cranes make a very distinctive noise. The latin name for them is Grus Grus (Grue...funnily enough is what the french word for a crane is). When you hear them flying you can understand where they got their name from (to me anyway) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babcock Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 I don't think that starlings migrate.They mill about the Runcorn bridge in their thousands. They seem to like to group together to roost. I believe that in Dublin they make the trees look black with their numbers. Geese tend to chatter all the time while flying in formation and swans sound as if they need oiling as their wingbeats make a very odd noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 They can and often do fly all night, but you probably aren't aware of the fact that there is a large area just to the south of Bordeaux where they congregate, many will spend the winter there, so it is more than likely that many, if not all of the cranes that you saw will have touched down either there or a bit further south in Aquitaine.(Oh, and I'm sure that it was Cranes that you saw.[:D])Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 ChrisThank you so much. This is very exciting. I have told my 9 year old son (who was with me at the time) and we have been looking on the internet for pictures of cranes.I have changed the title of the thread.Do you know where exactly they congregate south of Bordeaux? I was thinking of paying a visit as we have only just north of Bordeaux (on the coast). They were flying due south from us, presumably following the coastline.Where do they live in the summer?As for the starlings, we do not usually see so many of them around here in such huge numbers and so I just assumed that they were gathering together to fly south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Well, if I hadn't read this topic, I would have said I saw the geese flying south the day before yesterday eastern Maine et Loire). Three "V" formations and a diagonal. I heard the sound from inside the house and dashed out. Yes, it does sound like "grue grue".How many years have I been looking out for the "geese"??? It doesn't bear thinking about ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 We won't hold that against you, Callie!If it's fess-up time, then I have to admit that I was querying whether they were geese until Chris pp put me right and posted a picture of cranes so that I could identify them![:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 [IMG]http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q73/unautremonde/Cranes-identification.jpg[/IMG]Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 That's brilliant, Chris. yes, my geese were definitely cranes ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 http://www.aquitaine.ecologie.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=142or this may be more interesting.http://lpoaquitaine.org/IMG/pdf/Grues_2009.pdfChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventodue Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Starlings are what is known as 'partial migrants', meaning that the resident population is increased at a certain times of the year by birds migrating from elsewhere.In this case - Starlings + Western Europe - this means winter and the birds come from Eastern and Northern Europe.Go here for more info: http://w3.rennes.inra.fr/etourneau/fiche/biologie_etourneau.htmHTHCraig in 34 where the starlings have arrived to raid any grapes left on the vines ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 ""Starlings are what is known as 'partial migrants', meaning that the resident population is increased at a certain times of the year by birds migrating from elsewhere.""That could be one way of describing the situation but I don't think that it really tells the whole story.[;-)]Partial migration is normally, (as far as I understand it), defined as.... "A bird, (or other species), where some individuals remain as resident where they are, but others migrate over varying distances"Cranes and Hen Harriers are other good examples, although in the case of Cranes it would only involve small numbers that remain in situ, the others have what I would describe as a "staggered partial migration"What do you reckon?Back later, have a trip organised for this afternoon.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 22, 2008 Author Share Posted November 22, 2008 Thanks for the map, Chris. One of the reserves is just a hop and a skip from me, so I'm going to visit it.Ventodue - welcome to the Forum. The starlings eating the leftover grapes makes sense. Where I saw them flocking was in fields next to vast vineyards, with plenty of wizzened (is that how you spell the word) grapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Seems they like to holiday in Rome, much to the chagrin of the Romanshttp://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/20070422_BIRDS_FEATURE/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Wonderful.[:D]Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventodue Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 [quote user="chris pp"]"That could be one way of describing the situation but I don't think that it really tells the whole story.[;-)]Partial migration is normally, (as far as I understand it), defined as.... "A bird, (or other species), where some individuals remain as resident where they are, but others migrate over varying distances"[/quote]Hi Chris,Yes, you're right, this is the classic definition of a partial migration, certainly when applied to a population. However, when applied to a species, such as in this case, I'm quite happy to use it, not least 'cos I'm not sure there is a term to describe the phenomonen where a resident population is increased by a seasonal influx of migratory indviduals ...??But, then again, it's been a while since I did my ecology and I confess, I haven't really kept up ("Population Ecology: A Unified Study of Animals and Plants.", Michael Begon & Martin Mortimer - do you remember that?!)CheersCraig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odile Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 you lucky people- I do hope to see a flock of cranes one day. but not likely in East Leics or the Jura!Now as a foreigner in the UK I've made plenty of very embarrassing mistakes in English - one of them was to ask at Rutland Water bird reserve what the difference is between a Cormorant and a shag. You can guess the answer I got!Hmmm. but honestly Chris, what is the difference in French please. Un cormoran et un ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 European Shag.http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/cormoran.huppe.html("Population Ecology: A Unified Study of Animals and Plants.", Michael Begon & Martin Mortimer - do you remember that?!)Not a work that I've ever had the pleasure of and I'm not likely to now that I've seen the price.[:(] anyway, any books that I do splash out on these days are French. Good to have you on board Craig, please keep posting.[:D]Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krusty Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Another flock of about 30 cranes heading south just went over at 12.30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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