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Hobby
Jun 19, 2008 10:57:14 GMT 1
Post by madonplants on Jun 19, 2008 10:57:14 GMT 1
Reading The witch's ant link reminded me to mention, that I saw one of these birds this morning. I haven't seen one of them for a long time. It's a pity I didn't have my camera with me, but I was walking Stephen to his school at the time. They really are like last swifts. That and the buzzard I saw flying above the A14 driving to GWL on Saturday, I'm seeing quite a few BoP recently. Tbh, I'm getting bored of seeing kestrels, but none the less, they are lovely birds. I wonder where the name hobby comes from, for the bird that is?  |
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Hobby
Jun 20, 2008 0:06:09 GMT 1
Post by madonplants on Jun 20, 2008 0:06:09 GMT 1
I've not seen too many, myself, maybe this is my third one. Just think big swift, different tail and luckily for me the sun was in the right direction, so I got a glance at it's markings. I felt something was up this morning, as the bit we were walking along, where there is a hedge, there are usually lots of sparrows flying around. There were none this morning, which I why I looked upwards. What a nice surprise I got, eh?  I found this interesting fact though... A range of board games was also once going to be named "Hobby", but the inventor, Peter Adolph, was refused permission by the Patent Office. The inventor, who was also a birdwatcher, simply used the scientific name of the Hobby and called the board game Subbuteo.
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Hobby
Jun 20, 2008 11:09:15 GMT 1
Post by debbiem on Jun 20, 2008 11:09:15 GMT 1
In the link that The witch posted above it says that it captures birds on the wing, and that barnowls and housemartins have a distinctive 'hobby' alarm call. Maybe that's where the name comes from? I've looked the word up in the dictionary and hobby is also the word for an early type of velocipede - maybe the speed of the hobby in flight had it named after the velocipede?
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Hobby
Jun 20, 2008 13:31:40 GMT 1
Post by debidoos on Jun 20, 2008 13:31:40 GMT 1
I wonder if that was what my SIL had in her garden this morning.  She discribed a pair of birds similar in her garden. |
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Hobby
Jun 20, 2008 13:50:03 GMT 1
Post by madonplants on Jun 20, 2008 13:50:03 GMT 1
I wonder if that was what my SIL had in her garden this morning. She discribed a pair of birds similar in her garden. What sort of garden is it? They don't come into gardens usually. Where mine was, is close to a large park, River Great Ouse and woodland, which is right up it's street. Just had a look again for it's name and found this article. www.raptorfoundation.org.uk/hobby.html It is thought that the English name may be derived from the Old Dutch "hobben", meaning to move up & down or side to side (cf. Hobby-horse), possibly due to its acrobatic flying ability. |
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Hobby
Jun 20, 2008 13:59:58 GMT 1
Post by debidoos on Jun 20, 2008 13:59:58 GMT 1
She lives not far from a park which has a bit of woodlands and a lake. If they are looking to nest, i suppose they could look a bit further afield.
It may not be that bird, I'll have to find our bird book for her to look through.
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