Wednesday 25 November 2009

Some of The Usual Visitors

It is so hard to find a time when there are birds flocking to the feeders which coincides with reasonable photographic weather conditions. Over the past few days the largest flocks have been of Sparrows, both House and Tree. As there are only a few perches on the seed feeder they normally wait either on the cables above the feeders or in the safety of the dead brambles next door until they spot an opening. There can be up to two dozen of them milling around at the same time.

Sparrows in the Brambles

At one stage I though the Tree Sparrows had stopped visiting but closer observation usually shows two or three mixed in with the House Sparrows. The Tree Sparrows have a distinctive large black spot on each side of the head and smooth chestnut coloured feathers on top of the head.

Tree and House Sparrows

Constant visitors include the Greenfinches and the Goldfinches.

Greenfinches and Goldfinches

First thing this morning I was watching a Magpie. It was bouncing across to the ground feeder, choosing a seed, bouncing to the edge of the lawn and part burying the seed. Then it would repeat the process. It was only making a half hearted attempt at burying the seeds and I think the other birds will soon find them. Normally all the other birds keep well out of the way while the Magpie is feeding but today a Blackbird decided to stand on the weather cover above the video camera and out stare the Magpie - which it succeeded in doing.

Blackbird

A rarer visitor is this Carrion Crow which glided in to see if it was safe to find a bite to eat but in the end decided to try somewhere else.

Carrion Crow

15 comments:

  1. It's good that you get Tree Sparrows in your garden.

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  2. You've captured some great shots there John. A good mix of birds, and something special to have the Tree Sparrows.

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  3. Well up to your usual standard despite the awful weather, thanks for sharing John.

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  4. Your "usual" visitors are fascinating! And I love the stare the blackbird is giving.

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  5. It really is difficult to photograph anything in this weather John but you have done well. What a particularly lovely photo of the Carrion Crow!

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  6. Hello Emma. It is great to see the Tree Sparrows joining in.

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  7. Thank you Keith. It is nice to see the Tree Sparrows arrive in the colder weather.

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  8. Thank you Adrian. We do get the odd bit of sunlight break through though being so low in the sky it gives deep shadows on the feeders for much of the day.

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  9. Thank you Jan. I managed a couple of decent shots of the Crow before it spotted me. Always difficult with the corvids as they are so skittish. It made a change for one to pose for a short while.

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  10. Hello Mick. The yellow ring round the male Blackbird's eye always makes it stand out. They do tend to stand and stare fairly frequently.

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  11. I really miss seeing sparrows in the back garden here in London. They used to be the most common garden bird and they were all cheery little chappies..they have nearly all gone from here now, sad!

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  12. They did Matron. When I lived in various parts of London as a child there were always dozens of Sparrows to be seen.

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  13. Hi John, I was wondering if you would mind if I painted the photograph of your Crow?

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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