Saturday 27 February 2010

Heavy Rain is Good News for Some

A regular occurrence here. Heavy rain starts to flood the back lawn. This forces many worms to the surface. Once the water starts to drain or evaporate the Blackbirds go foraging as this one did for breakfast this morning. A quick paddle, grab a worm and take it somewhere drier to wipe it clean. Another silent video.

6 comments:

  1. No stamping feet required here. Wonder why they wipe them on the ground?

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  2. Hello John, he was very methodical about it, it is surprising how much there is to learn about their behaviour when we really stop and take notice.

    Hope you are not too troubled by the rain today, it was torrential here yesterday evening but just rather dull today, so far.

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  3. Hello Adrian. The confined the foot stamping to the drier parts of the lawn, and then it was very gentle. I also wonder why they wipe their live food. I tried Googling but all I found was the idea that they may wipe mucus off slugs but no mention of worms.

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  4. Hello Jan. It is fascinating watching different behaviour patterns and wondering whether they learn it from their parents or whether it is instinctive.

    It has rained steadily most of the day but not too heavily, just annoyingly persistent. At least the last lot had drained from the lawn but it is looking lake like again now.

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  5. That's lovely to watch! they chop them up into manageable sizes, tenderize them by bashing them against concrete, then wipe their beaks clean on the grass afterwards. That beak cleaning always strikes me as comical, I can imagine them wiping their beaks clean with a table napkin if they had one!

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  6. Hello Matron. I really is amazing how quickly young birds learn all the techniques they need to feed themselves. Maybe the Birdy Bistro should provide a box of tissues for the birds to wipe their beaks ;)

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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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