Rook Raids Seed Feeder

Several times I found the lid on the seed feeder had been opened. It shouldn't have been gusty winds as it has a magnetic catch. I thought it may have been a squirrel though I haven't seen one in the garden for over a year. This morning I decided to check the camera recordings .....



I should have known that a corvid would have the intelligence to work out how to open the lid - as you can see with this Rook.

A Few Birds

From time to time I have spotted a Song Thrush on the lawn, especially while the Blackbirds were gathering food for their younsters.



The Blackbirds had a nest in the garden hedge. Great to see two youngster have fledged and spend some time each day feeding on the seed scattered by the Starlings. For the first few days the Male Blackbird stayed near them, watching, as though to keep them from harm.



Finally - when I videoed the Rooks at the feeders I also managed to take a still which gives an idea of the wing span.



I now have three or four Rooks coming to the feeders every day. I am having to think of a way of making the feeder which holds the suet logs more large beak proof. The Rooks, with their large heavy beaks, keep hacking at the logs to break them up so they can extract the pieces and fly off with them.

Corvid Visitors

I sometimes see a Jackdaw pay a fleeting visit to the garden. A few days ago I spotted a couple of them on the lawn:



After a short while they were joined by a Rook.



Recently a Rook has been making early morning visits to the bird feeders.



It usually manages to extract a suet ball or suet log which it enjoys on the ground.



This morning I spotted a Rook which seemed to be self identifying as a Blue Tit as it clung on the feeders to get its share of what was on offer. Fortunately the camera which monitors the feeders caught the action:



I sometimes think they expend as much energy trying to feed as they get from what they manage to eat.

Magpie versus Rook at the Feeders

A longish video clip today. About 4 and a half minutes. The Magpie is used to visiting my bird feeders and having them all to itself. Yesterday a Rook decided to sample the free food on offer. I was fascinated watching the Magpie patiently work out how to safely shoo the Rook away.



As with the Wood Pigeon a few days ago the main method seems to be an attack from behind.

Rook balancing Act

It is always fascinating to watch any of the corvids find ways to get at any food. This Rook was doing a grand job with its high wire balancing act.

Determined Rook

A small group of Rooks have become regular morning visitors to my bird feeders.









They usually end up unhooking the coconut feeders but I've not managed to video that as yet.

Rook

After yesterday's fleeting visit from Storm Bella so far today it has been brilliant Sunshine. No discernible damage hereabouts from the storm and far less rain than I expected with my weather station only recording about 10mm. I was woken up about 2 a.m. by something clattering outside. Got out of bed and saw it was the door on the gas meter box flapping in the gusts. I quickly dressed and went out to close and secure it before it was torn off and I ended up with a bill for a replacement.

To brighten up the morning even more I spotted this Rook on top of the bird feeder pole.





Penny is a bit better now she has had her medication increased. Also her diet has been changed to include food formulated for lessening renal problems. Still 'leaking' but not so frequently and able to ask more often to go in the garden. In fact I was woken at 6 a.m. by her barking in my ear to wake me up and let her out.

Rook at the Birdfeeders

A hurried bit of video taken in the gloom this morning when a Rook visited the birdfeeders.



At least it didn't try to unhook the feeder.

Rook

It has been some time since I last saw a Rook visit the bird feeders. This morning one was trying to look innocent when he saw me watching as it attempted to get near the suet ball feeder.

Intelligent Rook

I was reading The Weaver of Grass' blog entry about watching Rooks and it reminded me of this bit of video I took eight years ago.



Why struggle to get at the suet ball when a little effort makes the job a lot easier in the long run. A few days later I noticed all the feeders in a neighbour's front garden were on the floor. I guess it was putting its new skill to good use.

Attacked from Above and Below

This large suet log has been hanging in the garden for weeks without any takers.

 

All of a sudden, now there are hungry youngsters to feed, it is being attacked from above and below.

As well as the inevitable Starlings there has been the occasional visit from a Rook to attack it from above:



A bit of jittery video, hand held looking through the kitchen window which was in full sunlight:



The attack from below is from a Blackbird:

 

He flies straight up, grabs a beak full and drops down again.



I have watched Blackbirds use the same tactic to grab the berries from ivy hedges when there is no place for them to land on the plant.

Friday at the Flicks - Feed Me + Intelligent Rook

It has been great watching many different sets of fledglings arrive in the garden over the past few weeks - especially when they are being fed by the parents. Here is a fledgling House Sparrow and Mama on the bird table:




Yesterday, out of the blue, came a mail request from the BTO to ask if they could use one of my videos for a garden rook behaviour survey they will be running in July. It was taken some years ago when my video equipment wasn't as good as the present gear and the copy on Flickr was poor. I have re-worked it in wide screen and uploaded a new copy to YouTube:



At that time several people locally were finding their seed feeders on the floor every day and I was fortunate to catch one of the culprits in the act. Corvids are an an amazingly intelligent set of birds.

Friday at the Flicks - Rook, Long Tailed Tit, Hedgehog

Once again the Rooks invaded the bird feeders. They particularly like the suet food and this one was having a great time attacking one feeder. Not shown are two other Rooks which were on the ground grabbing all the bits which were falling down. (No sound track)



A rare, fleeting visitor to my garden is the Long Tailed Tit. Though they normally move around in groups only one or two occasionally visit my feeders.



Once again the Hedgehog visited last night. Though this is about the time for them to wake from their Winter hibernation the weather this year is against them. Where the temperature would normally be in double figures, recently it has rarely reached 5C and this week it is struggling to get much above 0C and is likely to stay that way until next month. It will be difficult for them to find enough of their natural food which includes slugs and beetles.



I am putting out crushed, unsalted peanuts as a source of protein. The hogs need to find a reasonable amount of food quickly to make up for the weight lost while they were hibernating. Also available is a saucer of water - no milk as that is bad for Hedgehogs. I could put out tinned cat or dog food but that gets stolen by the roaming cats which are prowling around every night. I am not in to feeding other people's cats which kill birds, dig up my flowers and leave their mess for me to find when I am weeding. I might try putting a bit of tinned meat in the Hedgehog house where cats can't get at it.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you and do give it a helping hand when needed.

The Case of the Disappearing Suet

The half coconuts I have which are filled with suet had been lasting for weeks as the birds gradually helped themselves. Occasionally the filling would fall out of one after it had shrunk during a particularly cold night. A couple of mornings ago I found two were empty where they had been half full the previous day. No sign of any fallen fillings on the ground. When I replaced them with a full coconut half I soon found out what was happening.

It doesn't take long for a large Rook beak to gobble it all up in a very short time:



An old coconut I have reused is one with only a quarter opening which was originally filled with suet. Now it is empty it is useful as a container for seed and suet treats:



Sometimes birds will spend a while trying to work out how to get at the food:



All in all Birdy Bistro Mk2 is very popular, especially with the cold temperatures hereabouts.

Friday at the Flicks - Squirrel eats Seeds, Rook Wants Peanuts

As well as invading the bird table a local Grey Squirrel decided to help itself to some seeds from one of the bird feeders:



This Rook spent over four minutes trying to get at the peanuts in the feeder. Fortunately the various curves on the bracket fooled it. At one stage it looks as though it was attempting to remove the top from the feeder:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you wherever you may be.

Friday at the Flicks - Blue Tit + Rooks

It's not often I get a long clear view of a Blue Tit at the Birdy Bistro. More often than not they zoom in, grab a bite and zoom off again so I was really pleased to get this piece of video:



In the following sequence a Rook is helping itself to bread. It flies off to a nearby tree to eat. After a while a second Rook joins it and the first feeds some of the bread to the second and then changes places. This sharing of food is common with Rooks which are very social birds:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.


Word Verification Update
It looks as though the powers that be at Blogger HQ have taken some note of the outcry against the new word verification system. Last night I hit three bloggs still using it but on each the letters were clearer and with no sight of the negative block in the middle of one word. I managed all three first time.

Friday at the Flicks - Rook - Pheasant - Tree Sparrows - Bug

Although they have been mainly regulars, for once it has been a good week for shooting video of some of my garden visitors. First the lone Rook which perched for a while on top of the bird table. From its general looks I got the impression it was one of last year's brood though I could be wrong. (No sound on this clip)



The Cock Pheasant continues to visit. This was the first time I had seen it drink. It is using my 'nursery' pool which I use to put the frog spawn in until it has developed enough to stand a chance of surviving the fish in the main pond. After drinking it had a quick preen and then wandered across to see what seed had been spilt from one of the feeders.



The Tree Sparrows continue to visit the garden.



We have finally reached some cold weather - nowhere as bad here as the media would have people believe. To see some of the headlines you would think the whole country was covered by Arctic conditions. In face here it dipped below 0C, to -4.5C, last night. First time for ages.  Anyway, like last Winter, there has been an explosion in the number of Blackbirds visiting the garden. Thursday morning I counted fifteen milling about looking for scattered seed.

Finally a bit of experimental video. A few days ago there was a small bug / beetle / weevil / whatever on my kitchen windowsill. It had been there, upside down, for a couple of days and I assumed it was dead. I decided to photograph it before disposing of it but to my surprise, once under the iPhone4 fitted with the cheap microscope (see HERE) I could see its legs were moving. This was a chance for a bit of macro video, first while it was upside down and then to try and follow it when I put it the right way up. The app used was Camera+ which I zoomed in a bit. The resulting files were zoomed in Corel Video Studio Pro 4. The bug was on my Union Flag tea towel and each weave is about 1mm wide so the bug was a little over 4mm long. Needless to say I was delighted with the result which is pretty clear even on full screen.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you, no matter where you are or what the weather.

Crafty Corvid

Last year there was one particular Rook which could unhook the fat ball feeder so it was easier to get at the contents on the ground. Today I spotted this one trying the same thing though it couldn't quite work out how to get past the metal loop which doubles back on itself.

Wings on Wednesday - Rook

Up to a few months ago I used to have regular visits from Rooks  (Corvus frugilegus) so I was quite surprised when I spotted this lone one sat on top of the bird table. At first I though it may have been injured as it wasn't moving much but I guess it was just keeping warm in the cold breeze. They don't usually stay for long and normally beat a hasty retreat if they see me through the kitchen window. It was unusual to see a lone one as Rooks are gregarious birds and normally arrive two or more at a time. Anyway this one stayed put long enough for me to take some portraits and even long enough to set up the video camera to grab a bit of video for Friday.



They are easy to recognise with their black plumage and large pale beaks which often look gnarled or warty. I think this one would have stayed a lot longer but someone nearby started a chain saw and that was its signal to find somewhere else for a peaceful rest. It won't have had far to fly to its roost as there are at least three Rookeries within a half mile radius of my garden.

On the subject of corvids I just spotted a Magpie approaching the garden which was promptly chased away by a Collared Dove. I can't say I have ever seen a Collared Dove behave aggressively like that before now.

The pictures above were put together after I has watched this YouTube video explaining how to use layers in Photoshop Elements to make a multiple picture.

Early Morning Corvids, Great Tit Nest, Moth

Among the earliest visitors each morning are the corvids. Even though there are two or more visits from hedgehogs each night there is often some food left in the dish. This never goes to waste as there are plenty of feathered visitors up at the crack of dawn.



Mrs Great Tit spends most of her time sitting on her eggs with an occasional visit from her mate.



Yesterday as I was checking the pond for any emerging damsels I spotted a large moth resting on the half logs which surround the edge of the pond.  Probably quite a beauty but with my aversion to moths it sent a shiver down my spine. As yet I haven't got round to identifying it, just making sure there was no way it could find its way indoors.



My thanks to Jan of ShySongbird's Twittering for identifying the moth as Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa).