Macro on Monday - Guess What + Great Tit Mother Feeds Baby

Congratulations and virtual gold stars for the correct identification of last weeks close up of a strawberry go to Adrian, Matron,Jan, Keith and Glo.



On to the new puzzle photo. This object I photographed quite a while ago and didn't get round to using it. I wonder how you will get on with:

Guess what:


I'm not looking for the name of the full object but what can be seen in the bottom half of the picture.
Clue: Sounds as though it should be speedy.
No prizes. Just for fun.


Mr. Mrs. and the four baby Great Tits are all doing fine. This morning was the first time I could see that one of the babies had it eyes partly open while it was being fed. It took a while for Ma GT to get the insect the right way round for the baby to swallow it.

Great Tit Nest Box + The Brat Pack

For those who missed the live video yesterday, or were unable to connect here is a video clip of some action from yesterday. The babies are now eight days old and you can see how much they have grown in that time by comparing them with the two eggs which didn't hatch. They were that size only a few days ago. Mrs GT spends a lot of time maintaining the nest cup. As the babies grow they need more room so she pushes round the inside with her head. This doesn't look very comfortable for the young ones. Every now and then she brings in more nesting material to build up the depth of the nest cup.

This is much longer than the clips I usually upload.





The Brat Pack (dozens of Starlings and their offspring) continue their noisy invasion of the feeders every morning and stay all day. Once the feeders are empty the juveniles are parked in the apple trees next door while the adults fly off to find food. Many of them can be seen on the cricket field at the end of the lane searching for grubs and worms in the mown grass.

Here is a small section of the group of youngsters waiting for their next meal to arrive. Clicking on the photo will take you to a larger version.

Video Feed Closed

Mrs GT has gone to bed.

Friday at the Flicks - Bathing Birds, Clouds, Song Thrush

Juvenile Starlings are always good for a smile when they bathe. Sometimes they soak themselves so much they can't fly. Several times I have seen three or four in the bird bath going round in circles trying to get in the deepest bit of water. Also amusing is the way Wood Pigeons sit out in the open in pouring rain and lift their wings so that the rain can get at the feathers underneath.



It is quite a while since I last made a time lapse video. One sunny day a couple of weeks ago I set up the 350D, a wide angle lens and my home made intervalometer to take a shot every ten seconds. This is the result of just over four hundred individual photos. I forgot that the lens hood would mask the coners of the frame!



Finally a video of a Song Thrush enjoying the remaining rays from the Sun as it reached the horizon. The start of the video is as the recorder saw it. The bird was two houses away from my garden. The second section is a crop I made using Aiseesoft Total Video Converter so the definition suffers somewhat. Also heard in the background are a couple of Blackbirds and a Wood Pigeon.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Great Tits - Ma Knows Best

I had to laugh today as Pa Great Tit attempted to feed an insect to his babies and Ma Great Tit was determined that she knew which baby needed feeding next.



How the babies are growing. Only five days ago they were the same size as the two eggs which haven't hatched. I wonder when they will open their eyes.

Song Thrush

This morning's video feed from the Great Tit nest box was reasonably successful. Once again some people get straight on to the video stream and others seem to have a problem. I don't know enough about the finer workings of the system to work out why as yet. If you do have a problem it may help if you refresh the page after a few seconds to give the system a kick start.

A couple of days ago a Song Thrush rested a while on my fence and stayed long enough for a few shots. It did start to sing but even though I tried to set up the video camera inside the partially closed door as soon as I hit the record button the bird flew away.



All being well I do have some video taken several days ago when a Song Thrush was singing so, with luck, that will be available on Friday.

Linnet + Great Tit

While waiting for the microwave to strut its stuff I noticed a pair of birds land on the lawn. One, I assume the male, took off again almost immediately and all I got was a glimpse of some red. The female stayed for a couple of minutes helping herself to the seeds from a dandelion.





Having scoured my few bird books I am left with two possibilities. My favoured one is a Linnet with a slight possibility of it being a Twite but I think the red noticed on the male will probably cut that one out of the list.


My grateful thanks to Roy for identifying it as a female Linnet - a first for my garden.


As an extra - here is Papa (I think) Great Tit waiting for me to go away so he can take a meal to his babies in the nest box.