Birds, birds and more birds

[nanila]

It's a glorious day in rural Worcestershire, and our feeders are covered in birds. Sighted today were tits (blue, coal, great and long-tailed), chaffinches, a robin and a greater spotted woodpecker. On the ground beneath the feeders were a pair of blackbirds and six uncommonly rotund wood pigeons. Across the canal were redstarts and moorhens.



This little chap continued feeding brazenly on peanuts while I weeded the garden about a metre away.

Is anyone else birdspotting today? What did you see (or hear)?

Comments

[omens]

what a cool little feeder! we have a pack of juncos at our lil tree today <3<3<3

[nanila]

The peanut feeder was a housewarming present! It's the best one we've ever had. The birds really seem to love it.

I miss seeing (and hearing) juncos. They're so vivacious.

[turlough]

Blue tits are so fearless!

At this time of year I usually hear more birds than I see. Both the Blue tits and the Great tits are frenzied singers right now, and so are the Greenfinches. It's a real spring choral, particularly on sunny days like today :-)

[nanila]

They wait until the last possible second to leave the feeders when you approach (especially if said feeder contains fat balls)!

I'm impressed that you can distinguish their calls. I can only recognise a few obvious ones, like the chiff chaff. I need to spend more time browsing the Macaulay Library.

[spiralsheep]

Lovely back-lighting of the blue tit in your photo.

I spent an urban day today so I saw: swans, seagulls, pigeons, and jackdaws. They were all associating in very obvious pairs, with the exception of the swans (ironically, bearing in mind their reputation for mating for "life").

[nanila]

Thank you!

A group of swans lives a few locks down from us on the canal. They're shameless opportunists. Whenever someone walks by on the towpath, they fluff out their wings into those attractive curved shapes and parade up and down, angling for tidbits.

[weaverbird]

That's a great shot of your brazen little bird! He reminds me of our chickadees.

It's still winter here, but the cardinals are early nesters and I heard his territory song today. The crows and the Canada geese are making their usual late winter racket, too.

[nanila]

Thank you! Oh, I miss seeing chickadees, and their distinctive little call. My parents always get loads of them on their feeders in springtime.

Ooh, is the cardinal in your icon one of your visitors? A handsome specimen!

[haruka]

I wish we could get titmice here, but I adore our chickadees. :) I have several feeders, so we have them here every day, usually with a mixture of red and white breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, juncos, redpolls, and a squirrel that insists on climbing into my 'squirrel-proof' feeder.

[nanila]

Ah, so many North American birds that I miss! And I've never owned a squirrel-proof feeder that couldn't be defeated by one of those determined grey fluffy-tailed contortionists.

[lark_ascends]

Awesome shot. And a lot of different sorts of birds!!

[nanila]

Thank you! The birds are the most obvious form of wildlife in England. Since so much of the land is cultivated, most of the mammals that you see regularly are livestock or pets. I sometimes miss seeing opossums, skunks, raccoons and deer almost every day like I did in the States.