Brrrrrrrr!

There is a definite wintry chill in the air now! Judging by how busy the feeders are I would say the birds are feeling it too! Its been non-stop activity all weekend. I'm thinking of buying extra feeders to cope with them all!

The Chaffinches have now taken to clinging onto the peanut feeder which isn't pleasing the various Coal/Blue/Great Tits at all.

So far over the weekend the sunflower seed feeder (which slots on top of the pole) has been found on the ground twice! I found out why this morning when I watched a Rook trying to eat the seeds from the small portholes then fly off with such vigour that the thing dropped to the floor - I didn't even know Rooks ate sunflower seeds!

Also had 2 Jackdaws clinging clumsily on to the fat ball feeder & the peanut holder this morning, whilst the smaller birds watched from the sidelines, almost as though they were willing the Jackdaws to fall off!

The Long Tailed Tits are becoming regular visitors now (which I'm very happy about!), and there were 2 Greenfinches in the ferns earlier today. I even spotted the Bullfinch picking the last of the berries - this one was definitely a male judging by the bright red front!

No photos today, unfortunately, but hopefully will post a short video later in the week showing all of this activity (if I can work out how to use the thing!)

Corvids are Cool!

Today is a definite duvet day, given the terrible weather outside!

So I thought I would use this as an excuse to post about my favourite family of birds - the Corvids. Although I love all birds, there is something extra appealing about corvids, they have a character about them that makes me smile every time I watch them!

When it's blowing a gale outside, the Rooks & Jackdaws near our house all seem to 'play' in the sky & have way too much fun! I love the way the Rooks in town strut their stuff and don't move out of the way - they even look at you as though to say "go on then, I dare you!"

Whilst I go on about their cheeky character, I also admire their cleverness - scientists have run series of tests which demonstrate sequential tool-use, and then there's the Crows in Japan that drop nuts from a height onto the road and wait for the traffic to break open the shells, they've even learnt to do this on pedestrian crossings so when the lights change it's safe for them to retrieve the food!

I always have to go back to their cheeky side though, and the link below from You Tube shows an advert which has their character down to a tee........ something to make you smile on a dull, wet day ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqKS-hkhhh4

Magpies

I love Magpies, I think they are one of our most beautiful and charasmatic birds. I don't believe in any of that superstitious twoddle and think they get a lot of bad press (undeservedly)!
Yes, they may take chicks but that's nature, they have their own young to feed too - it's not as though they're like cats (don't get me started on them!).
I think they are quite comical birds when you watch them hop around, they're kind of like the "geezers" of the bird world!

Their irredescent feathers are gorgeous especially when the sunlight catches them just right. I had 5 in my garden today, all chasing each other round & "playing", until a Rook came down and told them where to go!

(The photos a bit blurry, I'm afraid)