Mum Says…..

A bit more father son interaction from yesterday and this time it is Blackbirds.

I was watching this bird enjoying a bit of “me time” on the far side of the garden.

He seemed to be enjoying himself, without a care in the world.

Then Junior turned up and it looked for all the world, like he was delivering a message.

The Blackbird listened intently and then he got up and hurried off on some errand.

“Mum says, you are to stop doing whatever it is that you think you are doing and….”

I shall never know.

Raising Sparrows

It has not all been “Doom and Gloom” today. There has been a lot of this sort of thing going on……

We haven’t actually had juvenile House Sparrows yet have we?

Songbirds face a lot of perils in their lives but they just get on with it and they continue to thrive.

The Flight of the Robin

I have spent a good part of today watching the garden birds and they have given me some wonderful  moments which I would like to share with you.

First I need to tell you why I have been watching them. A couple of days ago I saw the Sparrowhawk back in the garden. Today I have been watching him. I think that it is an immature male. I photographed him making a kill and I will post that later. It will be clearly signposted so that you won’t stumble upon it accidentally and will be easy to avoid by using the “Recent Posts” link on the sidebar. I find it a bit distressing and realise that you may not want to see that but it is nature and I consider myself a naturalist. We will talk about it later.

The other birds that I am going to feature are  still going about their business. The Hawk has been about all day and these pictures were taken before and after his visits.

Now I should really have called this post “How Good a Cook I Am!” 🙂 The Robins love my food but they don’t always seem to be able to hang on to the coconut shell and they have to use their wings a lot to stay in place.

Why are the Robins so mad about my tasty cooking? Well it might be because I have run out of mealworms. They do eat sunflower seeds as well and they are not starving.

I could watch and photograph these animals all day, I love them to bits but there are others who need my attention. Clear off little Robin.

And remember… Be careful out there. It is a dangerous world.

Have you seen the price of Mealworms?

Remember our Blackbirds nesting in the tractor?

We haven’t had much on the blog about them because Blackbirds have a very low survival rate, only about 30% of nests go on to produce fledglings. I was not prepared to do anything to add to the difficulties they faced. Forget the photographs I just want healthy birds.

Yesterday I set the camera up to video the tractor so that I could monitor the comings and goings of the parent birds. It didn’t make compulsive viewing so I didn’t blog it. It was just a quick flash of a parent going in or coming out once every couple of minutes but I did make extensive notes:

F in L/Side  1:45

F out R/Side 2:38

That kind of thing. Poor little beggars don’t stand a chance.

Sometimes you can know too much for your own good and sure enough when I lifted the bonnet of that tractor today the nest was empty.

It’s enough to make a grown man cry.

Have you seen the price of mealworms?

Mudeaters

It is not being a very nice day today. It is raining a lot with little bouts of sunshine and rumbling thunder in the distance. It should be perfect for photographing Mudeaters but the combination of a murky sky and the farm dogs is making it very difficult.

I love their feathered feet.

I am surprised that they are still gathering mud but I suppose that nests need constant maintenance.

Go away.I am “Hiding” so that the birds don’t see me.

You are giving the game away.

The Mysterious Goldfinch

“I wear this mask to hide my true identity”

Hmmm…. Well, I think that you are a Goldfinch. Your secret is safe with me.

That’s enough birds for now.

The “Microlight” Blue Tit

The “Family Guy” House Sparrows

The “Still Alive” Adorable Great Tit

The “There’s A New Sheriff In Town,” GSW

Do you feel lucky?

No birds were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Animal Magic

“Just like that”

It’s your destiny

The Swallows have fledged, or at least they are fledging. They are still in the nest today but they have been out and they can fly.

It has taken me a few days watching and all that you get are a couple of short video’s but for me, my understanding and the pleasure that I got from watching them makes a few days just a drop in the ocean. It was time well spent.

Anyway you should be glad that you don’t have to watch the whole twenty hours of video, that I now have to sort and delete from my machine to free up space.

Here are the best bits.

Yesterday morning there were five birds on the nest, there were five birds on the nest and then there were four birds on the nest. I had missed the very first flight and only realised when number five returned to the nest.

This first video starts with the mother calling for them to leave the nest, there is a little comic interlude of the way that they follow flies, their little heads bobbing in unison and in the last bit the second bird to approach the nest is the returning chick. Does he bring food back or do the others just think that he has?

This next video shows them leaving the nest and returning. They spent most of the day fluttering around inside the little alley way that has become their home and by the end of the day they were all settled back on the nest but this is fledging. Today I think that they have ventured outside and seen the blue sky but they still return to the nest.

These birds have made me think a lot about nature as a whole thing and about life and death in the wild. The caterpillars that I am trying to raise are falling to the parasitoid flies that these Swallows depend on for food and survival. The parents have done a really good job of raising them given the wet weather we have been having. I have often looked out in the pouring rain and wondered how they are managing to raise a brood and now this, flight.

I am so in in love and in awe of them and so damned jealous.

I am jealous because they get to eat those delicious crunchy flies, or perhaps because they can raise offspring in a matter of weeks and not the 26 years it usually takes us. Maybe I am jealous of something else altogether…..