Random Mix for WBW.

For this weeks edition of Wild Bird Wednesday a few random images taken in the garden and elsewhere.

Male House Sparrow staking his claim above the feeder.

Juvenile House Sparrow getting to grips with the food larder.

Starling ... probably wondering why the feeder is empty!

The ultimate 'shake down'.

Swallow .. checking out the wind direction.

A young Grey Heron doing what it does best ... standing very still.

And finally ... it's time to fly away!  FAB.

Collared Foreigners.

A few wet periods this past week so I had to content myself with shooting some of my regular garden visitors through the window!

Until the mid 1900's the [Eurasian] Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) was a rarity in the UK. An inexplicable westward surge brought this delicate dusty grey Dove, which originates from the Indian subcontinent, to Britain from Asia. Breeding in the UK was first recorded in Norfolk in 1955 and since then their numbers have sky-rocketed to make them one of our top 10 most common garden birds.

From just four birds known to be present in 1955 the population exploded to a conservative estimate of 15,000 to 25,000 pairs in 1970 [Hudson 1972] and to around 990,000 pairs in 2009. There is little evidence to explain the drivers behind this increase but it appears this species has been able to fill an empty niche and exploit the intermittent seed resources available in gardens and may also have benefited from our milder winters. [Source: BTO birdtrends].

"Mmmm .... I wonder how long that Starling is going to hog the feeder?"

 "Perhaps if we ignore him, he'll eventually go away".

"I think the coast is now clear".

This species was also unknown in North America until the 1970's. Following its introduction to the Bahamas it spread to mainland Florida in the early 1980s, and in the following decades throughout the southeastern United States. Since 2000, Eurasian Collared Doves have spread all over the United States and southern Canada, and more recently have invaded Mexico, Belize, and parts of Costa Rica. So far, to my knowledge,  research has not indicated that its range expansion has had any impact on the native avifauna. [Source: ebird.org]   FAB.

Linking to I'D-Rather-B-Birdin'  and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Window Watching.

Misty days plus snow and ice around my local patch has meant that very little wildlife has shown itself for any photos. Despite the cold weather I was delighted to catch brief views of two Goldcrests busily feeding within the woodland, so hopefully they will survive. The Corvids (Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies and Jays tend to dominate the landscape at the moment. Blackbird, Song Thrush, Wren, Robin and Dunnock scour under the hedgerows for food. Flitting through the treetops were Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Goldfinch, plus Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpeckers calling as they move from bough to bough.

Over recent days most of my wildlife watching has been through the windows (which need cleaning!) so here are a few images of the regular visitors to the feeders.

 Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon, Starling and a female Chaffinch which is very rarely seen in the garden.

 Collared Doves waiting patiently.

 House Sparrows and Blue Tit.

 Dunnock.

 Ring-necked Parakeets - the ultimate acrobats.

Grey Squirrel - The opportunistic seed scrounger.    FAB.

Window Watching in the Rain again!

Another dismal dreary day with constant rain showers has kept me indoors today. While catching up with the action at the Winter Olympics (Vancover 2010) I kept half an eye open for any activity through the window.

Robin enjoying the coconut fat feeder.

Collared Dove waiting for a friend.

House Sparrow takes a brief rest from feeding.

Greenfinch and House Sparrows were the main visitors plus an ocassional drop in by a single Starling, Blackbird, two Blue Tits and one of the female Blackcaps. At one stage a pair of Magpies patrolled around the bottom of the garden pushing the smaller birds high into one of the nearby trees but they soon resumed their feeding activities once the corvids moved on to create havoc elsewhere. 

Later this afternoon while catching up on some reading my peripheral vision indicated that a larger shape had just landed and I turned around to find a male SPARROWHAWK had alighted on the perch above the Hibiscus. (Another garden tick for 2010.)  As you can imagine everything else had very promptly disappeared into cover. The hawk sat perfectly still with his deadly tallons gripping the perch and just turned his head in every possible direction with those fearsome eyes searching for any possible movement.

It was difficult to contain my excitement but as I clicked away with the camera I called out to loudly for Anita to come and see him. He must have heard me call her name as he stared directly at me for a brief moment before resuming his search for a possible meal.

He hung around for what seemed ages but in reality was only a few minutes before moving up on top of the ivy that covers the clothes post to make a further search of the garden before flying off to perch again for a minute or two in a nearby tree.

Once I have sorted through the rest of the shots I hope to find a few better pictures of this accipior to share with you.  FAB.

Window Watching in January.

Much of this months garden watching has been done through the window so here are a few of my regular daily visitors.

Pair of Starlings, probably up to no good!

This one was game to try anything!

House Sparrow (female) keeping watch.

Greenfinch (female) waiting her turn.

Goldfinch

Just a lazy Collared Dove

Ring-necked Parakeet playing hide and seek!

Blue Tit checking who else might be around.

Another few hours spent in the garden today; more pruning and moving pots around but hoping to get out somewhere locally tomorrow if the weather behaves.    FAB.

Waiting and watching!

Stayed at home waiting patiently for a parcel to turn up, but despite receing an e-mail to say it should be here it never materialised so hopefully it will be delivered tomorrow. Fewer overall numbers of visitors to the garden today but we did have views of Mr. Blackcap again and at one stage there were also two female Blackcaps. The light was dreadful and shooting through closed double-glazed windows is far from ideal but if I stepped outside most species will fly away and it was cold so I had to make do with the best of a dismal batch of pics for this post.

Male Blackcap

Mrs. Blackcap checking out the fruit and seeds.

One of the female Blackcaps staked out a claim to a feeder hanging in the Hawthorn again today and it was interesting to see her avidly chasing off both the Blue and Great Tits when they dropped in to feed. She was not fazed at all by the attentions of the Greenfinches who constantly squabble for the best perch.

The other female Blackcap (brown cap) comes closer for a snack.

Collared Dove surveying the surroundings.

Male 'Spadgers' keeping a wary look out.

Distant Redwing makes a very brief stopover.

 Robin finds the tin with the stale crumbs and stakes a claim.

No new species visited today but I did catch a glimpse of an accipitor disappearing over the rooftop late this afternoon carring a meal in it's tallons and flapping madly to keep itself in the air!   FAB.

Garden Sightings

Another fairly cold and lazy day for The Early Birder yesterday although I did spend some time watching the frantic feeding activity in the garden but from the inside! Mr Blackcap returned several times and we also had brief views of MRS Blackcap but neither came close enough for decent pictures. Greenfinches and the House Sparrows generally hogged the feeders but allowed visits by Blue, Geat and a Coal Tit. A few Starlings, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and two Robins together with the Collared Doves also made regular forays throughout the garden. A total surpise was a visit from a REDWING (a garden first as far as I can recall) and then a hour later 8 Redwing perched briefly but carried on their journey to wherever. A Carrion Crow and the usual Magpies also dropped in to liven up proceedings.

House Sparrow.

Spotty Starling taking up centre stage.

Mixture of todays visitors.

Robin Redbreast.

Resting Collared Dove.

This was the only sign of sun that I saw today!    FAB

Forecasted Snow Arrives.

The forecast on Tuesday was for heavy snow overnight. Well it started late yesterday evening and just before midnight the local Council were gritting the roads and also the pavements in our road well into the early hours of this morning.

This was the view over the roof tops this morning...just 4 inches but many other locations suffered much more severely bringing services and transport to a halt.

Early am visitors to the feeders included this Collared Dove plus the usual Blue Tits, Coal Tit, Starlings, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnock, Greenfinches, House Sparrows and Magpies. New garden ticks for this year were a Song Thrush (not seen for at least 2 years), Carrion Crow and fly-overs by Black-headed Gulls and a single Grey Heron presumably looking for an unfrozen pond somewhere.

Later on a Parakeet joined in the feeding frenzy!

As the day wore on the temperature just crept above freezing and some of the snow began to melt.

This was the scene across the rooftops later this afternoon as the flurries continued and we now wait for the next installment and the likelihood of very icy conditions tomorrow morning.     FAB