Aigronne Valley Wildlife pages

Showing posts with label House sparrow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label House sparrow. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 April 2019

A happy Easter surprise...

Happy Easter everyone...
We had a rather nice surprise yesterday... after seven years of feeding the birds here.... a male Great Spotted Woodpecker [Dendrocopos major) Pic Épieche discovered, after around twenty minutes of hesitation and failed attempts.... how to use the bird feeders... well, the fatball feeder.
And he was back this morning... rather a lovely sight... and very interesting to see how delicately it feeds. But I suppose that is down to not having to chisel its way to the grub!

So, here's a picture post.... with captions to tell the story as events unfolded....

I suddenly saw him arrive... they never usually come this close...



He then moved even closer to the feeding station....


Then he moved up onto the feeder....
you can clearly see the red patch at the rear of his cap...
that clearly shows he's a he!
Females have no red on the head.

He hopped closer to the fatball feeder...
watching what the female sparrow was doing.

He hopped all around the feeder, studying it....
and watching what the sparrows were doing....

He made an attempt to reach the feeder, but he branch...
well, twig actually....
was too thin and he lost his balance!!

He let go and flew to the other end...
he was a little shocked I think and raised his crest!

He then hopped back and forth along the main feeder branches...
he spent quite a while doing this....
when, suddenly everything seemed to click....

And he was there....
and stayed for quite a while...
and came back twice today!!

This is a cropped area from the previous shot...
you can very clearly see the long, thin tongue that woodpeckers have...

So a rather nice Easter weekend treat... even if I was taking photos through the double-glazed kitchen window.... a today, a female has also been seen closer to the house than normally... spotted by Pauline that one....
other bird news, we think we must have robins this year... there are two still around and seem happy in each other's company... so probably a pair.
This year's dominant male Black Redstart is one of last years brood and still looks like a juvenile/female but with a noticeably darker face.
The male Stonechat is not impressed and keeps chasing him!!

Monday, 29 December 2014

Winter has come

Until now the weather has continued to be mild. A week ago the last roses were in bloom. Suddenly the wind has swung around to the North, and a few snowflakes fell as our chickens took their first cautious steps on the loose in the potager.

As we were thawing out over coffee yesterday we became aware that dozens of birds were feeding in the alders outside the front door, where we have hung a large dried sunflower head and a fat-ball feeder. As well as the usual bluetits, great tits, goldfinches, greenfinches and robin, there were some round, plump, bright greenish-yellow stripy small birds wearing black berets. They foraged over the alder seed heads, never staying in the same place for long.

Female siskin - well stripy

Siskins (Tarin des Aulnes, carduelis spinus) had come to visit us again. We blogged about them in 2010 here, here,(with pictures) in 2011, here and here in 2013, but we missed them last winter, when it was mild all the time. I make no excuses for doing another post about them.

Acrobats on the alder - male siskins

They cling, bobbing up and down, to the skinniest twigs to pick out the alder seeds, and twist themselves into knots to get at their favourite food. Their name in French means "Alder Finch".

Ever charming


Today they came back, and explored the cherry tree and the willows as well as the alders. In the sunlight they looked even prettier. The males were in one group and the females in another, in different trees.

female siskin - one of my favourite photos


Male siskin - bright colours aren't everything you know!

Now let me see....

I know there's a seed in there


Alder seed on its way down

Always they were in the company of other birds, mainly goldfinches and sparrows.

Goldfinch selecting an alder seed

Goldfinch - slightly unusual view, of the back of the neck

My picture of the day. Just an ordinary sparrow.

Sunday, 6 July 2014

Get off my cherries, you little beggars!

Outside our living room window is a cherry tree. It's been there for many years - planted by Richard Décharte's father - and the best view into its depths is from the guest room window. In winter we hang bird feeders in it. In spring it is a mound of blossom. We even provide a fluff dispenser - cat fur combings, dry moss and hemp wool - for them to line their dear little nests with and keep their babies warm. In June - it's every bird for himself. And the babies in particular.

This is what they are after:

Peck in place or carry out
The sweet cherry (cerise) is a cultivar of the wild cherry prunus avium cerisier sauvage, cerisier des oiseaux or merisier, sometimes hybridised with other species in the genus Prunus, mainly the sour cherry, prunus cerasus cerisier acide. We have no idea what variety this is, though going by its firm flesh it's probably some kind of bigarreau.

It seemed that all I had to do was point the camera at the tree and click, and somewhere in the image would be at least one bird stuffing itself. The tree is too tall for us to reach the top branches, so the birds can have those, but I wish they'd leave the ones  lower down!


Daddy blackbird - he takes whole cherries

Adult male blackbird - cherries make your beak glow

Immature blackbird


Immature blackcap

Two immature blackcaps, and a number of half cherries! Some hail damage, too.

Daddy blackcap - looking a trifle worn - with good reason, now on his second brood

Spotted flycatcher (right) standing lookout with a house sparrow

Blue tit - he did it siiiiide...ways

Immature house sparrow I never done nuffin, sweet little fellow I am

Immature house sparrow - right, is anyone looking?

Immature house sparrow - OK, let's get stuck in
More hail damage to the leaves

Here was the big surprise

Immature greater spotted woodpecker. Now which one shall I have?

There were also great tits, jays, crows, no doubt the woodpigeons had a few ... and when the cherries were all gone they turned to the redcurrants and snaffled the lot. At least there are still some whitecurrants, they don't understand those. Yet.