The usual Cardinals, Goldfinches, Chickadees, Purple and House Finches were in abundance at the feeders when I returned home from school. Nellie and I set off through the snowdrifts to see if I could capture some Mourning Doves along the creek. But to my surprise I heard a call that is definitely unusual for this time of year -An American Robin!
There he was however, up in a tree by the creek! He looked in good condition so I presume he is surviving on berries -there are lots around.
In the summer they are very common, waking us up with their Cheer Up, Cheerily, Cheer Up at 4 o'clock!!! They quite often nest very close to houses so it is easy to observe the developing young from Robin's Egg Blue eggs.
Trudging back through the deep snow I saw a flock of little birds wheeling and swooping in this undulating flight pattern through the air ???? What were they -in such large numbers -uncommon this time of year??As I got close to the house I could hear a distinct happy twittering and tit-i-tit sounds...ahhh....and then, there they were in great numbers at the feeders -Pine Siskins. We've had the odd one around for some time with the other finches but not in the great numbers as today. I counted about 30 on one tree before they took off so likely a flock of 50-60. They are very comical to watch on the feeders -showing off by hanging upside down, arguing constantly over who sits on what perch. They consume great quantities of Niger Seed -their favourite! No Juncos today but later I saw 2 Nuthatches at the suet feeder. A very good day for birding!!!
3 comments:
What great birds you get to see, the robin looks alot bigger than our Robins we get here. I have never seen a Cardinal bird and they look really impressive. This weekend we have "the Great garden Birdwatch|" when we are asked to watch the birds in our gardens for one hour and record what we see and send it to the RSPB who collate all the results to see what birds are declining in numbers.
I love watching the birds on the feeders too, especially in winter. Your pics are lovely xXx
We feed the birds all year because I love to watch them too hippymummy! I can't wait to see what you see this weekend Goosey -hopefully you'll capture some with your camera. Our Robins are about 10 in.in length and the Cardinals about 8-9 in. I've seen your Robins -they are so cute and dainty compared to ours. Happy birdwatching ladies!!!
Post a Comment