June 2010 - Drama in the garden!

Friday 4th: A usual working-day morning - came down to breakfast at 7:15am, put the kettle on, but no sooner had I made and was about to take a bite of toast, topped with strawberry jam, I was stopped in mid bite. A rapid wing beat from a large bird startled me. Grabbing my camera, I rushed outside expecting that the local Sparrowhawk had caught something! Imagine my suprise when I was presented with the scene as shown in this photo; a Wood Pigeon hanging upside down, wings splayed and motionless. All the other birds; Sparrows, Starlings and the Feral Pigeons just ignored it and calmly went about their business.

The unfortunate Wood Pigeon was trapped by it's leg and would never have freed itself from this predicament! The bird was surprisingly calm and motionless, it was not even struggling to free itself! Having a look, it was just a matter of gently folding the birds' wings, holding it with both hands and lifting the bird free and in an instant...it had flown. Shaken by it's ordeal, it nethertheless was in one piece and with no breakages, flew off to eat somewhere else.

Usually, this bird and other Wood Pigeons tend to perch on the fatball holder as it's just the right height from the sunflower feeder and they can eat fairly comfortably. On this occasion, the Wood Pigeon must have slipped and put it's leg through the gap between the two metal rods that hold the fatball feeder to the pole. As it's leg went through the gap, the bird went over the side, immobilising it! Fortunately the leg did not appear to be damaged in any way. One lucky Pigeon!

May 2010: Meanwhile....a Greenfinch!

Tuesday 4th: While the Blackbirds and House Sparrows have been the center of the action with their antics of flying into the kitchen (see previous posts), we have had a three visits in as many days from a male Greenfinch! As can be seen by the pics taken by Mel, he gorged himself on sunflower hearts. Greenfinches do tend to be messy feeders and you can quite clearly see the husks stuck to his beak! This Greenfinch has been today, last Sunday, Friday and last Thursday! Meanwhile all his mates will be around at "Sandra's Bird Cafe", just 200 yards around the corner! But we have also had a female chaffinch along with a male visiting on odd days. Unfortunately no images of these are available.

Since the Winter, we have had a steady number of Feral Pigeons visiting the bird table. It started with a couple and over the Winter, the numbers grew until we now have at least 8 or 9 regulars (all distinguishable by their colours\markings) that at specific times during the day, will visit the bird table. For instance, around 7am, a pair of white-come-brown Pigeons spend time on the table. As can be seen from the image below, they appear to be a pair as they always arrive and depart together. Of course the question arises: "are the Feral Pigeons, birds from the Town center, from someone's Pigeon loft in the local area..or are they countryside Feral Pigeons?" When out and about, I have only once seen a large congregation (apart from the town center), of Feral Pigeons, in the countryside and that was at North Cave.