Kestrel Maneuvre

Unfortunately, I was taking these pictures against the sun and I did not have too much time to get the exposition settings right. The little bugger hovered in one place exactly as long as it took me to take a focus and press the trigger button. So this is the “whoosh” sequence.

Grumpy Redstart

It is very rare that I get an opportunity to take a picture of male black redstart. I see them all the time, but they are restless and they never come to the feeder. This one was moving around the feeder, although he did not eat the seeds – he used the surroundings for vantage points to spot insects in the grass. And he stayed a few times in one place long enough for me to take a picture.

That last picture gives me the impression of an old grampa looking disapprovingly at me. Something about the line between the black and grey feathers above the eyes gives him that look.

Tiny Vegetable Patch Inspectors

The inspectors are tiny, not the vegetable patch. That is quite huge (over 40 square meters). It took me 1 hour to plow it all and that knocked me out for two days. Now I am breaking the dirt lumps and making the beds for the veggies which I expect to keep me busy for a week. Last year we had only one huge patch with potatoes, this year it will be split into several small ones for peas, onions, beans, and cucumbers.

And today when I had my lunch break, several small birds came to inspect my handiwork and feast on earthworms and insects brought to the surface – the redstarts are back, a sure sign that spring has really begun. These birds never come to the feeder, they are strict insectivores and they really enjoy the vegetable patches after the rain or when the surface is disturbed.

I assume that these are all black redstarts Phoenicurus ochruros, because those I usually see around here. But there might be some common redstarts Phoenicurus phoenicurus among these four pictures this time or even all of them. These are all females and those are hard to distinguish, species-wise, for me. Today was one of the rare instances when I have also seen male common redstart, but he, unfortunately, whooshed before I got him into focus.

Kites are Back and Tempting Again

Red kites returned from their winter vacation south and are circling our house daily. Regularly staying in one place just long enough that I manage to fetch my camera, but not long enough to take a picture. So this is a so-so picture from a few weeks ago. I also hear daily their typical cries, so even when I do not see them, I know they’re there, somewhere.

Tits in Front of my Window

Not my window, but rather a window belonging to Avalus, who says,

Now I can finally make a tit-joke posting.
The pair just would not want to get close enough to each other. Cute little critters they are.
Also, a blackbird got in on the action.

Birds on Snow

I will post some pretty birds from this winter in due course. So the weather in the pictures will not always correspond to the actual weather out here.

However, these pictures were taken today. The winter tried to reclaim the land and we had several days of wind, snow, and freezing temperatures. I do hope that the seeds that I have planted in the greenhouse survived.

Top Tit

Nuff said.

A Pleasant Pheasant

Fron Avalus,

a pheasant on my way from work. It was picking up stuff from the ground and did not mind me that much. Then a lady with a small unleashed dog came by and the pheasant chose to retreat.

Greenfinches

These grumpy-looking beauties used to be pretty common, coming to the feeder in flocks of over ten. Last year I have only seen one over the course of the whole winter. This year they returned, although not in as big flocks as previously.

All birds of genus Carduelis were rare last year, allegedly afflicted by some virus.

Crowblocked!

I have a fifty tits of grey post lined up, but a quick interlude about predators, social birds, and cooperation.

I think I didn’t mention it here, but this winter, I started leaving walnuts out for the crows – leftovers from years past that we found in the storage room, but still good. To be honest, this started when I noticed a ragtag group of corvids (crows, jays and magpies – not explaining the word ‘corvid’, all three were members of this loose affiliation of walnut aficionados) eating the few nuts we had straight from the tree. It was a small crop anyway, so I don’t feel too bitter about it…

Anyway, I started feeding them through the cold snowy months, and while the jays and magpies haven’t been sticking around, there’s a small flock of 4 or 5 crows (family group?) that regularly cleans out the (much cheaper, if buying) peanuts.

[Read more…]

More Pretty Birds to Identify

Avalus has a penchant for finding interesting things to photograph on his way to work. Here are a few colourful birds, and he says,

… a flock of birds I encountered on my way to work. Again, I have no idea what kind of bird they are.

Can You Identify This Pretty Little Bird?

Avalus took some good photos of this little guy, but he hasn’t been able to identify what type of bird this is. My bird guides are North American, so not really useful to identify a European species, but I bet that one of you can help us figure this out. Leave us a comment with your ideas.

The Last Birds of Winter

Ahh, my friends, Spring is coming. We actually had a “heat wave”, with more than 20°C in February. Climate change will be no fun, but there’s nothing you can do about an early spring day but enjoy it. The pics here are a few weeks old, but I didn’t get around to post them. BTW, <b>Charly and rq</b>, the cranes are on their way. I sent them with greetings for you.

And then we had a very rare visitor, and they didn’t want to stay for an extensive photo shooting, so I only got one halfway decent pic:

If you ever wondered what the back of a sparrowhawk looked like…

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Kestrel Maneuvre

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Grumpy Redstart

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Tiny Vegetable Patch Inspectors

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Kites are Back and Tempting Again

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Tits in Front of my Window

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Birds on Snow

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Top Tit

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A Pleasant Pheasant

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Greenfinches

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Crowblocked!

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More Pretty Birds to Identify

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Can You Identify This Pretty Little Bird?

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The Last Birds of Winter

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