Feathery things

I've been doing a bit of ringing lately...

Female Swallow we caught in a mist-net at Beeston, right next to the bird feeders! Don't think she was after sunflower hearts, somehow...

Juvenile Long-tailed Tit

and juvenile Chaffinch, both from Beeston. You can see the primaries are still growing out of their 'pins' (sheaths)

Adult female Starling, whoosh-netted in a Biggleswade garden

She was growing new tail feathers. For Starlings, it's autumn already

Cetti's Warbler at Paxton Pits - the first-ever to be trapped and ringed there

A male Nightingale originally caught at Paxton a couple of years ago

Seed-munchers

Been playing around with digiscoping garden birds through the double glazing...

Sometimes the results are pretty good, considering

Chaffinches

Rook

Good light seems to be the biggest factor (it's really dull today)

Greenfinch

Other times they are not very good, but it's nice to have a record of what's been visiting the garden

Yellowhammers

Reed Bunting

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Phone + telescope + double glazing

Lots of Chaffinches around the garden at the moment, it seems.

photos taken with iPhone 3GS + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Wordless Wednesday

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

'We've got a suicide bird!'

This is what woke me up this morning.

Tap. Tap tap. Tap. Thud. Tap.

I couldn't work out what it was, so was forced to get up and investigate. And there was the culprit. A male Chaffinch trying to attack his reflection.

The sustained assault on our window continued until we left for work, with only brief pauses to sing.

On our return this evening, our neighbour came out and said 'We've got a suicide bird!' and described perfectly the antisocial activities of the Chaffinch. The evidence of his continued activity was all too clear, along the windowsill, and high up on the panes were dozens of scuffs. As far as I know, Chaffinch beaks do not have the same glass-cutting properties as diamonds, so they should wipe off.

We put a bit of clingfilm on the outside of the window, to break up the reflection.

I expect he'll be back tomorrow morning, bright and early...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

A walk in the woods

dead branches

brambles

Siskins: male (top) and female

Dunnock

Chaffinch

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

ChaffinchCam

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

I've been reading enviously about the grosbeaks and other brightly-coloured delights frequenting North American gardens lately. So here's a male Chaffinch, one of our more attractive garden birds.

Lunchtime

Sloe-bug

Large White

Kingcup (or Marsh Marigold)

Iris

Forget-me-nots

Craneflies

Chaffinch

Bee-fly

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Blossom and birdsong

Chaffinch singing

Carrion Crow selecting nest material

Definitely not tropical

Climbing plant dangling

Orange flowers

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

At The Lodge

Jackdaws looking shifty: 'borrowing' material from a squirrel's drey and then shoving it down a chimney

Chaffinch drinking

I like the blue and green colours of daffodil stems and leaves almost as much as the yellows

Two Commas out and about on another beautiful day

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM