Bird of the day!

[badgerwatcher]

My bird of the day today is a coal tit! James said he thought he'd spotted one a couple of days ago, and there it is today, bless it, outside on the peanut feeder just outside the window, giving me a good chance to study it!
I think the birds have decided to put me through some sort of intensive course, and are taking it in turns to bring themselves to my attention!
It looks, with its distinctive white stripe down the middle of the back of its head, like a very small feathery badger out there. (That's just me, then, is it?)

[smartie]

Mine is the first goldfinch at my nyger/nyjer/niger feeder this morning, just at the point I'd almost decided to abandon it. Hope he tells his mates. No chance of a photo, of course, as it was streaming down with rain again.

BTW, Badgerwatcher, see you got the buckles undone OK

[Ollie]

Well my bird of the day has to be this little Dunnock that was one of the first to visit the bird table this morning even though it was raining lightly at the time
Roger

[Kymba]

I am getting so jealous of all these amazing photo's you lot are taking.. Think i will have to go and get myself a decent camera......have a small digital camera but all my stuff comes out Blurred and the zoom on it isnt that good
Mined maybe its my eyesight thats the problem!!!!!

[Susie]

Mine has to be the greenfinch. There were about 20+ on the bird feeders today - and then one flew smack into the window! Poor little mite left feathers stuck to the glass but flew off so I hope it was okay.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by smartie

Mine is the first goldfinch at my nyger/nyjer/niger feeder this morning, just at the point I'd almost decided to abandon it. Hope he tells his mates. No chance of a photo, of course, as it was streaming down with rain again.

BTW, Badgerwatcher, see you got the buckles undone OK

That's funny smartie because this morning I was cleaning all the feeders etc and the niger hadn't been touched as usual (have the special feeder with tiny holes)..thought, best fill it up just in case then 30 mins later 3 lovely goldfinches went straight to the feeder! How did they know? I've only seen them twice before when I had no feeder. It made my day, they were there a while.

[badgerwatcher]

I so love the finches. Goldfinches because they are so determined, and green finches because they seem so much scarcer these days, although I'm seeing more lately, and they are such a bright flash of colour.
Conversely, I love dunnocks for their brown and grey-ness! Like water rails, they make the brown and grey, which would make even a top model look drab, into a wonderful colour combination. Nice picture, Ollie.

[Wild-Woman]

A pair of mistle thrushes and a cheeky little dunnock.

[colincurry]

Sorry to be a little late - comes with age.

I managed to get out in the rare sun on Sunday afternoon walking from my village to the next and back again, in a loop following tracks through fields. Had hardly begun when I saw a green woodpecker just too far away for a keeper pic. Later on, crept nearer to a perching kestrel and managed a couple of shots of her in flight. To cap it all, reached the concrete farm road on the way home and was royally entertained by a barn owl for about 15 minutes. Managed some keeper shots - but these are probably cull fodder. He was out early and it was still sunny, but I would have liked to have got a bit nearer - next time - or the time after that - ......

An excellent couple of hours considering the frustrations caused by wind, rain and floods the previous day.

Perhaps this post should be "Birds of the day".

Colin

[colincurry]

PS Despite tree cover and several feeders with a variety of food, our garden is very quiet this winter. Blackbirds are back and feeding off the berries, but very little else apart from a resident wren, starlings, pigeons and collared doves.

Can't rely on taking pics of garden visitors this year.

Colin