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Thursday 29 January 2009

Another new visitor to our Brittany garden....

We seem to have been mobbed by a flock of Greenfinch - there have always been about 4 of them but today they have just kept arriving - about 8 or so at a time along with what I think is a Siskin - the little chap with the slightly striped under-carriage in the middle of the picture... any thoughts? Whatever this little bird is, it's the first one we've had here.




This next picture is fab - I reckon we should run a caption competition for this one... I can think of one or two people this reminds me of!!! Can't imagine what he's saying to the poor little Great Tit - it certainly isn't very polite!!

Loved this picture too - not quite sure that the little Blue Tit underneath has the right idea!

This picture is for Cheryl as she tells me that her Thrush never feeds from the table and more commonly a ground feeder - this one has been feeding from our table all winter!


And finally.....

12 comments:

NCmountainwoman said...

I love your birds! The bird in question looks exactly like our Pine Siskins. Some years we have none in western North Carolina. Other years (like this one) we are inundated with them.

Miranda Bell said...

Thanks NCM - it's funny how different birds are there some years and some not - we had a resident Brambling all of last winter but I've not seen one this year... not complaining as we've lots of lovely birds here - having said that I think you look like you've got lots of very unusual ones yourself.... have fun - Miranda

Pat said...

Greenfinch,Great Tit...Wow !!!
Really cool birds.
Never seen anything like them !
The one looks like a blue bird that I hope to attract this spring.
Thanks so much for posting them.

Miranda Bell said...

Hi Patsi - thanks for visiting and glad you liked the photos so much - I think the thing is that birds you don't see regularly always seem more interesting in a way, being something a bit different I guess - they're all so funny to watch - the blue tits especially - I've decided the Greenfinches and the little Nuthatch are the bossiest birds - birds with attitude perhaps!! If you enjoyed these I've just posted another couple of photos today of the Brambling which has returned - that was v. exciting as they're not v. common at all. See you soon Miranda

Cheryl said...

Lovely Miranda, absolutely lovely. In all my thirty years of feeding wild birds, I have never seen a thrush feed from a bird table. Tku so much for showing me.....

I love that second photograph.....there must be a brilliant caption for that but I can't quite think of one.......

Miranda Bell said...

I was too speedy with my comments on your previous message just now... really glad you liked the photo - not easy to get as she never hangs around very long when there is so much competition... as you say you could think up many things for photo 2 - perhaps I should run it as a caption competition!!! Miranda

Anonymous said...

I just popped over from Wildlife Gardeners blog and love your bird photos. I'm not familiar with any of them except the Pine Sisken & thrush. We used to have lots of pine siskens at the feeders but I haven't seen them for several years now. I'm glad your brambling showed up (another unknown to me). I look for "regulars" too. Hopefully the male will arrive soon.

Tricia Ryder said...

It looks like a female Siskin Miranda. Haven't seen any in my garden this side of the channel yet. But I have had two male Bramblings although I've only seen one of them the last few days.

Lovely pictures of your garden visitors.

Miranda Bell said...

Hi Tricia - thanks for visiting - and for your thoughts on the Siskin - I thought it was and female too - interesting you had 2 male Bramblings - they must all get a bit lonely so spread about... have a good weekend Miranda

Gail said...

Your birds are beautiful and just the tiniest bit familiar to ours! They seem to act very much the same! gail

Shirley said...

Sorry Miranda, I thought I'd left a comment here :-)

Yes, I agree it's a female siskin in the first photo. We've seen a few females and males but not for the last month or so. We're only getting one regular goldfinch at the moment but the greenfinch and chaffinch numbers are increasing daily. I always study the chaffinches in case a brambling appears one day - wishful thinking :-D

Ah... the song thrush on the bird table. Yes, I've had this too and our table has a roof on it! I didn't get any photos at the time -it was 18 months ago. Three were visiting and one clearly was smarter than the other two. It was funny to see. I guess it just copied the blackbirds :-D

Miranda Bell said...

Thanks Shirl - I thought it was - it, like the Brambling seems to head to the bird table along with all the Green Finches and Chaffinches. Interesting also we've not had any Gold finches to the garden for ages let alone at the bird table.

The Song Thrush is just such a beautiful bird - hope there will be some babies this year as last - we seem to have quite a few around - I often see them whilst walking Lucy in the mornings out in the fields.

Keep enjoying all your garden and birds... Miranda