I planted a yew (Taxus x meda “Hicksii”) next to the kitchen window mainly for the birds some 20 years ago and the berries regularly attract blackbirds, fieldfares, robin, blackcap, waxwings and as here a redwing only about 1-2m from me!
Norsk: Svarttrost, gråtrost, rødstrupe, munk, sidensvans og rødvingetrost!
Category Archives: Birds
Whooper swan family
A family of whooper swans (sangsvane) flew over the house today!
Hoodie has a scratch!
Hooded crow (kråke) having a nice old scratch, peering down to the photographer!
Best to keep your distance
It’s best to keep your distance when there’s a red squirrel nearby. Given the chance, a squirrel will take birds.
With bramblings (bjørkefink), tree and house sparrows (pilfink og gråspurv).
Waxwings: soon on the way south?
I also grow Viburnum opulus (krossved) near to the house. This is an uncommon wild species around here. The berries aren’t the first choice for waxwings (sidensvans), but keep the birds around later in the year as they start on them as soon as other berries they prefer are gone. These berries are now gone (a flock of 300 birds doesn’t take long).
Here the waxwings join a large flock of bramblings (bjørkefink) and a few other species at the feeding station.
Redwings: more common in winter!
Redwing (rødvingetrost) is a bird that seems to have become more common in winter here. I’ve recorded this species 4 of the last 10 winters here. I never saw it in winter the 30 winters before that!
Goldfinches and Burdock
I grow burdock (borre) in the garden both as a vegetable but also for the birds. Goldfinches / stillits (still relatively rare in my area) eat almost exclusively the seeds of this plant in winter. This year I cut down a few of the plants and placed them in a large pot of earth right in front of the kitchen window…and 4 birds discovered it today. How they avoid the burrs attaching to them is a mystery….
Some of the seed burrs had fallen to the ground in a storm a week ago. This video starts with siskins feeding next to the window on birch seeds:
Tawny owl in the botanical garden
I was walking through the garden yesterday towards the office at the Ringve in Trondheim and I heard a lot of noise coming from a group of conifers, magpies (skjære) excited about something. I walked around the trees to see if I could see what it was only to meet a couple of birders with long telephoto lenses! A tawny owl (kattugle), not something you see often in the garden. There are 3 reports of this species from Ringve, all in February during the last 10 years!
Siskins dining on the roof
It was fun this morning watching a flock of up to 80 siskins (grønnsisik) with a few house sparrows (gråspurv) feeding on birch seed that had fallen on my extension roof! They couldn’t see me on the other side of the window and came really close!
Maximum waxwings
I never weary of watching waxwings (sidensvans). Here are 3 videos from snowy Monday this week when one of the biggest flocks this winter descended on the garden with some 330 birds estimated from the first video below, many of which fed on the last elderberries (second and third videos below)!
NB! The windows are now clean :)