A flock of some 30 bramblings (bjørkefink) were breakfasting in the garden this morning :)
Category Archives: Birds
Chiffchaff fertiliser!
Young chiffchaff fertilising the garden this afternoon :)
Great tit attacking Hogweed
I noticed this great tit (kjøttmeis) vigorously hacking at a hogweed (Heracleum) stem in the garden, presumably looking for dinner…the picture shows the result
Robin for company
I had a bit of company sitting working in the garden this afternoon, a young European Robin (rødstrupe)…he/she wasn’t that talkative though…
Birds sharing Amelanchier alnifolia “Thiessen”
I always thought that thrushes like fieldfares / gråtrost and starlings / stær “shared” the most saskatoon berries (Amelanchier spp.) in my garden, but now I have to rethink as I noticed and filmed both blue tits / blåmeis and greenfinches / grønnfink eating the berries today, the blue tits taking the fruit whilst the greenfinches were eating the seed…
I love the taste of saskatoons both fresh and in particular dried, tasty but not too sweet! However, I think I’ll leave the rest to the birds (not too good a crop this year anyway)…
Redpolls
Redpolls (gråsisik) have now also arrived in my garden…
Overflying Herons
Nutcracker and greenfinch
Breakfast in the garden, and a Siberian Nutcracker landed in the tall spruce tree, followed by a greenfinch…
Today is forecast to be the year’s warmest, 27C, already close to 20C at 7am!
Breeding swifts?
Working in the garden today and I was surprised by two swifts flying low behind the house and one entered an old starling box on the outhouse….
I’ve been trying to attract swifts (tårnseiler) for years to the house and have one swift box higher on the main house, but they chose this instead!
In the video you can hear the bird “screaming” quietly and another sound….could this be chicks?..strange I haven’t noticed this before, but I’ve been away a lot and I have seen two birds flying low in the same area a couple of times this summer (latest last weekend) and also last summer on several occasions (presumably prospecting). After the one bird left I could hear noises in the nest (I didn’t see both birds enter the box)
Siskins and birch
Birch seed scales are currently falling in the garden thanks to the feeding of siskins (grønnsisik)….
Added videos of a siskin feeding on fallen birch seed next to the entrance to the garden…this one allowed me to stand only 2m away and film:
…and above the siskins were feeding in the birch trees
…joined briefly by a Robin
…and showing the proximity to the road
