Friday, December 20, 2019

Bird-o-Rama


I barely got off the couch yesterday. The weather was dismal. I managed to walk to the cleaners to pick up one of Dave's shirts, and I got Olga a new bag of dog food, but otherwise it was a day to stay home.

Fortunately, we had plenty of avian entertainment during a late-morning break in the rain. The European goldfinches were back, snacking on the seeds of our dry teasels.

(And by the way, remember how I found tiny teasel seedlings growing in the seedheads at Wormwood Scrubs? We have the same phenomenon in our own garden. You can barely see them in the photo above. I might try to extract one or two of them to pot and grow next season.)


The omnipresent starlings were squabbling noisily and making splashy visits to the birdbath.


This parakeet tried valiantly to get into the peanut feeder, even peeling back some of the duct tape that holds on the lid. It didn't succeed, though. I tried to set out a plate of peanuts for it, but that spooked it and it flew off.


This little coal tit, however, was perfectly happy with our peanut feeder -- as are the blue tits and other little garden birds.


This great spotted woodpecker visited our suet feeder. Quite an impressive bird.


A starling kept watch while the woodpecker ate. The starlings love the suet and are very protective of it!

15 comments:

gz said...

You're doing it right in your garden!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I disagree with your judgement that the great spotted woodpecker is "quite an impressive bird". In my opinion it is a very impressive bird and by the way - I have never seen one in our garden so I am as jealous as hell.

Ms. Moon said...

GZ is correct- you ARE doing it right in your garden. And I think it's tremendous that so many birds can be found in the city of London. That's just beautiful.

Vivian Swift said...

How cool. If ever a green parakeet stopped by my bird feeder, I would plotz.

Anonymous said...

You do get some truly beautiful bird visitors to your garden there. I love seeing that Woodpecker.

The Bug said...

Starlings can be annoying, but I think they're so pretty. I love the variety in your back yard!

Red said...

You have many birds visiting considering you're in the middle of the city. I'm reading Bill Bryson's On the Road to Little Dribbling and I'm reading the section on London. Interesting.

Sharon said...

Wow, that is quite a lot of colorful bird activity right in your own backyard. It makes me miss the activity I used to have when I lived in a house. Maybe I'll get to the botanical gardens today so I can see some birds.

The Padre said...

I Call This Successful

Cheers

Tara said...

you've certainly created an oasis in the middle of the city -- and plenty of food treats to lure the birds. quite a variety! not a bad way to spend the day.

Sabine said...

Lovely pictures Steve.

Edna B said...

I love all your bird photos. For some reason, we don't seem to have very many birds now. Hopefully, they will all come back as the weather warms a bit. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

ellen abbott said...

such great shots of the birds!

jenny_o said...

Wow - that coal tit reminds me so much of our black-capped chickadee.

But then, I once photographed what I thought was an eagle in the distance, but when I zoomed in on the photo it turned out to be a seagull, so I'm not entirely reliable with birdie i.d. - lol

It makes me happy to think of all the birds who have found shelter in your garden in such an urban environment.

Catalyst said...

Great spotlight on your marvelous family of birds.