I spent part of yesterday watching baby tits on our bird feeder. They're either great tits or coal tits, I'm not sure which. The young birds could already fly, so I guess "baby" isn't really the right word -- more like adolescent? Anyway, they would follow the mother to the feeder and ask her, by vibrating their tiny wings and opening their mouths, to select seeds for them to eat.
The young bird above flew to our nearby quince bush and picked a dead blossom from its branches. It wrestled with it a while before deciding that it wasn't really food.
Here are the babies on the feeder with Mama bird:
Not a great picture because of course they were clustered at the back of the feeder, probably hiding from me (even though I was watching from inside the living room 15 feet away and behind a window). Mama is down below, picking out seeds, and a baby is above her, with its mouth open. Another baby is at the top of the feeder. I think there were three babies altogether.
So, yeah, that was part of the excitement around here yesterday! Otherwise I did some housework -- cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, put away laundry. Then I went out into the garden and did some weeding. I haven't weeded anything all season but I finally decided to pull the dock and a few other odds and ends. The dock will grow back because, like a dandelion, its taproot is as firmly implanted as a tooth in a jaw. If I don't dig it out, it breaks off at soil level -- but at least that keeps it from going to seed.
Our figs are still on our fig tree, about the size of a golf ball and looking very promising. They're not ripe yet -- in fact I think they have another few months to go -- but Dave saw a squirrel make off with one the other day, so I still don't expect that we'll ever taste them. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
In the afternoon I walked to the cookshop on the high street and bought an espresso pot. Bill had one in Vienna and it made fantastic coffee, especially with the Austrian grounds I bought while I was there. I usually use a French press and it works fine, but the Austrian coffee didn't taste as good in it. So now I can duplicate my Viennese coffee at home.
Our figs are still on our fig tree, about the size of a golf ball and looking very promising. They're not ripe yet -- in fact I think they have another few months to go -- but Dave saw a squirrel make off with one the other day, so I still don't expect that we'll ever taste them. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
In the afternoon I walked to the cookshop on the high street and bought an espresso pot. Bill had one in Vienna and it made fantastic coffee, especially with the Austrian grounds I bought while I was there. I usually use a French press and it works fine, but the Austrian coffee didn't taste as good in it. So now I can duplicate my Viennese coffee at home.
Enjoy the coffee. We should have lunch the next time I am in London, or you are in the USA.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve, I have some small press and seal polythene bags which I place over each individual fig and then close around the stem, it's much like each fig being inside its own mini-greenhouse, and, of course, it masks the smell, so they won't be taken by scavengers. Good luck with yours.
ReplyDeleteThe birds are fledglings once they can fly and still relying on parents for their food, they are loud here sat along the fence close to the feeders.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I need to know what an espresso pot is. And maybe a French Press although I have a vague idea already about that, google will tell me. Those baby birds will be feeding themselves in no time. Good advice from Joy about the figs. I was going to suggest small paper bags.
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