Into the fray...
Arrived back in LT, snow falling, first chance to check my feeders.
A blinding start to the year ...second ever on my land, and only my third in Lithuania, one smart male Three-toed Woodpecker!
Traversed the snowy meadow to my cabin, a bunch of Great Spotted Woodpeckers gathered round the feeders to welcome me in, the regular Black Woodpecker tapping away on an alder just beyond. Filled up the feeders, placed two brand-new ones ready for the mid-winter onslaught, then decided a little stroll would be nice. Bullfinch feeding on ash keys, a very periodic tap tap coming from alders in the wetland, or was it a crack crack? I wasn't even totally sure it was a bird to start with, a single tap, a few seconds, then a single tap again, repeated over and over again. A frozen trunk creaking in the gentle wind?
Clambered over a few fallen trunks, and there he was, one corking Three-toed Woodpecker, what a good start to the day. Rubbish light for photographs, but finally got him with another tree behind, a reasonable result.
Back at the cabin, five Great Spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders, then two Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. Usual tits and Nuthatch in and out, no sign of anything else.
A bit of a fuss in the bushes behind, I investigate to find a male Sparrowhawk in the depths of the tangles, almost totally hidden. Turned round, and there was my male White-backed Woodpecker edging down to the feeders.
Gas bottle empty, cabin cold, so decided to leave. Great Grey Shrike on a lone birch just by the car, a final very welcome addition to my day one.
Only 15 species, but I wasn't complaining, that's pretty much par for a January day on my land ...Three-toed Woodpecker isn't :-O
1. Sparrowhawk
2. Black Woodpecker
3. Great Spotted Woodpecker
4. Middle Spotted Woodpecker
5. White-backed Woodpecker
6. Three-toed Woodpecker
7. Marsh Tit
8. Blue Tit
9. Great Tit
10. Nuthatch
11. Great Grey Shrike
12. Jay
13. Magpie
14. Hooded Crow
15. Bullfinch