Birds in my garden (1 Viewer)

2slo · Jan 9, 2012

Outside for an hour this morning in the fine weather when the Treecreeper flew in again. This is actually the third time I've seen it (assuming it's the same bird) in about a week. It flew in very low and landed at the base of one of our trees. Then it was away up the tree at a fair old speed. Photos currently loading, fingers crossed.

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 9, 2012

Processed the 10 or so shots I took and I'm a bit disappointed. The closer shots where the bird was at the bottom of the tree haven't achieved focus lock due to branches in the way so aren't useable. Two of the group are included below, unfortunately when the bird was a long way up the tree and these are cropped 110% and 125% respectively. So not the fine detail I was hoping for. Anyway, here they are:

Mark |=)|

bongofury · Jan 9, 2012

Nice to see your Treecreeper back. Sometimes its good to have a bit of background in, rather than all 'bird'.

2slo · Jan 9, 2012

bongofury said:
Nice to see your Treecreeper back. Sometimes its good to have a bit of background in, rather than all 'bird'.

That's very true, usually I would, however the background here was just a load of unsightly twigs which I cloned out, I cropped these two tight otherwise it would have been a long job to process them in photoshop |=)|

2slo · Jan 10, 2012

I spotted a new bird in our conifers today. I think it's a female Goldcrest. Pictures to follow after ID confirmation.

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 10, 2012

I saw this flitting around in our conifers whilst I was looking for the Treecreeper. Confirmed from the ID section, it's a female Goldcrest. Colourful little bird, pics below:

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 11, 2012

My local hardware shop has a good selection of wild bird food and related items. I bought a suet ball stack feeder there a couple of days ago and hung that up to see what the residents thought. Big success! Not only with the residents but it marks the return of the Long tailed tits which flock to it, ignoring the loose seeds and nuts so that was pleasing to watch:

Suddenly though, all the small birds vanished. I went straight outside to have a look and sure enough, this fella was overhead circling:

I've got a longer lens on order now so hopefully soon I can get some detail on the distant birds of prey.

Mark.

bongofury · Jan 11, 2012

Nice shots of the LTTs, Mark. The BOP is a Buzzard if you weren't sure - good capture.

2slo · Jan 11, 2012

bongofury said:
Nice shots of the LTTs, Mark. The BOP is a Buzzard if you weren't sure - good capture.

Thanks, yeah the Buzzard looks very similar to the one I saw overhead a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) getting some decent BOP shots when my new lens arrives |=)|

2slo · Jan 12, 2012

Just the regulars visible today. I had a count up and we seem to have approx: 6 Great tits, 8 Blue tits, 2 Coal tits, 4 Blackbirds, 2 male and 4 female Chaffinches, 2 Nuthatches, 2 G S Woodpeckers, 10 Wood pigeons, 1 Robin. If I could have done I'd have given the Robin a pile of nuts and seeds to himself for the effort he made today sitting at the top of one of our conifers singing for all he was worth. I suspect he's lonely. I hope he scores! Anyway, a couple of pics from today:

Mark|=)|

2slo · Jan 13, 2012

Lovely bright day in the N E UK today. Good light for photographs and the birds were happy to oblige by landing right in front of me! The long tailed tits were back again and jostled with the great tits for space on the suet ball feeder. I had to put three new suet balls into the feeder today, the four I started with 3 days ago were all but completely eaten!
Just as an aside when I was in Tesco today they are doing 2 for 1 offers on some wild bird food. Doubtless it can be bought cheaper elsewhere, but if you're stuck...

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 14, 2012

Much colder here today, -4 when I went out to put bird food on the table this morning, so not surprising to look round the trees and bushes and see lots of hungry birds waiting to feed. The little Coaltits are often the first to arrive:

Saw the Willowtit today, first time I've seen him for a few days:

I spent about an hour trying to get a decent pic of the Woodpeckers. They wouldn't oblige at all, they were both around, but seemed to be always up at the tops of the trees tapping away. That turned out to be a good thing however, because when I was looking up into the trees for them, I spotted a new bird right at the top. The first Goldfinch I've seen in my garden! It didn't stay long but I managed a couple of quick snaps to confirm ID:

Finally, after I'd been to check the Goldfinch pics on my computer, guess who had decided to come down for some suet:

Mark

2slo · Jan 15, 2012

Today was easily the busiest day I've known for my garden birds. I managed an approximate count: 8 great tits, 6 blue tits, 4 coal tits, 4 blackbirds, 1 Robin, 2 Magpies, 1 solitary Wood pigeon (the rambo wannabes were in the forest next to me yesterday destroying the wildlife with their shotguns) 1 treecreeper, 3 GSWs (spotted a smaller female at the same time as the regular female in different trees - she never came to the table though), 2 Nuthatches, 4 LTTs. Also I looked up at one point and spotted a Goldfinch. When I looked a bit closer it had 4 others with it! (see pic below). The 2nd pic is of one of the Nuthatches posing, I hope you like:

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 16, 2012

Ten minutes after putting the bird food out this morning I looked out expecting to see the usual free for all but hardly a bird in sight. Sure enough, the Buzzard was overhead. Way overhead, 200% cropped shots below:

Once he moved on the Goldfinches arrived in the trees. About 12 of them today, what a racket they make, they even drowned out the Robin! No sign of them coming down to feed yet, it would be nice to get a group shot of them on the bird table close up, so just this one of part of the group up in the trees:

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 17, 2012

What a day. Got my new lens this morning which, when combined with my 1.4x extender, gives me 420mm: a useful 50% increase in focal length. It came at a good time too because I spotted a Dunnock in the corner of my garden, not a bird to be approached I've found. Got a reasonable shot here:

I saw a new bird in the garden today, sadly it flew before I could get a shot. Robin sized, bright red front feathers with a black head. Possibly a Bullfinch? Hope it comes back. Other birds today: All the regularsincluding the two female GSWs were having a tiff (territory perhaps?). The LTTs arrived on masse just as the last of the light failed and the Willowtit was spotted twice today. The Goldfinches were back again but as usual, only at the tops of the trees.

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 18, 2012

Whilst I'm delighted to attract the small colourful garden birds by feeding them, I'm not surprised to see that that, in turn, attracts birds of prey. I haven't seen the Buzzard today but I have seen this BOP which I think is a Sparrowhawk. He didn't come very close but he certainly kept the usual birds away:

In one way I'd like to see him come in closer so I can photograph him (or her) but in another way I don't want to see him as he's there to feed on the garden birds. Can't win really |=)|

2slo · Jan 19, 2012

We are getting a lot more female Chaffinches recently. They currently outnumber the males 5 to 1 (10 f and 2 m today) they seem happy enough however, I've yet to see them fighting:

Tried some kibbled nuts today. It didn't attract any new birds but the regulars seemed happy to eat it:

I still put some sunflower seeds out for the Nuthatches as well, they clear the table quite quickly:

The little flock of Longtailed tits appeared at the usual time today, just as the sun was setting. They seem to ignore the nuts on the table and head straight for the suet balls. Between them and the GSWs I'm putting out two new suet balls every day at the moment:

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 20, 2012

Very little time to photograph the birds today but, for the few minutes I had available, I put fresh food and water out and waited to see who would visit first. Today it was the male GSW. These are shy birds which are easily spooked if they spot any movement so I've found that the best technique to get close to them is to sit perfectly still behind a layer of glass (conservatory door in this case) and then they will sometimes approach. Bear in mind the shot below is taken through glass which always adds distortion:

Mark |=)|

2slo · Jan 21, 2012

Recently I'm tending to see the same birds in the same places or on the same trees. Take the Treecreeper for example. I always seem to see it late in the afternoon climbing the trunks of our conifers on the west side of our garden when I have to shoot into the sun to get a picture:

The Dunnock is similar. I quite often spot this one in the same corner of my garden foraging among dead leaves. It's a well camouflaged bird which I only tend to spot when it moves as it blends well into it's chosen surroundings:

I think when the weather warms up I might have to start looking at covert tactics to get closer and get better shots |=)|

King Edward · Jan 21, 2012

More good photos. It's a Kestrel in post 96, rather than a Sparrowhawk - pointy wings, streaked body (not barred).

Birds in my garden (1 Viewer)

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