periparus ater

.... which he did in the next frame with a right old blur of feathers! I'd managed to get back to the new feeding station on the edge of town when the ice had subsided somewhat.

Coal Tit

Immediately before this shot, I was thinking I hadn't seen a Coal Tit or Goldcrest for months (some small evergreen trees, their favoured habitat, had been drastically cut back). Anyway, I opened the window, and at the same time this bird came and perched right in front of me. The camera wasn't...

Coal Tit

There was a Great Tit and a Coal Tit either side of that feeder when I started to click. But the Coal Tit flew. Surprised I managed to catch him in the frame (identifiably) LOL.

.... he thought the coconut would be more to his taste, even with a Coal Tit supervising his antics.

That's what happens when I fill the feeders, it just confuses them LOL.

A couple of days later we were back at these feeders. Coalie seemed to prefer chatting to someone out of sight, rather than feeding from the coconut.

Coal Tits, particularly, are the grab and run feeders. But what they do is to grab a seed from a feeder then take it to what they think is a safe nearby branch, hold it between their toes and peck at it. It was Ann that first pointed this behaviour out to me and I'm still, to this day, not sure...

I see there's a break in the mesh on this nut feeder, which I didn't notice when I put some nuts in there. Wondering if it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, or a Red Squirrel that did it. Anyway, the Coal Tit seems to think he might be able to get away with a bigger nut LOL My eye is improving...

A mooning Coal Tit .... or his attempt at it!

Coal Tit

I was rather intrigued as to why the lower bird is completely lacking the rufous colouring on his underparts, which is so clearly seen on the other bird.

The back view of a Great Tit with a Coal Tit at the side of the stage waiting to put in an appearance.

I think the Great Tit top left was keeping an eye on what the Coal Tit bottom right was up to! I didn't see the Great tit until I was processing the picture. There were birds everywhere that day, not that I managed to get many usable pictures of them though.

Coal Tits are always a pleasure to see, aren't they. Not always great to photograph though as, along with most of the other tits, they don't sit and feed for any length of time... mostly nano seconds LOL

Since I installed a pole feeder in the garden, the birds don't come to my window feeder quite so much sadly. But here's a Coal Tit for you sitting on top of it.

Seed selection