Growing up

A young Greenfinch on my window feeder a little while earlier:




And a young Herring Gull begging one of its parents earlier near the supermarket when I did the weekly shopping:

Bento is back!

Last year, we had a real character among the great tits coming for mealworms. We'd nicknamed it Bento, for a fairly obvious reason, clearly visible on the photo below, taken as he was visiting one of the feeders (before customisation): the feather at the edge of its left wing was bent.



But it was also recognisable by its character, very confident, forward, demanding... He was always very quick to let me know I was late in refilling the feeders. I'll never forget (well I might, but it'll take some time), one day I was at the sink when I saw it appear and then hover in front of me looking me straight in the eyes while calling loudly. I obeyed pronto! He managed to have 2 broods, so I guess his approach worked.

This year, we were wondering if we would see him again. Early on, there was this one, nicknamed Thumper by my other half, as it would often arrive on the feeder rather heavily, with a big thump, and being generally a bit of a bully to the other birds. But nothing decisive.



Them, last Wednesday, I was on the balcony taking photos of the passionflower which had started flowering, and chatting with a neighbour, when I heard a light metallic sound and my neighbour said "Don't move, a bird has landed right above you". I move very slowly, and this great tit was on the flue, less than a metre from me...



You may notice the small feather sticking out? on its left wing? I actually got to get an even better look on Friday afternoon and the feather at the edge is missing... My other half was working at home and to give him some peace and quiet I had removed the feeder in the front room and put mealworms on the window sill by my desk, giving me very clear and closer views. That evening, I texted the neighbour I share the mealworm feeding with about it, and she replied immediately "Funny you should mention Bento, I saw one today reminded me very much of him". She feeds the robins by throwing mealworms on the ground [when they don't come and help themselved in her kitchen], and it would come and pick them up in front of them, and more than one at a time (which most tits don't). I saw him take 5, almost 6, albeit rather small ones, at once, quite a feat! He now takes 2 of the big ones almost every time. To finish, this morning, I had not even finished putting the feeder back on its hooks after refilling that it had already landed on it...

I think, odds are it is the same bird. And I am very pleased it's back :) On its second brood already more than likely, all the fledged young great tits have been fairly independent for a while now.

What did I do in May?

I can't believe May is already over... It feels like a lot of my time has been spent feeding the birds, and watching their antics. Probably with reason, as at the beginning of the month is when I started ordering 1 kg mealworm every week, as chicks started hatching in the blue and great tits' nests. I share them, and seeds, with a neighbour (it saves shipping cost and stuff is fresher that way) who also feeds robins and blackbirds. When I started feeding mealworms 2 years ago, my first order was for a tub of 120g and little did I know what I was letting myself in for... I was mostly then feeding 1 family of blue tits (the 'flue tits') on the balcony [I blogged about then (here]. Unfortunately, this is South exposed with no shade and, on sunny days, the mealworms would just fry there (and wasps were also helping themselves) so I started putting another dish at the front of the house and we put a webcam onto it which caught the tits, but also starlings and magpies who would just hoover the whole lot in seconds.
Last year, I started putting the mealworms in a window feeder. I had got this Droll Yankees window feeder in the photo below, though you may notice that it has been customised... It had been fine while it was only the tits coming, but, as soon as the starlings fledged, they would just gobble the whole lot in seconds. Now I am all for helping them as well but, since I couldn't trust them to leave any for others, I had to restrict them. I initially closed the gap but then the blue tits could not get in, which surprised me since the great tits had no problem, and some starlings still could as well. So I started putting a chicken wire screen so as to block the front access, leaving just 2 smallish gaps at the sides. The tits took to it immediately which was great, and most starlings were defeated. Success!

This year, we have been feeding at least 3 families of Great Tits and 2 of Blue Tits (determined from the directions in which they were going back). In the photos above and below you can see one of our blue tits, nicknamed Punky, as it is getting to the gap and about to leave with the prize! I don't know what it is about blue tits, but every year we have at least one Punky/Scruffy (we have at least 2 this year) whereas the Great Tits seem to manage to 'keep their hair on'... I am not sure when the Great Tits fledged as the parents kept them in the Cemetery at first, but it was before the Blue Tits, the 'flue tits' fledgeing on the 20th May. I was unfortunately too busy that day to take photos :(


The starlings haven't tried yet this year, but their chicks have only started coming out in the past few days, and they have concentrated so far on the fat feeders on the balcony. They have also taken some of the occasional few I leave in a dish on the bathroom window sill which is where I photographed this youngster on Wednesday 27th (through the window):


To be continued...