birds

The blackbirds

tree, blackbirds

The tree across the road where the blackbirds sit. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The blackbird is Swedens national bird. I love blackbirds.

I have some blackbirds that always visits me. They spend a lot of time in the tree across the road, opposite my outside place. From there they can watch if I go out and fill the feeders. Then they fly over the road and eat at my feeders (when the cats are not around). I like watching the blackbirds.

birdfeed

Birdfeed in December. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

One of the feeders is in the garden near to bushes and I can watch it from my kitchen windows. That bowl with peanuts flew off last week when it was very windy. I took it indoors for cleaning and haven’t put it back there yet.

birdfeed

Birdfeed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

This winter I also feed the blackbirds on the table on my outside place. Here they get peanuts and sunflower-seeds. And another bowl with mixed goodies for birds. Dried flour-worms among other things that the birds like.

birdfeed

Birdfeed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

This winter it has been difficult to feed the birds as it until recently has been an extraordinarily warm and wet winter with no snow and plenty of rain. At times the birdfeed was swimming in water and had to be regularly thrown away and replaced…

Last week it snowed. This morning we hade -12.7C°. Warmer now, but still a bit below zero. The birds are hungry.

birdfeed, blackbirds

Birdfeed with blackbirds and a great tit. Photo:©nini.tjader.2018

I feed them the year around, but particularly in the winter when they really need it. They compete of course for the food with the smaller birds, like the great tits and the blue titas and the occasional nuthatch. And during spring-summer-autumn also some woodpeckers.

Next weekend it is bird-counting weekend in Sweden. That’s a recurrent activity every winter. We count the birds and report them to an organisation that collects the results and by that can see if certain birds in certain areas decrease or increase. I use to participate best I can. I am not a “bird-nerd” but I find them interesting to watch.

The blackbirds are fun to watch. They are always arguing with each other and competing for the food even though there is plenty of it. The females rule and chase everybody else away from the food, male blackbirds and smaller birds alike.

I take pictures of the blackbirds when I can. Both with my iPhone 7 and my Canon G15. Always through the window, which means I don’t get all that close. This time of the year the natural light is also extremely poor so not that easy to get good pictures. But, here are some of my blackbird-pictures. And one of a great tit that took the opportunity to get food when the blackbirds weren’t there.

Posted by nini in Birds, Nature, 0 comments

The Hungry Birds

peanuts

10 kgs of peanuts for the birds. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

My hungry birds are hungrier than ever this wet and cold summer. The spring was short of insects for them too because of the cold weather and they suffered. Feeding them was more necessary than ever, and not just to get help from them to get rid of bugs and insects on the garden plants.

I ran out of peanuts over the Midsummer holidays because of a distribution problem at Postnord. Then found that a local shop for dogs and cats sold peanuts for birds… so stocked up with some small bags of it temporarily until I got my ordered 10 kgs which finally arrived two weeks too late…No fault of the company I bought from though. But next time Iäll buy from the local dog and cat shop…

Every time it rains, which lately has been more or less daily or every second day, the birds are in a queue to the peanut feeders…

birds

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

And the woodpeckers (three of them) are still visiting too. No others are allowed onto the feeder when the woodpecker is there.

woodpecker

Woodpecker. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

bird

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I even got a new visitor I’ve never seen before. A hawfinch. At first looked like a parrot as it was much bigger than the usual guests at the peanut feeder.

hawfinch

Hawfinch. Photo: ©nini.tjader.201§5

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The great tit was waiting for it to stop eating but didn’t dare to go there as long as the hawfinch was there. The hawfinch seemed to prefer eating from the ground though, just like som other visitors normally do. They are fun watching.

All photos taken through one of my kitchen windows. I don’t get any closer than that.

hawfinch

Hawfinch. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Posted by nini in Birds, Outside, 0 comments

Birds

birds

Birds in the rain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This time of the year, when the birds all have chickens, they are hungrier than ever. They hang in groups in the peanut feeders (I have two) an fight for the nuts. Above are a blue tit, a great tit and two tree sparrows. Usually there are also a couple of black birds hunting for nuts on the ground.

woodpigeon

Wood pigeon Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Every afternoon two wood pigeons arrive. They do not eat from the feeder but from the ground below it what the others have thrown down.

woodpecker

Woodpecker. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The woodpecker hangs in the feeder. It always throws nuts onto the ground that the smaller birds take care of. Probably not intentionally, but it has trouble getting them out sometimes. I’ve got three wood peckers this year. One male, two female. I think one of the females might be the chicken from last year.

chaffinch

Chaffinch. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The chaffinch is one of the birds that eat from the ground only. The chaffinch is a beautiful little bird with all the red feathers it has.

chaffinch

Chaffinch. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The peanuts won’t last until I get the next delivery – which probably will be next week. The birds are too hungry and I am out of nuts. Have ordered another 10 kgs though. Hopefully the birds will not fly away to other places during the time I will be out of nuts. And if they do, I hope they come back when there are nuts again.

Some think that birds do not need to be fed in the warmer season, but that is wrong. Especially after this years very cold spring there is a shortage of the insects the birds eat. And I want the birds in the garden as they also eat the insects and bugs there are, which means less bugs on the greenery.

Posted by nini in Birds, Garden and Nature, 0 comments

Hungry birds

woodpecker

It is summer. The birds should be able to find food themselves, right? But, they all have little ones and they are hungry. So I give them special peanuts for birds. They love the peanuts. Both the woodpeckers (I have three of them regularly feeding here, they look slightly different when compared, and I’ve seen at least two of them at the same time), and the nuthatch couple which I saw also the entire winter. The nuthatch always eats upside-down.

nuthatch nuthatcher

These two kinds of birds make all the smaller birds stay in the nearby tree when they eat and the small ones, like the great tits, only get to eat when the other ones are away. Sometimes several at the same time. Feeding them the year around makes them stay in the garden. And they also eat all kinds of insects and bugs and larvae so you get less of those on the plants.

great tits

These were the ones I managed to take pictures of today. I also have blue tits and several other kinds of birds coming. Only problem is that it is hard to find the peanuts for birds during the summer. Ordered more today from a place I’ve never ordered from before and hope it will come fast as I’m almost out of peanuts by now.

It is fun watching the interaction between the birds at the feeders. The woodpeckers always announce when they are nearby and on inflight. You cannot miss that they are coming. They even keep on making noise when eating.

woodpecker

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Posted by nini in Garden and Nature, 0 comments