The sun-bathing ring dove was back today, ensconced on the grass in a patch of sunlight, lazily pecking at the odd morsel, lolling from one side to another and stretching up a wing to take the warmth. It seemed so relaxed as to be almost dozing in the sun and I couldn’t help becoming a little concerned; the new growth on the trees and plants not only makes it rather more difficult for me to readily identify birds amongst the leaves, but also makes it easier for the cats to sneak up on some unsuspecting bird. It did occur to me to wonder whether it was counting on the wood pigeon which was plonked in the middle of the lawn relentlessly working its way up and down to raise the alarm. This was possibly a risky calculation; I was by no means convinced that anything short of a rampaging moggy turning cartwheels on the grass would get this particular pigeon to focus on anything except food.
Food did seem to be a matter of particular import today. I saw a starling and a young blackbird face off over a worm that the blackbird had found and the starling won that encounter. There was a sparrow playing fatball marbles hung upside down on the wire ball and three female sparrows were plunging from the rosebushes down into the snow-in-summer. I’ve just been to put out Spikey’s dinner and had a look through its stems on the way back up the steps and I still can’t see anything edible.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 