With the storm having died away the garden is once again alive with birds, although it has taken some of them a while to find the relocated cone feeder. I put a handful of seed into the three-quarter coconut and two male chaffinches discovered it early on, going back-and-forth to take beakfuls of seed away.
Food was a definite focus of the birds attention today, but whilst the lawn was alive with the mass of the hedge motel mob, for the larger birds getting and keeping your place at a feeder was a challenge. The jackdaws were particularly persistant, but would still scatter if I cracked open the kitchen windown and hissed – and before they were clear of the fruit trees a starling would have replaced them at the fat block feeder.
Both the male and female woodpecker came to eat at different times. The male woodpeckers in particular are not amenable to sharing. One had been digging into the fat block for a few minutes when a starling approached the other side. The woodpecker suddenly popped up, daring the starling to stay, although its ‘glare’ was somewhat dissipated by a beak full of fat and seed. The starling left nevertheless.
The female woodpecker came to feed late in the day, when almost every other bird had retired. Her red tummy glowed in the late sun.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 