Today was a blur of sparrows. The parents and fledglings barely left the garden, even when the jackdaws were shooed away, they went as far as the hedge motel and then returned to the caged feeder where the adults went behind the wire to prise out part of the nuts. The problem for the adult birds was that the fledglings are now active enough to pile in after them and soon the feeder was choked with young and older. The youngsters would pull at their broodmates’ tails and whatever plumage they could reach, whilst one seemed to get itself wedged into the bottom of the cage and had to wrestle its way up and out.
The blackbirds seem to be working to the whole gamut of activity – I saw one gathering nesting material, whilst another pair seem to have parked a fledgling in the greenery below the bird table.
Actually that patch of thick foliage seem to have become a favourite place for young birds to hide. Most will stay hunkered down until they’re able to move safely, but this morning, as I went to spread the seed, a black-and-white missile shot past me at waist height – a woodpecker which I hadn’t known was in the garden…and as I turned back to go towards the house another woodpecker, the fledgling which had been in hiding exploded out of the shrubs and hurtled over the hedge into next door’s garden. I’ll have to make more noise as I go out, so that all are alerted to my presence.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 