Some moments went as expected this morning, some were new and some saw the darker elements of this world emerge.
When I pulled up the kitchen blind this morning, there was a male woodpecker at the vertical on the peanut wire cone. One of the older blackbird fledglings has discovered that he can peel the moss off the paving slabs at the bottom of the garden. I don’t know if he’s getting anything from the exercise, but the moss is scattered around.
The jackdaws are becoming more fractious as a group. I went off to the shop and by the time I came back there was a nasty scrap going on. Whilst half a dozen jackdaws were eating voraciously, one bird had another down on its back on the lawn and was trying to stamp on its head. The other, wings outstretched, had grabbed its foot in his beak and was trying to wrestle it away. I broke up the rammy before either got badly hurt.
Sometimes we do see sick birds in the garden. Most often, sadly, it is bluetits who have lost a leg. This happens in Winter and I’m assuming it’s the netting around fat balls. The injured birds, propping themselves up on twigs, never seem to last more than a day or two. Over the last day or so I’ve caught sight of a female sparrow that seems to have some type of abcess on the side of its head. I haven’t been able to get a good viw of it, so will look out for it tomorrow.
Elsewhere another rammy, more tied to the time of year, blew up in the greengage tree, when a male sparrow discovered another male in flagrante with a particularly willing female. The guilty couple had been enjoying themselves for some time amidst the branches and the resultant fight went on for some time and into the next garden.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 