Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Winter Visitors

Even though there is no food offered on my balcony (we’re not allowed to put up bird-feeders because the food that falls to the ground can also attract rats) I get visitors, and lately it’s not been just the usual crows and magpies and sparrows stopping by.

These photos were shot through the window as otherwise I scare them away.

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The one above I suppose must be a blackbird…

But who or what is the one below? Can it be a very puffed-up Mrs Blackbird? Or what? (They were not there at the same time.)

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Even though there’s nothing to eat but snow, they seem to like to come and sit on my fake spruce garland.

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This one was eating/drinking snow  - I saw him gulping it down. From what I could observe, I don’t think he tried neither the led-lights nor the plastic needles.

9 comments:

Terra said...

I like your birds, and birds appreciate a source of water in winter, so you could put out a saucer of water on your balcony. I use a ceramic 1 inch deep saucer (made to fit under a pot for a plant). Since they won't let you put out food, water is a great gift for your songbirds.

MadSnapper said...

i love the little fat fluffy one... so cute and sweet. i guess they eat the snow for water.... had not thought of that. if you put out water it will freeze, wont it?

DawnTreader said...

Just now, water in a saucer would soon freeze... Maybe I should put out a hot cup of tea! ;)

Ginny Hartzler said...

I LOVE your puffed up bird pictures!!! He must have been very cold!!! Could they be starlings, maybe not...

Wanda said...

You did get some great shots. I wonder if Mrs. Black Bird is puffed up with pride...HaHa..Or maybe it's just "attitude" ~ It rained today, and my birds were scarce.

GB said...

Adult female blackbirds have a yellow beak although not as yellow as the male. It could be a youngster but the pronounced markings on the breast would suggest to me that it's a song thrush.

Librarian said...

Like Graham said above, I, too, think it is a thrush.
There's plenty of birds around here, and sometimes one lands on my window sill to eat a bit of the muesli I have put there - it's my replacement for bird food because I have run out of the proper one.
My parents have a proper bird feeder on their balcony, and in past years it was always very popular, but this year for some unkown reason they seem to ignore it.

Scriptor Senex said...

I think it's a fledgling blackbird. You can tell it's a youngster by the wing feathers (or lack of them) and young blackbirds have a very spotted breast just like a thrush.

DawnTreader said...

Thanks. My birdbook says the female blackbird has a brown beak and that was also the picture I found that most resembled the one I saw. I'm not an experienced birdwatcher though... I wouldn't have thought of it unless there had also been the very black male visiting!

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