Our little part of the world has been rather cut off from civilisation. The occasion delivery person and the daily postie have been our only visitors really for months. Well that’s not strictly true. We have daily visitors. The birds.
Well when I say daily there was one exception to this. The weekend of the national Birdwatch garden survey. We sat for hours and guess what. Our daily visitors decided to give us a miss that weekend. No amount of food could tempt them. Yet as soon as they Birdwatch was over they flocked back again. Pesky characters they are.
But I will forgive them for messing my survey numbers up. They provide so much joy. Over the many months you start to recognise the individual birds. Many having really unique personalities and habits.
One really odd thing is the ‘pecking order’. Small birds first, big birds second. As soon as the food is put out the small ones arrive. The larger hooligan gang start to gather in the trees. After the small ones start to fly off the hooligans arrive. Then it’s about an hour of them squabbling. A few wiser ones just feed while the others are distracted.
That happens like clockwork everyday 363 days a year. Rain, sun and snow…. They obviously take two days off for the Bird Survey. I will grant them that especially as they like my baking. That’s got to count for something.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
You talk about the birds, but fail to mention the meerkat you have
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Yeah BABASP, what about the meerkat? Talk about bad eyesight or lacking in powers of observation. Snow joke though, as the poor thing it’s frozen. However there is a blanket of snow there if needed. 🧣
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That Meerkat was a sister gift. Kinda moves round the garden every so often. 🤗
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🤔 Well yes, it is cold 🥶 and joints get a bit stiff, so I can understand poor thing. 😉
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Even colder today waiting for this weeks heat wave.🤗
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He is in disguise. You shouldn’t be able to see him.
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You might need to have a word with him about his disguise
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I know x
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They like your baking! Yay! #friendsforlife 🙂
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They so are. Hope your happy.
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Sods law.
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Definitely
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Birds are so fascinating to observe. Nice post!
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Thank you so much. They really are.
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I often watch the seagulls squabbling down by the lake, they can be vicious at times.. but you are so right about joy and the birds.. today gardening one of our magpies was singing so beautifully… they really are such a spiritual gift..
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Yes I wouldn’t like to get between one of those busy ups.
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I do sometimes I fight for the one being bullied..
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I can so see that in you.
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You just get me lol
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🙏❤️
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A really sweet share. I love birds and have a special bond with them. 🍃💫🦜
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Thank you
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I love all the birdies!! I wish more would visit, but I wont put a feeder out because of the cats. Diesel especially thinks he’s a hunter. I would’ve loved to see him try to take on a seagull🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Birds are pretty smart. You just outed yourself as a good baker😉💌💌💌
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The secrets been revealed. The cats out if the bag..❤️❤️❤️
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I must say they are very considerate birds.
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They are big and well fed.
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Still they behave better than humans who don’t keep things like that in mind.
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🙏
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I thought that was a real meerkat, lmao
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It might be 🤣❤️
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Those are some very considerate birds! And like your fellow commenters, I also noticed the meerkat! 🤣
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Yes a rogue meerkat.
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I miss the birds. We couldn’t get bird seed for a while, and now that I finally have it for the subzero temperatures, the birds aren’t around. I feel bad about that. 😦 But how are YOU holding up? I’m trying to balance school and family stuff (hosting a baby shower in a pandemic sucks!) but I have hope. We’ve always got hope, right? Always always. Sending hope’n’hugs your way! xxxxxxx
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They is always hope. Really hope you find that balance that works for you. Sending you many hugs to Wisconsin my friend xxxxxx
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Thank you! We’re making due and keeping warm. If only it were warm enough to play in the snow…it’s so frigid right now that just a few minutes outside can mean frostbite.
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It’s the same here. I just went out to feed the birds. Came back in a few minutes later and had to put my fingers under the hot water for minutes to get life back into them. xx
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And now I must be off to shovel. Here’s hoping I don’t get too numb out there, eeesh.
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Take a hot water bottle with you xxx
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I spend a lot of time bird watching though I am no expert. Those old crows are mind readers. They will not allow photographs and they know the minute I lift my camera, even if I am indoors. Not far from here they do a crow hunt annually because they have such a high population 😦 So “my” crows are very wary. I have always been their friend, so it’s a shame but shows how smart they are.
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They are smart
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That’s stunning that the small ones are granted their peaceful meal first. Wow! But when is Timon’s turn?
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Enough food to go around if they like my baking.
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I am sure they love it…. haha.
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They do x
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Love the the meerkat! What does Captain think of that?
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We have a suet feeder right outside the front window. The cats sit on the loveseat and watch the birds. One day, the cats weren’t there when a downy woodpecker came by. It looked in the window and chirped a couple of times. It seemed like it was looking for the cats
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Our cat looks out the window
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I’m loving all our bird visitors too – we have a demanding blackbird😅. They’ve brought much joy to us during the pandemic 😊
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They so are 😊
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That meerkat looks so realistic in the first picture just hanging with the gang. Bird counts… this brings backs memories 😊… of last year. It inspired part of my “Daffodil Daydreams” poem. ❤ Nice post and photo’s Superdad. Stay out of the rain! ❤
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You stay out if the rain lots. ❤️
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There definitely is a pecking order. The blue jays think they are King of the feeder, but with the 8 that show up there is a pecking order. I take my hat off for the one mourning dove that won’t let himself be intimidated by the blue jays. The cardinals gladly share the space with the chickadees and juncos. The woodpeckers ignore all of them because they are there to enjoy the suet.
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We get the occasional woodpecker. The place empties when he arrives.
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Lots of snow here on NJ too, My dogface likes to eat outside. Birds are hungry. They invade her dry food when she turns her back. Ms strong prey drive allows them to.
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My chap likes to eat bird food. Wouldn’t hurt a bird just wants the seeds.
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Love birds! I get loads outside my bedroom window!
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