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All of a flutter

February 8th, 2010 by gddik

Since I retired last year, I have rediscovered bird-watching and find it very relaxing to just gawp at the little blighters going about their daily business.

I have a bird table and a couple of feeders strategically placed in my garden, and I’m surprised by how many different birds I’ve seen in or around my garden, with zero effort, even from the comfort of my couch. So far, the list includes 26:

  • Chaffinch
  • Greenfinch
  • Bullfinch
  • Goldfinch
  • Song Thrush
  • Blackbird
  • Robin
  • Wren
  • Blue Tit
  • Great Tit
  • Coal Tit
  • Long-Tailed Tit
  • Blackcap
  • Pied Wagtail
  • Jackdaw
  • Magpie
  • Carrion Crow
  • Jay
  • Collared Dove
  • Wood Pigeon
  • Dunnock
  • House Sparrow
  • Herring Gull
  • Common Gull
  • Black-Headed Gull
  • Greater Spotted Woodpecker

- and if I get off my backside, stroll across the road and look at the river, I can add Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron and Mallard Duck. The list grows all the time - I saw the pair of Blackcaps for the first time just this morning, and the Bullfinches last week, but I’m sure I’ll add more as time goes by. Some are more frequent visitors than others of course, but it’s great just to see the common ones flitting about and behaving in their different ways every day. Their feeding habits, and the ways they approach the table and feeders vary enormously.

I had hoped that Cuba and Malta would have been as abundantly stocked with bird-life, but not in the parts we went to, sadly. Our confirmed haul in Malta extended to:

  • Spanish Sparrow (by far the most common bird - so numerous that the row they made when roosting at dusk was almost deafening!)
  • Sardinian Warbler
  • Black Redstart
  • Black Necked Grebe
  • Common Sandpiper
  • Chiffchaff
  • Stonechat
  • plus a couple of chameleons, which aren’t birds, I know, but lovely to see in the wild all the same…

- and, remarkably for an island, almost no sea-birds and no raptors at all… We could literally have counted the number of gulls (of indeterminate variety) on two hands in the entire week. Very strange.

Cuba didn’t throw up a much wider or more visually appealing variety:

  • Cuban Blackbird
  • Mockingbird
  • Turkey Vulture
  • Darter
  • Jacana
  • Hummingbird (just one!)
  • Royal Tern
  • Osprey

To be fair, though, the view that we got of several Osprey was spectacular - very close, compared to the views that you get in the UK, from (literally) miles away through powerful telescopes in carefully managed sites. We didn’t go to the right bits of Cuba for bird-watching, but most of what we saw on Malta was at one of the island’s two nature reserves.

So, excellent entertainment, for free, right outside your window. Our bird-life, although much of it is in decline, is every bit as abundant and exotic as other parts of the world. Get yourself a pair of binoculars, put some food out and enjoy the show!

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 Blog Warblers warbled

Home again

February 2nd, 2010 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 2 Maltese got cross

…And A Happy New Year

January 4th, 2010 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 2 well-wishers wished well

Look out, Cuba…

October 27th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 jealous wannabes commented

On your marks, get set - False start!

October 20th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 2 comments

Faith restored (a bit)

September 15th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 men in flat caps on the terraces sang You'll Never Walk Alone

On the disposal of wordly goods - Postscript

September 6th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 comments

On the disposal of worldly goods

August 25th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 rag and bone men shouted 'any old iron!'

Mum, R.I.P.

August 12th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 comments

Recession? What recession?

August 7th, 2009 by gddik

Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 0 men in flat caps on the terraces booed

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