This Afternoon (During the Rain)

We got rain this afternoon. Most of our garden birds disappeared to sit in the trees and bushes. But two braved the rain to visit the drinking/bathing pool near our back door.


Batman/Batwoman...wish I could tell them apart! One or both of them is always on patrol, making sure nothing's wrong in their territory!



And daddy blackbird thought it might be a good time to take a little bath. Helping to raise the two young ones has been a dirty, tiring business!

Remember that you can click on any of my photos for a full-sized image.

Janet

Views From This Weekend

Here are four photos that I've taken this weekend.

The first three are of the male chaffinch who frequently visits our garden. I've found him difficult to photograph in the past, but he posed beautifully for me yesterday afternoon.






In this photo, you'll see that the chaffinch is airborne, as a male blackbird hops around nearby.



And during this afternoon's rain, I got this shot of three blue tits happily sharing the peanut feeder.

Remember that you can click on any of my photos for a larger version!

Janet

Photos Taken During the Past Week

Here is an assortment of photos taken during this past week, in our garden. As usual, you can click on any of them for a larger version.


A handful of birds, including little chaffinch babies, enjoyed some of the seed spilled out of a feeder.







A great tit enjoyed the sunflower seeds in a hanging tray.





Here's a colorful male chaffinch.



I didn't realize that housesparrows are so colorful!





We recently bought a "caged" seed feeder, to keep the squirrels out of the seed. Some of our visiting birds are finally beginning to use it.



My husband John took this great photo of the woodpecker who regularly visits the peanut feeder.


Janet

Jackdaws

I must admit that I find jackdaws really creepy. But as they are, unfortunately, regular visitors to our garden (several at a time...), I guess I should add a jackdaw entry to this blog.

Photos of jackdaws aren't easy to get, as they are spooked really easily. That's funny -- they spook me very easily, too!

I finally got a couple of photos this afternoon, and I've posted them here. Remember that you can click on any of the photos for a larger version.




Isn't that second photo a little chilling?

Janet

The Yellowhammers

John was the first to spot the yellow-headed male yellowhammer in our garden last week. After several attempts to photograph him, I finally managed a few mediocre shots. Then, suddenly, I realized that what we actually had was a pair of yellowhammers -- even more special! I guess there's a nest nearby.

Yellowhammers have "Red Status" in the UK, meaning that their numbers have decreased rapidly. We'll do our best to help our pair as much as we can.

Here's the best photo I've taken so far of "MC" and "Amelie" Yellowhammer...and you can click on the photo for a larger version:



Janet

Our Latest Visitor: "Mel" the Greenfinch

I saw a new bird on the peanut feeder this afternoon, and luckily my camera was close by. This was our new visitor (click on the image for a full-sized version)...



A quick web search told us that this is a male greenfinch. As it's our niece Melissa's birthday today, we decided to name our new visitor "Mel".

Janet

"Woody"

Let me also introduce you to the Great Spotted Woodpecker that we've nicknamed "Woody". He/she does not come to eat nuts as regularly as some of our other birds, but each appearance on the nut feeder is greeted with excitement in our household!

What a beautiful bird...but one that's very skittish of humans.

Click on any of the photos for a full-sized version.









Janet

"Batman"

Let me introduce you to "Batman", our resident robin. For my American readers, he is a so-called European Robin.

I took the following series of photos last autumn, out of our kitchen window. Batman was one of the few garden birds that we saw all through the winter as well. I now understand why the robin is featured on so many Christmas cards in England.

Batman was one of the first birds to take a bath in the little drinking/bathing bowl just behind our house.

Click on any of the photos for a larger version.









Janet

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!

I'm a long-time blogger (Lord Celery has been going for a long time now), but I decided that I'd like to have a blog dedicated to showing photos of our bird friends.

I'm an ex-pat American who has traded apartment living in both New York City and Houston for a home in a village in North Oxfordshire, England. This adventure began in 2003, when I first moved into a rental house here in the village. After John (who is English) and I got married in 2006, we were lucky enough to be able to buy a home in the same community.

We live near the edge of the village, surrounded by farmland. We acquired a bird table for our back garden soon after moving into the house. Over the years, we have added a couple of additional seed feeder and bird baths, and a bird house I bought for John a few years ago is now home to a family of blue tits.

We love our birds and also love photography, and the two interests blend beautifully. I have been posting a few of our bird photos on Facebook and on my Lord Celery blog pages. But I've decided that it would be fun to have a blog dedicated to our feathered friends.

So if you are reading this, I hope you will come back often to see who has been hanging around our back garden!

Janet