Tuesday 12 March 2013

Siskins

It's turned very cold today and don't we know it! It has not got above 0ºC all day, whereas yesterday I was outside in warm spring weather. I am not the only one to notice this change; our bird feeders have been swarming, yes swarming with birds squabbling over ever morsel.

Over the weekend we noticed some new visitors that we have not seen this year. First a lone female Siskin looking quite cute.

Then a male turned up.

Followed by more males looking somewhat brighter.

At first they appeared to be ground feeders, the feisty petite female mixing in with the much larger birds.

However they soon discovered the fat balls.

and that feisty female decided they were all hers... Even the male was seen off.

I feel sorry for the blue and great tits.

Normally they have the monopoly with the nut and fat ball feeders... Not any more!!! They can only sit and wait until the Goldfinches and the Siskins have finished... Such is life!

4 comments:

Tim said...

Pauline noticed that they flash the brighter yellow tail feathers when "'avin' an argybargy"...
They are normally gone by now... must have had advanced warning of the weather further North...

Tim said...

They also seem to go a bundle on the peanuts...
I'm sure that the ones here are fatter than a few weeks ago...
or perhaps they've just fluffed out against the nithering wind!

Pollygarter said...

Aren't they charming? I could watch them all day!

Colin and Elizabeth said...

We do, especially when its tooooo cold to go out...