European Gardening: BIRDS IN THE GARDEN, 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
Don't you feel for those poor birds! The partner must have been petrified. My Mitsi is an old girl now, but she would still have a go given the chance, it would most likely be a young one. She doesn't eat them either, gives them a good lick and a bit of a chew and leaves them! I wonder if there are babies in a nest. Horrible yes, I had a female blackbird hit the shed window and broke it's neck, it had a twig under it's chin, possibly going for a second brood. There was a male not far away looking my way around the corner, maybe it's mate. No counselling for them!

We had a hawk of some sort once, it came very close to the house as it attacked a pidgeon. I was stood at the door a few feet away. It cleared off, so I left the pidgeon a bit further away, I thought it would come back for it. It did, but i didn't see it. The whole breast had been eaten off. Don't you feel like you should have your camera strapped to your wrist!

I have had some greenfinches on the odd occasion outside the kitchen window, that looks to be my point of activity lately. It could be the newly dug patch has been attracting them, that's where I see them. There was a female foraging near the window and a male came up and lifted his wings slightly as if to say you know I am desirable and can't resist me, I ran to grab the camera and did get a pic with him facing me, his beak looks a blob but he has bright yellow edges on his wings, I think the colour improves for the mating season. They moved over to the dug patch, there was 2 females and one was picking around the pile of dug grass sods, I think getting nesting materials.