Tag: starling

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Autumn Bird-capades

In the massive Pepper tree

My garden is a hive of bird activity at the moment. The Starlings are loving the berries on the massive Willow-like Shinus that stands in the front garden and at any given time during the day there seem to be about thirty to forty of them there at a time, eating the red berries and swooping down to my pond for a drink from the bird baths and a swim. They chatter non-stop and we love hearing their continuous chirping as we work. (The Pepper and Pond are directly outside the office).

But it can also be quite distracting. I’ve shown the location of the pond with the bird baths before in this post. If I turn my head 45 degrees to the left I see two of the three baths and the starlings have been taking turns playing and drinking here for the last few days. At any given time there are at least two birds on each bath with a few others on the ledges or darting back up into the tree to grab a few more of the red berries they seem to love.

A short, 35 second video of the Starlings this afternoon:

And a couple of shots of the Starlings …

[one_half]Starling on the Pond ledgeStarlings at the Pond[/one_half]

[one_half_last]At the bird bathAt the bird bath[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The berries they loveThe berries they love[/one_half]

[one_half_last]More fun at the bathsMore fun at the baths[/one_half_last]

[one_half]In the massive Pepper treeIn the massive Pepper tree[/one_half]

[one_half_last]With the favoured red berriesWith the favoured red berries[/one_half_last]

And in other Birdie News …

[one_half]Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis).Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Even the big birds drink hereEven the bigger birds drink here[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My favourite, the SunbirdMy favourite, the Sunbird[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And two little WitoogiesAnd two little Witoogies[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Coming in to land …Coming in to land ...[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cute little witoogie (white-eye)Cute little witoogie (white-eye)[/one_half_last]

Those are my Autum Bird-capades! The Starlings have taken over the front garden and in exchange for their delightful company all day, they leave quite a mess behind!

Birds in other Gardens …

I’ve been enjoying all the birds I’ve been seeing on other gardening blogs lately too. Some of my favourite “Bird” posts include …

Bird Rescue Board from It’s Not Work, It’s Gardening; The Niagra Falls Garden Magazine from Garden Walk, Garden Talk; Brush Piles are for the Birds by The Sage Butterfly; The Malachite Sunbird Babies by Barbie of The Gardening Blog; BlogSpot for the Birds by Elephant’s Eye; Hawkweed for Weavers at Beautiful Wildlife Gardens; Sweet little birds, outside my window by This Grandmothers Garden; Bird Counting by Gardens Eye View; A Bit of Bird Watching by A Rose is A Rose; The Bluejays by Crafty Gardener; Time to count Birds by Pam’s English Cottage Garden; We Have Owls! by The Whimsical Gardener, What a Hoot! by Las Aventuras … and there really are at least a hundred more.

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve shared your birds on your blog and leave a link to your post! Would love to share your birds …

Happy Gardening
xxx

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Bugs & Pests Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

The Sunday Bird Show

Starling on my Terrace

Well its been hot, hot, hot here and I’ve really not had much inclination to dig in the dirt. All I can motivate myself to do as far as gardening goes is to lounge around, enjoy the garden and appreciate the birds who took over the back garden this afternoon. At one stage there were so many flitting around that I had to put the camera down just to appreciate the very sight of all these different birds who now find some reason to visit my little space in the world. It was really quite something to have all these visitors in such a short space of time.

Most of the birds today were regulars (Yay! I now have “regulars”!) but we also had new birds in the back garden. The Cape Bulbul was new to me and the Redwing Starlings are usually in the front garden, but today they joined us at the back. Every bit of “birdy equipment” was in use this afternoon and the birds showed me what else they’ve been drinking from …here the Redwing Starling is drinking from one of the pots on the Terrace.

Starling on the Terrace

[one_half]Starling on the Terrace[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Starling on the Terrace[/one_half_last]

The Starlings are really not shy at all. They’ve been making my garden their home ever since we’ve lived here but usually confine themselves to the front garden where they have plenty of water features and bird baths which is what they seem to want from me. Water! They also enjoy the Frangipani tree in the front.

Starling on my Terrace

[one_half]Starling on my Terrace[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Starling on my Terrace[/one_half_last]

According to my notes, these with the grey heads are females. They came really close to me and seemed very unfussed by my presence. Then is the “new” kid in town, the Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis). Cape Bulbul eat fruit, seeds, nectar and insects. They’ve been making short work of the goodies on the new bird feeder.

Cape Bulbul

[one_half]Cape Bulbul[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cape Bulbul[/one_half_last]

This next bird is new to my garden (I haven’t seen it here before). I’ve looked through my “bird” books and can’t find a match for this one. I thought it looked a lot like the Rooibeksysie which is now a very regular visitor, but … I really don’t know what this is. Does anybody recognise it? It has also been eating off the new bird table, but seems a bit shy.

Unknown Birdie

[one_half]Unknown Birdie[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Unknown Birdie[/one_half_last]

Here is the Rooibeksysie (aka Common Red Waxbill) again – they enjoy the hanging bird feeder and are regular everyday visitors now. They seem to prefer the apple pieces to all the other things we’ve tried. Apple and seeds. They are very cute, have become quite forward and are not shy to let the other birds know when they are around.

Red Waxbill

[one_half]Red Waxbill[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Red Waxbill[/one_half_last]

The sweet little sunbird that visits every day between at around five in the afternoon is growing up. (I first wrote about him here when he was a juvenile). I’ve watched him mature over the last three weeks and enjoy seeing him. Amazing that the same birds seem to come back every day or actually live somewhere in my garden …

The Sunbird

[one_half]"My" Sunbird[/one_half]

[one_half_last]"My" Sunbird[/one_half_last]

And then the last bird of the day, the Hadeda – Just as the sun was starting to go down I looked out of my bedroom window and saw this female Hadeda perched on the neighbours roof, looking into my garden. The light was not great so my photos are not good, but here she is – she gave us quite a show when I went outside to photograph her. Lots of preening and posturing.

Hadeda

[one_half]Hadeda Ibis[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Hadeda Ibis[/one_half_last]

Here are a few other random shots of the birds using their old and new birdy things. I’m thrilled to see they are actually using everything I’ve put out for them and are eating all the fruit and seeds. Having all these birds visit is a wonderful side-effect of gardening.

[one_half]More than one bird type …More than one bird type ...[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Glad to see they do use theseGlad to see they do use these[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Can you see them peeping from behind?Can you see them peeping from behind?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Birds main Meeting PointThe main area it all happens[/one_half_last]

Thanks for joining me and “my” birds for our Sunday Bird Show 🙂
Happy Gardening
xxx

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Christine's garden Miscellaneous

Birds in my garden

My Doves

My DovesPhoto I took of the doves in my garden. The doves gave me a great show today – they were doing the “wild thang”, and were very unfussed by Dexter and my presence and the camera. I love the birds in the garden – they wake me up every morning from about 5 am as they dart from tree to tree picking off the berries.

I also have starlings who visit our pond every day for a drink of water and a wash in the bird baths. Sometimes we have as many as six of them playing in the baths when its very hot. Unfortunately they are too fast for me to take photographs, but I will keep trying.