BIRD NEWS:85

I did manage to get one good shot of Naboo on this early October trip, though. As usual, if I wait patiently with camera out, he will soon settle down tired of rushing about to avoid it and snuggle into his bed - at this point I can grab a shot.

Bluey was as usual happy to oblige with yet another pose for me to capture. I then managed to capture Naboo soppily heading at his ball. Back home, and I got a rather poor shot of one of the wood pigeons on the bird table.

There has been very little activity lately, other than the odd hungry appearance of Mr Bob, Curio, or Ditty looking in the window at me hopefully. We still have some activity, but not as much or as varied, so things are settling down for the calm before the winter season approaches to bring out ravenous birds in starvation mode begging for me to put 'suet n seeds' on my sill.

I did manage to capture one more bird-shot as the clocks changed and October ran towards its close. There was a little face peeping in at me -

- Beatie tapped at the window a few times, trying to catch and eat a speck of dirt or indoor bug, then flew at the windowpane trying to catch a fly...but did not return when I put seed out.

BIRD NEWS:84

There you go - a bunch of sparrows were munching the seeds on the plants! Now, regular readers may realize that a 700 bus trip, Lancing and me means a certain duo of feathered pals and the inevitable piccies...

Yes - Bluey was as usual happy to have his photo taken - and Naboo was, as usual, not.

As October began, very little was going on in the yard at home. The occasional bird on the tree such as Mr Bob or Mr Black might call for suet and seed, but little else was seen. The weather has been warm for October - and until the 21st we had not had very much rain at all. The birds stayed in the trees and hedges and ate when wanting to... without drama.

Back to my trip, and here is another shot of Bluey peeping over the cage edge and another shot or two of Naboo - dashing too fast for the camera to capture.

BIRD NEWS:83

After a short time, I was back to check again, having popped to a shop. Finally I spotted 2-3 of the gang hanging out near the seed deposit - but it was not the full gang.

Above you can see one of those 'big black birds' I keep finding at the beach along with two members of the beach gang. A couple more were on the stone crest, but the entire gang did not show up before I walked beyond Worthing towards Lancing.

Back home and there has not been much news since September turned into October. The usual wood pigeons, Ditty and partner, Mr and Mrs Bob, the blackbirds, starlings, sparrows...they all still inhabit the yard, but little has changed - no young, no molting, no special antics.

Have a look at this photo - taken between Worthing and Lancing - and in my next post I will show you what you are supposed to see , if you cannot spot them in this picture.

BIRD NEWS:82

Continuing the saga of the meditating blackbird, I heard and saw no more until 9-10pm. I had dozed off and was disturbed to wakefulness by a screaming bird noise. I threw the window open, as that usually scares cats away were there any in the yard disturbing the birds. There did not seem to be any movement however.

The bird continuing to call incessantly in some sort of sadness and fear, the sounds coming from the area where the meditating bird had finally rested at first, before seemingly circling in the air a few times. I heard and saw no more...

I was en route to the Roundstone Farm bus stop to catch a 700 the first Saturday in October, when I saw a bunch of young pheasants dashing along the road ahead of me. Although the photo did not come out clearly, you might perhaps see a few birdlike objects...

There were actually between 6 and 9, but I could not count exactly as they were running ahead so fast. At the time I was happy to see such a flock of youngsters - but the next week my friend L informed me that it was likely to just be purposefully released farmed youngsters - ready to be shot...

I arrived at Worthing beach and looked...but did not see the beach gang of pigeons. I therefore left the seed I had bought for them to share on a wooden partition. The only sign of pigeons was over the Pier, where a couple circled.

BIRD NEWS:81

The final day of September arrived and I was in the kitchen cooking when spotted a black lump on the garden path near the plants my friend had given me were planted.

At first, I thought it was a dead leaf or a bird foraging for bugs. After I decided it was not a leaf and it remained motionless, I went outside to take a closer look, concerned that were it an injured bird a cat might spot it just as easily as myself.

It was a bird - a blackbird - seemingly adult. It did not move away when I approached and I managed to get very close and take a photograph or two. The only reaction to my presence was for the bird to look at me, then turn away from me and stare at the plants before shutting its eyes.

Such trust from a bird has not been shown to me for a long time but I remained concerned. Even were it not injured and merely meditating, a cat could so easily approach and murder it. I kept an eye on it, thru the kitchen window for a while - but it just sat there meditating. Were it not for the potential cat attack, I would have left it in peace.

I lined a basket with soft leaves and went to try to pick it up to put it in the alleyway for safety. However, it did not trust me any longer when i attempted to do so - flew up into a tree, promptly fell out of the tree, then flew into the hedgetop. It was then safe from cats and I decided to leave it alone to continue meditating if that is what it wished, although it may have had injured legs, it could still fly after all.

Wanna be a bird? TRY THIS!!!!

BIRD NEWS:80

I was coming down Highdown when I spotted some more birds to photograph - no, not the pigeons on the fence as I did not see those this trip, but more seagulls. They were following after a tractor that was ploughing a field in the PYO farm. Obviously some bugs or crop leftovers had attracted them, the same way they follow a fishing boat to catch left over bait/discarded fish pieces...

The following day, I was busily changing clothes from grubby jeans and t-shirt into track pants and skivvy ready to go out for the fourth trip of five, when I spotted a nosy face at my window. 'Chip chip cheeeeeeep, chirpy chip chip cherp'... Mrs Bob was peeping in DEMANDING food!

September arrived at its last week and I got a photograph of one of the sparrows on my tree. It was supposed to be a photo of it shelling a seed - but I was a fraction of a second out of time, so it just looks like a sparrow bending its head.

Next on the tree, Ditty! Ditty and partner can be told apart as Ditty does not have a bumpy feather patch on top the head and the partner does. Ditty and partner are beginning to become more regular visitors to the tree/my windowsill now that I am venturing to put out more seed/suet on the sill, hoping that rat problems are over and done with.