THE CHAFFINCH

 In folklore the Chaffinch brings good luck to those who encounter it, true or not, it is always a lovely welcome visitor to my balcony. The correct pronunciation of Chaffinch is really chaf-finch, as this bird takes the name from the chaff that was used in the nosebags of working horses. The Chaffinch fed on the split chaff. They now enjoy a mixture of sunflower seeds, millet, and Niger seeds.

They eat their fill of the sunflower seeds I provide

They only have one brood a year, usually four young.

They are one of  the longest lived of our passerines, hence the relatively low production rate.

Although a common bird, seen in forests, parks, and urban places, it is a beautiful bird of some note.

I hear the males unmistakable song long before it comes into view.

The song of the male Chaffinch is one of the most distinctive of all bird songs and consists of a series of sharp quick notes, followed by a flourish at the end. When calling for a mate it will sing incessantly.

Linking up to ""Wild Bird Wednesday" and "Saturdays Critters". Click on the right sidebar on each icon and it will take you there, where you will see wonderful wildlife images from all over the globe.

WILL

Will has been visiting every day and I even managed to take a photo of him as he clung to the balcony ledge. The Chaffinch visits more often than it used to do, and a couple of Jays perched on the tree, and I got a few shots, but when they flew over, I didn't manage to take a photo, as they are quick to fly off once they have a peanut in their beak. Today I will just share photos of Will.

I have an appointment in April for my first Cataract surgery, I really need to get both eyes done and then my photos hopefully will be in focus, and much sharper than they are now. For some time now I have noticed that my images are poor, but I can't do any better. I will be linking up to "Saturday's Critters"

Click on the icon on the right sidebar to get there, where you will see many different animals from all over the world.

WILL IS BACK IN 2025

On opening the blinds, I could hardly believe the wind and rain had stopped and the sun was shining. The forecast was rain in a few days time so the men came to cut down the branches on the drive way trees near the house.This is what they look like now. Unfortunately the sun kept disappearing behind the clouds but the rain held off until the evening and thankfully the storms had passed.

The thought crossed my mind that now that the branches had been removed, would the birds still perch on the trees. There were still a few short branches left, but the birds would be more exposed than they had been before and more vulnerable.

The next day I waited to see what would happen No birds flew to perch on the trees, but flew directly to the balcony giving me a better view of them, but not in a natural setting. The railings are looking shabby and worn, but I haven't figured out how to spray paint them without the birds getting paint on their feet.

They all perched on the railings before going to the feeders

This little Blue-tit was so obliging, I managed to take these four photographs.

During the storm I felt very uneasy about the trees being so near to the house, for if they had been uprooted they would have fallen on to the house, as the branches were just as tall as the other trees low erdownthedriveway.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a flash of red and a Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared and timidly hid behind the tree trunk before exposing itself, enabling  me to get all the following captures.

 

The sun had disappeared and these images are rather dark but as I always do when I take a lot of photos I share them all. I hope it is Will, but of course have no way of knowing, but I'm just delighted to have seen it and if it is another woodpecker, there is no reason why it can't have the same name. :)

Will did not fly over to the balcony, even though I had laid out several peanuts, but when I happened to glance through the window later in the day, the peanuts had disappeared.

These images are all very similar, and not very sharp, so if you want to scroll down quickly, that's fine by me, but you can't deny Will has a most appealing look about him.

 

Handsome little guy.

I hope Will pays me another visit.

Because of the stormy weather and being indisposed, it has been over a month since my last post, I'm sorry if I have not visited as much as I would have liked to do but circumstances prevented me from doing so. I will be linking up to "Wild Bird Wednesday" and "Saturdays Critters" Click on the icons on the right sidebar and they will take you there so you can join in the fun, or see incredible images of wildlife.

STORMY WEATHER

During these rainy days and nights the rain swamped my balcony as the water would not drain away quickly enough through the small hole which was made for this purpose. I hardly ever have this problem,except when we get storms with constant rain. The storms were violent, and uprooted three of our driveway trees which are enormous.It took my men several weeks to remove them from the road where they had fallen. Finally we had to call in a man with his team of workers to help cutting the wood into logs some of which we sold, and the rest is enough to see our three houses through the winter. For those of you who don't know what I mean, my son and his wife have a house on the property and my foreman lives in the farm house, and  I live higher up the mountain, and we all  need wood for our wood burners.

Going down the driveway you can see how large the trees are and how tall the branches are

The branches should have been pruned  a long time ago.  Another image going up the driveway.

It was too dangerous for me to get near the trees as I could have fallen, so Eva took these photos on her phone.

Eva said that they are not very good, meaning you can't really see the tree trunks on the ground for the branches. The one you see is split in half, but all the branches fell. Eva couldn't get near enough to get a good view, that's why I shared the first two images so you can imagine them on the ground.

I found this red toadstool near the studio, it's name is  "FLY AMANITA" Amanita muscaria. A muscaria is a fungus with several known varieties or subspecies, and can be rounded or oval. It can grow to 20cm across and 30cm tall. Long ago it was broken up and placed in a jar to kill flies, as it is venomous and that is how it got it's name, and musca means fly in Portuguese.

Back on my Balcony.

The dull light does not do justice to the Chaffinch, a regular visitor  to my balcony for sunflower seeds.

The Coal tit

Usually the Blue tits fly in and out of my balcony with a peanut or a Sunflower  seed in it's beak, but

this one paused enough time for me to get these two photos.

This Blue tit was a sweet wee creature-

The mischievous squirrel with the red brown body and black tail eats the most, and raids the peanut feeder even after eating all the sunflower seeds I leave out for the Greenfinch, their preferred meal. 

The Great tit, and although it's stripe is uneven, I think it might be a male.

I have been seeing some Jays recently, but they haven't jet ventured on to the balcony-

This is a juvenil Chaffinch, sweet little creature

Another image of a  juvenile Chaffinch both images were far away and not very clear in the early morning light

The Juvenile Chaffinch.

Misty morning in my garden

One more Jay before I stop making my post, which I will be sharing on Wild Bird Wednesday and Saturday's Critters.