THE CRESTED TIT Lophophanes cristatus

So far, I have had my fair share of ups and downs this month, The chemist gave me the wrong medication, which looked exactly like the box I had just finished but was in fact a much stronger dose than I needed. It was my daughter Eva who discovered the cause for the stomach cramps I had been suffering for over two weeks and phoned me immediately she found out. When I stopped taking it, those awful pains subsided. Another downer was a visit to the eye specialist who told me I have Cataracts in both eyes, the reason for my blurred vision. My computer went berserk and drove me to distraction for a number of days, and my mouse refused to work, so I did what I always do, when I'm a little stressed, I sat out on my balcony, and watched the birds, and even took these photos of the cute Crested tit.

It started raining at last, and has rained heavily all week, something to be thankful for, and we have even had a few sunny periods in between, but whatever else may have happened, which I won't go into now, I can always rely on my lovely balcony birds to turn up each morning, which gives me enormous pleasure. They are usually of the Tit species, and I love them all, but there is one that I have a particular penchant for and that is the Crested tit.

Crest up or down, immature or mature, I am privileged to see the Crested Tit every day of the year and hear its happy call. The trilling sound alerts me to their presence before I see them. They are not a colourful bird, like the Blue tit, but they are so distinctive with the black markings round their little faces and black collar, black eyes and beak, and their wonderful head crest.