Thursday 23 March 2023

FOURTEEN BIRDS AND A SQUIRREL March 22nd

At last the weather has improved. The cold wind and  rain has ceased  and it is a pleasant 15 degrees outside, warm enough to be able to sit outside and enjoy nature from my balcony whilst having my lunch and enjoying a glass of white wine. Spring is here at last, and buds are appearing on the trees, pretty flowers are blooming, and birds are filling the air with their song, and it's a wonderful feeling when our senses are in tune with nature, and it feels good to be alive. These are a few photos I took this week.


The Blue Tits are regulars


Here, we are looking at each other.


A playful pose, only minutes before the squirrel had been playing with another squirrel, and they were chasing each other up and down the tree.


The buds are getting as big as the Crested Tit.


The Crested Tit is another regular.


It seems that every time I look out of the window, the Robin is there.


The Robin eats from this box but prefers to eat from the tiled floor, so I always scatter some crumbs on the ground just for the Robin.


I never see the female Blackcap, but the male comes every day to eat at this feeder and sometimes from the tiled floor. 


His song is particularly pleasing.


My adorable Coaltits, so small and charming.


The Blackbird is never far away..











This is a Serin, but unfortunately it's out of focus, without detail and a very poor image, but it's here because it's a bird I hardly ever see so I'm also sharing it with you.


The Greenfinch eat copiously of the sunflower seeds.





This Hoopoe was perched on one of the beams of my lookout.





When it moved further along the beam, I got a slightly better shot.



The Great-tit




Starlings.


The Firecrest has become a regular, I was having my lunch outside when I captured these images, and it never noticed I was there, of course I had to move slowly and quietly to get these shots, and I was sitting at the far end of the balcony.








This concludes my post for this week. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed seeing and photographing birds on, and from my balcony. Have a great weekend.

39 comments:

Michelle said...

Your bird photos are perfection, but I do think that squirrel is handsome :)

Marit said...

Dear Sonjia :)

You show very beautiful photos of the birds. It's lovely that the weather have been better at your place. The buds on the trees looks fantastic! The Blue Tit is a favorite of mine, and the Red Robin too.
Today I saw very many blackbirds, and they are always a good sign of spring. We will have a cold week after the weekend, but I hope spring will come soon.
Have a nice weekend you too!
Warm hugs.

Bill said...

Wow, awesome shots of the birds and squirrel. The photos were a plesure to view. Many thanks and have a wonderful day.

Richard Pegler said...

Great images, Sonjia, of some birds that I am very familiar with from our own garden, and some that I am very envious of and which, although they can sometimes be found in UK, I will never see in our garden. They include Crested Tit, Serin, Firecrest, and Hoopoe. There's absolutely no chance that I will ever see a Red Squirrel in our garden either!

After a short warm spell, our weather is turning wet and cold again with the maximum temperature on Monday forecast to be 7°c, with a wind chill taking it down to 5°.

I hope that you have a good week end - stay safe - - - Richard

MadSnapper said...

so very happy to hear you are out on your balcony once again and that spring has sprung and your bird and squirrel watching has commenced again...I love yellow birds and these are so cute. here our black birds and jays do not play well together, i saw the photo with both in one shot..

Kenneth Cole Schneider said...

Very nice detailed photos of a great variety of yard birds. The Hoopoe looks as if it was "assembled by a committee." The Robins are handsome and the Greenfinch so striking.

Stewart M said...

Some remarkable garden birds! I have never seen a crested tit - one day!

Hope all is well.

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Oh what a wonderful lunchtime -- sitting on your deck in the sunshine seeing all those birds -- and wonderful birds every single one of them! If I were your next-door neighbor I would bring lunch and the white wine for the great company (you) and for the birds! Lovely post, I enjoyed all of it! (And not to forget the cute squirrel -- I like them too, they are so entertaining!)

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Sonjia I hope my comment made it through -- I loved this post and all the birds and squirrels. (I got a funny message when I tried to send it, but not to repeat myself in case my comment did make it through.! Thanks for this lovely post.

Len said...

My Dear Sonjia,
You are so lucky to be able to attract and photograph such a great variety of bird life. My garden is barren compared to yours. The only bird I saw today was a wood pigeon who pecked at some seed i had scattered on my lawn.My feeders and fat balls are totally ignored. The weather remains wet and cold. Even golf holds no attraction for me. Roll on Spring!

roentare said...

Truly in love with the birds. The squirrels look so cute too.

J.P. Alexander said...

Me gusta el mirlo pero todos los pajaritos y la ardilla me agradaron. Te mando un beso.

Irma said...

What great pictures of the birds and the squirrel.
The Hop is not found here in the Netherlands where I live, a single specimen in another part of the country, but the Hop is really very rare in the Netherlands.
I enjoyed your blog.
I wish you a very nice weekend.
Greetings Irma

eileeninmd said...

Hello Sonjia,
What a great variety of birds, I love them all. The Hoopoe is a cool bird, I would love to see in person. I would love to see all of these birds some day, beautifully captured. Take care, have a happy weekend!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Such an amazing series of pictures, Sonjia. Even an out-of-focus Serin looks pretty good. I am sure you realize that this is all very unfair, since there are those of us who have scoured woodland and glen, hedgerow and thicket, bush, bramble and woodlot, looking for a Firecrest without success, and you have one as a regular visitor. "Let me get my lunch," you say, "Let me pour a glass of wine and enjoy intimate moments with MY Firecrest." What did I ever do to them, having paid good money to come all the way to Europe to see them? Oh, and to flaunt your success why not add a Hoopoe? You may have to write a book, "Birdwatching from the Balcony." It will doubtless be a huge best seller. Hugs from Ontario - David

Veronica Lee said...

Your photos are amazing, Sonjia.

The details are incredible!

WOW!

Hugs and blessings

Barwitzki said...

Fantastic photos.
Thank you, I enjoyed every picture.
A warm greeting to you. I wish you a happy weekend. Viola

Rostrose said...

So many pretty bird visitors, dear Sonjia, and then sweet squirrels, too. It's really worth sitting on your balcony and enjoying a glass of wine. There is a lot of beautiful things to see! ❤️ I am happy that it has now become more spring-like for you.
I want to thank you for telling me about your travel adventures. Pillows in Japan were uncomfortable, but harmless. On the other hand, what you said about your visit to Cambodia in those turbulent times sounds very intense. I'm glad you got to Thailand on time. Luckily our Costa Rica vacation was far from such incidents - we only had the flight delay problem at the end. We don't need much more negative excitement in life 😉
I'm glad you think now that Anteaters are adorable - I do, too. I found a very informative Internet article about anteaters (with some very cute photos - there is no photo of the Tamandua mexicana, but of the pygmy anteater or of a cub of the giant anteater, unfortunately also of an anteater that was run over by a car - habitat loss and cars have made them an endangered species... ). You might be interested - if you enter this link in google translate, you can have the article translated:
https://www.planet-wissen.de/natur/wildtiere/ameisenbaer/index.html
You wanted to know why the stones by the river were red. I didn't ask but assumed it was iron oxide in the rock. But of course I could be totally wrong...
All the best and have a nice weekend! Hugs, Traude 😘
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2023/03/costa-rica-9-kapitel-nationalpark.html

This N That said...

Wonderful pictures as always..Cute squirrel..that's quite a bill on the Hoopoe..Is there anyway that I can get your posts in my email??
Your Robin is very different from ours..

Teresa said...

Hiciste unas fotografías preciosas, los pájaros se ven preciosos. Un abrazo y buen fin de semana.

eileeninmd said...

Hello Sonjia,
Your garden must attract all the beautiful birds in your neighborhood.
Such a beautiful collection of birds and photos. It is hard to pick a favorite, I love them all. I would be easily distracted by the birds seen from your balcony. The squirrel is a cutie too. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend.

KB said...

Blue tits are the cutest birds.

Mae Travels said...

You do indeed have a fabulous collection of birds at your feeder and near your balcony! The hoopoe seems very exotic, but its native habitat does seem to be urban gardens as well as other sites. I have seen them in similar locations, in a small home garden in Tel Aviv, and I’ve seen it in the south of France, so in your Portuguese home I guess it’s n ot a surprise.

Your photos are wonderful.

best… mae at. maefood.blogspot.com

Tom said...

...The Blue Tits stole the show for me. A beautiful image of a beautiful bird. Thanks Sonjia.

sami niilola said...

Lots of great birds. It would be nice to see Hoopoe sometime. Happy weekend.

HWIT BLOGG said...

Some fantastic pictures of the birds! Wow!
Love from Titti

Adam Jones said...

So many fantastic birds and I love the red squirrel too. That first Blue Tit shot is quite sensational.

Nick Morgan said...

What a fabulous selection of birds Sonjia. Blue Tits and Great Tits are very common here too, and I often think that I take them for granted. They are every bit as beautiful as what we consider to be exotic birds!
It is so nice when there are signs of spring. We are almost there here in Scotland. It is to be cold tomorrow night, but after that it will be milder, although it is to be wet!!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

The Hoopoe is such a funny looking bird...even the name is cute! I love the squirrels you have there too. Lots to see this week!

Lowcarb team member said...

Such a cute squirrel.
A wonderful selection of birds, and I always enjoy seeing the robin.

Have a good weekend.

All the best Jan

Lea said...

A wonderful assortment of birds!
Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Fantastic assortment of birds, all captured beautifully.

Anni said...

A dream of mine come true would be to see the hoopee (extraordinary bird)

Thanks for linking in this week at IRBB

Nancy Chan said...

The birds and squirrel did put up a great show for your camera.

Hena Tayeb said...

Wow those are some incredible bird pictures.

Jeanie said...

I love that you not only saw so many birds but that they so graciously posed for you! The photos are beautiful (as are the birds!)

NatureFootstep said...

soo many birds? You can send some my way. They are dissappearing from my place. :(

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Beautiful pictures and birds... Regards

Debbie said...

so many beautiful birds and gorgeous images!! you do get a really nice variety, the hoopoe is a pretty odd but interesting looking bird!!

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