28 November 2013

The Birds Are Back


(I'm afraid my son has taken the good camera to uni with him so for the foreseeable we'll have to do with grainy snapshots of our wildlife.)

When hanging out the washing today (I know it won't dry but it got me out of the house) I noticed the little birds are back.

Somewhere some sparrows were tweeting - god knows how they manage to carry those Iphones but they can't resist telling everyone what they've done: 'Had a worm for breakfast', 'Cat Klaxon!','#wheresthepeanuts', 'that washing won't dry LOL'.

A blackbird was being hysterical in a tree.

And what sounded like a whole flock of seagulls were swirling around, but really was a lone starling on a chimney practising his seagull impressions.

Birding experts say birds simply go quiet in late summer while they skulk about in the undergrowth during their annual molt.  Personally I doubt that. Blackbirds can't resist having a good shout. Would they manage to calm down enough while they molt to keep their beaks still? And how would starlings learn to mimic seagulls if they didn't take a holiday by the sea?

And as for the sparrows I think we should hack into their instagram accounts to see where they've really been.