Mr & Mrs (Bullfinch) Part 2

Continuation of my last post, given my chosen title I just had to show Missus Bullfinch, plus a few more of the male.

Some of my bird books state never seen on garden feeders but do enter gardens to eat new buds on shrubs. These birds love all manner of bird feeders!

Mr & Mrs (Bullfinch)

We had a trip to Dorset this weekend for Pat's nieces wedding which was fabulous on a glorious day that could not have been bettered.

On Saturday morning I got time to sit in the garden and wait for the resident pair of Bullfinches, you know the ones that do not feed on bird feeders!!! This is a lie.

What a treat, such beautiful birds. Over this weekend in an average size estate garden, not far from countryside we had Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blackbirds, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Robin, Dunnock, House, Sparrow, oh and I could not believe a Whitethroat bathing vigorously in the bird bath! Plus a Common Buzzard in the trees at the bottom of the neighbours garden and a lost racing pigeon.

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

I have not got any pictures these last three weeks, Easter was dark, we are
decorating and it seems to be on the bright days, the days off (decorating) have
been less so.

I am therefore posting Sanderling seen on the beach at Bransacster, Norfolk on a
lovely morning, not many people about and about a dozen of these birds on the
shore line.

They allowed me to approach reasonably close to and whilst the light wasn't the best
I was pleased to get these shots.

They didn't do so much of the running very fast in a clockwork fashion but were
busy probing the sands for breakfast.

This is a member of the Sandpiper family and in winter is by far the whitest, they
snatch marine worms, crustaceans, molluscs, sandhoppers and other similar beach food.

They often mix with Dunlins.

The Norfolk Enquirer

Whilst in Pats Pool Hide at Cley this fellow dropped in and
strolled over for a look. He came close to the hide and was interested in me whilst the shuttter was firing.

I took loads of pictures of this bird who was very interested in the water and vegetation there in, it did'nt look too nutritious to me.

What struck me was the lovely orange eye ring, no drab goose.

Avocet Flight Patterns

As I stated in my preevious post there seemed to be large
numbers of Avocets in Norfolk, everywhere we went,
Snettisahm, Tichwell, Holme Dunes, Cley, Brancaster
The following pictures show some of the flight patterns over
Cley.

In the final picture Black tail Godwit join in the fun, the black
background dots are Brents I believe.

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

• AVOCET (noun) The noun AVOCET has 1 sense:
1. long-legged web-footed black-and-white shorebird with slender upward-curving bill
Familiarity information: AVOCET used as a noun is very rare.

I wondered what the name meant, where it came from. It seems to precisely describe the bird, I suspect the bird came first and a word was made to describe it, perhaps you can put me right.

I see lots of Avocet every year, its tricky to get good photography of this bird but I cannot quite remember the good numbers seen in Norfolk last week, perhaps someone will advise what they think? Plus, we have our own breeding birds in Yorkshire now days, times have changed.

One brood April - July, 3 - 4 eggs, nest lined with grass and shell fragments on a scrape on low islands or dry mud.

Next post will attempt to show the numbers in flight.