Pihabongaus
Saturday was a snowy day and we elected to stay home and engage with the big garden birdwatch.
This is what it's all been leading up to. Mountains of food laid out for hungry birds, drawing in species from the surrounding countryside.
In the end we did pretty well seeing 17 species in the hour with the following counts.
105 Yellowhammer
5 Jay
6 Magpie
40 Blue Tit
25 Great Tit
1 Robin
1 Coal Tit
12 Greenfinch
12 Tree Sparrow
6 Blackbird
2 Chaffinch
1 Goshawk
2 Raven
1 Hooded Crow
2 Treecreeper
2 Bullfinch
6 Great Spotted Woodpecker
There were some notable dips, however, with our flock of Long Tailed Tits failing to make an appearance, our Grey Headed Woodpeckers being no shows, not a single White Tailed Eagle soaring around and no calling Black Woodpecker in the bay.
Some of the counts were excellent though, with our Tree Sparrow flock doubling in size and our Yellowhammer flock jumping from 70+ to 105 during the hour, and a count of 125+ recorded later in the day. With more snow forecast this week it may very well push even more birds to us.
6 Great Spotted Woodpecker is the norm for our garden, consisting of one ad male and a number of female/juv types. The male has been drumming in the garden since early January, though if last summer is anything to go by, there is likely two males at play with neighboring territories yielding two flocks of squabbling juvs utilizing the garden.
This is what it's all been leading up to. Mountains of food laid out for hungry birds, drawing in species from the surrounding countryside.
In the end we did pretty well seeing 17 species in the hour with the following counts.
105 Yellowhammer
5 Jay
6 Magpie
40 Blue Tit
25 Great Tit
1 Robin
1 Coal Tit
12 Greenfinch
12 Tree Sparrow
6 Blackbird
2 Chaffinch
1 Goshawk
2 Raven
1 Hooded Crow
2 Treecreeper
2 Bullfinch
6 Great Spotted Woodpecker
There were some notable dips, however, with our flock of Long Tailed Tits failing to make an appearance, our Grey Headed Woodpeckers being no shows, not a single White Tailed Eagle soaring around and no calling Black Woodpecker in the bay.
Some of the counts were excellent though, with our Tree Sparrow flock doubling in size and our Yellowhammer flock jumping from 70+ to 105 during the hour, and a count of 125+ recorded later in the day. With more snow forecast this week it may very well push even more birds to us.
6 Great Spotted Woodpecker is the norm for our garden, consisting of one ad male and a number of female/juv types. The male has been drumming in the garden since early January, though if last summer is anything to go by, there is likely two males at play with neighboring territories yielding two flocks of squabbling juvs utilizing the garden.
Male Great Spotted Woodpecker dominating the garden.
Adoring females looking up at the king of the garden.
On Sunday I dropped Hanna at Villa Elfvik, where she was running a pihabongaus event, and I made my way to Suurpelto hoping to see the resident Rough Legged Buzzard again.
The weather was beautiful, but a cold -15°C. Nonetheless it seemed perfect for soaring raptors and was this surprising that the buzzard made no appearance in my hour there. 1 Goshawk was my best here as it distantly crossed the fields. Flight views were prolonged though, giving me a good five minutes to enjoy that distinctive flight action.
Other than that, the best of the rest was a very tame Black Woodpecker back at Villa Elfvik, typically when I didn't have my scope with me to get shots. C'est la vie.
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