YOU LOOKING AT ME? - CRITTERS

Sulking siskin

Critters

Well I suppose you'd be sulking and moody if you'd just flown into a window and some idiot runs up to you and shoves a camera in yer face while you're trying to recover. You all know the story of the mad siskins with satnav problems who bounce of my patio doors. Here's another. Needless to say I don't just capture them( figuratively with the camera of course) but stay with them 'til they are less dazed and confused and fit enough to fly off. Free as bird oh lord I can't change the habits of these mad little birdies, just look after them.




Anyway for the back story on the moody siskin and my other images see pretty colours below.

Handbird
Tom Thumb
Sleep baby sleep

SHH! SLEEPING SISKIN IN RAMSEY - CRITTERS

Sleeping Siskin
Babooshka

Shh! Sleeping siskin. You know what happens they fly into our windows and I sit with them until they come round. This little male, was a little dazed and confused, but flew away eventually. Sometimes they come round in minutes, sometimes hours. This one had a little nap before he flapped off. Me being me, I just had to take his little snap when I knew he was hunky dory. Any references to me being a Manx fairy, a bird whisperer, or a white witch are just not true, and George the siskin can verify that fact. What siskins don't talk to you?

Ramsey is actually full of sikins now. They are becoming very common garden birds all year round, rather than the visiting migrating birds to here they used to be. We often have about 30 of these in the garden. Have you any idea how much a tiny bird can eat? Want to attract siskins to your place. Try niger seeds to attract them, and then white sunflower heatrs to keep them. Works a treat, but be warned, they won't leave. By the way this a Europoen siskin, which is quite different to the American. Put siskin as a seacrh word on my blog and you will find posts all about the differences.

Now a message for all CDP users. Voting for the 2009 Jan 01 is taking place. It's your chance to pitch in with your choice. Don't forget to use the forum. It's a great place to exchange ideas, have your say, ask questions, get help and see what's generally going on in the community.

For more wonderful camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters and be sure to leave a nice comment for Misty' s own outstanding posts.

ODD SHOT MONDAY - SISKIN IN HAND

When in doubt get the birdies out!

This is one of those mad little birdies who fly into our patio window, who I sit with, or they sit on me until they are well and fly off. Not happened for a while though. This is one from the series I shot earlier in the year. Again something else was planned for odd shots, but I got a little sidetracked with the bird shots and well can't resist these cuties.

Here's the birdy science thingy stuff. I

The Eurasian Siskin, or just European Siskin in Europe, Carduelis spinus, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. The siskin is also known as the aberdevine in Europe.

This bird breeds across northern temperate Europe and into Russia. There is a separate population in eastern Asia. It is partially resident, but the northern breeders migrate further south in Europe in the winter. The eastern Asian birds winter in China or further south. In some years there are large eruptions into the wintering range, when the preferred food of alder or birch seed fails. This species will form large flocks outside the breeding season, often mixed with redpolls.

Coniferous woodland, especially Spruce, is favoured for breeding. It builds its nest in a tree, laying 2-6 eggs. The British range of this once local breeder has expanded greatly due to commercial conifer plantations.

The food is mainly seeds, as above, and, in the breeding season, insects. This small siskin is an acrobatic feeder, often hanging upside-down like a tit. It will visit garden bird feeding stations.

The Siskin is a small short-tailed bird, 11.5-12cm in length. The upper parts are greyish green and the under parts grey-streaked white. Its wings are black with a conspicuous yellow wing bar, and the tail is black with yellow sides. The male has a mainly yellow face and breast, with a neat black cap. Female and young birds have a greyish green head and no cap. The song of this bird is a pleasant mix of twitters and trills.

There is a similar and closely related North America counterpart, the Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus.

This again was a one handed shot with a portrait lens on a portrait setting. Not as close in as a macro lens, but perfect when you only have on free hand and a siskin has laid claim to another. No I am not a manx witch, one of the Manx Fairy folk or have any other magical bird attracting powers. No the bird didn't poop, but his tiny claws did tickle a bit. Oh he also said can we call him George, not just the siskin. Ok George.

Please if you have no sense of the absurd, humour or think photography is just about who can say the cleverest comment, step away from the blog. George said that not me!

Want to join Odd Shots Monday?

Then see KATNEY

CRITTERS SUNDAY- ANOTHER INJURED SISKIN

Perhaps my garden birds just want their Andy Warhol 15 mins. of fame. Is that why they fly into the patio windows. The familiar thud of the bird against the window, and the all to familiar sight of a bird prostrate in shock. We know this scenario so well now that it has become commonplace.
Place them on their feet, sit with them so they don't become prey to cats and sparrowhawks, feed, talk to, provide water and encourage to stay awake and fly off, allow to sit on hand when so inclined. This little fellow, a male identifiable by his so brightly coloured green/yellow wing bars was quite the sleepy one. Eventually he flew to the feeders. We now have the patio doors open when it's bright sunlight, and so far no birds have misjudged their flight path.

May I take opportunity to say thank you so much to everyone who has ever visited and took the trouble to comment. There are so many of us blogging now that I'm constantly amazed by the mostly positive feedback. There are so many others bloggers out there who I have happened upon who have fantastic blogs that perhaps don't receive the recognition they so richly deserve.
So if I can take a further opportunity and ask next time you leave a comment, take a peek at the other commentators and perhaps visit a blog today you haven't before. You may be pleasantly surprised, educated, have a laugh. Now that can't be a bad thing can it just for the sake of a click into the unknown.

For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera critters.

ODD SHOTS MONDAY- SISKIN

Back to the birds! Same as my first Odd Shots a few weeks back(the chaffinch on my hand) this little siskin flew into the window. I again sat with him for about 2 hours until he started to come round. For some reason they always seem to hop onto my hand. Maybe it's to escape the cats or warmth, but they all seem to do this when injured, but rousing.

This time I didn't have the tripod. Instead I tried my new macro, that I've been dying to use. So this is a one handed macro shot. Not the ideal way to get a bird image, but it seem to have worked out ok. I seem to have a charmed life when it comes to photographing birds. Had no idea what odd shot to do this week, when this little fellow appeared last friday. Unlike the locals the birds seem to adore being part of ramsey daily photo.

Want to join Odd Shots Monday?

Then see KATNEY

Katney's Kaboodle is the place to join Odd Shots Monday and see other wierd and wonderful shots from fellow bloggers