Tag: feeding
Feeding Whooper Swan.
One from the archives taken in Lancashire, England in the mid 1990s.
I was at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Martin Mere reserve. There was a few Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) close to one of the hides in the morning. With the nice light on the birds I spent some time shooting as wide a variety of images as possible.
I like the way the light is catching the drops of water on the birds head and neck as it feeds.
Squares.
This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is Squares. I had a few ideas for the challenge but this ended up an obvious choice with squares of wire mesh holding peanuts for the birds.
This is a male Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus) feeding on peanuts in a garden in Cheshire, England. Although a year round resident in the U.K. it is more commonly seen in the winter when it comes to bird feeders.
This is the way most people see Siskins which probably explains why a magazine editor used this photo over others shots of the species in natural settings that I had submitted.
European Goldfinch feeding on Teasel.
Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.
This is a European Goldfinch feeding on seeds in a Teasel head. The seeds are a popular food source for the birds and the plant is grown to attract them by some people.
Teasel heads were used as a natural comb for the nap on wool in the past.
Feeding upside down.
This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is Upside Down.
I was considering a variety of subjects and photos. Then I thought about the Nuthatch family of birds. They will walk down a tree trunk or branch head first just as easily as walking up one.
That got me thinking about the suet feeders we have. They’re upside down to discourage Blue Jays and Grackles while allowing Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Chickadees to use them.
So a male Hairy Woodpecker feeding upside down.
Feeding on Poppy seeds.
Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire in the 1980s. The juvenile Eurasian Blue Tit is feeding on a Poppy seed head.
The photo is interesting for a couple of reasons. The juvenile Blue Tit is ringed. I did some research and the closest ringing location I could find was three miles away in a straight line. Which means that this juvenile has already travelled some distance from where it was ringed. Being a juvenile it could have been ringed when it was still in the nestbox.
Also interesting is that the bird is feeding on Poppy seeds after pecking a hole in the seed head. I have seen adult Blue Tits feeding this way. So did the juvenile bird learn this behavior by watching an adult or is it instinctive behavior to peck open seed heads?
Eye level with a Chipmunk.
A shot from a recent session in the yard using my ground pod to get down to eye level with the birds and mammals.
This Eastern Chipmunk was interested in the human lying in the grass while it searched for a few more seeds to stuff in its cheek pouches.
