Birds and blossom
May. 7th, 2015 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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common_natureWatching parental robins at an urban railway station: the local robins at University station in Birmingham know which side their bread is buttered, and have begging from the commuters down to a fine art. I was eating my breakfast, a saffron fruit bun (translation from EnglishEnglish: a very buttery bread-textured roll with raisins, sultanas, currants, candied peel, and saffron spice), when an extremely bold robin approached me closely to ask for a share. I picked off a few small pieces until the robin decided its beak was full and flew away to its nest. It quickly returned and made begging-cheeps for more, so I obliged, and then it returned a third time. It was only on the third round that the adult robin ate any crumbs itself. I’d finished my breakfast when it returned a fourth time so I showed it my empty hands, which it understood immediately and went off to look for food elsewhere. (Note: the high animal fat content of my saffron bun makes it better for robins than most processed human foods.)
Watching young birds having learning experiences: I saw an inexperienced wood pigeon attempt to land on my neighbour’s shiny corrugated plastic shed roof and skid along a groove. It then proceeded to attack some overhanging willow leaves, first pecking them and then wrestling them with mighty vigour, before giving up and wandering out of sight. Although it wasn’t quite as funny as the very surprised young crow who recently attempted to land on the same corrugated plastic roof when it was wet, and aquaplaned the length of the roof, lol.
How are the seasonal changes moving where you are?
Watching young birds having learning experiences: I saw an inexperienced wood pigeon attempt to land on my neighbour’s shiny corrugated plastic shed roof and skid along a groove. It then proceeded to attack some overhanging willow leaves, first pecking them and then wrestling them with mighty vigour, before giving up and wandering out of sight. Although it wasn’t quite as funny as the very surprised young crow who recently attempted to land on the same corrugated plastic roof when it was wet, and aquaplaned the length of the roof, lol.
How are the seasonal changes moving where you are?
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Date: 2015-05-07 02:27 pm (UTC)Fascinating! My dog knows that gesture, too. :)
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Date: 2015-05-07 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-07 07:15 pm (UTC)Bluebells! Yay! I went for a walk today on the towpath and dipped into the woods, which I haven't done for a couple of weeks, and found a huge patch of them. So beautiful.
I saw a young sparrow fall off the bottom of the peanut feeder a couple of days ago and had to suppress a giggle as it flailed around trying to recover its dignity.
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Date: 2015-05-08 10:42 am (UTC)Aw, poor sparrow. Still, food > dignity. ;-)
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Date: 2015-05-08 02:33 pm (UTC)My birds have been very happy lately as a couple of weeks ago I de-furred the dog out on the lawn and the sparrows were queueing up to grab beaks full of her soft undercoat!
May is my very favourite time of year. Up here in Salop the bluebells are in every wood and tiny copse, the early spring flowers are still hanging on, so there's still some white wood anenomes and oxalis, celendine and a few primroses left, every pit hole is smothered still in bogs of marsh marigold, although fading fast. The later spring flowers are starting to bloom in the warm sun, so we also have drifts of pink campion and white cuckoo flowers. Even a big bog of purple vetch was spotted this morning. Add this to the riot of dandelions, daisies and hedge parsley and it's like the whole place is just bursting with colour.
Unusually the oak trees have spurted into growth with most of the other trees this year, so the hedges and woods are looking particularly vibrant green, especially in that strange light just before a storm.
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Date: 2015-05-08 03:01 pm (UTC)Birds LOVE dog hair! I've also seen bees making off with smaller lumps of pet hair from rodents!
I love spring and although I can't claim I've enjoyed the extended cold this year it has preserved spring for a wonderfully long time. I'm imagining all your flowers. The oak trees did the same here, and were even ahead of one or two older ash trees. The only trees that leafed earlier than the pack were the hawthorns and that was only a matter of days. Here I have that jewel-like spring yellow-green contrasted with the early RED of copper beeches before they darken. It's stunningly beautiful.
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Date: 2015-05-08 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-09 07:44 am (UTC)I've only even lived in northern hemisphere temperate zones with four seasons but I'm fascinated by the ways differing climates around the Earth produce such a variety of plants and animals all doing their own thing in their own time.