best part of the day: blackbird jungle

13-01-24

The first of three days of sunshine and each day colder. I can live with the freezing temps as long as the light is like this. The sun doesn't climb high above the horizon so it is often a bit gloomy in built up areas like Warriston where the trees block a lot of the brightness. But the ambient light is just about enough to work with and the difference from the grey drab day-to-day Winter grunge really cheers me up.

Saturday the 13th and I'd had a pretty decent parkrun first thing. No doubt the result of putting in a bit more training than usual. Last week parkrun was cancelled due to ice. The following day Mary and I ran uphill intervals and I not only enjoyed it but felt in shape. Tuesday was a properly taxing session with Coach Alan. The dreaded 20 x 1min hard 1min recovery. My suunto said 11 miles when I got home and it was so full on I had to have a couple of paracetamols later in the evening. Although I felt fine by Thursday evening which was the inaugural meeting at Saughton of the West Edinburgh Running Club. Dom and Alan set this up for anyone in that area, all abilities welcome. I went along to support it and in case there were only a handful of folk turned up to run. There was over 50 which surprised Alan and Dom and the session was a great success. My legs had recovered from Tuesday and I enjoyed the sprints workout.

The combination of a partially refreshed running mojo and brighter weather made me feel perhaps I can get through this Winter after all. Feeling buoyed by the parkrun result I headed along to Warriston to see how the new birdfeeder was getting on. There was squirrel sitting directly above and slightly irritated (whiplash tail, agitated look) at how tricky it was to remove the peanuts from it. However it persisted and managed by hanging on, upside down, from back feet, while attacking the inner mesh holding the nuts, with forepaws. I could see it admonishing me for what was clearly a bad design.

problematic!

I trialled 3 foodstuffs. Homemade bread, peanuts and suet birdfood pellets. The squirrels let me know that their favourite was peanuts. Followed by bread. And they weren't much interested in the suet pellets. Which left that for the birds. The birds appreciate the high fat content which helps survival in cold weather.

This blackbird was the same one from the other day (who ate loads then fell into a torpor) and now considered us to be such firm friends that he just sat on a branch right beside me. I didn't want to alarm or hassle him but I really was almost within arm's reach which allowed me these super close close-ups.

I accidentally caught this wood pigeon with an eyelid half closed. I was considering eyelids because although most birds can blink, they use a nictitating membrane (translucent or transparent) and you rarely see them close eyelids. A quick google suggests all birds have 3 eyelids, presumably upper, lower and nictitating. Dippers spring to mind with their zombie-like white eyelids but I can't recall seeing other birds close their ...em skin eyelids like this. (If you go to this previous blog, right to the bottom of the page and play the video; at 35secs there is a gull auto-refreshing its eye with a completely transparent nictitating membrane only just visible in strong sunlight. It impressed me greatly at the time.) (I'm not going to say it was an eye-opener.)

Lots of the birds were taking time out to look skyward. This suggests to me that the sparrowhawk might be active these days although that is pure speculation. Edinburgh is supposed to have a really high sparrowhawk count and you're more likely to see one picking off garden birds in an urban area, than out in the rural wilds.

a sparrowhawk did you say? <cough!>

There seems to be a clan of orange billed blackbirds in the cemetery.

The males rather than the females. I am a big fan.

going to some length for peanuts

easier to just steal the food off the stones

squirrelproof?

blackbirdbath

It was cold for just standing around. So when I put a small amount of bread out on this pedestal I was going to move on and leave them to it. However there was a lively response from several blackbirds, male and female. I was really pleased to see them and see them appreciate the food. So I put out quite a bit more and stood about taking photos for a bit longer. If there isn't a human present, the crows, magpies and pigeons will clear it up in seconds, leaving nothing for the smaller birds.

when you accidentally tuck toilet roll into your tights

uninvited guest barges in

The crows were very well behaved today. Probably more appreciative of food in colder weather, like everyone else. One was stood on a gravestone facing me and without really thinking I asked it to turn sideways on so I could get a profile shot which would work better. It instantly did exactly that and I said thank you before wondering if it had telepathically picked up on what I was requiring, assuming they don't actually understand the spoken word. It was almost unnerving (but in a good way.)

I am not their biggest fan and am aware some people wouldn't feed or encourage them as they (crows) are not generous regarding young birds or any vulnerable small creatures. And I've seen them treat other crows in an extremely toxic way to use a current phrase. However they are beginning to win me over with their good looks and proximity and the way they hop and fly around the cemetery nearby, keeping me company. And they will regularly oblige with a noble pose atop a gravestone pedestal.

If there are no more interesting species about I will share a little food with the magpies and crows as I did today and use them as target practice for the new camera. Specifically the pre-burst mode, which allows you to capture a scene in burst mode a second before it happens. So you can photo a bird taking off without having to anticipate it. It produced a series of magpies-with-open-wings shots that otherwise might be hit-and-hope, the old spray-and-pray! It (burst mode) does make for a huge number of extra shots you have to delete afterwards. It probably added about 650 shots to a day when I'd normally only take home 800 max.

still mid-Winter hunkerdown for the orange ladybirds
at Peter Smellie

Pleased to see this male bullfinch high in the trees and catching the late afternoon light on his vermillion chest. There have been a few about recently (recognisable from their distinctive call) but none very friendly or happy to pose for photos. A cheerful bird, and one of my favourite garden visitors.

magpie gif 1

magpie gif 2

Nice to see a couple of woodpeckers today. (Or the same one twice. Both male (red splash on back of head.)) Both North of the crypts in high trees. Not easy to photograph - to get a clear line of sight through the branches, but the animal detection of the camera really helps track the focus to the creature not the branches all around vying for attention. A larger sharper photo is easier to crop down which is an advantage over the bridge camera. I recently had the bridge camera out and noticed the real difference in focussing (or lack of!) on animals and birds. The G9 is slowly pulling into the lead for my affections!

However after a bit of typical woodpecker behaviour - hunting for grubs on dead (vertical) branches it settled on the horizontal section of this branch and had a snooze. There was still a bit of decent light left (it was only 2.20pm!) and I was disappointed it had nothing left to contribute.

unlike this very active blue tit which seems to be saying HIYAAA

snowdrops out and about

buds on many of the trees

There were a number of finches very up high in the trees. Way easier to hear than see. Turn the volume up in the woodpecker video below and you can hear them. Occasionally I'd catch sight of one. This one (above) is a goldfinch and they tend to hang about in medium sized chatty groups. I think it was them chattering away in the trees during the woodpecker video.

wren
I have often come across wrens near the East gate

Over between the East gate and the secret garden there was quite a lot of redwing activity. A gang of maybe 20 were rummaging through the leaf litter. Impossible to see as they are the same colour as the leaf litter; you only become aware of them as they take off into the trees. If you stand very quietly they eventually descend again but no matter how stealthy you imagine you are being, they are impossible to see on the ground until they once again fly up to shelter in the trees. One of those birds that frequently has the uncanny ability to sense when you point a camera at them, and frustratingly, move to a harder-to-spot position.

redwing

Just as I was considering heading home a woodpecker flew out and landed on one of the highest trees above the crypts. I had to crop the image considerably but am still pleased the new camera was able to get okay results with it being so far away. The tree is maybe 50 feet high and I was another 15 below that, along the front of the crypts. The woodpecker (another male or the same one greatly invigorated after its snooze!) called out several times. Was he looking for company or just proclaiming he was king of the castle? I can't say I'd recognise a woodpecker's call as readily as their more archetypal drumming, but I caught it on video so will try and post it below.

I went up to the higher ground above the crypts where I had to lean into some bushes to get an angle of attack. I could just get it into the frame and it did me a solid by turning around the topmost twig to show me its back-of-the-head red flash. It had stopped singing by now. Perhaps no takers. It flew off behind another tree and despite a search (in case it had come down in height and was sitting in sunlight on top of a gravestone - this never happens but you have to check) I couldn't see where it had gone.

woodpecker(s)

Mary texted to let me know she was on her way. She wasn't that bothered about seeing stuff, as much as getting out in the remains of the sunlight and walking for a mile or 2. I hung about the tunnel taking photos of my pal the resident grey wagtail who, as long as you keep a respectful distance, doesn't mind a little company. Unfortunately he only haunts the muddy puddles and stream there, which is the least photogenic place in the whole cemetery. He also bobs most of his life requiring a three digit shutter speed which was almost impossible in the available light. Compromises were made, many pics taken, most deleted!

Meanwhile Mary now texted a photo of the crypts to let me know she had arrived. We cannot have passed each other around the tunnel without seeing one another so I presume she arrived on a broomstick and didn't let on. It was quite puzzling. We finally met and took some photos of a bullfinch but really it was far too dark for any decent photos and we turned homewards after one last look at the remains of the bird feeder. The robin and squirrel were still there and waved goodbye.