The other day my wife heard an ominous “thump” by our back patio door and, on investigation, came across a “window strike” victim in the form of a House Wren! We were very perturbed, especially as the Wrens are using our nesting boxes to raise their young and we regard them almost as family! Regardless of our sentiments, we had to decide what we should do for it and, after due consideration, we opted for a wait and see policy with no more stress being imposed on it, i.e. do not open the door to get a closer look! I sat on a chair and kept an eye on it for its recovery duration and was able to get some close up pictures of it too. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long before the poor little bird started to show signs of “perking up”. Within half an hour, it seemed to have regained its composure, took off in flight, cleared our patio fence and disappeared into the back garden. We have since heard singing and witnessed more action in one of our nesting boxes, so we hope that it is our Wren which has fully recovered from its “stunning” event!
How many White Breasted Nuthatches have you seen at once recently? Well! I had the privilege of seeing five at once around my hanging feeders at the front of the house the other day! I had just got into my car and happened to look up in the feeder direction, when I saw three of them trying to get onto one of my peanut feeders, whilst another was on a nearby wooden trellis and another actually clung to the brickwork! Of course, no camera to hand, so no proof to show you! It would seem that we have actually got a family of them, for most of those wrestling for positions were pretty immature looking as are most at that age! Having two peanut feeders, we quite often see a couple of them feeding, with one on each. Our Woodpecker visitors often do the same thing too and it never seems to cause any undue conflict between them.
The Nijer seed feeder is always kept busy with the Goldfinches and House Finches cohabitating amiably, along with a Chipping Sparrow who will come along by itself and sit there later in the evening on the bottom rung, when all the others have given up for the day and gone to roost! It will regularly appear by itself and has become quite a good friend, if just appearing regularly constitutes a friendship! Maybe you too have struck up endearing friendships with your own bird clans, in which case I hope you are enjoying it too. Stay safe and well.
Cheers,
John Baldwin
