Birds in the garden!
Blue couch
Mudlark and Guttersnipe like to sit on their blue couch on the windowsill…
.
.
Gazing out the window
…sometimes they sit on the arms to look at birds out the window.
.
.
Suet
Sometimes they go outside to check that the bird feeder is clean, and has enough suet. We have a commercial inner cage, and a second, outer home-made cage. The little birds find their way into the suet, but the outer cage keeps starlings and squirrels out.
The big Flickers have discovered they can hang on the outside of the outer cage and tilt the inner cage so they can get at the suet with their long beaks, but they soon get frustrated and fly off.
Before we made the outer cage the flickers or squirrels could reduce the entire block to crumbs in one sitting, and the starlings would demolish it in a shrieking flapping mob if they got the chance.
.
.
Rosemary
The Rosemary is still blooming! The Anna’s Hummingbirds stay around all winter and they appreciate any blooms – even the tiniest ones have a drop of nectar. We like to hear them buzzing around.
.
.
Astonishment
Yesterday they looked out the window and saw…
.
.
Stripe
… a long beak and some vivid stripes on a smallish bird in the grass…
.
.
Guttersnipe
…Guttersnipe was beyond THRILLED!!!
.
.
Snipe
The first ever Snipe to cross Guttersnipe’s path, and it was in our very own back garden!!
.
.
Click on the video to see the Common Snipe hunting for grubs and worms in our grass:
.
.
.
.
Quimper Hittys 
How thrilling to see that Common Snipe! and then even capture it’s movements for us! Thank you so much, Guttersnipe and Mudlark for gathering us together for this glorious moment in your birdwatching.
It was thrilling! Guttersnipe was the most excited but we all were agog!
Love the photo and video of the wonderful Snipe! We live in Fairfax City, VA, a densely populated suburb of Washington, DC. This morning there was a lovely red fox napping, then grooming, him/herself in our back yard. A few days ago, a tubby groundhog was nibbling some of our still-green iris leaves. Last spring, a large box turtle decided to sun himself on our deck. We always have lots of birds, squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies and I remain amazed at – and grateful for! – how adaptable and resilient wildlife is in urban settings. Thank you, Quimper Hittys, for sharing stories and photos of the wonderful wildlife in your corner of the world!
How lovely to see some of your wild neighbours enjoying the garden…I always feel honoured when a wild thing decides our yard is acceptable!
So happy for the sighting, patience is a virtue
We saw an unusual flash out the window…and there it was! quite the most exciting bird we’ve recorded in your back yard!
these two are such an unassuming and charming pair. How nice that they had an outing and that dear little Guttersnipe has such a great surprise!!
It was a great surprise!!! Now Guttersnipe is having dreams of the wonderful adventures of Nils…
How wonderful and could be a great hobby for hitty. So much to learn from ‘Bird Watching’
It is certainly an amazing thing to see such marvels from their blue couch on the windowsill!