A few garden birds.

I think my 'happy place'is just sitting in my shed/hide and watching the birds coming and going to my feeding station and small pool. I dont ever expect to see anything unuasual( the best so far being a Redpoll ) but you never know what might turn up. Here is a few of our recent visitors. Starling,Blue Tit,Robin,Nuthatch,Chaffinch,Siskin,Marsh Tit,Coal Tit, Great Tit and Blackbird.

Bonaparte's Gull.

Two Bonaparte's Gulls graced the river mouth at Marazion in Cornwall recently,and when this pretty species of Gull show they tend to show really well, these were feeding very close both in the water and on the seaweed on the beach.This unafraid behavior was apparently the ondoing of one of them as reportedly it was killed by a dog ( dont know for sure weather this is actually a fact though . Hope not).

Yet more Short Eared Owls

On the same day as seeing the Long Tailed Duck. I had to practically pass the Short Eared Owl site so Could'nt pass up the chance of seeing these stunning birds one more time. Although very cold the sun shone and after a bit of a wait two Owls were watched hunting over the coastal fields. On one occasion one flew directly overhead looking toward me as it passed.Beautiful birds.

Long Tailed Duck

This young Long Tailed Duck has been present on Porth reservoir in mid Cornwall for quite a while, so thought it high time I caught up with it. On a very cold frosty morning I found the bird easily enough , swimming quite close to the shoreline,I got ahead of it and tried to get low down ( lying on the frozon ground ) for some photos. Probably my best pics of this species.

More Shorties

Just cant resist em.

White Crowned Sparrow

When someone from our photo group put a photo on our facebook page of a bird he thought was a White Crowned Sparrow, I quickly got back to him to confirm the sighting and that he should report it to the county recorder, and I would love to come down and take a look ( along with many others !). I was going away for a couple of days and hoped it would still be there when I got home. Luckily it was , so went straight down the next day to try and see it. The bird was a bit elusive at first , only giving brief views, but then I was kindly invited into the garage where the bird was showing really well in the back garden. Managed a few photos but not all that sharp as they were taken through the glass door. But a super little bird, a first for me and I think the first for Cornwall.