Hi all, I've got another really lovely bird I saw at Fairburn Ings for you today. I have to go a long way to see these birds as I don't get them in my garden yet.
I saw quite a bunch of birds in this tree so I had a look through my binoculars and there was a small flock of Bullfinches, both male and female. I need a better lens for my camera to get good shots that far off, but they were great in my binoculars. Just gently flitting around and eating seeds from catkins. It was nice to see them as I was stood here a while looking for a kingfisher.
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| Male Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) |
These are a couple of closer up pictures from an earlier visit.
As you probably know by now I like to learn a bit about the birds I see, so here are a few bullfinch facts:
- Best place to see them is woodlands (especially at the edges), orchards and hedgerows
- its name is based on its looks due to its front heavy 'bull headed' appearance
- they eat seeds, buds and they feed insects to their young
- they are an amber status bird but the good news is they used to be a red status. Their numbers are increasing (maybe I will get them in my garden :-) but the BTO says they are quite shy)
- They make their nests from fine twigs, moss and lichen, lined with little roots (see my World in a Wall post on lichens)
- it was first recorded in the UK in medieval times but their is fossil evidence from the last period of glaciation (10-120,000 years ago!)
So all in all they are just as fascinating as they look! Here's a few links to more information about them, and thanks to these guys for most of my interesting facts.
Hope you enjoyed this post.
Z.
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