So...my best weekend sightings for the RSPB Birdwatch hour were, not in the allotment, but in a friend's central London garden. With delight we identified blue tits, coal tits, thrush, goldfinch and wren darting about. The trouble came with the robin. "It's male," said PF authoritatively and the great debate began. Is a female robin's breast as red as a male's? I'd had this discussion with another friend over Christmas. Could someone, please, clarify?
I certainly thought that both Mr and Mrs. had red breasts... Mr. or Mrs. sits on my garden door handle or pecks at my bedroom window to chat to me when I am inside.
ReplyDeleteBut has anyone else had trouble with squirrels ?
Mine have shred the bark on my Amelanchier as they devour the food I have put out for the birds?
I am EXHAUSTED- so much for counting birds being restful. The stress of trying to distinguish a sparrow from a dunnock ,while counting twirling long-tailed tits which kept turning into Great tits or even coal tits,and diving from place to place as I ran frantically from window to window hoping to work out which was still on the ground has left me breathless. I need a drink...And I think female robins' breast colour changes shade in Spring,but my mind is still a blur from all that concentration
ReplyDeletewell I always believed that male sand female robins were alike. Only the Juveniles had speckles on their breast and not much colour.
ReplyDeleteI have three blackbirds, two males and a female. One male is in imaculate plumage and he has learned to stand on the hanging block of fat and tuck in. The female is not quite so clever but flies at the fat and takes a beakful as she does so. The other male who is not so smart just stands underneath and hopes for crumbs!!