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Wednesday, 1 August 2018

The first of my posts on birds in our garden here in the Charente, France.

We have been offline for a couple of days and my goodness I am so far behind.....

A few photos of birds from our garden that I started getting ready last week!

House Sparrow, female – (Passer domesticus) Our most common bird in the garden here in France.

Eurasian Hoopoe feeding young in the garden – (Upupa epops) summer visitor here, last year we had two adults and three youngsters on our lawn at the same time. A very striking bird with a very distinctive oop-oop-oop call.

European Robin – (Erithacus rubecula). You put your right wing up and your left wing down, do the hokey Pokey and you turn around… Probably one of the best know robins due to its regular occurrence on Christmas cards. We only ever see them in our garden in winter, I have yet to discover where our visitor goes in summer!

European Greenfinch – (Carduelis chloris) A regular visitor in winter to our garden and sometimes a summer visitor as well. The female is somewhat drabber in colour with far less yellow on the wings and tail.

A close up of the above.

Hawfinch – (Coccothraustes coccothraustes). Quite a large finch with dominant colours and a very powerful bill. A one-time visitor last winter.

Common Blackbird getting ready for his date! - (Turdus merula). Looking around to see who may be watching...

Making sure he is spotlessly clean.

Checking and preening before looking for his mate. Generally, around in the garden all year but not in large numbers. A very rich singing voice when relaxed and not agitated.




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18 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Marie, quite a change from African birds. Have a good day Diane

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  2. Fabulous bird photos. It's always hard to choose a favourite since you have so many great ones. Have a great weekend. Even though it's only Wednesday here the weekend is around the corner.

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    1. Penny time sure goes faster as we get older. I seem to run out of time every day now where before I got so much done and went to work as well! Have a good day, Diane

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  3. Fantastic photos! Wow on that blackbir's bath,. and the wingstretch of the robin!

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    1. Thanks for the kind comment, much appreciated. Hope your day is a good one. Diane

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  4. A great collection of birds in your yard.

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    1. Thanks Diane, we get quite a lot of birds, especailly in winter, but generally they are mostly the same species as usual. T'other Diane

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  5. I'm on familiar territory now. Apart from the Hawfinch. It's a species which has always been scarce here on the coast but is now very rare and to see one involves a 70-90 mile round journey. Hoopoe is of course also rare but I see plenty on holiday in Spain.

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    1. Most of our garden birds I think you will be more than familiar with. The Hawfinch was sheer luck. I looked out the window and saw a bird that I did not recognise straight off. Grabbed the camera, took a couple of shots and I have never seen the bird since! The hoopoe is a fairly regular visitor, though this year I have only heard them. Think our lawn is too hard and dry for them to find food easily!!
      Have a good day Diane

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  6. Diane. Please see my latest post about the Turtle Dove. Thank you so much.

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  7. The Eurasian Hoopoe is such an exotic bird! Love the Hawfinches - they remind me of our Grosbeaks.

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    1. I love the hoopoes, we always had them in our garden in Africa so I was delighted to see them again here. Have a good day Diane

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  8. Look after those sparrows Diane. They're not so common here in the UK anymore.

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    1. We have masses of them at the moment and all year round so I hope it stays that way. Enjoy your week Diane

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  9. Wow the second shot! I've never seen birds like that before!

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  10. A lovely variety of birds. I haven’t seen a few of these before, only pictures. Love the look of the Eurasian Hoopoe and the robin is a particular favorite of mine. Thanks for sharing Diane and have a great day.

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