Just a few photos taken in our French garden this week.

House sparrow - male (Passer domesticus)...

As above - female...

As above.

Common chaffinch - female (Fringilla coelebs)...

As above...

As above -male...

As above.

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)...

I do not normally take photos of birds at a feeder, but these are our homegrown hazelnuts, which I have just found the blue tits love.

As above, and as you can see it is raining!!

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Wild Bird Wednesday

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I'd Rather B Birdin

Our year in photos.......

January 3rd - Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) and Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) seen while in the UK.

February 26th - Eurasian or Common Crane (Grus grus) flying North over our house in France.  Very noisy!!

March 15th - Blackbird male (Turdus merula) taking a bath in our garden.

April 29th - House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in the garden.

May 24th - Young House Martins (Delichon urbicum), in the town of Monflanquin, France.

P.S.Not a good month for birding!!

June 20th - House Sparrow female (Passer domesticus) in the garden.

A great month for insects but only sparrows in the garden!

July 31st - The Little Owl makes a regular appearance on our barn roof. (Athene noctua).

August 12th - Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus). In the garden.  Nest making in August ???

September 20th - Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros).  On our roof.

October 18th - Wing-Snapping Cisticola (Cisticola ayresii).  Holiday in South Africa.

November 7th - Giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima). Holiday in South Africa.

December - cheated a bit here this is last year!! Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

Wishing all my followers very happy holidays and all the very best for 2020

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Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin

More of the birds seen in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

All birds on this page were again seen out birding for the day with Tim Cockcroft.   The quality of the photos is not brilliant, but I have picked the better ones to add to the blog.  Not only was I having a lot of problems with my lens not focussing at times, but many of the birds were also quite distant.

Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola).

Long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne).

As above, female on the left.

Cape glossy starling (Lamprotornis nitens).

Jackal buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus)

As above.

Red-faced mousebird (Urocolius indicus)...

As above.

Trumpeter hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator)...

As above...

As above.

Joining up with

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin

More birds seen in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

All birds on this page were seen out birding for the day with Tim Cockcroft.  Highly recommended if you are in the area and want to see many birds.  We saw over 70 different species with him.  Lots more to come, watch this space.

Red-fronted tinkerbird (Pogoniulus pusillus)...

As above

Bar-throated Apalis (Apalis thoracica)...

As above...

As above.

Black-Bellied Starling (Notopholia corusca).

Brown-hooded kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris).

Common greenshank (Tringa nebularia).

Fan-tailed widowbird (Euplectes axillaris), also known as the red-shouldered widowbird.

African crowned eagle or the crowned hawk-eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus)...

As above.

Joining up with

Wild Bird Wednesday

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I'd Rather B Birdin.

Birds seen in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. 2019

Southern masked weaver or African masked weaver, (Ploceus velatus).

As above

The male masked weaver, a master at nest building.

Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris).

Yellow-fronted canary (Crithagra mozambica).

As above.

Cape robin-chat (Cossypha caffra).

Cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens).

Cape Thick-knee, also known as Spotted Dikkop (Burhinus capensis).

Cape wagtail (Motacilla capensis),

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Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin.