Monday 21 December 2009

A Special Visitor


Our bare garden is particularly good for viewing all the birds that visit the neighbourhood. The mature garden next door with lots of hanging feeders attracts blackbirds, tits, sparrows and I have counted six goldfinches at one time. They all scatter when the magpie flies in.

The last couple of days has seen two new visitors. One was a magnificent mistlethrush. The other had us puzzled. It looked like a robin without a red breast but as it fluttered around the flowering palm over the fence at the end, we could see flashes of red. Then as it hopped around on the ground in our area, I thought the red part was under its tail.

I went on the RSPB site today and was delighted to discover that it is a black redstart, which is on the amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern. Apparently there are fewer than 100 breeding pairs left in the UK.

The photo is by Lhgergo at Wikimedia.

4 comments:

J. M. P. said...

Such nice visitors! I love birdwatching, and it's always amazing to see a rare one.
Today I mentioned some of those birds in my blog and for me it was a struggle to learn their names in English. But it was well worth it: now I've been able to understand what you're talking about! :O) Kind regards, Jean.

Unknown said...

I saw your blog with the song lyrics about the birds after I'd written this. Nice coincidence.

lhgergo said...

Hi!
I've just googled for my username, and found my photo here. I'm a bit surprised, that someone needed my picture. Thanks for posting it!
Anyway, it's quite interesting to hear, that redstart is such a rare bird in the UK. It's one of the most common urban birds in Hungary (this photo was taken of a redstart, nesting in a nest box in our garden).
Greetings from Hungary!
Lhgergo

Unknown said...

Hi Lhgergo. Thank you for letting me know you'd seen this, and for making the photo available so that I could post it. Also for the information about redstarts in Hungary. Good to know they are thriving somewhere.
Best wishes, Jean

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