Monday, June 02, 2014

Monday Musings

 Not one ........

but two Bullfinches* visiting the feeders in our garden almost every day this week. Both males and both filling up with food and taking some away.
Not the greatest of photos I'm afraid but I took them through double glazed windows when it was damp outside.


  Apparently the females do all of the incubating of eggs in/on the nest so I expect they are both doing their fatherly duties and taking food back there for their families.  So that begs the question does that mean we have two nests of Bullfinches not far away.

I wonder?

We see Bullfinches very rarely here on the edge of the city and usually only when the snow and ice are on the ground so it was a huge surprise to see them.

* I'm never sure if the plural of finch is finch or finches.  I looked up the Bullfinch on serval websites and all seem to say finches so I'm sticking with that.  



22 comments:

  1. We have a male and female bullfinch visiting our niger feeder three or four times a day.I would love to think they are nesting nearby.To have two come and be side by side feeding is amazing.

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    1. It was lovely to see the two together one is slightly smaller than the other so we can tell which is which when they visit on their own:)

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  2. What a lovely sight! I don't think I have ever seen bullfinches in my garden - they look quite exotic don't they? I was very happy to see a twittering of wrens in my garden the other day though as Gizmo looked longingly at them chattering his teeth! x

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    1. Yes, you can't miss their dark pink breasts when you spot them - much brighter than chaffinches and bolder than robins. Ha - our cats sit in the window and 'chatter' at birds too:)

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  3. I hope you have two nearby nests. I only see bullfinches in spring, last year we had several pairs of them, I think it was 4 males and 4 females, eating the buds on the cherry tree, and a little later in the year we found a fledgling baby bullfinch. I've not seen any this year so far, but then I haven't been spending as much time watching the garden as I did last year!

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    1. I'm always surprised by the variety of birds we see here as we are in the city - just - but we have so many green areas nearby and many country birds have adapted and moved into more urban areas - we still have goldfinches and greenfinches visit too but the bullfinches were a nice surprise:)

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  4. I've seen them this year for the first time... I hope it all means they are doing well.

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    1. I've seen more people reporting seeing bullfinches so lets hope that it does mean they are doing well all over the country:)

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  5. How lovely it would be if you do have two nests, lots of little fledgling finches! xx

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    1. There is an area of trees at the back of the house which belongs to the school and it is full of trees and bushes - I expect they are there:)

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  6. Whether to add an S to form the plural of bird names is a vexing question and one that puts lots of birders in a spin. Me? I just enjoy watching them.

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    1. Me too John, we have great fun watching all our garden visitors no matter how their names are spelt or is that spelled - Oh dear!:)

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  7. What lovely photos! I rarely see bullfinches, although we seem to have quite a contingent of chaffinches in our neighbourhood. How lucky you are to have two nests nearby.

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    1. We had a pair of chaffinches visiting earlier in the year and we see goldfinches quite often but it was a surprise to see the bullfinches:)

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  8. Oh lucky you. We haven't seen one for years. They are so pretty. Lovely photos x

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    1. Thanks, Patricia - they are very pretty and stand out amongst all the sparrows that visit our feeders:)

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  9. You are lucky to have those cuties in the garden, and nests too! x

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    1. Well, we are assuming there are nests - let's hope so anyway. They are cute aren't they?:)

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  10. They are so striking with their bright colourings. We see them occasionally in the garden - not often enough.Mx

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    1. After seeing then regularly over a week they have now disappeared again:)

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