Stoic Bird

 The more I observe birds, the more my admiration grows for them. Their resilience and stoicism I have witnessed first hand on numerous occasions over the years. Overcoming illnesses, injuries and disease.

One such bird is a Pied Wagtail that I befriended, it has followed me around the Town for the last couple of years. 

Summer 2019 I noticed it had a large growth on it's right foot, a red cluster, almost like a Raspberry. The creation of a garden pond was the initial attraction for it, and picking up the Dried mealworms that were put down  for the ducklings.

 Previous post on this bird can be seen here on Bird Brain . This bird knows I will supply it with food when it appears, and yesterday I noticed the foot has all but gone, with only a stump remaining! 

 Stoic and Feisty, it still chases the Sparrows away from the food ! We can all learn so much from other species.

Bird Brain

Often used as derogatory remark " Bird Brain" has an entirely different meaning to me. Birds do indeed have a brain and it serves them very well, having survived on the Planet a lot longer than us.

Today I got a few examples from my feathered friends.  

Having observed a pair of Pied wagtails for some time fliting around the garden pond for dried mealworm I have been feeding the ducklings. 

One of them has an injured foot but seems to manage on one of them. It has watched me dropping mealworm out of the window, and has taken to feeding it's young with them, flying back and forth every minute or so. This bird has been following me around the town for the past week, and lands in front of me in the high street and down by the riverside. It sometimes flutters in front of my bedroom window as soon as I pull the curtains in the morning. I know it's the same one because of the foot.

                    It looks me in the eye and knows I will throw it some dried mealworm. It's bird brain knows it has made a connection with me, and looking at the pics I think you can see why. 

The right foot seems to have a growth on it and have seen it pecking at it several times. Sadly there's little I can do to help, other than provide food for it and it's brood.

Bird Brain

Observing bird behaviour, I have come to realise like in all species, some are more intelligent than others.

Lately my peanut feeders have been emptying at a phenomenal rate. A few Sparrows have learned how to open the feeder sliding top and have been feeding their offspring with liberal amounts of peanuts.

 So much for the bird brain theory, it might be small but it does function well enough! Sequence tells the story.