A small bird is searching for food in a lot of snow



The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn,
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing!

- anonymous

The robin of reality is not quite as meek and pitiful as its counterpart in poetry They're very lively at the moment; we had three in the garden this morning, and that means war There is hardly a bird that is more tolerant of humans - one tried to land on the birdtable even as I was tying the trail cam to it - but they strongly resent their own kind (except, presumably, their mates) and their fights in the springtime can get quite violent.

But, for now, they are merely warning each other with calls and mock chases. And looking very pretty against the snow





Robins are strongly associated with Christmas imagery in England - cards are full of them. According to the BTO, this tradition dates back to the 1860s, when postmen wore red tunics and were nicknamed "redbreasts", a common name of the robin since the 15th century. But, also, they're one of the few birds that is vocal in the wintertime, and I guess it's easy to associate them with some seasonal cheer

The trail cam itself has had a busy day. I'm still struggling to judge the focusing distance for the still camera function; the device is really designed for photographing large mammals in forest clearings, and it's hard to set it correctly for small, quick-moving birds. But it did catch our most colourful corvid - the Eurasian jay



...as well as the big woodpigeons (here accompanied by a chaffinch)...



...and one of those things with long fluffy tails that tend to appear whenever bird food is displayed



Taking the focusing problems and small targets into consideration, I'm not displeased with the quality (for a trail cam). It should take better photos of larger, more distant animals, if the opportunity arises.

All the small birds have been busy finding food. This is a blue tit:



We've also had great tits and coal tits in the garden today, and long-tailed tits have been calling from the tall trees. We just need a marsh tit to make the local party for this family complete

There's still plenty of snow on the ground, but they've forecast cold sunshine the next day or so. After all those weeks of grey cloud and relentless rain, this is a very welcome change

My camera and I are almost becoming strangers! Having had little opportunity to photograph wildlife during the week, I headed off fairly early this morning, but the biting wind put paid to any chance of spying foxes. However, there were a few birds afoot (a-wing? )

Chaffinch



Jay



Woodpigeon


__

My turn to come up with a wildlife ID quiz (Albeit one that may be familiar to anyone who played it on my own site!) The tracks below belong to an otter, a roe deer, a fox, a hedgehog, a cat, and a badger. Anyone like to guess which is which?






















__

An additional virtual cup of coffee is on offer for identifying the fieldfare in this picture Even by my recent standards, this was an ridiculously distant photo to attempt, but unfortunately I rarely see this beautiful thrush up close.

I do not feel that I am a prisoner of the daytime. I can watch wildlife in almost any weather, but recording technology is so much less adaptable than my eyes. Winter in southern Britain brings steady rain - not the thunderous downfalls that so often grounded me when I was living on the western Canadian coast but rain enough, regardless. It's not the water per se which I find problematic, but rather the persistantly low light levels, which threaten to turn everything into dull silhouettes Still, if that's what I have to work with, I'll do my best

The rain today certainly hasn't put off the garden birds. Chaffinches have been dotted about the high branches of the walnut tree, joined by at least one yellowhammer, but again the corvids have taken most of my attention. The garden seems to have become Jay Central!



They are omnivorous, much like magpies, and will scavenge on grain as happily as on carrion. I could speculate how much of the birdfood that they are actually eating, as opposed to merely burying, and likely never using, but they're still spectacular birds to see

Hopefully, as winter progresses, there will be cold and sunny days when photographing birds will be much easier.
__

In the meantime, I've been giving some thought to the irony of living with an extraordinarily large dog...



...and a very tiny cat...



...whilst almost surrounded by the one species whose apparent size is always so misleading. I've put posts on here before speculating why foxes produce such strange optical illusions, but I forget whether I posted this little graphic or not! Anyway, if I did, here it is again!



Shoulder heights:

Red fox: 41cm / Border Collie: 53cm / German Shepherd: 66cm / Greyhound: 76cm / Human (average male American): 176cm

At a distance, both foxes and coyotes routinely seem much larger than they actually are. We humans aren't great at estimating the sizes of cats, either, which is why so many tabbies and black cats temporarily get promoted to lions and leopards in the over-excitable press. Curiously, I rarely hear of anyone who's over-estimated the size of elk or deer. Maybe it is just a carnivore thing

So, when I'm trying to establish who is the largest fox who has ever come to the garden, I am mentally trying to compensate for both the fact that I cannot measure them directly and that I'm possibly occasionally falling victim to the size illusion too My hunch is that the magnificent Saddleback male would have taken the crown, but he - along with the Scraggly Vixen - seem to have long abandoned us. I have so many questions about "my" foxes that I may never answer; where they were born, where they have gone, what triggers their forays to and fro. I doubt I'll ever see this fox again, but such is the way of foxes without fixed territories.

30th April



In the here and now, a smaller but equally robust fox is patrolling the garden. I really don't like using flash on the foxes but felt I had no choice when I took this picture - and it's high time that the Sandy Dogfox had some exposure on my blog! I apologise for another sub-standard picture, but it was grab what you can get, or get nothing at all Too much eyeshine to correct for (at least, I decided not to attempt to do so) but at least you can see what a fine looking fox he is from this I suspect his age to be around two years old.