I bought the tree on Thursday and left it in the car till C got home - by which time it had rained quite a bit, so I left it in the back overnight to drip dry. Overnight it snowed lightly, so I hung a fat-ball up for the birds. The little robin looks so puffed up, he must be feeling the cold. Today I was delighted to see that I had not one but two robins - it was worth sitting in the cold back porch with the door open for a while just to watch them. One of them is our regular, happy to fly down for mealworms when I whistle. The other is new on the scene - and since I know robins are quite territorial, I wonder are they a pair, or at least a potential pair.I heard my little one singing to the newcomer, who didn't fly down for worms at all, sticking to the feeder and the fat-ball. Along with the great tit - and briefly both the coal and blue.
There was an article in today's Irish Times - in the print version the rather misleading title was "Robins at the top of the pecking order". As far as I can make out, what they really meant was that robins were the most commonly seen bird in Irish gardens this year. Certainly when it came to pecking order on the fat-ball, the great tit won hands down.
Your robins fascinate me - they appear to be so round. Like little puff balls. You have trained him so well to come to your whistle. We used to ring a bell for our first pair of bluebirds when we put out the mealworms. It helped to keep the jays away!
ReplyDelete