Thursday, 17 March 2011

Long-tailed Tit................a beautiful garden visitor

Meet my garden acrobats

All these images have been taken through my double glazed windows


Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Probably my favourite garden visitor the Long-tailed Tits have only been coming for the last couple of years. Usually a flock of ten or so birds arrive, have a quick snack then as one they are off and I may not see another for weeks on end. This year has started differently though. For the first time I have had a single bird on the suet block right outside my french doors and nearly every day for over a week. This morning I saw it again but this time there was two. Has my little friend got a mate and are they nesting nearby. I hope so as they are such a pretty bird to see and fantastic acrobats.......they look like a little bird stuck on to a stick.

8 comments:

Adam Tilt said...

Interesting observations Andrew as that is almost exactly the same behaviour that we have seen on our feeders. Infrequent and brief visits last year compared to a daily pair this year. I hope ours might be breeding nearby as well.

Toyin O. said...

These are interesting images, thanks for sharing:)

grammie g said...

HI Andrew...of all the small birds I have seen on UK blogs this little guy is my favorite!!
It is so adorable...won my ♥ : }
Hope you have a nesting pair for you to enjoy!!
Are you nervous about Saturday???

grammie g said...

Hey Ho...good luck with that Andrew..lol
You'll do OK. Been wanting to tell you I like your new header!!!
Hugs for everything to go wonderfully!!

Unknown said...

Great visitor Andrew.Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

936000 said...

They are a lovely bird. And I understand. Every year I wish a pair of Say's Phoebes would nest nearby and so far, no such luck (although they visit daily to "hunt").
Sigh.
Great photos!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

That is one gorgeous little bird! Wow.

Also wanted to comment on you absolutely stunning header shot. I love daffodills - they do well in our native Oregon, but we miss them (literally and figuratively) here in Florida where we spend winter and early spring now.

Stephen de Vere said...

Best way to find the nest is to follow them away from your garden feeder. It might take a few 'goes' as they can make some pretty big moves suddenly but even then you'll get an idea of the direction and be readier on the next attempt. Unlike some birds they are pretty relaxed around the nest and not too hard to watch as long as you keep still and don't go closer than about 5 metres or so.

I've just uploaded to youtube (WildlifeInCloseUp) a sequence of long-tailed tits building a nest.