Scozmo's Photery

I harp on quite a bit about how lucky we are to have such a great array of birds and wildlife around us but, I have to say, anyone who has any birds and wildlife around them is lucky.

When the first Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared outside in the tree, I got quite excited; they are now downgraded to oh, there’s the woodpecker but, I’ll never get so blasé as to forget how wonderful it is to see them so close and sometimes, so fearless; they’ll sit further up the tree trunk shouting at me!

I have a branch stuck into the ground which some of there birds perch on now and again and the GSW sometimes drop onto it before grabbing a drink from the bird bath nearby.

The adult male shows that red neck patch which the female doesn’t have, the youngsters all have a red cap which then fades.

The young ones are independent pretty quickly but you can also see them learning all the time, chased off by another adult or another young bird, they don’t really know where to go or what to do ….. yet 🙂

All of them are hugely territorial.

This youngster kept having a go at that young Starling which eventually moved off. (Get Aff!) 🙂

I could have added the shot above to the Drookit series! Poor wee souls. The parents work their butts off feeding the growing youngsters and I’ve seen an adult “hide” peanuts all over the tree trunk, to teach the young to forage for themselves?

It is a real privilege to be able to see and photograph these gorgeous birds up close, they often give me some of my best bird shots.