Saturday, October 25, 2014

The first snow for the year

Well this year we have a very early snow in Bulgaria. I you know I love this kind of weather, but for our bird friends it can be very dangerous. I want to share some beautiful pictures with you and don't forget to set up the bird feeders.






Sunday, August 17, 2014

Garden Birds : Eurasian nuthatch

I'm interested in garden birds since I was a little boy and I've decided to make post about interesting garden birds in Bulgaria and Europe. I think that those post are going to be very interesting and useful to people that are not so familiar with bird watching ,because they will be able to learn something about nature around them.

My friends ask me questions about birds very often and I'm very happy to answer them ,but I will try to make post for those who can't ask anyone.


The Eurasian nuthatch or wood nuthatch (Sitta europaea) is a small passerine bird found throughout temperate Asia and in Europe, where its name is the nuthatch. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-grey upperparts and a black eye-stripe. It is a vocal bird with a repeated loud dwip call. There are more than 20 subspecies in three main groups; birds in the west of the range have orange-buff underparts and a white throat, those in Russia have whitish underparts, and those in the Far East have a similar appearance to European birds, but lack the white throat.

The preferred habitat is mature deciduous or mixed woodland with large, old trees, preferably oak. Pairs hold permanent territories, and nest in tree holes, usually old woodpecker nests, but sometimes natural cavities. If the entrance to the hole is too large, the female plasters it with mud to reduce its size, and often coats the inside of the cavity too. The 6–9 red-speckled white eggs are laid on a deep base of pine or other wood chips.

The Eurasian nuthatch eats mainly insects, particularly caterpillars and beetles, although in autumn and winter its diet is supplemented with nuts and seeds. The young are fed mainly on insects, with some seeds, food items mainly being found on tree trunks and large branches. The nuthatch can forage when descending trees head first, as well as when climbing. It readily visits bird tables, eating fatty man-made food items as well as seeds. It is an inveterate hoarder, storing food year-round. Its main natural predator is the Eurasian sparrowhawk.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

First ringing for 2014

Couple of weeks ago, I finally made my first ringing for 2014. The results were not great, but I'm very happy that I found time to set up the mist nets. The other good news is that I managed to keep my feeder relevantly full, so even if this winter there were no ringed birds, I can say that my friends didn't starve.

For the few hours of ringing , the results were only two Great tits(Parus Major). The weather was foggy and the nets got wet very,very fast. After that there was no point of continuing.

I hope that soon, I'll find time for more ringing and more posting.