From Ricky Clark
Whilst walking through Ormsaigbeg yesterday I stopped to watch and listen to the busy bees working away at the beautiful bloom on the trees at the side of the road. It was then that I noticed some of the blossom falling to the ground.
Peering into the tree I spotted what I thought at first was a chaffinch but immediately questioned myself: it just looked a wee bit different, the bird didn't get excited it just continued to peck away at the blossom causing it to drop to the ground.
The photo shows my wee bird to be a BULLFINCH, actually two bullfinches, a male and a female - they do tend to hang about in pairs or small flocks. Now these beautiful birds are not rarities to Kilchoan but they are a very secretive bird that hides away in the dense foliage making a sighting a bit of a rarity.
So it was with great pleasure that I boasted to The Diary of my sighting which was dismissed as, 'Oh it was a chaffinch!' Sorry Diary but the proof is in the pudding.
Keep an eye out for these birds. Although resident, numbers grow as more arrive from Scandinavia for the summer. They nest from May all the the way through to September, producing 4 or 5 eggs which hatch two weeks later, and fledging is 15 - 17 days after this.
Look hard. On the left is the female, much greyer and in the foreground. Now look into the tree to the right and you will see the much more colourful male.
The Diary humbly begs Mr Clark's pardon for doubting
his identification of this very pretty bird.
Hi, Definitely Bullfinches. We have loads of them, small flocks, that somehow or other manage to survive the worst of the extreme winter temperatures and conditions in northern Sweden. They do find it difficult to use bird feeders, though. They're just too portly! They rely on other species dropping enough onto the ground.
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