Birds

I was standing at the rock wall that surrounds my building of flats this morning, waiting for a ride to play rehearsal.  As I stood in the grey light of an English morning, the birds were especially noticeable, as there were few people or cars around at 9:00.

I find British birds particularly interesting.  They are so small in comparison with their American counterparts.  The song birds, which have lovely songs that are easily heard, seem to be about the size of the hummingbirds I would watch in the Langthorn's back yard in Oklahoma.  Its incredible that these two or three inch birds can produce such loud calls.

This is an English Robin.  I think the colors aren't quite right.  To me the brown bits should be more of an olive tone, and the orange parts should be more rust colored.  Its a beautiful, tiny little bird that lives in and near the block where my flat is, because of all the trees.  Sparrows and (what look like) chickadees are also smaller in comparison to those I'm familiar with.

I've taken pictures of the pigeons that like the park near my place.  (I'll get those posted as soon as I can.)  The pigeons are like any pigeons anywhere else in the world, I would imagine.  Same size, same greys with a purple sheen to the neck feathers in good sunlight.  I took pictures of these guys - a flock of between 50 and 100, depending on the day - because of the stand out bird.  There is one brown member of the flock; the only brown pigeon I've seen here.  I discovered recently he is a male, though the lady pigeons seem unimpressed with his display.  But then, they always seem unimpressed, don't they?

You can always tell a pigeon from around Picadilly Gardens (a rather unlikely name for the place, as there is a smallish patch of very short grass as the only greenery).  Picadilly Gardens is where all the major bus routes end, as well as trams, metrolinks, and is only a short walk away from Picadilly Square where the trains have a station.  The pigeons there are more likely to be limping, lame or missing a foot.  I'm not sure if being there gave the poor birds the problem, or if they stay there because of easy pickings of the Gardens and nearby Market Street.  One day, I saw one bird with a twig about six inches long and an eighth of an inch diameter stuck in its ankle.  It allowed me to get close enough to think I might be able to help before it flew off with its twig.

I thought at one point I heard a woodpecker in the park by my flat, but it was a raven (maybe a blackbird - is there a difference?) knocking something against one of the trees to get it open.  Ravens are smaller than I would have thought, but then maybe they were that small when I saw them at the Tower of London in 2000, and they grew in my imagination.