I have no heavy training... Barely Elementary School. Preferred the wilderness, it became my university, but I got muddy boots and experience instead of School knowledge so my English was therefore quite inadequate. This blog is a project to improve my skills in English language.
We all have our own universe, welcome to visit mine.
The annual
inventory of the Golden Eagle is coming to an end. It has been a fantastic
season although the last few days were unsuccessful. Long wait and chilly winds
tempted to today’s mood but salvation came in the form of two wonderful
companions, two Siberian jays. Always welcoming, always jovial!
A Great
Grey Shrike was a guest today on our bird table, a relatively rare guest in the
garden. Although it is virtually annual breeding bird in the northern part of
our county, it is not particularly common. This was our third observation on
the farm.
Despite
persistent snowfall and freezing temperatures we also heard a black tit singing,
it sat as usual at the top of a fir tree. It is still full winter but it shows
in the light that it faces towards brighter times.
Everything
starts to calm down now, the days are getting shorter and the evenings are
embedded in the dark. Cosy! The scent of candles, small fire in the stove, good
book to read curled up on the sofa’s favourite corner. Cosy, cosy, cosy!
Birdsong
silence as the birds disappear south, flocks of thrushes pass under excitedly
chatter and melancholy whistles, plows of cranes, replacing the wilderness
against Spanish olive groves. A tawny owl who shouts at night. It’s not bad,
all seasons have their charm.
I Took a
quick tour to Kvismaren, a legendary bird locality that I managed to miss all
these years, and got to see the egret heron, quite unusual in Sweden, three
together, even rarer. Lovely! Moreover, within the reach of a close-up because
I dragged with me the big camera with the big lens! Amazingly, something must
be wrong …
Yes,
indeed, the error came on heavy wings! I could not get the camera out of the
bag until the cursed sea eagle swooped down over the bird lake. Thousands of
ducks, geese, grey herons and three white egret herons took off in wild panic.
I have a
good friend who works with sea eagles, why does he do that? They’re big, ugly,
fat dumb and most likely innately evil. My egret herons spent the rest of the
day far away from me and my camera, I had to photograph cows and red leaves
instead. It is one hell of being a nature photographer when that damn
scavengers are nearby. (just kidding!)
Now it’s
time to look for the capercaillie roosters well-drawn tracks. If you’re lucky,
you’ll find a guy who is very eager to play, but beware, some of them can be
very aggressive! They can weigh up to 7 kg and strokes by the wings are
surprisingly powerful. Not to mention the sharp beak, a terrible weapon you do
not want to meet!
Most
roosters I’ve met have been very friendly. However, it can be annoying in the
long run to have a popping, hissing, clucking mate in hind legs a whole day! I
promise, I’ve been through it!
During the past four days have a pygmy owl been chasing around our bird feeding, much to the chagrin of the other dinner guests, but to the delight of me. Perfect to mix editing with nature photo. I think the result became really good, especially considering that the image is taken through two panes of glass!
Also this year, the number of squirrels at the bird feeder
gradually increased. In december it was only one, at the end of January they
had become three and today showed the fourth up. We’ll see if even a fifth show
up before the season is over, as it did last year.
This
weekend it’s time for the annual counting of birds at the bird feeder in the
country. As usual, the great tit is expected to be the most common species, so
it has been since the survey began in 2006. Last year was recorded 146,932
great tits on bird feeders in Sweden.
Crested
Tit, my personal favorite, ended up first on the 31 spot, it was recorded only
3123 of them.
We have at
our feeders about 20 great tits and equal number bullfinches. Other species are
blue tit, coal tit, willow tit, nuthatch, crested tit, common redpoll, great
spotted woodpecker, a male and female of the gray-headed woodpecker, magpie and
jay. Some days hunt both sparrow hawk and pygmy owl around the bird table.
Other
guests are field mouse, squirrels, roe deer, red fox and the occasional pine
marten. A wilderness kingdom outside the kitchen window. 
Eventually you give up when calumnies gets too rough, when the knocking on the window sill eating into your head, and when everyone´s eyes are on you, and they have that killing gaze!
I´m talking about great tits…
They´ve been nagging for weeks now and tonight I gave up. Seasonal bird feeding is started. I barely had time to get the spruce twigs on the roof before the first guests landed. Guess who they were? Great tits of course, herds of them. Hungrier than Egypt´s locusts, they will cost me a fortune this winter.
And I love it – of course!
The turnstone is a quite rare and shy bird in most parts of Sweden, and do not behave like house sparrows. 
(from a visit on Cayo Largo, Cuba, 2012-01-21)
