I had some fun this morning watching the steady stream of customers enjoying the fare in Elena's Garden Restaurant. There is a variety of seeds on the menu, plus some delicious dried worms flown in from Germany. Pomegranate is another favourite delicacy, particularly popular with the Sardinian Warblers but Sparrows and Blackcaps enjoy it too.
Sardinian Warbler female
Sardinian Warbler male
Blackbirds are very partial to the dried worms but they will also snack on a few seeds and like to finish off with a drink of water each time, often kicking out the sparrows who are bathing & splashing around in it..
Blackbird
This old cock Sparrow looks like a finch with that big powerful bill. He is definitely a big seed eater but of course sparrows will eat virtually anything going. Sadly the young can only survive on an insect diet which is one reason why they have declined so rapidly in UK towns and cities. People these days pave over or deck their gardens, and spray insecticide on any surviving plants, inadvertently killing off the food that young sparrows require.
House Sparrow
White Wagtails are always present. They like to walk around by the swimming pool, being naturally drawn towards water, but they also feed from the seed/worm tray. All our wagtails are of the Continental race Alba. For those who might be confused between this and the UK race Yarrellii I find the key is in the back colours, White wagtails have grey backs and Pied Wagtails black. The facial and other markings can be confusing, particularly with variations between summer and winter plumages.
Pied Wagtail
Collared Doves like to come and check out all the activity. They occasionally take some seed spillage from the ground around the trays, but in general seem more interested in seeing what's going on rather than feeding.
Collared Dove
So far I haven't been able to get a decent shot of the other visitors. Blackcaps are regulars on the pomegranate but I post some old shots of a couple in a neighboring house until I get a better shot. A Robin appears occasionally but never when I have the camera to hand, and Chiffchaffs put in an appearance from time to time, but not recently, perhaps they have already departed for Northern climes.
Got one finally, enjoying some pomegranate.
Blackcap
