Saturday, 15 February 2014

A colourful but unsual (chaffinch) at Spittal







Information and images from Trevor Theobald about this colourful but nevertheless odd-looking (chaffinch?) that has been recorded in his Spittal garden from time to time since 26th December 2012.

It forages  under the bird feeders on mixed corn, sunflower hearts, peanuts, niger and fat balls. It wasn't seen again until 1st December 2013. One other village resident has also noticed it (about 150 metres away). The photos below were taken during 
Garden Birdwatch on 25th January 2014. Since then, Trevor has seen it on 3 other occasions. 

The bird is more dominant and aggressive to both male and female Chaffinch if very close, but otherwise tolerates their company. Trevor says that it seems to “glow” because of its colouration – very striking rump colour when in flight.