May 2, 2006
There's no place like home
The holiday weekend saw me not straying far from home. I spent a very full day in Paris with visiting friends - not much in the way of birds, but we did get to share our lunch in a mosque with some enterprising House Sparrows (Moineau domestique).
The best birding was literally right on my doorstep. The male Common Redstart (Rougequeue a front blanc) continues to sing 24-7, so presumably he remains unmated.
Around the block, Common Whitethroats (Fauvette grisette) have arrived en masse and are vigorously establishing territories.
My local Tree Sparrows (Moineau friquet) remain frustratingly hard to photograph - this is about as far out into the open as they stray...
On arriving back at the flat, I detected Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Pic epeichette) feeding in the oak trees in the garden through its repeated loud calls (song?). To my surprise, the bird was a female (I'd previously assumed only the males gave the 'whinnying' call).
The bird fed on the oak flowers for the best part of an hour, providing a great opportunity to study the bird at eye-level. However, now the trees are really leafing out it's getting increasingly difficult to track birds in the canopy!
