Stop right there and discontinue reading if your mind is in the gutter and thinking - WOW - she's going to write about female anatomy 'cuz it ain't gonna happen! I'm talking about the lovely little English birds - tits - Greater Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Lesser Tits (not sure they have these but there must be lesser if there are greater) and Crested Tits. So there.
They are delightful little birds and quite colorful mostly, except for the Coal Tits which are pretty much black and white but still delightful. We have many in our garden and they come to the bird feeders frequently. We have them all except the Crested Tits and I haven't even seen one of those but did see in a book that they exist. The tits are our most frequent visitors although we have a large contingent of Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Robins, Starlings, some Wrens,and Magpies that show up regularly and maybe a few others that are not quite so frequent. But I think I like the tits the best.
I have to admit that both my husband and I dissolve into laughter any time either of us go "Hey, there's a couple of TITS in the garden!" We go all Bevis and Butthead at that saying and then we look to see what kind they are and enjoy the heck out of watching them. Everybody can enjoy a little sophomoric and idiotic fun.
Think I read somewhere that the English Starling and even the Wood Pigeon might be in danger but I think if that's the case, the bird society could come to our garden and I'd happily let them have a bunch of mine to take elsewhere and repopulate.
Last year, my gardener told me I shouldn't feed the birds so much when there were babies in nests as they needed to learn to hunt and catch the bugs and worms and slugs and such. Good advice and it makes sense but my Tits and other small birds just went elsewhere and I didn't have a whole lot of birds around or any birdsong during that period when I wasn't feeding them so this year I expect I'll just keep feeding them except on the days when my gardener comes. Is that bad? probably. Because who knows if the next person to rent/own this house will be as happy taking care of the wild and feral creatures that meander through here.
Last year I put out a bunch of houses in the hopes that I'd get something to nest in them. Didn't happen but the houses are still out there and maybe some little new mom and dad bird will need a new house and find one. Also put out a bunch of hangers that have wool and stuff in them that supposedly the birds will take to make their nests. Can't do much else unless I go build the nest for them and stuff them inside.
As I've stated before, the birdsong starts around 6 and is quite lovely. Don't know who sings what as usually I can't see which bird has its mouth open when I can hear songs. It won't be quite so lovely come June when the birds start singing around 4:30 but right now I enjoy it. Anyway, having Tits in the garden is great (Ha ha, ha ha) Love it and those cute little birds.
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