Bonny Birthday Beardies

On my birthday last year I went to the Tay reed beds at Errol in search of bearded reedlings (formally known as bearded tits). I managed to photograph one last year. So this birthday we went over to the Tay reed beds much earlier in the morning and were rewarded with seeing and hearing lots of them. They flit about the reeds making pinging sounds like you might hear on a space invaders video game! They change their diets from insects to seeds each autumn and winter. How many can you spot in the photo below? It was hard getting just one in focus.

They are such beautiful birds. Here is the moustachioed male with the plainer female.

This is the female in flight.

Here is a female feasting on a seed. The reedlings need to eat some grit which will break down the seeds inside her and make them more digestible. There was a grit tray out for the birds but I didn’t see them use it this time.

She might not have the striking moustache, but isn’t she beautiful? You can see that she’s been ringed.

Lovely colours on the male too. He’s enjoying the seeds too.

Just as it was a misnomer to call them tits since they bear no relation to the tit family, perhaps its also a mistake to call them bearded. However “moustachioed reedlings” would be quite a mouthful to say and its certainly difficult to spell!

I wonder what this female reed bunting below was making of the gregarious, sociable reedlings?

I finish this article with a picture of a bird that is never shy of appearing to humans. It was singing and watching us humans trying to photograph the reedlings. It amused me to see it posing on top of the reeds too. Of course it was a robin!

Whereas robins are everwhere and a common sight there are only about 630 breeding pairs of bearded reedlings in the UK. They rely on extensive areas of reed beds as their habitat and are sensitive to severe winters. If you are ever near a large reed bed in autumn, do try and see these bonny birds!