Over the last week, the garden has been invaded by children. Not mine, but the offspring of the bird community. It may be a coincidence that they have come from hole-nests - great and blue tits, starlings and great-spotted woodpeckers – but they have all been visiting the hanging peanut feeders. The parent birds perch on the feeders, peck out a mouthful of nut and fly the short distance to the waiting juveniles. They could stuff the little birds with nuts but they soon move on and I can see the parents searching for insects or other small animals. This is a crucial time for young birds. They can fly and feed themselves instinctively when they first leave the nest but they need practice to become proficient at both activities. At first they are almost wholly reliant on their parents for food but over the course of a few weeks they learn to feed themselves and the family eventually disperses. The advantage for the parents is that the day-long commuting between feeding grounds and nest is eliminated. I have been watching the woodpeckers stocking up at the peanut feeder and flying past my house to an oak tree 100 yards away. It may not have been a long flight, but the distance added up over the day. Now, the juvenile woodpecker perches on the feeder alongside its parent who pops nut fragments straight into its mouth. The sad thing is that the nesting season is now over for these birds. The adults will stop singing (or drumming) and go into retreat while they moult; the juveniles will disperse (if they survive); and, just as summer starts, the garden becomes much less interesting.
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