I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table at my parents’ place in the Swedish countryside, right next to a large window facing the sun and the forest. Sunlight through birch leaves is one of the prettiest things in nature. Also right outside the window is a wooden contraption on which three bird feeders hang (picture was taken in the midst of summer). This spring, my parents decided not to stop feeding the birds but continue all through the summer. It’s been a very rewarding experience for all involved.

The three feeders contain different things - peanuts, sunflower seeds and hemp seeds. We used to buy mixed seeds but they tend to contain a lot of oats, which only yellowhammers seem to like. Given that this is horse country, there’s much more oats to be found around the stables and hence yellowhammers aren’t particularly numerous guests of ours. In the winter we also provide fat, in balls or coconut fat slathered onto a nearby tree, as well as apples thrown out for the bigger birds.

The number and species composition of feeder guests has fluctuated over the year. In the winter, the regulars are a lot of great tits (by which I mean sometimes more than 20) and blue tits, as well as a couple of nuthatches, a few greenfinches, marsh tits, blackbirds and chaffinches, one or two coal tits, a common treecreeper and a very brave crested tit (according to the books, crested tits are not supposed to visit bird feeders). Then of course there’s the gang of eurasian jays that raid the place every once in a while. Once or twice a year we’ll get a flyby of the irresistably cute long-tailed tit.

As the spring progressed and we didn’t remove the food, we experienced a veritable invasion of chaffinches, with as many as 25-30 at a time hopping around on the ground around the feeder. Oddly enough, almost all of them seemed to be male. I have yet to discover an explanation to this rather odd phenomenon. They disappeared as spring progressed into summer. The great and blue tits also left, except for a couple of nesting pairs, but they their chicks insects and weren’t particularly interested in seeds. They were replaced in the beginning of the summer by siskins, which we can’t recall having seen here before.

Also, we had another invasion, this time of greenfinches. As the summer months have passed the flock of greenfinches seems to have grown, and now they can’t really be counted accurately anymore. Somewhere in the vicinity of 30 individuals, for certain, although they’re rarely here all at once. They especially enjoy the hemp seeds but will take sunflower seeds if the hemp dispenser is occupied.

An especially interesting and lovely-to-look-at guest we have had the pleasure of feeding this summer is the hawfinch. This is a bird which the books claim is very shy and difficult to get a good view of. Indeed I have only seen it a couple of times at the feeder in the winter, and then it’s only stopped very briefly and then left again. But this summer we have had no less than two pairs regularly turning up at the feeder and staying long enough for us to get a good look at their beautiful golden heads and gigantic, metallic beaks. We’ve also enjoyed the occasional visit from the visually low-key (but possessing a beautiful voice) dunnock.

Then of course there’s the sparrowhawk, which shows up every now and then regardless of season. We’ve seen several amazing acrobatic displays right outside our kitchen window as the sparrowhawk has taken advantage of the great concentration of small birds. We don’t resent it - all birds need to eat! And it is a very beautiful raptor.

Six great tits, one blue tit and a couple of greenfinches at the feeder

Now as autumn is rapidly approaching, the great and blue tits have returned (together with the new generation in their faded colours), the greenfinches continue to dominate, the nuthatches, marsh tits and coal tits continue their steady presence, and a mound of discarded seeds and shells has grown underneath the feeders. (Yes, this will be removed.) It has been a very rewarding summer. Each bird species has its own beauty and interesting set of behaviours: The greenfinches mostly bicker amongst themselves to get to the hemp seeds. The blue tits - even though they’re the smallest - will try to chase away anyone who gets too close to their perch on the peanuts. The nuthatches fly in, violently throw seeds and bits of peanut about as they grab the choice bits, and fly out again. The marsh tits are the last to flee when you approach the feeders, perching in a nearby bush and staring accusingly at you. The chaffinches always remain on the ground, seeming loath to actually approach the feeders. The coal tits move quickly and carefully among the rest, seemingly aware of their small stature.

These are obviously not all of the birds we observe in the garden and surrounding forest. There are usually at least two or three nesting pairs of pied flycatchers around in the spring, the trees are full of warblers, robins hunt insects in the rose garden, wood pigeons coo in the forest… and so on and so forth. But nothing gets you quite as close to wild birds as feeding them and setting up nesting boxes.

Update, September 13: The great spotted woodpecker is back! Or one of them, at least. I didn’t get a good enough look at it to see if it was the male or female. They have been fairly frequent guests in the winter but have on occasion perused the peanuts during the summer as well.

Also, the greenfinches are increasing in number - I think there may be between 40 and 50 individuals here today. Probably some of them are moving south and have just merged with the “resident” flock temporarily.

For my Swedish readers, here’s a list of the birds mentioned with their latin and swedish names:

Blackbird (Turdus merula): Koltrast
Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus or Parus caeruleus): Blåmes
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs): Bofink
Coal tit (Parus ater): Svartmes
Common treecreeper (Certhia familiaris): Trädkrypare
Crested tit (Parus cristatus): Tofsmes
Dunnock (Prunella modularis): Järnsparv
European jay (Garrulus glandarius): Nötskrika
Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) Större hackspett
Great tit (Parus major): Talgoxe
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris): Grönfink
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes): Stenknäck
Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus): Stjärtmes
Marsh tit (Parus palustris): Entita
Nuthatch (Sitta europaea): Nötväcka
Pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca): Svartvit flugsnappare
Robin (Erithacus rubecula): Rödhake
Siskin (Carduelis spinus): Grönsiska
Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus): Sparvhök
Warbler (Sylviidae): Sångare
Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus): Ringduva
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella): Gulsparv

birds, birdwatching, bird feeding, ornithology