A little handful of feathers – 365 #12 – Photo of the week

I quickly scooped up this little bird that one of my cats, Minnie I suspect, brought into the house. It was flapping around like a fledgling and was rather tiny for a full grown bird. Surely it’s far too early for fledglings? Β Unless they are blackbirds, I’ve known them to nest in early February.

I managed to get just the one shot of it in my hand before it leaped off onto the floor. Managed to catch it again and I took it outside and put it on the bird table with some seeds from where it leaped off again (nothing wrong with its legs I thought) and flapped off into a tangle of shrubs. Fortunately the cats were in the house.

It was unmarked from its encounter with Minnie and there were just a couple of tiny feathers on the dining room floor, but if it can’t fly then its chances I fear,Β are zero. It was quite a feisty little thing, it pecked my finger quite hard!

The thing is… what was it? The closest I could guess is a female chaffinch… but I’m not sure. What do you think?

What is this little bird?

What is this little bird?

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56 thoughts on “A little handful of feathers – 365 #12 – Photo of the week

    • Hi Cathy, lovely to see you. Yes, but it seemed so tiny. More the size of a blue tit. So sad. Was hoping that it would fly off the birdtable, but it just dropped to the ground. It was flapping its wings okay, but didn’t get lift off. Just like a fledgling. πŸ™

    • Many thanks Carole. One handed snatched shot I’m afraid. Thank heavens for automatic cameras! Thanks for the visit.

  1. I don’t know different kinds of birds so not sure what this is but such beautiful markings. My cat Casper caught a bird recently and I managed to set it free. Such naughty cats sometimes.

    • Hi Laura, yes though they often too injured or too traumatised to survive. This little thing wasn’t marked at all and certainly let its feelings be known when it nipped my thumb. Do hope that, against all odds, it survived. That’s the trouble with having cats, I love them dearly but they are ferocious hunters.

    • Well, if the cat caught it and it has survived, I would think that it will give my garden a very wide birth in future! Lol That’s my dilema, do I encourage them into my garden by feeding them, or not? I feel that the huge numbers I’m helping to stay alive, we now have three inches of snow, again, outweighs the small number the cats might catch. That eases my conscience, anyway.

    • Thanks, it certainly was a quickie, if you know what I mean. No second chance. Thanks for popping by, and enjoy Butlins!

    • That’s, funny, thought I had responded to your comment earlier…. Mmm, not convinced it’s a chaffinch, but have checked my bird books and can’t find anything like it! Maybe I should post it on a bird watching site. They would know.

  2. when i was a child i was a member of the RSPB so i ought to know what this it, but many years later and i have no idea! very pretty markings though and i am impressed that you held it long enough to et a photo x

    • Hi Jenny thanks for your comment, much appreciated! Will check out my bird books later. Am not convinced it’s a female chaffinch….

  3. Would love to do a bit of birdwatching but seem to spend most of my time dog or cat watching, feeding and walking. Whatever it is it is certainly a beauty. Do hope it managed to survive cats and your dreadful continuing winter. Here the spring is beginning to peek through but I believe we will get quite a bit of rain next week. Do hope you enjoyed the meeting of the two popes!! Two popes but no government……….

    • Hi Val, thanks for your comment. Don’t think it could have survived, not unless it managed to get off the ground. Three inches of snow fell the next day and the wind was bitter.

      Yes, praying side by side……… Let’s hope that the new Pope will, for starters, sanction birth control… Although by all accounts, he is a People’s Pope (apologies to Princess Di) even if he is not a humanitarian. Time will tell. Hope to see you this year?

    • Absolutely. Until you have them in your hand, you don’t realise just how small and fragile they are. Many thanks for your visit.

    • Hi there, thanks so much for coming back to me. I don’t know, have been comparing my photo with the female chaffinches in the garden and in my bird books, but the white feathering just doesn’t look the same. Is that a finch beak do you think? It certainly looks thick enough to be so. Ho hum.

      • I looked at books I have, but like you I questioned the excess white. It had more of a sparrow look with the way the white was patterned. The beak looks finch like, but then again it is only one photo. I really am going to get into a birding club, because there is so much similarity between certain birds and those old timers always know.

        • Thanks so much for your trouble. Yes, I thought that I would put a question up on a birding site, perhaps tomorrow evening when I have more time. Please do let me know if you find out. Just my luck it’s some rare little bird that was blown off course and landed up here and is probably dead. Wish the cats would stick to the voles and mice! I can just about cope with them, but not my lovely garden birds! πŸ™

    • Thanks Fiona, for your visit. I fear that it was unable to fly, for some reason. Flapping madly but couldn’t get lift off! πŸ™

    • Still not sure what it was… Haven’t had any time this week to come on to the computer, but intend to post it on a birding site to see if they can help. Thanks v much for your visit.

  4. Wow! What a fantastic photo! You are very quick with your camera, I think I would be too slow!! I am afraid I have no idea on birds, my dad would be excellent though so I will show him πŸ™‚

    Thank you so much for linking up with Photo of The Week, I am so sorry it has taken longer than normal for me to comment and share XXX

    • Many thanks Louise for your kind comment. Am really struggling for anything this week. Think it will have to be another brrrr shot of something frosty! Hopefully the last week we can take pictures like that!

    • Hiya, thanks for popping by. I rescued it, but i don’t know what its fate was. If he couldn’t fly, I don’t rate his chances very much. We had a snowfall the next day. πŸ™

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