Small bird nesting in stone wall; wren maybe?

Graces7 · 15-05-2018 05:03PM #1

I was on the phone early today and was captivated by the antics of a tiny stone coloured bird in and out of a crack in the 150 year old cowshed wall opposite the window... Such antics.. Wondering if a wren? In and out then sitting with face out..I never had a clear view of the whole bird..

jmkennedyie · 15-05-2018 11:03PM

Wrens are brown. Flight kind of dumpy with whirring wings in fairly direct lines. What you describe could be a Coal Tit...often nest in stone wall cavities, even low down. Grayer and duller than Blue Tit or the bigger Great Tit. They are quick, but keep an eye out for white patch at back of neck.
https://www.birdwatchireland.ie/IrelandsBirds/Tits/CoalTit/tabid/440/Default.aspx

Graces7 · 19-05-2018 04:02PM

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Wrens are brown. Flight kind of dumpy with whirring wings in fairly direct lines. What you describe could be a Coal Tit...often nest in stone wall cavities, even low down. Grayer and duller than Blue Tit or the bigger Great Tit. They are quick, but keep an eye out for white patch at back of neck.
https://www.birdwatchireland.ie/IrelandsBirds/Tits/CoalTit/tabid/440/Default.aspx

Yes I know wrens but this bird moves so fast and sudden... Definitely brown/grey and few markings. And no white facial patches. Must be sitting tight right now.. Thanks.. my first spring here.

jmkennedyie · 19-05-2018 07:48PM

Coal tits can seem grey and drab. Might need a pair of binoculars to pick out details. Location doesn't sound right for treecreeper, dunnock, small finches (redpoll), warblers. Location good for robin, blue/great tits, Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow but size and colouring doesn't sound right. Enjoy:)

Graces7 · 25-05-2018 06:45PM

Well! The problem was that the wall they are nesting in is a couple of feet from the dwelling door so the only glimpses I had were a panicked flurry..

Now that has all changed; due to infection etc I was forced to sit around more.
This is a pair of house sparrows, raising a family in the 3 ft thick 150 year old dry stone wall.

As they did not want me to see where they were taking the food in their beaks, they would sit on the top /gutter watching me, , politely waiting for me to leave to they could enter in safety.. Lovely tiny things!

Inside the shed I can hear the little ones tweeting.

So can the cats but there is no way they can access the nest.

Before, I was seeing both at separate times so was not seeing the patterns clearly and often just a feathery flurry . And I thought sparrows were chunkier than these slender beauties

Graces7 · 29-05-2018 07:16PM

Never knew sparrows could be such characters... Totally determined to get their way. Listening now to them yelling when anything else gets too near their nest and having to watch where I sit lest they see me as enemy number one! So tiny too!

Graces7 · 01-06-2018 04:10PM

Yesterday I was outside all day, chatting to the sparrows as they perched in the fuchsia..
Then I came in to make a phone call, and a feeding frenzy started! They held off feeding the hatchlings until I went in ...I watched,entranced, at the industry of it.. a constant to and fro..

Doctors room ghost · 01-06-2018 04:16PM

The wren the wren
The king of the birds
St. Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze
Up with the kettle and down with the pan
Please give me a penny to bury the wren

Graces7 · 06-06-2018 07:04AM

When I sit in the kitchen, I watch the sparrow family in and out of the crack in the wall. Fascinating wee things... They follow me round the garden; I was sitting out at the back y;day and daddy sparrow sat in the fuchsia with a feather in his beak for long minutes, then took off and flew the long way all round the place back to the nest ..

Small bird nesting in stone wall; wren maybe?

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