Another cheeky blighter.

Perhaps not as intelligent as the corvids but this hen pheasant has worked out a way of getting at food the others can't reach.  The feeder tray catches some of the seed dislodged from the feeders above, not to mention the seed I put in there.  She has developed the technique of vertical take-off and perching on the tray, which none of the other pheasants have.

Bird shots are appropriate for today as it is the first day for taking part in the RSPB Big Graden Birdwatch.  This is a good example of citizen science.  Basically, it is a mini version for the BTO Garden Bird service which I take part in year round.

Such surveys are vital for a number of reasons.  I was once asked how it was known how many birds there are, basically they are counted.  Between 2007 & 2011 40,000 volunteers like me did a minimum of 4 surveys at different times of the year of every tetrad (2 Km x 2 Km square) in the UK.  Other surveys such as the Big Garden Birdwatch are showing the massive changes taking place.  In the 40 years it has been running  900,000,000 birds have disappeared from Europe.  In the UK House Sparrows are down by 27%, Starlings down by 74,600,00, Skylarks by 68,000,000, and Yellowhammers 22,700,000.   Many garden birds have fallen by similar figures but I don't have the figures to hand.