Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A sudden burst of activity

I stood on the back balcony yesterday evening. The walnuts and hazenuts are ripe, green in their shells, but probably not that good for eating. The trees are, in fact, rather lush. It's been very hot this summer but there has been several heavy rainstorms, sometimes almost "tropical-like'" downpours. As I stood there a male Black Redstart was singing strongly from the neighbours rooftop and another flicked back and forth below. A group of Blue Tits arrived and made a racket in the bushes and, almost inevitably, a Syrian Woodpecker "chipped" a few times nearby. Then small bird caught my eye as it dashed into the blue tit's bush and then out and on over the fence. I got a glimpse of white on the outer tail as it flicked it up and down... a red-breasted flycatcher! Now THAT is a VERY GOOD bird here, first in my garden, in fact the first I have seen within a few hours of Budapest, ever. Obviously not a local, but a bird on its way somewhere... south.

No comments: