Day: February 6, 2015

Earlier in the week, snow had been forecast for today and when I looked out just as I was going off to bed some time after midnight last night, the view that I saw was of flakes of the white stuff lightly descending and blanketing the ground. It wasn’t up to very much, though, and although it’s still there this morning, it won’t do much to disrupt life in these parts. As I was lying in bed earlier thinking about stirring myself to get up and clear last-night’s ashes out of the wood burner, I heard a tell-tale ‘ponk’ sound on my bedroom window.

When I got up and looked out, there was an exquisitely coloured, tiny little bird on the windowsill looking rather stunned, rocking back on its heels and breathing heavily. When I opened the window, it allowed me to pick it up and bring it inside to warm up, as where it was it was receiving a back-draught from the northerly wind that had brought us the snow. After a minute or so it became more lively as it recovered from its collision with my bedroom window and quite happily perched on my forefinger as it looked around and took in its unaccustomed new surroundings.

One of my step-sons, Nick, is a keen and highly knowledgeable amateur ornithologist and I knew from the times that I had spent browsing his considerable library of books on wild birds that the little creature that I was privileged to be holding was a female Goldcrest. Here’s a picture of one exactly like her that I found on Wikipedia.

I knew she was a female because she lacked the flash of gold on the top of her yellow crest that the males have but apart from that, I know little of the differences between the sexes. She was tiny with an exquisitely tiny black pointed beak and bright shiny little eyes. As I moved my hand she held on tightly and moved her position to get more balance, so she clearly had no intention of jumping off the secure perch that my finger had become, which presented me with something of a quandary.

At this time of the year, especially when there’s snow on the ground, tiny wild birds like her desperately need to be out and about during the hours of daylight foraging for enough food to get them through the cold nights, and I had absolutely nothing for her to eat if she decided to stay on. However, I needn’t have worried. By this time she was looking much brighter than when I’d brought her indoors, and with the window open, after a few moments, she hopped off my finger back out onto the windowsill. Then she took one brief look back and flew off with the swooping style of flight that Goldcrests have, landing in the small trees opposite my bedroom window.

There she cleaned her beak on the twig that she was perched on as though she was sharpening a knife, before then flying off again and disappearing in one of next-door’s pine trees. So no harm done and what a lovely start to the day. Except for one thing. After she’d gone I could feel a warm wetness on my hand where she’d been perching and yes, you’ve guessed it, she’d left a small present behind as a token of her gratitude. And I have to say, not the first time that a female’s done that to me, either 😐