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At 8 o’clock in the morning it is already much lighter in South Estonia than at the shores of the Gulf of Finland.

 

As we know the first camera guest arrives already at twilight, the tits get the first three quarters of an hour. The earliest is an older great tit, who is well familiar with the surroundings and has spent the night somewhere nearby. Together with a blue tit pair they co-operate peacefully, nicely by turns. The larger tits have the first turn and the right to the position nearest to the feeder on the branch. Last to arrive among tits is the marsh tit (Parus palustris).

 

Three quarters of peaceful action, then later risers start arriving – some single tree sparrows, a nuthatch and afew greenfinch pairs that in the quieter period stay longer at breakfast. The greenfinch males, with rather quarrelsome manners towards other birds, leave way to their ”ladies”, in more modest plumage, and keep watch nearby for their places in the queue.

 

When the first tree sparrow gang arrives chatter and twittering gets loose, and the greenfinches’ breakfasting is at an end, they are just allowed to grab a sunflower seed and fly away. Tits are tolerated, they only come to get their seed.

 

But in between the bird feeder can be quite empty for some minutes – something has disturbed the birds. A neighbour may have come out to shovel snow, bring in firewood from the stack, start the car … Or the cat who walks its own paths has been let out. Larger birds nearby – magpie, hooded crow, jackdaw, jay or even a sparrowhawk. The first to approach when the danger has passed are tits since they are familiar with the surroundings, knowing how to move in the dense branches quickly, briskly and invisibly.

 

Domestic pigeons come to shoo off passerines after ten o’clock, but where else would they find their food, they live in the garden city too. To begin with what has spilled down on to the snow under the birdfeeder is picked up, after that they attempt to get hold of the sunflower seeds but this is awkward and soon boredom takes over and they fly to the next locality – they too have their own rounds to check. Least disturbed by the pigeons are some tree sparrow urchins.

 

Now the reader might say that I haven’t time to sit watching birds all day. Quite true, but precisely because of this we record what happens. The day grows longer by and by. Times will change but the rhythm of the activities remains the same.

 

On a cold morning when there is -10 of cold outdoors, tree sparrows with their stronger beaks handle the congealed fat balls successfully. To the already crumbling balls tits arrive.