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Partridge poop in our yard

 

It is mostly common knowledge that partridges dig overnight holes and then creep into the snow, one by one. But probably it was so during the first severe frosts in December when there had been no thaws, and there was a nice suitable layer of soft snow, for creeping into the drifts. With the current February thaws  they cannot or won’t do it anyway. And using bee swarm tactics it is quite warm spending the night in a larger group. Against a backdrop of thawed-out grass turf such a little group stays quite invisible for predators too. My 13-bird flock splits into two for the night, with a distance of about a metre.

 

But what do they feed on here then? Just on Shrove Tuesday I had read that a gluttonous Swedish king gobbled 14 Shrove Tuesday buns* whereupon he died. And it seems that the less than half-kilo partridges have a quite good appetite too. At least there is a rather large excrement heap for each bird in their overnight hollow.

 

The tracks show that the goldenrod seeds that have spilled on the snow do not interest them at all. In focus of their interest are the southern sides of houses, the lawn bits and pieceds thawed out there, and last year’s debris is not despised either. But still it seems strange, where can the little birds in this time of hard, thick snow crust find so much to eat.

 

But a week ago I saw what a ball they have here. There is a bird feeder on the balcony of each house these days that never runs out of food. Quite a lot dribbles from it to the ground, and when only more is added from above then what is spilled is for the mice and partridges.

 

Busy around the house

 

 

*The Swedish Shrove Tuesday buns: buns with whipped cream and almond paste filling, in the old days eaten in a plate of hot milk.  Estonian "vastlakuklid".