Settling into Autumn's rhythm

JJ is becoming more beautiful by the day. I’ve tried to get pictures of his gorgeous moulting breast, dappled grey, brown and loose downy feathers. And although he did pose for another series, he was only allowing me photos of his breast whenever the Sun’s reflections where catching the lens.
The other birds are settling into their autumn routine again, the Coal Tits are flying to and fro every few seconds almost, and apart from fattening up now, filling their larder too. I’ve always wondered where it hides the food.
The Blue Tit has been feeding regularly too. Only thing is where is its mate? The Sparrows are doing fine it seems, the scare of last week seems to have abated again and we are just continuing the daily routine of sterilizing the food trays each mornings. I have not spotted the bird with the scabs on its face since last Thursday and I am still on the lookout, just to see if it had made progress or if any other birds have been infected. Sofar I have not spotted any other infected birds. Of course this does not mean anything yet.
Neither have I heard anything from BirdwatchIreland, whom I had sent photos of the infected Sparrow.

I had promised a few more pictures of JJ for his fans, and another Jackdaw has been added too.


Some pictures of today and yesterday
Chaffinch, male

Blue Tit
House Sparrows
Jackdaw
J.J>

J.J. at his best:

Update on my House Sparrow's Health (1)

Two perky House Sparrows, today in the garden:


Before sending my photo to Niall Hatch at BirdwatchIreland I posted my problem at folks at BGB orBritish Garden Birdsand see what my friends there would come up with.
Thing was, I had read about these scabs recently, when googling for a thread which I was reacting to. I even had told the poster of the thread to keep an eye on the Sparrows feeding on her patio because it was not only Chaffinches which were targeted by these scabs. Ironic, isn't it?
Anyway, my friends there relayed me to the BTO website on Avian Pox, which is what I had also googled for. The BTO's descriptions fit my poor Sparrow too.

The House Sparrow numbers had gone down to 14-16 recently, but as soon as I was writing my post on BGB telling of my measurements to hopefully keep feeding numbers (at any one time) down, 30+ birds descended onto the planter and my feeding trays.

Of course they had their own problems;feeding in these fresh and troublesome winds, posed huge problems for these small creatures, relying on flight. The Rooks too were having great trouble, not only staying 'afloat' but also in keeping direction. My biggest surprise was to see the Swallows up and about as if this was just any ordinary day. I cannot imagine though how hard it must have been to find food in the skies.
So perhaps this is one of those days in which Swallows in olden times resorted to Hawthorn berries to supplement their diet in order to gain that extra weight before heading off to South Africa?

Anyway, the best I can do to deal with this Avian pox, is for me to keep up the rigorous cleaning and sterilizing of the food trays each morning, as I have been doing for two weeks now. (I had not discovered the scabs around the eyes yet in that particular Sparrow, yet I had spotted one which rang this little alarm in the back of my mind. One which just needed careful observing, Just In Case something was wrong. I guess any birder who has had to deal with Trichomoniasis in his or her garden knows what I mean by this.

And although it was busy again, Sparrow style, I am still unable to tell if the little scab sparrow was among them. One 'wary' looking Sparrow was among them, most certainly, yet when I pointed the camera and the binoculars in its direction, I was looking straight into the Sun!
So hopefully I can spot it again tomorrow.
And here are some of yesterday's images as they flocked around their breakfast and later lunch and Tea. Clearly my efforts to diminish the Flock-Feeding were not met with approval, apparently:










And some of today's images,A Rook's arrival; just keep on feeding!And a Great Tit feeding on the Insects in the hollow Fennel stalks