This 'n' That

It seems to have been a day of sick birds today: a female Chaffinch has hung around the garden all day and a young Greenfinch (photo included) has shown the first signs of illness (salmonella or trichomoniasis in both cases), then we had a male Chaffinch with Fringilla papillomavirus (crusty legs) and a further two possibly sick Chaffinches, but I didn't get a good enough look at them to be sure.

I didn't manage any photos of the Blue Tits as they didn't come close enough to the kitchen window, the Coal Tit was far too quick for me and the Great Tits didn't show.

So, here are the photos I did manage to take today:

Greenfinches. The one on the right was trying to peck the seeds out through the plastic, but he soon got the hang of it!
Male Chaffinch came along for a quick drink
... as did these Greenfinches
Yikes! As quarrelsome as usual!
Female House Sparrow on top of the ladybird house

This is the sick Greenfinch. Anyone who has had similar sick birds will know what I mean. Maybe it's not immediately obvious from the photos, but they are always a lot bigger (fluffed up) than any of the others Greenfinches in the garden. They are also listless, stay close to the food source and have heavy/laboured breathing, among other symptoms. This bird is in the early stages ... two or three more days and if he's not recovering (as can sometimes happen) then he'll be close to death.