Common Starling & Varied tit

Common Starling & Varied tit

I've been providing a bowl of food and water for local birds this past year, and initially only the common birds you see everywhere here (I believe they're called Great tit, or Parus major) but this past week a new bird couple has showed up that looks similar but at the same time very different, too. These are most likely the Varied tit (Sittiparus varius).

Today I decided to give it a try to see if I could capture some footage of them. It is not too easy as I don't have longer range lenses, so what I did here was use one of the cheaper CCTV lenses I recently acquired along with a macro tube adapter, and set up the camera inside the house, close to the dish, with the windows open. Fortunately, after some time, the birds started ignoring the camera (mostly) and they showed up in front of the lens a few times.

Varied Tit (Sittiparus Varius) (곤줄박이) video on YouTube

Along with the usual birds, one or two Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) show up every now and then. They don't often eat the food I put out, but every now and then one does pop by, often screaming in the process — their voice is an acquired taste for sure.

I got lucky as two common starlings decided to drop by to eat some food today. They look to be a couple, though I am not an expert in the slightest so don't take my word for it. The one closest to the camera is often the more careful one, she (I presume) often looks around more actively than the other one when visiting. She seems to be quite aware of the camera's presence, kind of looking at it whilst grabbing something to eat.

Common Starling (흰점찌르레기) video on YouTube

I love watching the birds as they come by and eat, and love their sounds too. One of the reasons I adore spring and autumn is that I can keep the windows open. I especially like waking up early in summer and autumn time, when the sun just starts to come up, as that seems to be a time where the birds wake up too, and there is just a huge amount of "noise" coming from the trees, I love it. I will certainly miss this about the house I currently live in once we move out.

I hope you'll enjoy this brief moment of natural beauty, and thank you for watching.