ROOKS

One of the good things about winter is the chance it brings to admire the structure of braod-leaved trees.  It also gives us the chance to see things in trees like the round balls of mistletoe and the nests of some birds, usually corvids like crows (a nest of twigs on its own), magpies (a domed nest often with a roof) and rooks who nest communally in rookeries. 

As I live near the Mundy Playing Fields, I enjoy seeing the repair and rebuilding in the hybrid poplar trees by the stream every year.  They usually manage about 14 nests.

 As you can see in the photo above, they are building in one poplar but not the one on the left.  And they don't like the upward branches of the lombardy poplar, nor the alder to the right.

Unfortunately one of their favourite poplar trees fell over this year.

But nothing daunted they are building in an oak - four nests so far.

  

And in a nearby ash tree - three nests.

 

So together with six in the poplar that makes 13 already and they are still building.  

"We build up high, away from predators but we feed down low in fields where animals graze. Kaaa"