Rooks

Several rooks have taken to sitting in the Silver Birch in the garden. They look a bit odd with the bare skin around the base of their bills, but their plumage is lovely and glossy, with a beautiful purple sheen. They have big baggy trousers and really are quite handsome birds.

Our rooks are very timid and will disappear if they see anybody watching them, so I have to creep around to get any photos. They do come down to the bird table though, especially if we put out bread or left over fruit cake! They're also quite partial to a mince pie!!

I looked up the collective noun for rooks and there are a few, including a building, parliament, clamour and storytelling. You have to love collective nouns!

These two were enjoying the afternoon sunshine

Time for a wash and brush up

You can see the lovely purple sheen on their feathers

The rooks seem to hang around with the jackdaws, who are much bolder and braver and we see them on the bird table much more often. They also like bread. 

This jackdaw stuffed as much food into his beak as he could

Rooks are very intelligent birds and are supposed to be capable of using tools to solve a problem. In captivity they've been known to raise the water level in a tube by adding stones, so they can reach the food floating on the top. I seem to remember that being one of Aesop's fables .. or was that a crow?