Flock this way

Though I'm no great or avid birder, one of my favorite things to do on my walks is look at and listen to the birds. I'd love to get photos of them, but I don't have a proper lens for that, nor do I seem to have the camera with me when a flighty feathered one deigns to hold still long & close enough for me to snap a picture.

But I enjoy them all, nonetheless: the crow splashing and bathing in a frost-rimed puddle; the grey heron huddled, solitary like a bitter, drab old man, in an overgrown field; the dainty ball of puff that is the European robin in winter; or the middle spotted woodpecker tapping out a beat in the towering pines. I'd dearly love to get a good photo of a blue tit, for I think they are the most darling little birdies.  

Alas, neither chance nor the avian critters themselves have favored me since we moved back to the Centre. However, I do have a few bird photos up my sleeve from our world trip and decided to share those instead:
( Collage with bird names and locales )

Someday, mayhap I'll have a proper telescopic lens. Then watch out, birdies...