Fat Finch has a siesta...

We have all done it - eaten too much and passed out on the sofa to recover from our excessive bout of the munchies.
By OLGA BRADSHAW
Published 25th Jul 2013, 11:33 BST
A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.
A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.

I’ll wager a bet with you that you never thought birds would do the exact same thing... but they do.

I have managed to record a video of a greedy little finch too full to fly, who simply opted for an afternoon siesta on the drive.

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Partial to only certain seeds in the bird food mix, I have spent a fortune in the last year on wild bird seed to keep the Greenfinches and Goldfinches in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.
A baby goldfinch on the feeder at the home of Sentinel Reporter Olga Bradshaw.

No sooner have I filled the multi-seed feeder of the Nyger container than they descend, using their beaks to scoop out the seeds until they get the one they want. Below them scores of lazy/crafty Dunnocks and Chaffinches sit on the ground and simply wait for gravity to do its thing - rain down all manner of tempting treats on their little feathered heads. They are far from being birdbrained... and they know a sucker when they see one!

Once the seeds in the feeder get low, however, the Greenfinches have to stick their heads right into the container to get at the morsels that are left... They can become so absorbed in this task that they either don’t notice when you walk up to them, or perhaps they just don’t care knowing full well that I’m a soft touch and they no longer need to fear me...

Either way, on Monday evening when Himself and Myself got home, we amused ourselves watching one finch gorge itself on the feeder, before dropping to the ground for a siesta in the early evening sun... In the video I called him/her a Goldfinch, but it is in fact, a Greenfinch.

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I hope you enjoy the video: At the start look to the top left corner for the bird Ronnie and I now call ‘Fat Finch’. Its head is tucked under its left wing and I got to within five feet of him before he woke up.

Send me your videos...

If you record something amusing in your garden, or you have a family pet that has a ‘party trick’, like a cat which can open a door, or a dog that thinks he’s human, send them in and I’ll have them uploaded.

My email is [email protected] and the office telephone number is 028 7134 1175.