Injured Blue Tit

At lunchtime today this individual was the most frequent visitor to the feeding station despite (or perhaps because of) an injured or deformed right leg. The problem appeared not to trouble the bird too greatly – it would land on the one good leg, balance perfectly well and feed normally. I can't help but wonder, however, whether its overall scruffy appearance is down to the fact that in other ways it is struggling rather. I made one other interesting observation today – the local birds in my garden have 'learned' that activity around the feeders often means the chance a fresh supply of food. I watched from a distance for a while and saw there were few birds in the immediate vicinity, even though the feeders were all pretty much full. I then added even more peanuts to the tray pictured here and almost immediately the branches above and around the feeders filled again. And it's not a matter of food being added; more the perception that some has. To prove this, when I'm hidden with my camera and activity is low, I often simply step out and very obviously change things a little, perhaps by moving a feeder or just agitating the peanuts in one of the trays. Almost invariably, this brings about a significant increase in bird activity. I'd love to hear whether others have also witnessed this.

Canon 1Ds MkII, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/125th sec, f/8, 400mm at ISO 640