As I don’t have an enclosed garden, I’m so grateful to be able to get out and walk once a day right now. My local patch used to be the park near my office, but now that I’m working from my home office (aka my dining room) my local patch is now the tree outside my window and the area where me and my other half walk. That space is most often now the golf course that is a five-minute walk from where we live. We are lucky in that not that many people walk there so it is always peaceful. We also tend to walk in the late evening, before dinner, when the light has been beautiful due to the sunny days we’ve been having.
There may not be many people around at that time but there are always plenty of jackdaws. Like us, they seem to be taking advantage of the golfers being absent. They, along with the carrion crows and magpies, bounce about the greens picking at the worms and insects they find there. They are generally unperturbed by the occasional jogger or people strolling by.
I got this image on one of our recent evening strolls. Before anyone asks, I was extremely careful to check that there were no other people nearby (in fact, the whole course was deserted by that time) and I only stopped for a few minutes…just long enough to capture this inquisitive-looking pair in the gorgeous light. I am very conscious of not breaking social distancing or causing others distress at this time so, if I take my camera on my walks at all, it’s only used when it’s completely safe to do so and for only a couple of minutes. I’m aware we need to keep moving as much as possible and hope I’m not offending anyone by posting this.
Part of the corvid family, jackdaws are easily identified as they are smaller than carrion crows and they have a silvery nape and pale iris, as clearly shown in this image. Jackdaws are born with blue-grey eyes that change to brown in the first winter and then turn pale once they gain their adult plumage.