Fascinated, I watched two greenfinches feed on two dandelion seed heads. One jumped up, grabbed the stem and bent it down to ground level, then both picked it clean. They repeated the process on the other dandelion with the same bird bending the stem down. Is this a rare sight?
Margaret Aston, Sutton, Dublin 13
Greenfinches usually pick seeds off the ground or cling to the plant as they feed. They may have learned that landing on a dandelion bends it down and simplifies the operation. They were probably parents collecting seeds in their crops for their nestlings.
For the second year, I have a visiting bird arriving mid May to stay for the summer. It likes to perch on the open branches of the conifers in my neighbour's garden. It has dark plumage and is about the size and shape of a cuckoo. Its call is monotone, like a castanet, rapidly repeated eight to ten times with intervals of about half a minute. It appears to be solitary.
Keith M Shaw, Carrickmines, Dublin 18 It could be a nesting sparrowhawk, the location fits: sparrowhawks nest in conifers and like a ready supply of other nestlings as prey close by. The cock's visits to the nest with food can be so fast as to be easily missed. When the young are hatched the female sparrowhawk often perches nearby and utters alarm calls "kek ... kek ... kek ... kek. If it is a nesting sparmwhawk, look under the tree for droppings and flecks of white down. The nest itself should be easily seen, a light, airy structure and last year's nest should also be visible.