Where have all our garden birds gone?

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I once found a snake skin inside one of my sheds. And once, a snake curled up in a box that I had just opened. I think that it was an Eastern Carter Snake but I just re-closed the lid as the snake seemed to be getting a little agitated and then put the box back down. A few days later when I went out to check, it had left the box.

We have had a slow worm skin, which includes little teeth 😱 the grandchildren loved it, and hated it in the same measure 😁

[melmerby]

Our garden birds seem to have on the whole disappeared, very quickly.

Thursday morning the bird feeders were under attack as usual, and one was emptied, so later that day I refilled everything.

Thursday afternoon - no birds, Friday - no birds, Saturday morning an odd one occasionally, including a robin.

 

Have they all gone on holiday?

[03060]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

Our garden birds seem to have on the whole disappeared, very quickly.

Thursday morning the bird feeders were under attack as usual, and one was emptied, so later that day I refilled everything.

Thursday afternoon - no birds, Friday - no birds, Saturday morning an odd one occasionally, including a robin.

 

Have they all gone on holiday?

 

I've found it a bit of an odd year all round as far as my garden wildlife is concerned, the Sparrows, Starlings and Wood Pigeons have been as consistent as ever, the Blackbirds were their usual early season visitors but I've not had any tits at all since spring, although I did see a long tailed tit fly over today. There are plenty of Goldfinches around but whilst they will perch on the telephone wires above my garden I don't seem to be able to tempt them down. Magpies seem to be back on the increase but we've always had them around. I also had a flyover by 4 Parakeets last week.

 

I've been visited and entertained virtually on a nightly basis by a hedgehog, sometimes 2, for the last few months although not since the heavy downpours started last weekend .... but rather worryingly I haven't had any visiting frogs to my pond this year, normally I get 2 or 3 residents through the Summer although they never visit in the spring or breed for some reason. I usually come across a few Vapour moth caterpillars around this time of year coming off my Laurels but haven't noticed any as yet.

 

My own body has not enjoyed this years hot Summer temperatures so I suspect it's also effected a lot of other species's habits and where they seek their food or shelter.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[Phil Bullock]

19 minutes ago, 03060 said:

 

I've found it a bit of an odd year all round as far as my garden wildlife is concerned, the Sparrows, Starlings and Wood Pigeons have been as consistent as ever, the Blackbirds were their usual early season visitors but I've not had any tits at all since spring, although I did see a long tailed tit fly over today. There are plenty of Goldfinches around but whilst they will perch on the telephone wires above my garden I don't seem to be able to tempt them down. Magpies seem to be back on the increase but we've always had them around. I also had a flyover by 4 Parakeets last week.

 

I've been visited and entertained virtually on a nightly basis by a hedgehog, sometimes 2, for the last few months although not since the heavy downpours started last weekend .... but rather worryingly I haven't had any visiting frogs to my pond this year, normally I get 2 or 3 residents through the Summer although they never visit in the spring or breed for some reason. I usually come across a few Vapour moth caterpillars around this time of year coming off my Laurels but haven't noticed any as yet.

 

My own body has not enjoyed this years hot Summer temperatures so I suspect it's also effected a lot of other species's habits and where they seek their food or shelter.

 

Regards,

Ian.

With you on that Ian …. I don’t do heat either. Not popular with my piscine pals either….

[melmerby]

I reported a week ago that we had lost most of our garden birds.

Hardly a bird to be seen over a complete week and suddenly they were back - Yesterday morning a few re-appeared on the feeders.

Today back to normal all feeders being rttacked by numbers of birds at the same time, I counted 16 at one point.

Where had they all gone for a week?

 

At least their absence made the visit of a nuthatch more obvious.

[kevinlms]

Don't know if you're interested in the antics of 3 Peregrine Falcons in Melbourne Australia.

 

The 2 males are having a battle for supremacy and much of the nesting is captured on a near roof top window ledge.

 

https://367collins.mirvac.com/workplace/building-overview/falcons-at-367-collins

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/game-of-thrones-intrigue-intruder-threatens-melbourne-s-collins-street-falcons-20220914-p5bi1l.html

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

The Oz Magpie pair nesting in the gum tree in my back yard have produced at least one chick, keeps them busy what with feeding and chasing away all the predators..

 

[03060]

Nothing spectacular to report but I've been very pleased to see a healthy looking little female Blue Tit twitching around my garden for the last couple of days, these have been unusually absent since spring.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[monkeysarefun]

A small flock of cockatoos take advantage of the bird feeder on the back deck. This one in particular is getting pretty game, to the point that it looks through the window at us then taps on the glass if the dish is empty.

[Phil Bullock]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

A small flock of cockatoos take advantage of the bird feeder on the back deck. This one in particular is getting pretty game, to the point that it looks through the window at us then taps on the glass if the dish is empty.

Clever bird! Here the stupid pigeons just sit on the feeder poles and glare in to the house if there is no food for them.

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Clever bird! Here the stupid pigeons just sit on the feeder poles and glare in to the house if there is no food for them.

Just needs a couple of sparrowhawks to get the pigeons to move on.😁

[melmerby]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just needs a couple of sparrowhawks to get the pigeons to move on.😁

I've got a feral pigeon taken up residence in the garden a few days ago.

It was flying in and out occasionally but is now stranded as it appears to have a broken wing and is now walking wounded.

The fox will get it eventually, it's hiding most of the time behind the tomato pots and comes out to feed and drink.

[Phil Bullock]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just needs a couple of sparrowhawks to get the pigeons to move on.😁

Thete was a pair around last year but haven’t seen them this year…. Much to the relief of the sparrows finches and tits I suspect.,,,

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Thete was a pair around last year but haven’t seen them this year…. Much to the relief of the sparrows finches and tits I suspect.,,,

There's a few Sparrowhawks around here but with dozens of overfed feral pigeons around they tend to leave the smaller birds alone.

[kevinlms]

Feeding time as I type.

 

 

[steve1]

We’re currently on holiday by the East Coast of Scotland, so sightings not exactly garden…

 

Spotted so far:

 

Gulls (inevitably) Herring & Greater Blackback.

Pied Wagtails

Magpies (lots)

Unidentified waders (forgot binoculars!)

Carrion Crows

Buzzard

A flock of Curlews

Oystercatchers! (My favourite bird.)

 

A possible sighting of a pair of Ravens. (Uncertainty due their distribution in the UK by they certainly were big enough.)

 

Lots of unidentified small birds as I wasn’t able to get a decent look.

 

steve

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by steve1

[Downendian]

Well a stunning sighting on Tuesday for me. An Osprey on my normal fishing venue, and catching fish too. Alas too far away/late to capture with my phone camera, but the markings were very obviously an Osprey (and much bigger than the red kites and buzzards I normally see). It was eventually chased away by a red kite. I suspected that I saw one before here (Lyneham Wilts.) but this was hunting for over an hour and I saw it fairly clearly a few times. Highlight of the fishing trip as I caught zilch!

I shot some video on my phone camera, alas too large to upload.

neil 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Downendian
Video

[dhjgreen]

18 hours ago, Downendian said:

shot some video on my phone camera, alas too large to upload

You can upload to youtube and post a link.

[Downendian]

Hi David

its more of a video format issue- will need to convert. I don’t have a YouTube account yet.

Neil

[melmerby]

8 hours ago, Downendian said:

Hi David

its more of a video format issue- will need to convert. I don’t have a YouTube account yet.

Neil

No video formats are supported by RMWeb.

 

A YouTube account is quick and simple to set up, you don't even need a real identity (Mine is a Gmail account that I set up especially - I don't use Gmail!)

Then you can upload almost any video format and post the hot link on RMWeb

[monkeysarefun]

The baby maggies are growing up, looks like there's two of them. They look just about ready to make the big leap of faith.

 

They've had a rough trot with the weather as far as sitting out in the rain goes lately and there's  another 60mm to 100mm forecast for the weekend..

 

 

And dad.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

At extreme zoom because its about a km away across the paddock , Australian White Ibises decorating a dead tree. They are a common sight around here now with the record-breaking  rain turning everything into a giant marsh.

 

Pity about the power lines.

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

Actually turns out there are 3 chicks.

  With 90mm of rain falling  in 5 hours last night I was a bit worried about them but they seem to have come through ok.

 

[steve1]

I’ve started putting the fat balls out again and was amazed & pleased to see a Greater Spotted Woodpecker hammering away at them this morning.

 

Makes it all worth while somehow…

 

steve

[Jonboy]

Anyone have any recommendations for effective anti-pigeon bird feeders?

 

(I am not against feeding pigeons per-say, but we have a lot and they crowding everything else out…)