Where have all our garden birds gone?

[Clive Mortimore]

Today's dog walk I saw Rooks, Jackdaws, Magpies, Pheasants, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Pied Wagtail, Blackbirds (including one that is part albino), Robin, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Skylark, Reed Warblers, Mallards, Swallows and Swans. The Sawn's eggs haven't hatched but the other day she stood up and I think there are six eggs under her. Mr Swan is getting very territorial. I heard the  Cuckoo but haven't seen him yet this year. The Yellow Hammer we see most days must be having a day off. And as I was chatting to my friend about the birds I had seen a pair of Kestrels flew over. Isn't being outside enjoying what is around you enjoyable.

 

Later on a Buzzard flew over, that set the Rooks and Jackdaws into a panic.  

[Liam]

Not the best of photos but one of our nestbox guests was helping themselves to breakfast of some peanuts, and then a bullfinch turned up. 

[Phil Bullock]

Havent seen a bullfinch for years....

[pH]

We sat out in the back yard this afternoon with a glass of wine and watched the various birds around the yard.

 

There was an (American) robin picking up nesting material for the several 'trial' nests it's building under the carport. They part-build several in potential sites, then decide on one and finish it. We try to persuade them not to build there, since none that have tried it have managed to fledge any chicks - there are too many squirrels around. But the site is just so good for nesting that pairs keep trying.

 

Then there was a pair of chickadees dancing around and twittering in the tree almost right above our heads, coming down to the ends of branches, almost within touching distance. That lasted for several minutes.

 

And the finale was a rufous hummingbird that visited several of the blooms on a flowering currant bush, less than 5 feet in front of us. These birds can be very 'tame'. A little girl who lived next door to us once had one try to feed from the flowers on her t-shirt. 

[jbqfc]

our blue tits are very busy feeding the young 

blue tit by john brace, on Flickr

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Our Blue Tits too, they have 8 on the go and growing fast. We have never previously seen more than 6 fly, so we'll see if this pair can break the garden record. Robins are feeding too, and they have adopted my garden chair as the perch to look around for predators before going to the nest, so I'll be sitting elsewhere for 2 or 3 weeks...

[Liam]

On 10/05/2020 at 18:48, Phil Bullock said:

Havent seen a bullfinch for years....

I hadn’t seen Mr Bullfinch for a few years, but all of a sudden he made a reappearance yesterday morning. He might be scouting feeding locations.

 

Our blue tits are also extremely busy - last night they were still active at 20:30! 

[rodshaw]

The feeder which has been on our cherry tree for the last 16 months or so has attracted quite a range of birds. However, my wife noticed that the branch the feeder hung from is totally devoid of leaves, while the rest of the tree is fine. It's not as if the feeder is particularly large or heavy and the metal loop it hung by isn't digging into the branch.

Is this just a coincidence or could it be down to the bird activity or the feeder? I can't remember what the branch was like before I started hanging the feeder off it.

[dhjgreen]

21 minutes ago, rodshaw said:

The feeder which has been on our cherry tree for the last 16 months or so has attracted quite a range of birds. However, my wife noticed that the branch the feeder hung from is totally devoid of leaves, while the rest of the tree is fine. It's not as if the feeder is particularly large or heavy and the metal loop it hung by isn't digging into the branch.

Is this just a coincidence or could it be down to the bird activity or the feeder? I can't remember what the branch was like before I started hanging the feeder off it.

 

Coincidence: we have a branch mounted feeder and the branch is growing beyond the feeder.

[dhjgreen]

We have a crow that has taken ownership of our garden, mate sitting on eggs.  Having shown a cat the exit this morning very fast exit by cat, 10 starling eating "his"  bread were shown a very good impression of a hawking stoop.  They have not been back.

[melmerby]

Greenfinches seem to have made a come back, as well as sparrows, both have been rarities for a few years but this year are reasonably regular visitors to the feeders

[jbqfc]

green finches and siskins back today for the first time in a couple of weeks 

the male siskin was looking beautiful bright yellow 

 

John  

 

[rodshaw]

7 hours ago, dhjgreen said:

Coincidence: we have a branch mounted feeder and the branch is growing beyond the feeder.

I suspected as much. Back it goes then.

[Mallard60022]

10 hours ago, rodshaw said:

The feeder which has been on our cherry tree for the last 16 months or so has attracted quite a range of birds. However, my wife noticed that the branch the feeder hung from is totally devoid of leaves, while the rest of the tree is fine. It's not as if the feeder is particularly large or heavy and the metal loop it hung by isn't digging into the branch.

Is this just a coincidence or could it be down to the bird activity or the feeder? I can't remember what the branch was like before I started hanging the feeder off it.

 

I've seen Sparrows taking leaves (for nesting?)

P

[Killybegs]

We have a pair of bullfinches who visit from time to time. The house sparrows have started using the bird feeders this year having normally fed on the ground. Nearly got decapitated by a sparrow hawk last week. Came in through a gap in the trees behind me and passed about a foot over my head before climbing steeply away. I was surprised at how much noise and air disturbance it created as it went past.

[Phil Bullock]

The sparrows get the good parenting prize here this year - Mum had 3 chicks pestering her on th elawn this afternoon.

 

The jackdaws are also trying to police the magpies..... good luck to them!

[dhjgreen]

The robin is now bringing 4 youngsters to the window feeder.

[jbqfc]

just had a female blackbird on the suet feeder never seen that before 

i think the blue tits in our box has 10 chicks it started hacking at the suet block taking bits in to the nest box did this ten times then went back to to looking for insects 

today we also have had goldfinch green finch siskin robin starling sparrow magpie feral and wood pigeon

 

John  

[Barry Ten]

A grim day here ! Over the last few days we lost all six chicks from our great tit nest. The remaining three perished overnight, presumably due to the very cold nights we've had this week.

 

In previous years we've had successful clutches of great tits, blue tits and nuthatches from the same box., so we feel the location isn't a problem, just one of those things. Last year five out of six made it.

 

We spent the rest of the day cleaning out the box (had to be done as flies were already taking an interest) and doing essential maintenance which couldn't be done over the winter as the box has been occupied more or less permanently since the late autumn. On the plus side, for the second time this week a tawny owl landed on our chimney and stayed there for a good five minutes, which went some way to making up for the great tits.

[Oldddudders]

On 12/05/2020 at 19:23, melmerby said:

Greenfinches seem to have made a come back, as well as sparrows, both have been rarities for a few years but this year are reasonably regular visitors to the feeders

Agreed. I'm no twitcher, but this year's visitors include one or more, and that is a first. 

[jbqfc]

some pics of our garden visitors 

goldfinch by john brace, on Flickr

 

magpie by john brace, on Flickr

 

Feral Pigeon or rock Dove by john brace, on Flickr

 

starling by john brace, on Flickr

 

blue tit by john brace, on Flickr

 

blackbird by john brace, on Flickr

[88D]

2 hours ago, jbqfc said:

some pics of our garden visitors 

goldfinch by john brace, on Flickr

 

magpie by john brace, on Flickr

 

Feral Pigeon or rock Dove by john brace, on Flickr

 

starling by john brace, on Flickr

 

blue tit by john brace, on Flickr

 

blackbird by john brace, on Flickr

Brill! The blue tit looks a tad bedraggled!

[88D]

On 12/11/2011 at 10:09, PhilH said:

Possibly there is abundant food everywhere for them? It has been the time of year when fruits, seeds etc., are everywhere in hedgerows, woods etc. so possibly they're eating them.

It’s caterpillar and insect time! It’s what the youngsters can digest more easily.

[88D]

2 minutes ago, 88D said:

It’s caterpillar and insect time! It’s what the youngsters can digest more easily.

Don’t know how a 2011 post came up then,!? Ignore it!

[hmrspaul]

There is a family of Long-tailed tits in our urban garden, and I caught an adult feeding a youngster beside our feeders.