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  1. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    60 genera of trees & shrubs listed in their diet by BWP - so extremely varied :t:
  2. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Still very few and far between 'up north'; in Northumbs, only 2 or 3 at Morpeth, though have heard of a flock of 30 just over the border in Scotland. Several 'traditional' Northumbs Hawfinch sites have yet to report a single one in the whole winter yet, despite regular searches. Hoping that some...
  3. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    I've seen mention of unusually high numbers in Spain too, including some reaching the Canary Islands. So that seems a very unlikely explanation; I'd go with: The widespread severe frosts of the end of April 2017, which killed tree flowers and caused a rare, extensive, multi-species seed crop...
  4. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Thanks! Very interesting :t:
  5. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    True, but is that because they are strictly night migrants where they have the option to be, or because they are migrating too high up to identify? They'd only have to be 100 m or so above ground level to be effectively unidentifiable; if they're 3 km high (as many small passerines can be), no...
  6. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    I'd think most birds can do both, and have to in some circumstances, like crossing larger seas, where they have to spend >24 hours flying non-stop.
  7. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Yep, not native up here, planted mainly in parks and larger gardens. Saw the Morpeth trees y'day (with 3 Hawfinches in attendance:king:), and yes, they do have a good crop on, better than other Hornbeams I've seen locally, I'd rate about 8 on my informal scale a few posts up. But worth adding...
  8. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Because sunflower seeds are easier to eat, would be my guess - less energy needed to crack them, toxin-free kernels, and oil-rich too. Once you've got them used to coming, try a day when they only have cherry stones as an option, and see what happens then. I'd be very doubtful they'd prefer...
  9. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Mistle Thrushes eat the non-toxic red aril (cone scale, to be precise); they swallow the toxic seed whole and pass it out in the droppings undamaged, with the toxins not released. Hawfinches crack the seed open and eat the kernel. Even just 10 seeds is enough to kill a child, so Hawfinches much...
  10. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    Been thinking about this a bit more: Maple seeds contain saponins (toxic) Yew seeds contain taxine (toxic) Hornbeam and Beech seeds contain tannins (toxic) So do many other tree seeds contain various toxins. But if a Hawfinch eats a small amount of each of lots of different seeds, then it has...
  11. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    I checked local (southeast Northumbs) tree seed crops today; on a scale 0-10 where 0=zero crop and 10=bumper crop: Ash 0 Beech 2 Hornbeam 4 Lime 3 Maple 5 Yew 6 So not good amounts of seed, but enough to feed some Hawfinches for at least the first part of the winter. Yet still none around...
  12. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    It means that places with reduced woody plant diversity (Britain, and even more, Ireland) have fewer Hawfinches than places with higher woody plant diversity. In Europe, woody plant diversity is highest in the Balkans, and Hawfinches are ridiculously common there, compared to what we are used...
  13. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    If I remember rightly, they're listed as eating seeds of around 90 different species of trees and shrubs :t: It's just that some years, everything has a duff crop - it doesn't happen often but it can. One cause is an abnormal late spring frost, just one cold night can kill the flowers of most...
  14. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    That would be good news, except I've not heard of any up this end of the country yet :-C
  15. Nutcracker

    UK Hawfinch occurence last weekend....?

    It'll be related to food supplies, not forthcoming winter weather
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