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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Very busy at the bird feeder today! (7 Viewers)

Well it's been a busy and quite bizarre day here today. Firstly new 2011 birdies are Reed Bunting, Magpie, pair of Wrens :)t:), Jackdaw and the Woody made a welcome return (more about him shortly).

Had 10 Woodpigeons in the garden this morning which I thought was quite a lot until I looked out the front window and saw a couple of hundred out in the field! Also 50 or more Starlings today and at one point all perforating the tiny front lawn looking for worms. All the usual birds were present too, still half a dozen Brambling.

And now for the bizarre. The resident Moorhen (juvenile) did a Moonwalk! :eek!: Im not joking here, for some reason he was by the pond and started walking backwards perfectly, almost like a display of sorts and then had a preen. Any ideas anyone?
And the Woody too was being strange. I have peanut feeders and fatball feeders out and yet he far and away preferred to feed on the ground and to cling on to the seed feeder, I think he's got hooked on sunflower hearts! :-O

Which brings us to the photos. To get those birds together in the first one is pretty amazing but I think the birds together in one shot for the second one must be a world first! :king:

No idea if this is related at all to the moorhen behaviour, but I have seen domestic chickens do a kind of moonwalk when foraging... it's like they disturb the ground and walk backwards to see what pops up.
 
Got my blackcaps and siskins now, bramblings are still almost in double figures every day. Short visits from a goldcrest and wren yesterday too, not regular visitors.

Stan the starling remains loyal and visits alone several times a day. It's been a couple of weeks now. I hope he goes back to friends at night as I do feel a little sorry for him.

Just not sure what my next garden bird could be, I suppose nuthatch, but that would be a biggie. Maybe I'll go for moorhen, they seem common as muck in gardens these days! A moonwalking moorhen would be an amusing sight!
 
One of our pairs of bullfinch were in the garden this morning but since the new year has turned the nuthatch,brambling and siskins have rarely been seen
 
We had 4 Thrushes in yesterday-unprecedented (big word-spelling??) for us.
Unfortunately the Blackbird Mafia chase it/them off as soon as they land.

A Fieldfare on neighbours roof (does that count?)

Lots of (maybe 30) Goldfinch.

A young Heron landed and strode around the pond -apparently debating if he could break through the ice-decided it couldn't so flew off......phew!

On a side note......isn't it interesting to note birds that some take for granted but are never/rarely seen by others e.g. we regularly get a Nuthatch but a BF member in Hull told me he has to travel 50 miles to see one. I know it's obvious but this thread does highlight the geographical distribution of species. WOW-that's a serious comment for me!
 
at last a pair of Greenfinch today after an absence of some 4 years (apart from the dead one we found earlier this year) hoping that my hurried snapshot from the kitchen will have recorded them. That brings the feeding in garden count up to 29 :t:
 
chapelwood jet black ultimate niger feeder (16 pearch)arrived this morning,filled it up and is out with the other feeders,here is looking forward to some REDPOLLS (i wish)!
 
No idea if this is related at all to the moorhen behaviour, but I have seen domestic chickens do a kind of moonwalk when foraging... it's like they disturb the ground and walk backwards to see what pops up.

I thought that as a possibility too, his head was also moving from side to side though which just made it look all the more weird.

No Siskins here so far this winter so with everyone else having them I'm hoping they'll be along any minute. Great stuff all.
 
chapelwood jet black ultimate niger feeder (16 pearch)arrived this morning,filled it up and is out with the other feeders,here is looking forward to some REDPOLLS (i wish)!

great quality feeder isn't it!.
We just have the 3x Goldfinch since we put ours up a couple of weeks ago . Still we are grateful as they make fabulous photo opportunities.
Good luck !

ps My next door neighbour and frinds have just lost all their chickens and ducks to a huge dog-fox this morning. In broad daylight in their garden! he rushed out and almost caught it by the tail but too late I think 5x birds killed :-C They all had names and used to come into the kitchen like pets.
 
Dark and miserable here at the moment. Seen very little of the garden over the last few days, the specie count is a bit static. However during the last 20 minutes I have a Pied Wagtail again, Wren, 4 Redpoll and a redwing.

Some good stuff from you all, CB well done with the Reed Buntings, Pam with the Siskin (a very special little bird), EB with the Greenfinch (we all have birds that we take for granted and the Greenfinch is mine), Dave Smith.. I would be counting the Fieldfare on the Neighbours mate, and for everyone with either 1 Brambling or the ridiculous count of 27... you make me sick, Jealous, envious... all in equal measures .lol Jos with his hand reared woodland birds and others that I have missed keep up the good sightings
 
Paint me green with envy... I have three more dark to dark working days before I get to see what's visiting me again! Hearing about everyone's lovely visitors will keep me going and the pics are amazing! :t:
 
great quality feeder isn't it!.
We just have the 3x Goldfinch since we put ours up a couple of weeks ago . Still we are grateful as they make fabulous photo opportunities.
Good luck !

yes great feeder,like the design and is good quality.3 goldfinches on so far!
 
yes great feeder,like the design and is good quality.3 goldfinches on so far!

Glad it's being visited already! I'd love to see another redpoll too, but it's so great to see goldfinches in such numbers. Have they grown in numbers a lot in recent years? I don't remember them much from the past but then I wasn't really looking for them I suppose.
 
Glad it's being visited already! I'd love to see another redpoll too, but it's so great to see goldfinches in such numbers. Have they grown in numbers a lot in recent years? I don't remember them much from the past but then I wasn't really looking for them I suppose.

they are my most visited bird in summer and so far in winter,does anybody else have them visiting on a regular basis?
 
chapelwood jet black ultimate niger feeder (16 pearch)arrived this morning,filled it up and is out with the other feeders,here is looking forward to some REDPOLLS (i wish)!

Roger mine arrived this morning too! And I know what you mean about the quality of it. Good going with the Goldfinch, had no visitors on mine yet. I also bought another seed feeder a 6 port one for the Sunflower Hearts to try and add some more perches. Had bought the 6 port Chapelwood one but the Greenfinch could not get their beaks in lol :eek!: weird, so I took it back and got a Tom Chambers one instead. So am looking out to see if anything uses these new feeders and also Roger, if you had a visit from a Bullfinch watch out, it may just visit your Nyger feeder too :t:
 
Roger mine arrived this morning too! And I know what you mean about the quality of it. Good going with the Goldfinch, had no visitors on mine yet. I also bought another seed feeder a 6 port one for the Sunflower Hearts to try and add some more perches. Had bought the 6 port Chapelwood one but the Greenfinch could not get their beaks in lol :eek!: weird, so I took it back and got a Tom Chambers one instead. So am looking out to see if anything uses these new feeders and also Roger, if you had a visit from a Bullfinch watch out, it may just visit your Nyger feeder too :t:

hi dan,i have had bullfinch before,but they visited the bird table so look forward to seeing if they come on the nyger feeder,hope you get some visitors soon on your new feeders,let me know and all the best dan:t:
 
Had a lovely flock of around 40 gulls right over the house and garden today, adding 2 more to the list, albeit flyovers
23. Herring Gull
24. Lesser Black Backed Gull

Feeders seem to have been busy, apart from the empty sunflower hearts, upto 10 goldfinch around today, a fair few greenfinches. Blue tit and great tits were around, as they always are. Not seen my Coal Tit this Year yet, but Im sure he will return when the sunflower hearts are refilled. 4 Moorhens in again.

JAFF Very interesting that, "my" moorhens have done something similar moving forward, but never backwards, will have to watch them more now!
 

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