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Which bird rules in your garden (1 Viewer)

The Raptor

The Raptor

Bristol City's No.1 Fan!
I have been surprised recently, the Blue Tits in my garden have been seeing off the Chaffinches, House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Wrens, Robins & the recent arrival, the Blackcap, they certainly rule at the moment. Which bird bosses in your garden, is it the Blue Tit.

ROD.
 
Blackbird one end of garden, Robin the other, and woe betide any intruders!!!
 
Great thread, Raptor! Strange, it changes every few weeks. For two weeks in the winter, it was a Blackcap, phenomenally aggressive, saw off all comers. Then it was Goldfinches, mostly because they came in such numbers. Fought each other a lot, too. At the moment there seems to be an Uneasy Truce, but there are large numbers of Siskins present regularly, and they've become very confiding, don't fly off when I go to change the feeders, but move up just a little in the tree to watch.
 
The Great spotted woodpeckers take priority, unless one of the sparrowhawks are around.

The wee coal tits are definately the most picked on, but take the prize for stealth and a quick ambush on the seed!
 
I have had a really mean stroppy Female Blackredstart in the garden all winter,she would chase off Robins, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs not to mention the Thrushes,dive bombing the birdbath everytime any of them had the audacity to try and use it before her ,or after her come to think of it.
The only one to stand up to her ended in an airborne scrap was a little Sardinian warbler,female of course!!!!!;)
 
Western Scrub Jays. There's always a pair - unless their old kids show up or heaven forbid a couple from up the block (big arguments). California Quail (sometimes 60!) overpower and consume everything not nailed down when they march in. As much as I love the Scrub Jays - I wish they were a little nicer to the Mockingbird. Close up views of it are superb. But! Now that the Rufous Hummer numbers are growing by the day it's not even safe for me. And they're all jacked up on sugar.....
 
The Robin, definitely. He especially takes a dislike to the dunnocks, probably because of their similar diets. Even the starlings know to give him (or her) a wide berth.
 
Blackbirds rule the garden and outnumber all the others.
But when they are around, it's the Greenfinches who rule the birdfeeders. They come about 6 at a time and the others have to wait.
Alan
 
Out in upstate NY, American Goldfinches and Dark-Eyed Juncos by sheer numbers. They're the major players in the winter, then the icterids come north (Red-Winged Blackbirds, Brown-Headed Cowbirds, and Common Grackles), and chase everything else out of the way.
 
Here, the Olive-backed Sunbirds are pretty aggressive when it comes to protecting their favorite flowering tree.

Overall, it has to be the Tree-sparrows that rule by sheer numbers alone.
 
Certainly on the feeders it is the Goldfinches. Around the garden there seems to be a good haromony with no real bullies or bosses
 
Right now its our over-fed obese house sparrows, the starlings/finches have nothing on these guys over winter. They even manage to beat off the blue/great/long tailed tits every time. I'm expecting that to change when the BT's have young hatched though, they own the garden when they're rearing young (until the sparrowhawk arrives, anyway). Wood pigeon/collared dove are timid here, hardly let their guard down. Blackbird/thrushes/robins don't really compete, and the blackcaps/warblers are so infrequent they hardly register.
 
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The local sparrowhawk, who makes a regular appearance aside, it's currently rooks who intimidate all the other birds in my garden. There is a rookery only about 30 yards away and the rooks are now lining their nests with moss. Our lawn being a good source of moss, they fly in, poke around for a bill full, even around the feeders....small birds not too happy.
 
I don't have a garden, but the birds in the trees opposite my balcony which seem to see off the competition best would be the Common Mynahs, Rainbow Lorikeets, Pied Imperial Pigeons and oddly enough the tiny but aggressive Olive-backed Sunbirds and Mistletoebirds, which are often in the palms. Little crackers...:t:
 
chowchilla said:
I don't have a garden, but the birds in the trees opposite my balcony which seem to see off the competition best would be the Common Mynahs, Rainbow Lorikeets, Pied Imperial Pigeons and oddly enough the tiny but aggressive Olive-backed Sunbirds and Mistletoebirds, which are often in the palms. Little crackers...:t:
Click to expand...


I did'nt know that the lovely colourful Mistletoe bird was so aggressive. I managed to capture this image of one, while in Adelaide a couple of years ago. Cheers Chowchilla.

ROD.
 

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