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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! (5 Viewers)

roger1234 said:
Those multiple tits sound interesting bongo,any description of them?
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I could arrange a free show if you like?

2slo said:
Ever noticed that? You decide to watch birds on a nice sunny day and there's virtually nothing. On a dark, wet rainy day like today though, I couldn't keep count.
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I think a lot of it is availability of natural food in poor weather. Siskins are a good example - in good weather the pine cones open up and the birds can extract seeds. When its wet and dull, they cones don't open, so its off to Bongo's garden they go|:d| Cracking photos of the GSW:t:
 
JeffMoh said:
Brilliant photos!

Jeff
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Thanks Jeff. Well done on getting a Nuthatch. Great birds to have in the garden |=)|

bongofury said:
I think a lot of it is availability of natural food in poor weather. Siskins are a good example - in good weather the pine cones open up and the birds can extract seeds. When its wet and dull, they cones don't open, so its off to Bongo's garden they go|:d| Cracking photos of the GSW:t:
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Thanks Bongo. I caught a discussion on the radio this morning about the decline in the number of wild birds in the UK. I've read elsewhere that this is due to the loss of their natural food supply (especially House Sparrows). Rightly or wrongly I feed birds all year round. I know some suggest you shouldn't do this as they become dependant on it but I'll never forget looking out one morning when there were several degrees of frost and seeing a Coaltit hovering outside my kitchen window looking in at a jar of sunflower hearts inside on the windowsill. Besides, I love having a garden full of happy singing birds |=)|
 
2slo said:
I know some suggest you shouldn't do this as they become dependant on it
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I feed all year round and I suspect most on this thread do too. My theory is that when birds need a top up to their natural food supply, they hit the gardens. Also, during breeding season, the adults must find live food for the young, so it makes things easier for them if there is seed readily available. What you shouldn't do is just completely stop putting food out overnight. If you do stop, reduce the food slowly. Holidays are always a tricky thing to deal with though...

roger1234 said:
bongofury said:
I could arrange a free show if you like?

Let's get the show on the Road!!!!
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:-O


I went for a walk along the old railway line at the bottom of the garden this morning and suddenly there was an almighty amount of bird noise and everything went up. The next thing I see is a raptor overhead with a half-dead Magpie in its talons. An amazing sight, seeing the Magpie struggling to escape and the raptor circling the area trying to get to grips with its prey. I'm presuming the BOP was a female Sparrowhawk, given its size and generally brown-ness.

And in the garden this afternoon, 5 LTTs and 2 Wrens in next door's hawthorn tree.
 
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I had two house finches, a song sparrow, and a house sparrow all nibbling away at the same time, today. Then, that stupid gull showed up, and scared them all away with its flapping and squawking. I'm really starting to loathe that gull. It can't even feed, because it's too big, but it still comes and hovers around the feeder, bothering the birds it's intended for! (Plus, it leaves bird lime EVERYWHERE!)
 
I set up a bird feeding station in my garden a couple of weeks ago, and some birds have finally started coming on a regular basis. It's great to just watch them fly in and eat the food set out.

Are there any tips I should be aware of when having bird feeders?

Here's my first picture of a cute Collared Dove on the station.
 

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Ben Markham said:
I set up a bird feeding station in my garden a couple of weeks ago, and some birds have finally started coming on a regular basis. It's great to just watch them fly in and eat the food set out.

Are there any tips I should be aware of when having bird feeders?

Here's my first picture of a cute Collared Dove on the station.
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Nice one Ben, good pic aswell.

Keep them clean if you can, and dont leave them empty! Then sit back and enjoy
 
Winter birds havent arrived here yet but lots of Blackbirds

I may do an hours count sometime in the early morning just to see what is really happening out there.
 
Bananafishbones said:
Winter birds havent arrived here yet but lots of Blackbirds
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Nor here, other than a solitary redwing a couple of weeks ago. This time last year there were lots of winter visitors in evidence.
Out for an hour today, nothing remarkable, a few photos of what I saw in the garden:

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2 great pieces of news from my garden today,

I have heard Willow Tit! It has been a long time since one was around, so hopefully it will return.

Also a Green Woodpecker, feeding on the fatballs, couldn't believe my eyes :t:
 

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