first winter blackcap (3 Viewers)

[Mary]

Two male Blackcaps visited this lunchtime, eating Pyracantha berries. Attached some shots.

ROD.

Great pics, love the one where he's got the berry. Doesn't look as though there's many left! :eat:

 

[Mary]

I locked hubby in the hide(shed) this morning with a request for some pics -well it was only -3 by then and he was well wrapped up.:-O He got me a lovely selection. There seems to be at least 5 blackcaps now, 3male and 2 female. I can really recommend Leycesteria as a garden plant.

 

[The Raptor]

Excellent images Mary, your husband done well, hope you will give him a good hot meal sometime today, the poor old chap will need one. I will be getting a Leycesteria for my garden, thanks for the tip.

ROD.

 

[The Raptor]

Another Blackcap in the garden today, this time a female. This cold spell has really brought them in, that's two males & a female now. Had none last year & only a female two years ago.

ROD.

 

[conkerama]

Hi there - this is my first post here - couldn't resist announcing my first blackcap ever in my garden, today. He was eating the fruits on my passionflower. His call is a very loud single note - quite distinctive. An hour after the first sighting, I heard him call and there he was again. He was right inside the passion-plant so I couldn't see him, but a curious blackbird flushed him out. The blue and great tits were having a go at him too. They obviously don't like strangers around here!

 

[Tintageu]

Saw my first ever blackcap in my garden last week, a male, who's making his way up and down the bare branches of my hedgerows pretty much all the time but hasn't made it to the bird-feeding station in the young elm yet. It's only a matter of time, because there aren't many insects on those twigs.

I hear they sing beautifully. Does anyone know of a link online where I can hear a recording?

Cheers,

Tintageu

 

[conkerama]

Hi there

To hear the blackcap's song, try this page on the RSPB site

 

[Tanny]

For the past four years Blackcap Warblers have visited my garden in the winter. The female arrived first on the 14th November and the Male arrived on the 17th December, another female arrived yesterday but was chased away by the resident female. Both birds feed mainly on the suet balls but also like to attack the peanuts. I have managed to take many good pictures of these birds from the living room window. At first it was exciting to see these birds but now its more exciting to see a cock House Sparrow who are very rare around here.

 

[Mary]

Hi there - this is my first post here - couldn't resist announcing my first blackcap ever in my garden, today. He was eating the fruits on my passionflower. His call is a very loud single note - quite distinctive. An hour after the first sighting, I heard him call and there he was again. He was right inside the passion-plant so I couldn't see him, but a curious blackbird flushed him out. The blue and great tits were having a go at him too. They obviously don't like strangers around here!

Hello, and welcome Well done on the blackcap, it's great to know of another food source they will use, and unless you planned to make jelly with the fruits, I don't suppose you mind!

 

[Mary]

Saw my first ever blackcap in my garden last week, a male, who's making his way up and down the bare branches of my hedgerows pretty much all the time but hasn't made it to the bird-feeding station in the young elm yet. It's only a matter of time, because there aren't many insects on those twigs.

I hear they sing beautifully. Does anyone know of a link online where I can hear a recording?

Cheers,

Tintageu

For the first time last year, our winter male blackcaps started singing before they left for their summer quarters. It was lovely to hear them so close to, even outdoing the traffic going past! Keep a listen out next year- you may be lucky.

 

[Mary]

For the past four years Blackcap Warblers have visited my garden in the winter. The female arrived first on the 14th November and the Male arrived on the 17th December, another female arrived yesterday but was chased away by the resident female. Both birds feed mainly on the suet balls but also like to attack the peanuts. I have managed to take many good pictures of these birds from the living room window. At first it was exciting to see these birds but now its more exciting to see a cock House Sparrow who are very rare around here.

Lovely pics, Tanny. The females cap really matches the autumn leaf colours.
Who'd have thought, 10 years ago, that in some places, a wintering warbler would outnumber the house sparrow?

 

[Tintageu]

Hi there

To hear the blackcap's song, try this page on the RSPB site

That's perfect Thank you very much.

I'll be spending a lot of time on that site trying to work out a way to remember various bird songs. Although I have a good ear for rhythms, and perfect pitch, I've always found it incredibly difficult to distinguish the sounds of one bird from another (except for the obvious ones) and I'm wondering if it's possible to suffer from a selective form of ornithological tone deafness ? <g>

I'm wondering if there are any kinds of mnemonics that would help. The written phonetic kind don't seem to resemble what I hear at all.

Cheers and thanks again

 

[Tintageu]

For the first time last year, our winter male blackcaps started singing before they left for their summer quarters. It was lovely to hear them so close to, even outdoing the traffic going past! Keep a listen out next year- you may be lucky.

Thank you, I will

But first I'll have to keep the sound sample on repeat so that I know what I'm listening for ;-) I'm lucky to be away from too much traffic, and my home borders some wonderful tangled scrubland, so I hear the dawn chorus every morning. My goal is to one day be able to recognize every song in there

My blackcap keeps on coming back to the garden, but still won't go near the food hanging from the tree. Is there anything special I could tempt him with, and will he perch on a feeder or would he like it better if I put it somewhere more accessible?

 

[Tintageu]

Tanny, those are beautiful photos - very naturalistic with sensitive, muted colours.

We still have lots of sparrows of all kinds around, but not so many as we used to. The estate I live on is going to be demolished soon, and I'm very sad for the sparrows and swifts that nest under the eaves every year.

 

[Mary]

Thank you, I will

But first I'll have to keep the sound sample on repeat so that I know what I'm listening for ;-) I'm lucky to be away from too much traffic, and my home borders some wonderful tangled scrubland, so I hear the dawn chorus every morning. My goal is to one day be able to recognize every song in there

My blackcap keeps on coming back to the garden, but still won't go near the food hanging from the tree. Is there anything special I could tempt him with, and will he perch on a feeder or would he like it better if I put it somewhere more accessible?

The main 'artificial' food our blackcap likes at the moment is sultanas. These the male will take either from the ground or a sundial near the berry plant. It will also take suet pellets-fruit/berry variety. Maybe you've enough natural food at the moment, and he'll take what you provide a bit later in the winter. We've had a couple of pretty cold weeks, but I guess you've been a bit warmer?

I learnt most of the bird songs/calls from the British Library CD whilst doing the ironing:-O Each spring I listen again to refresh. I also made my own 'pitch diagram' for some of the warblers -hard to describe, but basically it made me really listen hard to distinguish the sounds. Still have trouble with blackcap and garden warbler, though-perhaps because I've heard very few 'live' gw's.

 

[iveljay]

Aggressive little whatsit - single male driving off everything else - a first for this patch since I have been down here.
I don't blame the malvern tits for getting their own back!

N.B. He is guarding a feeder with huskless seed mainly sunflower about 6 feet from me now. Behaving as if he hasn't fed for days. He is eating from it but not with as much enthusiasm as tits and finches were up to before his arrival.

 

[Tintageu]

The main 'artificial' food our blackcap likes at the moment is sultanas. These the male will take either from the ground or a sundial near the berry plant. It will also take suet pellets-fruit/berry variety. Maybe you've enough natural food at the moment, and he'll take what you provide a bit later in the winter. We've had a couple of pretty cold weeks, but I guess you've been a bit warmer?

Thanks for the tips

I'll make up my own suet/fruit/berry cakes and see if he goes for it. But first I'll leave a trail of sultanas leading to a handful of them on the bird table hung in the tree, fairy-tale style, and see if he gets the idea. After writing this, you can imagine me impaling them individually on the bare bush where he feeds <g>

I don't dare put food for any birds lower than about six feet off the ground because of the amount of cats on the estate.

There are no berries left after the gales (gusting to force 11), and precious few insects around in the garden. I love insects and like photographing them, so my eye is usually in, but not as good as the birds, of course ;-)

We hardly ever get any snow that settles, and few real frosts, but it's been cold here too with icy patches on the roads in the upper parishes. We're usually a few degrees warmer than you lot up to the north <g>

I learnt most of the bird songs/calls from the British Library CD whilst doing the ironing:-O Each spring I listen again to refresh. I also made my own 'pitch diagram' for some of the warblers -hard to describe, but basically it made me really listen hard to distinguish the sounds. Still have trouble with blackcap and garden warbler, though-perhaps because I've heard very few 'live' gw's

I can't remember the last time I ironed anything. I don't wear anything that needs it <g> But I do have a birdsong tape I could listen to when doing some routine work. Your pitch diagram sounds very creative and intriguing. I might try recording some birdsong of my own. I'm a very visual learner, and perhaps seeing the bird doing the singing would help fix the pattern in my mind.

Also, you've given me an idea. As I said before, I have a good ear for rhythms, so I'm wondering if I could simplify the songs by ignoring the 'tune' and concentrating on the percussive elements? Would it be possible to distinguish bird song using rhythm alone?

Instead of the onomatopoeic written versions that I find so confusing, I could probably better remember something like Indian vocal percussion, devising a personal form of notation.

Thanks again

 

[AlanR]

Had the first blackcap of the winter, a male, briefly in the garden this morning. It flew out of the honeysuckle so had presumably been feeding on its berries. Any others about anywhere?

I've just spotted this thread.
I saw my first (and only) garden Blackcap on 16 November in Cheltenham.
Alan

 

[Sue Wright]

Like Alan, I've just spotted the thread and had our first Blackcap on Sunday (23rd). They come every year just before Christmas, though it used to be later until the last 2 years.

Mary, if it was you asking about what foods they eat, then ours love the apples on our Crab Apple tree and that's what first attracted them. Then it was either the nectar or water in the flower heads of our Mahonia shrub as well. The last 2 years they also love apples. The photo with the apple below shows the top of a T piece of wood (a 3' piece of 2" x 2" sunk into the ground with a small piece across the top) and has a nail hammered part way in to enable us to easily secure half an apple to it. The apples also attract Blackbirds, Starlings, Robin, Goldfinches and Chaffinch!

Today she came visiting before we'd put a fresh half out, but instead she popped onto the dish that holds dropped seed bits from the sunflower heart feeder, and helped herself to some of those then returned later for more apple!

Sue.

 

[Tintageu]

Mary, if it was you asking about what foods they eat, then ours love the apples on our Crab Apple tree and that's what first attracted them.

Sue, that was me doing the asking. Mary has been kindly answering my queries about what they like

I love your idea of nailing an apple half down, and will be trying that as soon as the shops open again (mental note not to use iron nails <g>)

Cheers,

Tintageu