Very busy at the bird feeder today! (11 Viewers)

[The Valley Walker]

Hello all! Haven't been here for ages, so will have a lot of posts to read to catch up! My garden has been busy as ever, I have a pair of Coal Tits nesting in the garden and Starlings in the eaves. The single Stock Dove that has been visiting almost daily for months now will not be visiting any longer - had a visit today from the female Sparrowhawk, who swooped in and took the dove straight from the feeder tray. I'm sad that I won't be seeing the dove anymore, but the Sparrowhawk was an awesome bird and a fantastic creature to see in action. Both her and the male hawk have been around a lot lately, often displaying and calling over the garden. Perhaps they are nesting nearby. Wish I had my camera to hand to get some pictures of her today!

Wow, would love to see a sparrowhawk come and swoop in my garden...I can spare one or two sparows at the moment but wouldn't want him touching my siskins or redpolls...rofl.

Male bully has been abt this week but not much in the last few days, the female seems to have gone to ground so I am guessing she is sat on eggs - would love to see them bring the family in. That apart lots of sparrow, fair few chaffinch and I also have a pair of coal tits at the table - busy little critters them coalies. Goldfinch (2/3) are in a few times a day but not seen anything of great or blue tit all week. Not sure I am going to have much time this weekend but hopefully Sunday might be ok..depends what the wife has planned for me.:eek!:

 

[JeffMoh]

It sounds like your garden is really noisy these days. Ours is usually pretty quiet now that our male Northern Mockingbird seems to have found a mate and so isn't calling 24 hours a day. (He's not as bad as the ones we used to get in California anyway. He just does bird calls. They used to include police sirens and car alarms in their calls.)

Plenty of House Finches every day but not the one with the deformed beak.

Jeff

 

[Disneynut1973]

My garden has been a little quiet this week. The House Sparrows, Robin and Starlings are still waiting on the fence for me to top up the food every day. The Woodpiegon and a pair of Collared Doves and a couple of Blackbirds are still regulars but no sign of any Tits or the Goldfinch or even a Dunnock for the past three days.

Nice to get the Coal Tit Dave, but not so nice for your Dove with the Sparrowhawk White Kite. Must have been quite something to see though!

How strange would that be to have a bird doing emergency siren noises outside your window Jeff, do Mockingbirds often pick up sounds like that?

 

[Bananafishbones]

6 Swifts over the garden at 6pm this evening, my first sightings of the year.

<<Off topic, but thought I would share>>
Today I took my partners youngest out to see a pair of Perigrins that are nesting about 45 minutes drive away.
We were rewarded with cracking views of the pair feeding, thought we could just make out a chick but couldnt confirm that.
The veiw of one of the pair feeding on a ledge was superb, then it took to the sky and hovered over our heads for about 5 minutes
<<<picture man and boy laying on backs looking upto sky with bins honed on Perigrin Falcon>>> before it peeled off and away on the thermals.

His first sighting of Perigrins in the wild :t:

Dave

 

[Fozzybear]

Finally went out to start hacking back some of the weeds this afternoon (I'm no gardener and the garden had really started to get overgrown!). Now have a juvenile woodpigeon and a juvenile blackbird picking over the exposed ground, which is pretty cool.

 

[devon.birder]

I still have four Siskins in the garden feeding on Nyger seed and today I saw a very recently fledged young Siskin. I wonder if they have breed in my fir trees. In past years I have only seen Siskins for a few days in winter on the peanuts but this is the first year I have had Nyger seeds in one of my feeders.
When I am on the computer I can look out the window and see the Nyger feeder about 12 feet away and it seems there are always either Goldfinches or Siskins feeding. I have just used the last of my 3kg bag so it looks as if I will have to buy some more. Roger

 

[Bananafishbones]

I love the Juv Blackbird pic Fozzy, very satisfying to have youngsters in the garden even better if they fledged in the garden... well done

Hi Roger, I loved the Siskins on the feeders but have not returned since Mid April, had 4 males and 3 females on one occasion but generaly 2 pairs showed up.

 

[The Valley Walker]

I still have four Siskins in the garden feeding on Nyger seed and today I saw a very recently fledged young Siskin. I wonder if they have breed in my fir trees. In past years I have only seen Siskins for a few days in winter on the peanuts but this is the first year I have had Nyger seeds in one of my feeders.
When I am on the computer I can look out the window and see the Nyger feeder about 12 feet away and it seems there are always either Goldfinches or Siskins feeding. I have just used the last of my 3kg bag so it looks as if I will have to buy some more. Roger

I still have them too...along with about 7/8 Redpolls. My mate is convinced they will be nesting close by so just hoping the juveniles come to the feeder - what does a juv siskin look like?

Saw the male AND the female bullfinch on the feeder abt tea time today so perhaps she is not sat on eggs? Also a very busy pair of coal tits back n forth today and 1st time in a week or so I have seen a great tit in the garden - couldn't put the nest box up this year but last year had a pile of g tit youngsters out of it. The sparrows are about a lot at the moment too. Three goldfinch sat for 20 mins on the niger seed feeder and also had a brief appearance from a couple of greenfinch.

 

[Disneynut1973]

6 Swifts over the garden at 6pm this evening, my first sightings of the year.

<<Off topic, but thought I would share>>
Today I took my partners youngest out to see a pair of Perigrins that are nesting about 45 minutes drive away.
We were rewarded with cracking views of the pair feeding, thought we could just make out a chick but couldnt confirm that.
The veiw of one of the pair feeding on a ledge was superb, then it took to the sky and hovered over our heads for about 5 minutes
<<<picture man and boy laying on backs looking upto sky with bins honed on Perigrin Falcon>>> before it peeled off and away on the thermals.

His first sighting of Perigrins in the wild :t:

Dave

Nice to be able to share isn't it. I love sitting in the patio doorway with my daughter (when I can get her to sit still for five minutes!) and just watching the garden birds.

The Coal Tit has been back just this morning, hanging upside down right outside the window on the climbing roses, of course it was off before I even had chance of any kind of photo. The Goldfinch are back too along with a couple of Blue Tits, one feeding the other. One of the Blue Tits eventually chased off the Goldfinch and Coal Tit!

Hoping for a trip to Fairburn Ings after lunch if the weather stays nice.

 

[Bananafishbones]

Very noisy Dunnock this morning and low and behold a Juvenile Dunnock under the feeders (I will try to get pic if i se it again), also at least one Juvenile HouseSparrow that I can see.

Very noisy Robin also, hopefully Juvenile maybe about also

 

[JeffMoh]

Hi, Pam.
Mockingbirds in California seemed to imitate up a whole range of sounds as well as the calls of other birds. They make each sound/call 3-4 times and then go onto the next call/sound. Males call for hours on end, day and night, when looking for mates. If one's on your chminey or near your windows, it drives you mad!
Jeff

 

[Fozzybear]

Thanks BFB. Sounds like you've got a bit of a crèche going on too!

Today have had the young blackbird hanging around most of the day, a young house sparrow hopping around and also had a juvenile Song Thrush in the garden a little while ago! I thought the thrushes were nesting here as I found a bit of eggshell that I thought might be theirs but great to see one of the fledglings in the garden!

Robins still going into the ivy with food... seems a long time they've been doing that so fingers crossed I get to see a glimpse of a youngster. The starlings are still frantically grabbing food to take back to the nest too, one was making fast repeated trips to my feeder tray this morning to grab all the suet pellets it could! The ones I have now are thin diameter so should be quite good for chicks.

edit: have seen at least four baby sparrows in the garden now and just a little earlier had four blackbirds in the garden... two females, a male and a fledgling. They were queuing up to bathe in the water filled dish I put in this afternoon. There was a deep plastic planter sunk in the ground and filled with water at the far end of the garden, which I'd only let my Dad put in to keep him happy (mad on ponds he is!), but had lost a hedgehog in it a couple of years ago and when I saw the young blackbird and sparrows trying to bathe in it that panicked me a bit as I didn't want them to drown in it! I went and dug it out and filled in the hole, sinking a large shallow pyrex dish (one I was given as a present but never ever used!) in it as a drinking/bathing pond, with some stones at one end so anything going in it can get out. Looks like it was a good idea as it's proving rather popular! :t:

 

[Disneynut1973]

Hi, Pam.
Mockingbirds in California seemed to imitate up a whole range of sounds as well as the calls of other birds. They make each sound/call 3-4 times and then go onto the next call/sound. Males call for hours on end, day and night, when looking for mates. If one's on your chminey or near your windows, it drives you mad!
Jeff

Thanks for that Jeff, I had no idea they imitated sounds, I can imagine how annoying it must be to have one close by! Quite beautiful birds though and easy to spot with all the noise I'd guess.

Fozzybear, good idea for the bath :t: I just have a little water tray on the feeder pole that the Starlings use as a toilet and the Woodpigeon just stands in!

Talking of Woodpigeons we had 4 in the garden at once this evening, most we have had before is two, didn't get a good look though as we had guests and I thought it might be rude to abandoned them for the birds

 

[Fozzybear]

They do that in my feeder pole water dish too! I have a deep sided dinner plate as a ground water dish, the birds do like drinking from that more than the pole dish, but the sparrows and blackbirds also used to drink from the deep 'pond' a lot, they may have liked that it was out of the way in a corner. I feel a lot more relaxed now that I've taken out the deep container, really felt uneasy whenever I saw birds drinking from it and had to keep trying to make sure it was topped up to the rim so anything falling in could have a chance of getting out - not easy in the summer when it keeps evaporating away!

Have uploaded a couple of photos of the House Sparrow chick and the young Song Thrush to the gallery, but here are a couple of the other shots of them I took this afternoon.

 

[The Valley Walker]

Sun 10th May 2009 - Just when I was saying abt Redpolls

Had a friend around to my home this morning for him to get a look at the Redpolls....probably the quietest morning I have known for ages and although he had a pair of green finch, couple of siskins, a starling that sat on the perch for him, loads of spadgers, the occasional blue, coal & great tit...no redpoll show :-C He said he went away happy as he gets nothing in his garden. We went for a wander around the trees just outside my property as he said it looked an interestign habitat for wildlife...although we did't go near any we did see 3 nests and I had the bins trained on a blackbird sitting on the nest, amazing - the other nests were wren & song thrush. Anyway he went off and I glanced out of the window an hour or so later and saw a couple of redpolls on the feder with a juvenile siskin. They are still about but with the warmer weather and insects in abundance I fear I have probably seen the last of them until winter - mind I am not complaining as I expected them to be gone come the end of March !! The male bully put in a brief appearance thisb afternoon although he didn't venture onto the feeder tray.

Not the sharpest of images but like the framing of this redpoll and the blosson so I thought I would share it with you. Hope you all have a good weekend.

 

[Bananafishbones]

Just back from work....B
Anyway some great photos on our thread :t: Thanks VW & Fozzy (love the beak on the HS chick)

I agree that all seems a bit quiet at the moment on the feeders but the activity in the garden is busy. House sparrows spending more time than I have ever seen on the feeders, in the bird bath, dusting down in some dry soil, flitting from bush to house and back again and also chasing off much larger birds (nipped a woodpigeon a few days ago and today chased off a jackdaw:eek!::eek!::eek!

Lots of corvids over and in the garden on the winds, exceptionaly high numbers of rooks (magnificant birds :t, starlings too, still got a few Greenfinch, Blackbirds still noisy

Never did see the robin again, but have seen the Dunnock Juv once and can hear the House sparrows but cant tell yet how many

Dave

Nearly forgot, 3 Swifts at 1pm overhead...

 

[Fozzybear]

Thanks Bfb. Sounds like there's some good action at your garden - would love to see Rooks from my window... and swifts!

Lovely Redpoll VW - haven't seen one of these yet, really would like to! The wildlife spot near you sounds great too. :t:

The baby Sparrows are still here, the four of them seem to have spent the morning sitting on the upturned plastic planter pot that I dug out (which was the old 'pond') and Dad has been going to and from the seed feeder with food for them. I won't leave it there permanently but am very pleased I didn't remove it straight away, it seems to be a popular perch for a lot of the birds! Have attached a photo I took through my kitchen window (about 40 feet away!) as Dad came in to feed them again, but only three there as one was on the ground nearby. Everywhere I go there seems to be chicks, it's really amazing going for walks at the moment with all this frantic activity! |:d|

 

[Bananafishbones]

How many people take the Housesparrows for granted, (that includes very keen birders), but when you are surrounded by them day after day and then you see the results of all the activity in your grden over the last 12 months resulting in a picture such as the one you have posted..... brilliant, makes it all worth while

A real pleasure to witness this during the spring

Well done

 

[Bananafishbones]

Juvenile Robin for 2 days now under the feeders and around the lawn, suprised by its relative size but has a lovely speckled breast...

No sign yet of the House Sparrow juvs, but can hear them (very noisy in the eaves)

Dunnock Juv seen a few days ago not seen since, but have not seen parents either so I guess they are nesting in another garden locally

 

[Fozzybear]

How many people take the Housesparrows for granted, (that includes very keen birders), but when you are surrounded by them day after day and then you see the results of all the activity in your grden over the last 12 months resulting in a picture such as the one you have posted..... brilliant, makes it all worth while

A real pleasure to witness this during the spring

Well done

Indeed, they're easy to overlook but occasionally they remind you that they're pretty cool little things! :t: