Very busy at the bird feeder today! (2 Viewers)

[catbasket]

Collared Doves used to be quite rare?

Surprising isn't it? We have a hand-me-down bird book from 1962 which under status and distribution says - "Apparently resident where established". :-O

We had a female great spotted woodpecker on the peanut feeder yesterday, the first GSW seen since late summer (though we hear them regularly). Another highlight was seeing two robins on the same feeder, but only for a fraction of a second as the intruder was very quickly seen off!

Loads of house sparrows this morning. More than 21 at one attempted count :t:

 

[SPINNEYGAL]

We don't get to see many of the birds until weekend but one great event this weekend. Came home after work Saturday lunchtime and soaring right above our house and garden 3 Common Buzzards what a fabulous sight, they were quite low down then soared away.

We have also had a Sparrowhawk visiting nearly every day. We managed the usual Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Chaffinches only a few Goldfinches and 1 Greenfinch. The GSW has also been back and the Nuthatch is another regular.

Robin and Blackbirds are a bit infrequent, but still coming.

On the whole still quiet for my feeders.

 

[Johny121]

Nice little goldcrest finally decided to come and visit the feeding area, been high in the tree tops all summer, pretty common in Norfolk, suprisingly few in my garden

 

[Cheshire Birder]

Nice little goldcrest finally decided to come and visit the feeding area, been high in the tree tops all summer, pretty common in Norfolk, suprisingly few in my garden

Lovely little bird to have in the garden.

CB

 

[EK_Birds]

Re-stocked the feeders in the dark last night, not sure what I was thinking :-O

Shouldn't really be climbing the ladder against the tree when you can't see what you're doing !!

 

[majortarantino]

Nice little goldcrest finally decided to come and visit the feeding area, been high in the tree tops all summer, pretty common in Norfolk, suprisingly few in my garden

Now there's a bird that's high on my wishlist. They've been seen in a park about a mile from my garden, so here's hoping....

 

[majortarantino]

6 Goldfinches
2 House Sparrows
2 Collared Doves
1 Robin
1 Great Tit

My new bird table is proving popular with the robin, great tit and Goldfinches (if the feeders are crowded!)

 

[roger1234]

nice to see the GSW back on the bird cake, first sighting since last year,GARDEN SPECIES NUMBER 133

 

[roger1234]

28 house sparrows at the fat balls

 

[roger1234]

5 blue tits
3 coal tits
2 great tits
18 goldfinches
5 greenfinches

 

[Azzy]

Collared Doves link http://www.dalswildlifesite.com/thecollareddove.htm

So they found there own way there? Or was it a combination of the odd bird and captive escapees etc?

 

[crazyfingers]

We had stopped the feeder this spring when we were getting too many squirrels and chipmunks in the yard. But I guess we will be starting up soon again and with a squirrel feeder to boot.

There is an acorn shortage in N. East USA. After two years of so many acorns, the oaks have just stopped. There are no acorns this fall across the region. The linked story details the impact not just on squirrels and similar, but up the food chain to the owls, etc...

This might be a for pay story. Not sure. But it says that a typical oak tree produces 250 pounds of acorns each fall. This fall the scientists say that the average is just 1/2 of one pound! I had suspected. Where I usually have to rake acorns off the lawn with the leaves, this year there are zero under my oak trees.

Very bad news for the critters. So I want a squirrel feeder - one that is hopefully somewhat protected from predators - to give them a fair chance.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...fall-acorns/vLXezOKg2YznpAvQycY8LK/story.html

 

[SPINNEYGAL]

Hi Crazyfingers, could not get the link but did a web search. I found clips for December 2008 in various areas as well, so maybe it is cyclical.

 

[EK_Birds]

Had a quick check on the feeders last night ( and remembered a torch this time 8-P)

The seed was at least half empty on them all, but the peanuts looked almost untouched !!

This is unheard of in my garden, I had actually stopped putting them out because the squirrel was getting through them so quickly.

Wonder if he's on holiday, as 2 days is ridiculous :-O

 

[majortarantino]

10 Goldfinches
2 Dunnocks
1 Robin

 

[Laurie93]

Took a look at my feeder this morning and was greeted by 2 Blue tits, a Great tit a Song thrush and a Wren. First Wren I’ve seen in ages.
After a bit of hunting I saw 3 Goldcrests in my tree.

 

[Simon Taylor]

Starling 8
Goldfinch 17
House Sparrow 20
Greenfinch 1
Collared Dove 3
Jackdaw 4
Blue Tit 1
Dunnock 2

 

[Cheshire Birder]

So they found there own way there? Or was it a combination of the odd bird and captive escapees etc?

They spread across the whole of europe in a period of about 50 years.

CB

 

[Bananafishbones]

Yesterday:
2 Pied Wagtails.

roger thats an incredible species count. Is it a your garden life list? apart from Turtle Dove whats your highlight?

 

[crazyfingers]

Hi Crazyfingers, could not get the link but did a web search. I found clips for December 2008 in various areas as well, so maybe it is cyclical.

Odd. The story is now on Google

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/11/16/where-did-all-acorns/vLXezOKg2YznpAvQycY8LK/story.html