Very busy at the bird feeder today! (3 Viewers)

[Cheshire Birder]

Happy Days

:t::t:

CB

 

[bongofury]

Happy Days

Nice. I think I'll have to start putting nijer out again to try and attract the Redpolls in.

 

[Little SuperBirder]

A lot of birds frequent my feeder set up, but not a lot of species. Right now I'm only getting House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, and Western Scrub Jays.

I'm having up to 50 House Finches at a time, over 10 goldfinches at a time, and several jays.

 

[catbasket]

It seems to have been a good year for the local starlings. Normally the maximum number seen on the nearby pylon is just over a hundred - in this photo taken on 29th November I counted around two hundred and ten :



Quite a few will have hatched under the eaves in our roof, which is a nice thought.

Edit: Love the redpoll photos BFB!

 

[Bananafishbones]

Redpolls galore

a ropey image of 18 Redpolls hanging on in the high winds, what you don't see are the other dozen or so in the tree tops behind, the numbers are building nicely :t:

 

[roger1234]

6 LTT'S 1 female bullfinch,robin,greenfinches,goldfinches,chaffinches,blackbirds,collared doves,but no redpolls yet,last year they came middle of December, so here's hoping, well done dave with yours

 

[wilson2pac]

I recently read that coal tits store the food in the bark of trees. I too have been going through about 4 feeders full of sunflower seeds every day. Coal tits, great tits, blue tits, chaffinch (feeding from below) robins & a treecreeper (possiblly taking the coal tit stash.)

 

[Bananafishbones]

I recently read that coal tits store the food in the bark of trees. I too have been going through about 4 feeders full of sunflower seeds every day. Coal tits, great tits, blue tits, chaffinch (feeding from below) robins & a treecreeper (possiblly taking the coal tit stash.)

Welcome to the garden thread Wilson. I had to look up the location of Dollar... now I know :t:

 

[DanC.Licks]

Henry, our resident Hawfinch with a damaged left wing is back! He can fly ok, but perhaps not well enough to migrate any further than our garden here in Mauerbach, Austria. He spent last winter with us, but we haven't seen him since early spring.

 

[Bananafishbones]

Henry, our resident Hawfinch with a damaged left wing is back! He can fly ok, but perhaps not well enough to migrate any further than our garden here in Mauerbach, Austria. He spent last winter with us, but we haven't seen him since early spring.
View attachment 476858

View attachment 476859

Hi Dan, that's a smart garden bird, looks like his wing isn't going to stop him getting around locally, enjoy this wonderful species :t:

22 Lesser Redpoll and a male Bullfinch here this morning

 

[DanC.Licks]

Henry has been very entertaining indeed. We came in from shopping this morning, and there he was, munching away, with a GT and a Sparrow on either side, and two Great Woodies trying to muscle their way in. He would have none of it!
Redpolls and Bullfinches...two species we have never seen here, even though according to the maps, the should be here.

 

[bongofury]

It seems to have been a good year for the local starlings. Normally the maximum number seen on the nearby pylon is just over a hundred - in this photo taken on 29th November I counted around two hundred and ten :

Good to hear some positive Starling news.

a ropey image of 18 Redpolls hanging on in the high winds, what you don't see are the other dozen or so in the tree tops behind, the numbers are building nicely :t:

Superb numbers for December:t:

Lots of Tits this afternoon, mainly Blue and Great. There were 5 Siskins til the male Sparrowhawk took one from the sunflower feeder. It was a prolonged kill, as the Siskin was in his talons, but because the feeder has a squirrel cage on it, he struggled to finish the job off and take away the prey. I only see the occasional Sprawk kill, but almost every one has been a Siskin. I wonder if they just aren't quick enough to react like other birds?

Also a female Bullfinch.

 

[Mary]

Right place.. right time! Went to the sink and glanced out of the window.... to see the 54th species for the garden, a Grey Wagtail! Fabulous! It didn't stay long, but as they are on the river only about 150 yds away, maybe it will be back. Lovely splash of colour on a dull day, and if I'd been 1 minute later, I'd have missed it!

 

[Mary]

Henry, our resident Hawfinch with a damaged left wing is back! He can fly ok, but perhaps not well enough to migrate any further than our garden here in Mauerbach, Austria. He spent last winter with us, but we haven't seen him since early spring.
View attachment 476858

View attachment 476859

Beautiful bird! He's on to a good thing finding your food, so hopefully he was able to rear young in the summer, and will again next year. Would love to see one so close up!

 

[DanC.Licks]

We are not sure if this is one of his....

 

[Bananafishbones]

We are not sure if this is one of his....
View attachment 476939

now your just rubbing it in.....

If those fellas were on our feeding tables we would have major twitches occurring. :t:

 

[Bananafishbones]

Good to hear some positive Starling news.



Superb numbers for December:t:

Lots of Tits this afternoon, mainly Blue and Great. There were 5 Siskins til the male Sparrowhawk took one from the sunflower feeder. It was a prolonged kill, as the Siskin was in his talons, but because the feeder has a squirrel cage on it, he struggled to finish the job off and take away the prey. I only see the occasional Sprawk kill, but almost every one has been a Siskin. I wonder if they just aren't quick enough to react like other birds?

Also a female Bullfinch.

The bird has gotta eat......
I wonder if the Siskins are more tolerant of sudden movements (trees blowing, other birds crashing in, loud noises etc) and therefore more relaxed and ultimately more at risk from attack.

Forgot to report on Wednesday that I had a new Sparrowhawk visit, a young male, I wonder if its dads (my regular visitor) offspring?

 

[hampers]

One things for sure Dave as you run THE Sparowhawk larder in the area you'll get more visits!!!!! Very benevolent of you to support the species!

Phil

 

[DanC.Licks]

We suspect this is his/her mother...o

 

[bongofury]

Right place.. right time! Went to the sink and glanced out of the window.... to see the 54th species for the garden, a Grey Wagtail! Fabulous! It didn't stay long, but as they are on the river only about 150 yds away, maybe it will be back. Lovely splash of colour on a dull day, and if I'd been 1 minute later, I'd have missed it!

Great garden visitor.

The bird has gotta eat......
I wonder if the Siskins are more tolerant of sudden movements (trees blowing, other birds crashing in, loud noises etc) and therefore more relaxed and ultimately more at risk from attack

Indeed. A potential theory there. The Siskins also ignored the Blackbird's alarm call.

I put nijer out yesterday and had a dawn watch. The Bullfinch was back and after an hour a Redpoll appeared. Not on the nijer but on the sunflower hearts... Oh well!