Daylight is here – just. so is the wind and rain. It’s a dark morning. A wild and wonderful morning.
A morning like this can bring bird feeding problems – and it has.
The extra hanging bird feeder I put up is swinging in the wind. The leaves that protected it in summer have gone and it is open to the elements.
The bird table has blown over, along with all the garden canes that I had circled round it to keep the larger birds off. I will have to find a better way to make sure it stays standing
I know the bird food I put out on the ground feeder will soon get wet so I push this ground feeder further into the cover of the small bush in the garden.
I’ve put a variety of bird food out on the other bird table I have – this is in a more sheltered part and it is still standing, but the rain is pouring down on the food.
Have to go now.
Trisha
Swallows still on the wing, 15th November, Caergeiliog, (next door RAF Valley) Anglesey. About 10 of them.
Thank you Martin. This is an interesting observation.
Ten swallows can’t all be from a late brood can they?
Wonder what is keeping them here. A warm climate? Plenty of insects still around?
Please let us know when they disappear from your life!
Now is a good time to put up a nest box. It gives birds somewhere to roosts on a night and is ready for Spring when they will use it for nesting.
I’ve been finding out about Cedar Wood Nest Boxes and they seem really good.
To find our more click the link below
Powered by Twitter Tools
Tu-whit too-whoo
The British Trust for Ornithology is asking all of us to make a note on their website if we hear or see a Tawny Owl this winter – from now until the end of February
Click the link below if you have heard or seen a Tawny Owl
http://blx1.bto.org/surveys/tawny.jsp
Have you heard or seen a Tawny Owl?
I have just been watching a chaffinch and a blue tit on my birdtable.
It’s interesting to see birds side by side. I wish I’d had my camera near me.
The chaffinch was bigger than the blue tit. At first I just thought how much difference in colour there is between birds.
Then I saw the chaffinch hop towards the blue tit and sent it packing off the bird table.
The blue tit flew round to the other side of the bird table so it was now behind the chaffinch. It managed to get a bit of bird food until the chaffinch saw it and again walked towards it.
The chaffinch and the blue tit were face to face, but the chaffinch was walking towards the blue tit and the blue tit had to walk backwards until it got to the edge of the bird table and it flew away again. Only to return behind the chaffinch again.
The chaffinch was certainly in charge and managed to feed on the bird food in peace.
After the chaffinch had flown away the blue tit landed (like an aeroplane coming into an airstrip) and pecked away in peace.
It was very interesting. I have never seen this happen before and I have had chaffinches and blue tits at my bird feeders for years. Maybe food was scarce
Better go and put some more bird food out I suppose
Trisha
A while ago I had this question from America -
It’s fall and I wonder if the birds store sunflower seeds for winter. My feeder has always had sunflower seed and the chickadees, nuthatchers and finches are steady. Will it confuse or hinder winter feeding it I change to nyjer seed?
-0-0-0-0-0-
Hi, Believe it or not this is a tricky question.
Whenever I put a different kind of bird food into a bird feeder the bird food is never eaten. When I put the original bird food back in the feeder it is soon eaten and emptied.
Birds do rely on the food we put out – it does help them survive. With winter coming on I think it will confuse them if another type of bird food is in the fooder.
Some of the visiting birds would have to look for food elsewhere and this at a time of year when they need their energy.
Could you try changing the bird food in summer when there is more food about for them?
Another idea – could you buy a new small feeder and put the nyjer seed in that. Have two feeders side by side. Or put a little food in a dish in the ground.
It seems a shame if you are having a steady stream of birds, to change the food and upset them. Maybe I am biased because I never got any birds at my nyjer feeder. In winter I still pour melted fat over the bird food which sometimes includes njyer seeds and put it on the bird table.
I put different types of bird food in the bird table and that seems to get eaten. I don’t know why different food on the bird table gets eater,but different food in the bird feeders does not.
You ask if birds store food. In England Coal Tits hoard food. They take the food, hide their food away, sometimes in the ground, sometimes in a tree. They carry off nuts and store them in hiding places. Nuts are nutritious and store well. They also collect and store insects for a timd when there is no food. The bird remembers the exact location.
I know not every bird stores food. So again the answer will be different depending on what bird we are chatting about. That is why birds are so interesting isn’t it?
By the way good to hear from you. You must live in America. Can I ask which area.
Hope this answer helps. Let me know how you get on. Best. Trisha
Has anyone else any ideas or suggestions
I saw a white-tailed balckbird in a flock of at least a hundred this morning, in Manahawkin, NJ. I’ve never seen it before, and have been looking for other references.
-0-0-0-0-0-
How interesting. It must have stood out a lot. Were they flying or not.
The only references I can find are such things as a lack of good diet, old age, circulation problem and injury
Here is a link to some information
http://birdtablenews.com/2009/02/some-reasons-for-birds-with-white-feathers/
-0-0-0-0-0-
So all in all it seems that seeing a blackbird with white feathers means that the bird is not in top condition.
Perhaps this is due to the changing environment that the birds have to live in.
Maybe it is a sign of the times - the food they eat is not ‘first class’ food.
But blackbirds with white feathers do stand out a lot.
I remember the first time I saw the white tailed blackbird in my garden. I started to look out for it and it was good to see it come back every day.
I haven’t seen it for ages now. A blackbird,s life is not a long one.
Powered by Twitter Tools
I have seen a lot of birds in my garden and think it has become a safe haven to some of the birds that visit. A lot of garden birds use the feeders every day, other birds just walk through on their way to the farm pond, some gather at the edge of the pond – different species of birds enjoying the water together.
Here’s a list -
Flying over the garden we have
In The Fields Round About
There must be some I have missed and I don’t not know the differences between the types of finches, but I sometimes think there are more birds in this area than there are people!