Bird Table News

Why do garden birds sometimes foresake garden feeders that they have used for years?

Is it that someone else nearby is putting out more tasty bird food?

Is it that there are berries in the hedgerows or insects that they prefer instead?

Is it that birds cover alarge area and have more than one birdtable they go to?

Is it that garden birds  know a bird of prey is nearby and dare not come near the bird food?

Is it that we put a different type of  bird food out,  that our usual garden birds do not eat.  There are so many different types of bird food and not all bird food suits every type of bird.

Is it  because when we feed birds it usually means that a lot of birds congregate in one area ofthe garden and this can lead to a lot of germs / disease in one area.  We should  clean the birdtables and feeders .  Here is a little information about TRICHOMONMIASIS 

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Has anyone else had this happen?  Did the birds come back?  Is there a reason?

Debbie told me that her birds disappeared for almost a week after Christmas.  They didn’t see one bird!

She is now wondering if it has more to do with what’s been happening in the news lately, regarding birds falling out of the skies. Some of her birds have returned, but not all.

Trisha

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The website I saw the Sparrowhawk deterrent is –

http://www.biconet.com/birds/scareEye.html 

this is in response to   

 http://birdtablenews.com/2010/12/a-way-to-keep-sparrowhawks-away/

Everytime it snows a Sparrowhawk(female) visits my garden and the birds go so wild and fly off.I have seen her on top of my Prunus tree eyeing the conifier next to it where there is a huge nest of sparrows and also lives a Robin.

From sitting on a branch she flew(all of a metre) from the prunus straight into the tree for the birds. I have even seen her chase a Blackbird around the side of my house. At first, I kept shooing her away – which worked. I saved many birds by doing this. These hawks have good memories! I was so upset!

I found a website which sells a particular type of scarecrow that will work on Sparrowhawks. It is illegal to hurt/trap these birds.

I thought a lot and after a few days, decided not to buy the device! On one hand, her presence shows I have a healthy garden. I read they only ever manage to catch just one out of every ten birds they chase.

To me, the saying “Survival of the fittest” never rang so true. I hear that the majority of time Sparrowhawks seem to catch the weak or injuried that would simply die of natual causes any way.

Only now do I have a deeper understanding of nature. Because of this thinking I don’t have that dreaded feeling of seeing her any more! Plus, Sparrows and Sparrowhawks have been living side by side for centuries without humans interfering.

The website I saw the Sparrowhawk deterrent is – http://www.biconet.com/birds/scareEye.html hope this works for you Elaine! I hear hanging anything reflective, CD’s etc. from trees also helps too.

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Thanks for sending this information.   It must have been a hard time for Sparrowhawks when the snow was on the ground.  I am not sure that Sparrowhawks go for the weakest.  I have heard of Sparrowhawks decimating an area of birds.

It is now illegal to kill Sparrowhawks. Killing sparrowhawks,  of course,  kept their numbers down.  Now, as they do not have any predators Sparrowhawks can increase in number and as their numbers increase so does the number of garden birds they prey on. I am not saying I want to kill sparrowhawks.  I’m just saying what has happened over the years

Take a look at this site  SONGBIRD SURVIVAL  

Songbird Survival discusses and studies the effects birds of prey have on Songbirds.  It is a very interesting and complicated problem.

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 A while ago a lady in Sweden email about something similar that had happened in Sweden.  This is what she said -

“ Something similiar happend here in southern sweden.

After a while the only understadble reason was a power cable  -   a bit from there  likly disturbed the birds navigations.

We are disturbing nature in so many ways and kill so much life in waste for our relaxing lyxuis wayof leaving.

do you know how many birds die of trafic and poision everyday?? just on one week in sweden it dies more birds in traffic than several Sparrowhawks  consume during their life!

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Hi Trish and everybody,

 my cake is

•  lard,
• ground sunflower
•  and peanuts, also whole ones
• all put together with currants and sultanas,

They go down a treat,

I had 9 long tail tits here today,
Not seen thrushes around, am worried,,mum used to come into workshop in breeding season, but offspring not so keen,,

Keep up the feeding everyone, we will get them through,,

Have 5 or 6 blue tits roosting in a nest box they have used twice to breed in,, dont know if the same family have moved in,,R

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Hi, This is wonderful. 9 longtail tits and blue tits roosting. So you are helping birds survive!

I haven’t seen many thrushes, but the one or two I have seen have looked in good condition. I wonder if there are a lot of berries on the hedges. Also thrushes are shy birds and if a lot of more aggressive birds are feeding they may not get as much of a look in.

That is an interesting recipe. You must go to a lot of trouble to ground the sunflower and peanuts. I sometimes just melt the lard and pour it over some bird food. It gives it a fat coating.

Great you got in touch.
Glad to hear from other bird feeding people

Well said Richard  -   Keep up the feeding everyone, we will get them through

Trisha

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This bad weather has been hard for us but even harder for our feathered friends.

The snow came down thick and fast so I covered  the ground bird feeder with anything I could find.  It worked!  The ground feeder was sheltered from the storm and i could put the daily bird feed inside.  Even though the snow was deep all around – at one point it nearly came to the top of my wellington boots – this igloo of a bird feeder was free from the worst of the snow.

The bird feeders were a hive of activity!  I should have videod them but did not have time!  I’m sure they  were waiting for me as you can see from the two birds sitting in the snow.

SNOW COVERED BIRD FEEDER

Protecting the ground bird feeder from a snowstorm

 This photo may be a bit hard to work out – but it was a success this winter. 

Inside the bush is mainly free from snow.

The canes sticking out make a circle where larger birds cannot get – I put the bird food inside the canes. 

You can hardly see the ground feeder – but it is there under the snow. 

this area under the snow has been a little snow free haven where so many birds have visited and popped in and out of as they eat me out of house and home!  I seemed to be putting scraps and birdfood inside the feeder on and off all day and it was always eaten.

I’m sure some of them know me!  One blackbird watches my every move and once surprised me by sitting on a branch so close to me.

I’m so pleased the snow has gone and I can see the green grass again. 

 Does anyone else do things like that to keep snow off the bird food?

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