Topic: babies in the conifer

[GREENWIZARD]

there must be a nest of blackies in one of the conifers
spotted mrs blackie with a beak full of beasties & looking rather bedraggled popping in & out of them all morning :)

[Dirkdigger]

And no photo to show us ? sure it wont be long and we will be seeing them. Hope you will be able to capture some images soon.
DD

[honeybee]

My blackie ripped my hanging basket to bits a few weeks back, such fun to watch, but now she is collecting food and stands by as we dig over the borders...lol

I think she has nested in next door conifers but its hard to see.

[lorna]

Yep I am pleased to say I am sure blackbirds are nesting in my conifers again. Where do sparrows nest? (OK you know how little I know about wild birds but I am learning) The reason I ask is that when the sparrows fly off the feeding station they seem to "dive" in to the top of the conifers which  are about 8ft away.
Lorna

[Robert_Brenchley]

When I was a kid they used to nest in the roofs of the old warehouses down the road.

[angle shades]

LORNA,
We had sparrows nesting under a tile in our roof for the first time last year.Because it was so cold last spring and early summer i kept feeding the birds
and i'm still doing it. The first piece of straw went  under the tile today!!! We had
three broods last year so fingers crossed/angle shades x

[lorna]

Will keep a closer eye and see if they really are nesting., because my conifers are high it sometimes appears that they are in fact diving OVER the conifers in to Lorna's garden..
I do spend so much time (can't call it wasted time ;D) staring out of the kitchen window,
Lorna

[pakaba]

I do spend so much time (can't call it wasted time ;D) staring out of the kitchen window,
Lorna

definately NOT wasted time.  When the children are getting too  much i put on the kettle and take some 'time'out' stood in front of the kitchen window.  I calm down in seconds..... of course i do visit my kitchen window many times in one day but i'm not complaining ;D

P.

[MrsKP]

being a complete ignoramus, i'm assuming birds carry their eggs for a while before laying them.

do you think this is why this one's soooooooooooooo fat ?

she was lovely looking and spent a good while parading around the garden before flying off.

mrs blackbird has been gathering dried grass for a while now and mr(s) robin's looking dead tatty. had the two robins on a fat ball today with one feedng the other.   :D

it's amazing watching them over a period of time and seeing how they change.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Given the position of the bulge, I'd say it has it's crop stuffed full. An egg forms just above the pelvis, and doesn't make a visible bulge.

[MrsKP]

should have had her for lunch then, already stuffed  ;D

[machman5]

Hi Lorna,
I'm no expert but I think they might nest in conifers as we see loads od sparrows on our feeders and a garden at the back of us has a huge line of very large conifers.  We also had a good laugh yesterday at a couuple of 'babies' having a huge scrap in the small conifer next door to us.... they were going hammer andf tongs at each other for about 10 mins!!!
Donna

[machman5]

Whoops !!!!Sorry about the spelling!!! I clicked on 'post' instead of 'preview' and my typing is atrocious :-[

[lorna]

machman. I think they are nesting, I haven't tried to look closer, the blackbirds are definitely nesting and kick up a row if I go too near. Wouldn't it be really great if the couple of greenfinches decided to nest. Must look up the British bird site that I bookmarked to learn a little more.
Regards Lorna

[machman5]

The 'old blokes' on my allotment site have set up a bird sanctuary with little bird watching lodges and everything!! I keep saying I should get a bit more involved and learn more but with 4 kids ...all getting bigger and more obnoxious by the minute, work and a lottie that is really too big, I just never seem to have any spare time.  Hubbie always seems to know the answer to any bird questions I have (normally airhead questions!!) I think it's a bit of a 'male' thing :D

Donna xx

[mokanoo]

Lorna, ours are also nesting in roof. Just under the corner guttering. This is the 3rd year in the house and they have nested there every year. Such a pleasure to watch them. We have now seen a mistle thrush in the garden attracted by the dug over veggie beds.
Donna don't worry about what you know or don't know, just enjoy them and your allotment when you can. If you want to learn about them, just choose one bird at a time as I'm doing.

[lorna]

mokanoo, thanks for the pic. I am almost certain that the sparrows and blackbirds are nesting in the conifers. I was at the other end of the garden today (only small garden) and I definitely saw a sparrow dive straight in to the top of the conifers.
My two greenfinches are still with me but I thought they would go to the niger seed but they are either at the wild bird mix or the peanuts.

[GREENWIZARD]

there has been no sign of the bedraggled mum~to~be :(
mr gw spotted a strange cat in our garden a couple of nights ago >:(
fingers crossed they're ok & i've just been missing all the mealtimes