Topic: Winter Bird Watching, what have you seen today?

[Carol]

Not today, but yesterday, I saw a couple of Barn Owls.  One was quartering a field at 3pm.  I expect the hard frost had sent it out early because finding voles would be hard to spot.  A bit later as darkness fell saw another one just outside our village crossing over the road. 

 :)

[Flighty]

Carol I'm just a tiny bit envious as I'm fascinated by owls but have only ever seen one on the wing in the wild!

[gardentg44]

not on the birdtable but a Redkite soaring the skies
s72 area s yorks.

[Froglegs]

Just had a Thrush visit the garden sadly the first I've seen in months.

[Flighty]

It's a cold but sunny day so this morning I went to the plot then on to the park/playing fields across the road.
Saw blue, coal and great tits; parakeets, robins, gulls, pigeons, crows, magpies, starlings, blackbirds, dunnocks and wrens.
There were also a couple of foxes sunning themselves on the allotments.

[SamLouise]

Pair of great tits (ahem, scuse me) in the garden this morning.  Made me feel all guilty as they were scouting about for food and I haven't put any out for a while.  I could hear a few protests going on out there!  ;D

[shirlton]

When we first saw this bird we thought it was young chaffinch because of its white wings. It did seem strange that this one and another one the same were coming to feed with the sparrows. It is definitely a sparrow. Difficult to take a pic cos everytime I went outside they all flew away

[hopalong]

The white on its wings and underside look too prominent for a sparrow, as you say, but I suppose it could be a male - they have stronger markings than females - or perhaps a tree sparrow rather than a house sparrow, or was it too large for that?

[shirlton]

Looks exactly the same as an ordinary female sparrow except for the white on the edge of its wings

[thifasmom]

I think its just an anomaly, last year we had a male chaffinch with a completely white tail, made it easy to identify day after day, not seen him this year, but then the chaffinch numbers this year visiting the garden have been low.

[honeybee]

Here are some pics taken earlier in the year but thankfully we still have the same old visitors, now considered friends  :)

I do love and enjoy so much the many (some pictured, some not) visitors to my garden  :)

[Carol]

You lucky person having bull finches on the feeders.  I had one in a bush last week but would love to see them feeding with food provided.  I havent seen a Siskin this winter yet or a tree sparrow.  Hopefully they will turn up soon and I have spotted 2 goldfinches now.   Tomorrow will be hectic outdoors if all this snow arrives as promised.  I had best go and get set up for the morning.  I am out there in my dressing gown and boots!!! sight to see I tell you.  At least I don't do curlers now!!!

[thifasmom]

Tomorrow will be hectic outdoors if all this snow arrives as promised.  I had best go and get set up for the morning.  I am out there in my dressing gown and boots!!! sight to see I tell you.  At least I don't do curlers now!!!

:D you aren't the only one i often wonder what my neighbours think of me :-\ :).

honeybee  you are so lucky, we had bullfinches for one short hour last winter (and luckily it was the same hour we were doing the RSPB bird watch/ count) they were after buds on the apple tree which i don't mind as we only kept this very old tree for shade as the apples are a bit so so in taste and always full of bugs, etc.

[Gardengirl]

Honeybee, what lovely photos, you are so lucky to have a bullfinch visit.  I have never seen one on our feeders. Having said that, we are having our fair share of birds at the moment all frantically building  themselves up for the winter. One question....do long tailed tits require a different food from blue or great tits. I think I spotted about half a dozen of them in a nearby tree but they did not come to my feeders.

[thifasmom]

One question....do long tailed tits require a different food from blue or great tits. I think I spotted about half a dozen of them in a nearby tree but they did not come to my feeders.

in my garden they mainly go for the fat feeders with the odd peck at the sunflower feeder.

[Gardengirl]

Thanks thifasmom. I do put sunflowers hearts & fat balls out amongst other things so I don't know why they don't come to my feeders.  We do have a lot of larger birds, ie: collared doves, wood pigeons, starlings and the occasional magpie, maybe they don't like mixing with them :-\

[thifasmom]

Thanks thifasmom. I do put sunflowers hearts & fat balls out amongst other things so I don't know why they don't come to my feeders.  We do have a lot of larger birds, ie: collared doves, wood pigeons, starlings and the occasional magpie, maybe they don't like mixing with them :-\

if your fat feeder is mobbed by starlings they may be a bit wary, i only had success when i got a caged feeder for the fat balls. now all the small birds happly feed without being chased/ scared off.

the one i have is like this:

http://www.haiths.com/product-Caged-Fat-Ball-Feeder-BFFADFATCAGE/

but the starlings were persistant and so i raised the floor of the feeder using thick wire scrunched up in a crude ball shape (to stop the starlings from getting to the balls from the bottom of the cage) and i also made the bottom hole half the size they were by wrapping thick wire around the middle like this:  0 the longtail and blue tits can still fit through and as the upper holes haven't been tampered with the great tits can use those (although they rarely eat in the cage feeder). i also don't put more than two fat ball at a time as the starlings could then reach one through the top hole. the resident woodpecker uses it though cause its beak is longer, but he isn't a bully (except to chase the starlings) and doesn't create a problem.

[Carol]

As predicted and despite the BBC Weather saying Scotland had no snow,. we had about 2 inches or more and I have been busy all morning scraping away snow and feeding the birdies.  I think birds are odd though.  I put out feed and has anyone noticed that they seem to stand back and look and come down to feed but peck in the snow for food and not whats in front of them.  I am inundated with Blackbirds.  I know it was a good breeding season but come on Blackies, next year go on the PILL  LOL.  I have at least a dozen trying to get in there mostly picking up what has been spilt.  I also counted 4 Robins mostly fighting but they did get some food.  No additional visitors just the usual.   I agree that Long Tailed tits go for the Fat Balls and other Fat Food.  They have been eating the Sunflower Hearts an all though. 

 ;)

[Gardengirl]

Thanks for the link thifasmom, the cage looks good, maybe I will try one  :)

[hopalong]

Blue tits and great tits are flocking all over the garden this morning, dashing from tree to tree and in and out of the feeder.  Never ever seen so many at once (the Northern Line runs past our back fence and tends to deter them a bit).  What's the collective noun for a load of tits?