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

[thifasmom]

Well today its annual Feed the Birds Day and yesterday my kids and I got our clean full feeders into position (i feed the birds during the winter till end of spring). We have 9 feeders to offer a wide variety of food to attract as many types of birds as possible.

• there are nyjer feeders - which in the past have attract goldfinches, redpolls and siskens
• fat feeders - which before have attracted longtail tits, blue and great tits, robins, house sparrows great spotted woodpeckers and starlings.

• mixed feeders with and without mealworms - which normally attracts greenfinches and chaffinches
• the birds that will normally come to clean up spilt seed and enjoy the odd apple and bread are the magpies, collard doves, blackbirds, song and mistle thrushes, wood and feral pigeons.

so we can hardly wait to see who returns this year. there are others that will come to the garden but not to the feeders but I'll keep it a secret to share when and if they return with the visiting flocks.

I really love bird watching but during the winter it easier due to lack of leaves on the trees, plus the entertainment value for myself and the kids are priceless when there is not much else going on to do at home.

When we have exhausted the varieties to be seen at home, the desire to see more species gets us out and about in all sorts of environments during what i deem as stay at home weather ;).

Well this morning so far considering the wet dreary weather which normally keeps the numbers down, i have seen:

• our resident robin,
• two blue tits,

• two great tits
• and a goldfinch  :o (they normally take a few days to make an appearance after the feeders are put out again).

PS i also observed 8 geese flying above this morning. ah! bliss they bird watching season for me at least has truly begun   :D.

[manicscousers]

our robin, blue tits, great tits, greenfinches, can't count them as they take a peanut and fly into the hazel bush..plus, loads of starlings came for the bread, the blackbird for the worms where I'd moved the leaves..also, the bl**dy 'collared doves'  ;D

[ssb]

Yesterday I was digging on the allotment, and female kestrel swooped down into the tree above me... it then hung a round for about 10 minutes, and had a wander around the allotment next to mine. Best views of a kestrel I've ever had!

[hopalong]

Chaffinches have been coming into the garden a lot more lately, which is great. Otherwise, it's the usual - robins, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, magpies, collared doves.

[hippydave]

just as im writing this i have had a sparrowhawk fly right into my back window chasing a great tit off my feeders (it got away) but the sparrowhawk  was dazed for a few mins but managed to compose its self and flyaway before i could get my camera, ive had long tail tits, blue and great tits,a robin and thrush three black birds,2 collared doves and about 7 green finches and more sparrows and starlings than i can count on my feeders today and what ever else was hungry while ive been on the lottie.

[hellohelenhere]

Not seen anything, as I've been indoors working this morning; but can hear the pleasant chirping of sparrows, and the loud sqeaks of the local parakeets. Big green parrotty things that live around here in south London - 40,000 of them, apparently! You hardly ever get a good look at them as they're so active and fast - but you hear them regularly, they sounds like squeaky toys... :)

[hopalong]

Not seen anything, as I've been indoors working this morning; but can hear the pleasant chirping of sparrows, and the loud sqeaks of the local parakeets. Big green parrotty things that live around here in south London - 40,000 of them, apparently! You hardly ever get a good look at them as they're so active and fast - but you hear them regularly, they sounds like squeaky toys... :)

There are loads of green parakeets in North London too.  They are roosting in Coldfall Woods, at the back of our allotment site, and make a terrific noise especially at dusk when they swoop around. There are lots of them around Hampstead Heath and Highgate Woods too. Their proper name is ring-necked parakeets.  I'm told there are various urban myths about how they got into London in the first place - e.g. escaped from Shepperton Studios during the filming of "The African Queen" in the 1950s,  escaped from London Zoo during the great storm of 1987, or were set free by Jimi Hendrix (in a purple haze?).

[ceres]

My apple tree:

[attachment=1]

[Toadspawn]

I feed the birds all the year round.
At the moment regular visitors to the feeders and the garden are
Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Chaffinches, House Sparrows, Robins, Greenfinches, Siskins, Goldfinches, Magpies, Jackdaws, Collared Doves, Wood Pigeons, Blackbirds, Starlings occasional Wren and Great Spotted Woodpecker, but others will come as natural food supplies reduce. There were on average 25 different species on any one day last winter.

[thifasmom]

i just looked outside and was wondering how come the collard doves had visited already, considering there had not been enough visits to the feeders to warrent lots of spilt seed, then noticed a big white patch on the lawn with a big grey eater next to it. yep you guessed Mr squirrel broke my feeder  >:( causing all the seeds to fall to the ground and of course the collard doves in the area decided to not miss out on the action, not that i blame them. i have got some oldish seed that i was going to get rid of, but i think tomorrow i will knock together a feeder just for the squirrel fill it with the old feed seeds to encourage him to stay away from my feeders this year.

[debster]

oh ceres i am so jealous i would love to see the ring necks in my garden. at the moment i can see an african grey parrot sat on my knee lol  ;D

[ceres]

oh ceres i am so jealous i would love to see the ring necks in my garden. at the moment i can see an african grey parrot sat on my knee lol  ;D

Honest, you don't want them in your garden!  They're noisy, aggressive and voracious feeders.  Until this year they always stayed on the other side of our site but this year they appeared over my side when the horse chestnuts formed on the trees at the back of my plot.  They stripped the trees of chestnuts and have now started on the apple trees.  They seem to have adapted well to UK living acquiring a taste for horse chestnuts.  They flock in such huge numbers I'm sure they're out-competing native species in our area.

[Flighty]

I donned my cap and wellies to venture out in the pouring rain to the horticultural society's hut to get bird food, then on to the plot to replenish the feeders. As I went through the gate onto the site I could see a handful of magpies squabbling on and around them!
That was all I saw as I didn't stay long, not surprisingly. There are parakeets here as well, which seem to roosting in the trees alongside the site. I hear them but rarely see them.

[Hyacinth]

Mr squirrel broke my feeder  >:( causing all the seeds to fall to the ground and of course the collard doves in the area decided to not miss out on the action, not that i blame them. i have got some oldish seed that i was going to get rid of, but i think tomorrow i will knock together a feeder just for the squirrel fill it with the old feed seeds to encourage him to stay away from my feeders this year.

If only...if bloomin only. >:( Hope it works for you - it never has for me :'(

[Gardengirl]

We have a variety of birds visiting our feeders. The usual robins, chaffinches, loads of greenfinch, blue tits, great tits, the occasion goldfinches (not seen so many of those recently), blackbirds, magpie.  The collard doves have forgotten they are supposed to be ground feeders and insist on balancing on my feeders, they are getting quite good at it.  Also we have a pair of wood pigeons, one of which thought he would try the unconventional way of feeding :D

[Looby Loo]

I was on my plot the other evening just before dusk and watched a bat for about 10 minutes.  It came within a couple of feet of me and swooped over the dog a few times.  Lovely to watch.

[thifasmom]

with the night rolling in earlier today :'( we were treated to the site of a coal tit on the feeders a couple hours before dusk. we've had them around before but never to stay more than a day or two. he was quite brave venturing to the ground to feed on the spilt seed as well. hopefully he'll stick around. a pair of magpies also visited but thats no surprise as there are quite a few in the area.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I spotted a nice female sparrowhawk flying over the other day. We've got resident kestrels, but sparrowhawks have never stopped long, which is a pity. It's an ideal habitat for them with all the trees and hedges, so I live in hope.

Last week I sneaked up to the pond over the fence and got within ten yards of a heron.

[hellohelenhere]

Pretty as the parakeets are, I hope they're not too numerous round West Reading! I wouldn't fancy the chances of any crop they took a liking to. They're very agile, tough birds and they go round in gangs. Could strip a sweetcorn patch in ten minutes, I'm sure.
There does seem to be evidence that they are out-competing native birds, and it's not surprising, when you see them in action. Bands of thugs, really! Not their fault of course, one can hardly blame them for doing what comes naturally, but not good news, either...

[GrannieAnnie]

Pretty as the parakeets are, I hope they're not too numerous round West Reading! I wouldn't fancy the chances of any crop they took a liking to. They're very agile, tough birds and they go round in gangs. Could strip a sweetcorn patch in ten minutes, I'm sure.
There does seem to be evidence that they are out-competing native birds, and it's not surprising, when you see them in action. Bands of thugs, really! Not their fault of course, one can hardly blame them for doing what comes naturally, but not good news, either...

I've always thought parakeets were always a tropical bird. Will these survive your winterfreeze?  Whenever we hear "parakeet" our family remembers our son who had one as a boy and thought he'd let it fly around his bedroom- forgetting he'd left the window open a crack- and out it went into the winter skies.