Garden Birds chat 2011

Antiquo

Sometimes you wonder if spring is ever going to arrive. Took a couple of pics last week when most of these guys seemed to appreciate the warmer weather.

Goldfinch sunbathing



Goldfinches and Linnet sharing peanuts



Jackdaw sent out shopping for nest materials




Those Starlings have nicked the soap again!



Room for a little one?

trebor28

had too visitor here today.
one was a Treecreeper who was creeping along the wall of the house, i went to grab my camera to get a shot of him but he saw me and flew away.

the second was a pheasant out in a paddock where an english setters resides pretty much 24/7.
up he flew when he saw me, the setter saw him and was shocked, didnt know he was there at all!

ppink

Is there any possibility that a bird can hurt himself so he can temporarily not fly but with rest he could recover?

I know its a funny question;) but I have a goldfinch that initially I thought was stunned so I put him in the dark, quiet place and after 20mins went to release but he cannot fly. the left wing is very slightly out of sync with the right but does not look broken....well to my untrained eye!
he jumped out of the box but basically hopped around not able to get off the ground.
now I put him back in a box with water and nyger seeds....which he is gobbeling:). I am hoping he will fly later....or am I being overly optimistic:(

any help appreciated:)

Feargal as Luimneach

ppink wrote: »

Is there any possibility that a bird can hurt himself so he can temporarily not fly but with rest he could recover?

I know its a funny question;) but I have a goldfinch that initially I thought was stunned so I put him in the dark, quiet place and after 20mins went to release but he cannot fly. the left wing is very slightly out of sync with the right but does not look broken....well to my untrained eye!
he jumped out of the box but basically hopped around not able to get off the ground. I put him back in a box with water and nyger seeds....which he is gobbeling:). I am hoping he will fly later....or am I being overly optimistic:(

any help appreciated:)

He might have damaged his wing. Possibly a fracture or dislocation. Take him to a vet (most vets don't charge to examine wild animals). If not too serious a splint can sometimes work. If non-repairable it might be better to euthanise. Don't release him if he can't fly, he will either starve or get killed quickly by a predator

Mothman

A few years back I kept a Greenfinch that had damaged a wing in a makeshift cage. Happily fed on peanuts and he flew off after about 4 weeks.

If your Goldfinch is happily taking food, then to me its unlikely to be in distress and the wing maybe something that a few weeks will sort.

ppink

well we are back from the vet. no break just bruised badly, so he said to rest him up and he should get better by himself.
Got him a bigger box so he can stretch his wings. he was starving when we got back and dived into his nyger seeds:)
so hopefully he will be fine in a few days or so. vet said he is young too.

thanks for the help:)

martinn123

3 cock phesants, as the snow was melting, sorry about the poor light, and the krap camera

Feargal as Luimneach

A male sparrowhawk is now semi-resident in my garden . I have seen him every day for the last 2 weeks He's attracted to the birds at the feeders in my garden. He flew right past my head this morning when I was filling the feeders before work. The birds panic and don't return to the garden for a while. He's like a MIG fighter zooming through the garden. He gave the cat a huge fright( he ran inside under the bed). I haven't seen him make a kill yet though.

Cardynal

Have just had a volley of Long-tailed tits scramble through the trees in the garden , must have been about 20 in total , only stayed for a couple of minutes and gone.

homerhop

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

A male sparrowhawk is now semi-resident in my garden . I have seen him every day for the last 2 weeks He's attracted to the birds at the feeders in my garden. He flew right past my head this morning when I was filling the feeders before work. The birds panic and don't return to the garden for a while. He's like a MIG fighter zooming through the garden. He gave the cat a huge fright( he ran inside under the bed). I haven't seen him make a kill yet though.

Impressive bird when they make a strike. I bought a camera 2 years ago and threw out some crumbs for a robbin so I could test it out.I was watching a pigeon out of the corner of my eye in a tree, more focused on getting a pic of the robin when a sparrowhawk came out of nowhere and nabbed the pigeon.
Christmas Eve I went for a walk through the wood and brought the camera to get photos of the pheasants we had released feeding. A crow flew up out of a strem and got no more than 40ft before being hit like a train by a sparrowhawk. I was too busy with my jaw dropping looking at it to remember to take a pic. Never seen them take a crow before.

littlebug

Nothing terribly interesting in my garden but I'm happy to see that my blackbirds continue to visit despite the shrubbery butchery . There are worms galore to keep them happy.

whyulittle

We have sleet falling here. Just spotted the Blackcap for the first time in ages.

Half-cocked

Female Sparrowhawk dropped in earlier, picture taken through a dirty window below:



Unfortunately she made a snack of our resident female blackcap:(

Flo with a view

Half-cocked wrote: »

Female Sparrowhawk dropped in earlier, picture taken through a dirty window below:



Unfortunately she made a snack of our resident female blackcap:(

Oh dear, Nature can seem so cruel at times. But you have got to be a bit philosophical: the sparrowhawk has to eat to live too!

I know how it feels, though. I had a huge number of beautiful goldfish in my garden pool until the snow and ice came (the first time) in January last year. First of all, the pond froze over and with the thaw I found over of the twenty biggest fish floating around dead.

Then the plants that had been frozen all started to rot, so we had to fish them out, leaving very little cover for the remaining fish.

Next, along came Mr Heron (or it may have been Mrs, how do you tell?) and within a few weeks we were left with only a few little tiny fish.

Even "Lips", the one that had become really tame, had gone for dinner with our voracious visitor.

At first I felt sad, and even angry. Then I thought of the poor heron for whom the hunt for food had become so difficult. I don't know how he survived during the really harsh weather when every pond was frozen solid.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

I would love to add pictures I have taken showing the heron, and also "Lips" the goldfish, but I'll have to get help from the family.

Half-cocked

Flo with a view wrote: »

Oh dear, Nature can seem so cruel at times. But you have got to be a bit philosophical: the sparrowhawk has to eat to live too!

I know how it feels, though. I had a huge number of beautiful goldfish in my garden pool until the snow and ice came (the first time) in January last year. First of all, the pond froze over and with the thaw I found over of the twenty biggest fish floating around dead.

Then the plants that had been frozen all started to rot, so we had to fish them out, leaving very little cover for the remaining fish.

Next, along came Mr Heron (or it may have been Mrs, how do you tell?) and within a few weeks we were left with only a few little tiny fish.

Even "Lips", the one that had become really tame, had gone for dinner with our voracious visitor.

At first I felt sad, and even angry. Then I thought of the poor heron for whom the hunt for food had become so difficult. I don't know how he survived during the really harsh weather when every pond was frozen solid.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

I would love to add pictures I have taken showing the heron, and also "Lips" the goldfish, but I'll have to get help from the family.

Put some strawberry netting over the pond if you want to keep the herons out.

I know the sparrowhawk has to eat, but the odds were well in favour of the black cap. There were 30+ house sparrows, 6 linnets and 8 chaffinches in the garden at the time;)

Half-cocked

I seem to remember some one commenting a while back on this thread that their female blackcap kept chasing the male away all the time. In the couple of hours since the sparrowhawk killed our female, the male has become very visible, visiting the feeders frequently. We would only see him very briefly when the female was around. Are male blackcaps submissive to females I wonder?

sables2

WOW, beautiful picture...even through a dirty window :eek::eek:. Poor 'cappy'

Flo with a view

Here are the pictures of Mr (or is it Mrs?) Heron and the fish called Lips who unfortunately went for dinner......



Heron 008 by amieandkelly, on Flickr




Fish 004 by amieandkelly, on Flickr

Lips was so tame that when we were trying to catch some fish to reduce the population in the pond he/she kept jumping into the net!

Mothman

Saw my first House Sparrows in garden for a year or 2 yesterday. 3 males and a female. A few minutes later a Sparrowhawk fkew through

Today a pair of Long-tailed Tits were gathering nesting material

whyulittle

In my local B&Q today, and all the bird feed, feeders etc had been cleared out.

However, they have a Gardman large peanut feeder and large seed feeder for just a fiver. Thought they might have the rest on sale, but maybe I missed it.

Might be worth checking out your local store to see if you can get stuff cheap for next winter!

whyulittle

Collared Dove?

Think that leaves me with just Wren missing off the Top-20 list now.

ppink

ppink wrote: »

well we are back from the vet. no break just bruised badly, so he said to rest him up and he should get better by himself.
Got him a bigger box so he can stretch his wings. he was starving when we got back and dived into his nyger seeds:)
so hopefully he will be fine in a few days or so. vet said he is young too.

thanks for the help:)

Well the time went so fast and "Enda" returned to the wild this morning. He was delighted to get out and hear all his buddies outside and managed to get himself up into the beech hedge fairly well. I had given him a good feed of nygers before he left just incase!

Hopefully we will see him back at the feeders soon. I have no pics of him as I did not want to be stressing him and harassing him more than necessary.
Thanks for the help:)

ppink

Loads happening in the garden today.

Sparrowhawk sitting on shed roof suddenly dived into the ivy and out popped a blackbird and flew down the garden with sparrowhawk in hot persuit. Hawk got him and had him on the ground when all of a shot a grey crow landed hunted away the hawk and killed the blackbird outright. then he stood to one side and a second grey crow came and took the blackbird and flew off with it:eek:

2 kestrals sitting on an elec pole surveying the fields too.


do kestrals and sparrowhawks share habitat or maybe they are just overlapping slightly? they are both here daily now.

trebor28

what an exciting garden!

dunno if id have let the hooded crow take the blackbird off the sparrowhawk though!

whyulittle

I presume blackbirds would be building nests around this time too?

Female flew down to within a few feet of me this evening, and stuffed her beak full of wet mulch/earth and then flew up into one of the trees. Couldn't see if she stayed there or flew on.

Have something further up the garden too. Looked like a wren/juvenile robin with the tail in particular, but once it got up into the tree it moved like a treecreeper.

Further investigation needed!

whyulittle

Had a pair of Bullfinch in this morning, munching on apple buds! Just the one photoed.....

trebor28

damn you WUL and your superior camera!:mad::mad:

on a more serious note, where about in the country are you that your apple tree is that far along?

my apple and plum trees are nowhere near that kinda blooming. (probably from the bullfinches eating the buds every couple of days)

whyulittle

Me and my camera are in Athlone. Really good weather here for most of the past few weeks.

Second time to see the Bullfinches, first time eating the buds. Will see if they stick around for a while.

Bsal

I noticed some House Sparrows collecting feathers in the garden today for their nests, so I decided to put some small pieces of cotton wool around the garden and within minutes they were in taking it away

Half-cocked

Its amazing how quickly birds latch onto a new supply of nesting material. I remember a feral pigeon flying into our french windows and some swallows swooping in to grab the loose feathers before they floated to the ground (the feral survived the ordeal).