BWI Garden Bird Survey 19/20

Bsal

Nice video by Brian. Great idea adding the section on sick birds this year. Survey starts 2nd of December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0VJy4j_ejQ

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A good addition. The BTO weekly garden bird survey includes a section on sick birds too.

OpenYourEyes

This article in the Irish Times from last weekend gives a good overview of the survey:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/the-big-bird-census-it-s-that-time-of-year-to-keep-an-eye-on-the-garden-1.4088365?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


And I've added some new sections to the BirdWatch Ireland website that will hopefully answer a lot of people's questions about the survey and garden birds in general:

Irish Garden Bird Survey homepage (can download survey form at the bottom)

FAQ about taking part in the survey

FAQ about feeding garden birds

FAQ about sick birds/finches, and particularly trichomoniasis

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

There is a certificate error warning if you select to enter counts, with windows advising not to proceed.

OpenYourEyes

Issac Millions Caribou wrote: »

There is a certificate error warning if you select to enter counts, with windows advising not to proceed.

Thats in the process of being sorted out - there's nothing actually wrong or unsafe, but the relevant security certificate just hasn't been updated. Should happen this week though!

fryup

is there any species in particular that are showing signs of sickness?

i know the greenfinch had a virus recently, is that still the case?

what are the physical signs?

OpenYourEyes

fryup wrote: »

is there any species in particular that are showing signs of sickness?

i know the greenfinch had a virus recently, is that still the case?

what are the physical signs?

See link here for physical signs etc: https://birdwatchireland.ie/our-work/surveys-research/research-surveys/irish-garden-bird-survey/trichomoniasis-sick-finches/

I'd expect that Greenfinch will be the most common species recorded sick, with Chaffinch and Goldfinch too, but it's not something that has been looked into in Ireland at this scale before so don't want to prejudge it - will be interesting to see what the results throw up!

fiacha

Back windows washed . Looking forward to this again.

I had a Blackcap in the garden for the first time this week. Hopefully he'll stick around for a while.
Still a lot of berries on the tress so the feeders have been fairly quiet over the last few weeks. My resident horde of House Sparrows have been MIA also. I suspect one of the neighbors has a better feed on offer.

pm9999

We've just had an outbreak of trichomoniasis in our garden and it was distressing to watch. Although we are pretty good with hygiene, it took hold quite quickly and we lost several finches. Greenfinches seemed most susceptible proportional to overall numbers, then chaffinch, with just one goldfinch and one siskin succumbing. Only finches seemed to be affected. Birds looked exactly like the picture in the linked article. The most noticeable symptom to me was that they didn't move away when approached until you were almost on them. All feeders and baths now down, sterilised again and put away for a month to let the disease pass through and have the finch population disperse further afield to feed. I'm also going to sterilise all the patios, decking etc with Milton fluid. From our experience, you definitely need to be on it quickly at the first sign. I'll know better if it happens again.

Bsal

Over the years I've noticed House Sparrows and Collared Doves are also quite susceptible to trichomoniasis. Our current weather pattern wet and mild is also favourable conditions for the disease.

OpenYourEyes

Re: Trichomoniasis, it seems that Greenfinches are the species whose population is definitely impacted by the infection, but it will be interesting to see what other species are recorded as sick during the survey whose numbers aren't impacted as much at population level.

I can't stress enough how important it is for people to take part in the survey this year so that we can gather this sort of info on species affected, time of the winter, whether it's more prevalent in urban/rural or different counties etc. It needs to be gathered in a structured way, so we need people taking part and letting us know if they did or didn't have sick birds so that we can compare and contrast appropriately.

gzoladz

Silly question but this generated a bit of a debate with some friends...do flyovers count?

OpenYourEyes

gzoladz wrote: »

Silly question but this generated a bit of a debate with some friends...do flyovers count?

The term we use is "birds using your garden" - so a Sparrowhawk flyover might count but a Lapwing flyover wouldn't, for example.

Bsal

14 species so far this week, garden was very busy today.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

20 species here and a few regulars, like Goldfinch, missing.

fryup

house sparrows ruling the roost, so far

Bsal

Male Blackcap back for the second year in a row eating the olives from the olive tree, a male Blackbird has also joined him eating olives.

fryup

haven't seen one greenfinch this winter

Bsal

I had a Bullfinch visit the garden today, first time seeing one the garden for me.

bkrangle

I had 3 blackcaps (2M, 1F) simultaneously visiting the feeders in my tiny garden over the weekend........had never seen them congregate like that before.

A male sparrowhawk flew right past my head and landed on a wall 2 metres away from me on the same day when I was doing a spot of gardening, he stared right at me and didn't seem in any way perturbed!

Bsal

27 different species for me this year, standout visitors for me this time was a Bullfinch, male and female Blackcap and a Redpoll. Didn't see any Greenfinch this year. Also 1 sick Goldfinch.