Back garden birds

SEORG

I’ve been doing the birdwatch Ireland garden bird survey with the kids this year. it’s become quite addictive 😁

So far we have had the following

• Goldfinch
• Chaffinch
• Greenfinch
• Linnet
• Siskin
• Blue tit
• Great tit
• Robins
• Collared Doves
• Jackdaws
• House Sparrows

I’m going to post some photos we have captured

SEORG

We have been feeding with peanuts, sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, mealworm suet pellets & a generic wild bird seed mix.

The kids made up their own feeder mix using lard & seeds last night which seems to be going down a treat.

SEORG

A not so Collared Dove.

Goodigal

The poor dove!!!

Wanderer78

id love to know how to identify them, i really should be able to at this stage.....

SEORG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121579910#Comment_121579910

We first saw him about 4 weeks ago. Seems to be doing ok besides the obvious.

i’m not sure how it will cope with the really cold nights.

appledrop

Looking at that list it would be common enough to have coal tits aswell, so watch out for those.

You might even get lucky and spot a sparrowhawk soon, hopefully not with the prey in its tallows!

appledrop

Also watch out for wrens and dunnocks.

The wrens won't use the feeder but the frosty weather at moment is perfect time to spot them.

They are tiny and need plenty of food after a cold night look out your window in early morning, usually hopping low on ground or might see them hoping from branches to collect insects, the little cocked tale gives them away.

Dunnock similarly looking to sparrows but again won't use feeders but sometimes spotted near them but will usually again be on ground near bushes.

SEORG

The Birdwatch Ireland site is quite good.

The ones we had trouble with were male Linnets & Redpolls, I still find it difficult but we don’t see too many of them in the garden.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121579958#Comment_121579958

SEORG

My wife saw a sparrow hawk in the garden once last September but I’ve never seen one myself.

We have an apple tree in the garden so we get black birds & thrushes also.

OpenYourEyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121581318#Comment_121581318

They're one that a lot of people have trouble with. Sidewise, Redpolls are small - same size as Siskin and smaller than Goldfinches. Linnets are bigger - the size of a Goldfinch or slightly bigger!

OpenYourEyes

Nice to get an insight into an individual garden like this, and even better to hear the kids are enjoying it too!

horse7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578803#Comment_121578803

I had to stop feeding them because of rats.

Wolftown

The Merlin Bird ID app is great for identifying the ones you're not sure on, would recommend it!

SEORG

These are the ones identified as Linnets. All are take through the kitchen window so not the clearest.

SEORG

I think the last three are a Redpoll

OpenYourEyes

Top two are Linnet but bottom three are Redpoll!

SEORG

Here are some of the Robins.

The first photo shows the two of them together.

SEORG

We had a new visitor today. Our first Blackcap!!

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A few random photos.

SEORG

The Redpoll & Blackcap have become repeat visitors in the recent days.

SEORG

Ok, my wife might be thinking about signing me into a mental asylum. I was standing at the kitchen window just shouted “BULLFINCH”.

This addiction might be getting out of hand 😂

This is only the second time I’ve ever seen one in the garden. The goldfinches chased it off!!

Seth Brundle

I've found over the last few years having let the lawn grow freely, a male and female bullfinch will come every day to feed on the seeds from dandelions and other "weeds".

Last May, I was sitting in the garden and they landed about two metres from me in a section of an overgrown vegetable patch. They were quite happy for me to take pictures and whilst my zoom wasn't up to much, I did spend most of the 10 or so minutes just enjoying their presence...

SEORG

Yes, first time there was one in the garden it was feeding on dandelion seeds.

SEORG

The blackbird having some apple for breakfast

Elmer Blooker

Unfortunately I’ve had to stop feeding the birds which I really used to enjoy, I don’t see the point of leaving out feeders if it only attracts vermin starlings who will empty them in seconds.

Shame.

SEORG

The female posing for a snap

SEORG

News has spread about the food in the Redpoll community 😂

SEORG

We get a few starling but definitely less than we used to. The collared doves were a pain also. One day during Christmas I counted 10 collared doves in the garden at one time & 16 starlings on another occasion.

Now we mainly use feeders that only the smaller birds can feed from. The bigger birds find it harder to hold on when trying to grab the food & we put less food on the ground. We still get some but I don’t mind that.

The neighbours cat is starting to take an interest now so we need to be careful with putting the trays too close to where it can get cover before pouncing.

SEORG

A linnet having breakfast in the sunshine.

SEORG

One of the redpolls has made itself at home in the coconut feeder.

magicbastarder

technically this might not belong here - but we occasionally see bullfinches, but only in our front garden.

maybe it's a particular plant in our garden, or our neighbour's garden, but i think it's been several years since we saw one in the back garden.

SEORG

A busy morning in the back garden with plenty of birds around.

The black cap has become a bit of a bully. It perches on a branch of the apple tree and chases the blue tits & great tits if they attempt to land on it. There are plenty of feeders in different part of the gardens so they won’t go hungry.

We made some more hanging feeders last night using a mixture of melted suet blocks and wild bird seed. We used a cut milk carton to let it set. I’m not too sure about the berry mix in the suet blocks but we’ll see how it goes.

sligeach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121581223#Comment_121581223

The North wind doth blow,

And we shall have snow,

And what will poor robin collared dove do then, poor thing?

He'll sit in a barn,

And keep himself warm,

And hide his bald head under his wing, poor thing.

sligeach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121610075#Comment_121610075

Starlings are a scourge in my opinion. Noisy, squabbling flying rats I call them. They empty bird feeders, even the ones that are designed to keep squirrels and larger birds at bay.

Goodigal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623294#Comment_121623294

Agree. But they are magnificent in a murmuration so I grant them that!!

Alun

It's strange, we used to get loads of redpolls in the winter, but haven't seen one in ages. The peak was in the heavy snow we had in March 2018 when we were overwhelmed with them, redwings and the odd fieldfare too.

We're not getting many birds on the feeders at all at the moment as we have the annual visit of a pair of black caps that very aggressively chase off any other birds. Even the usually boisterous goldfinches seem unable to fight them off.

SEORG

The black cap in our garden spends so much time chasing the other birds I’m actually surprised it eats any food itself, and it keeps ruining my attempts at a decent photograph.

One of the local cats has been prowling around too. But the birds have safety in numbers.

Mech1

One of the Starlings in my area is no more, RIP.

Delighted to be able to see this guy visit today.

Mech1

I have more grey squirrel than you can shake a walnut tree at and plenty of garden song birds of all types, happy enough to sacrifice a starling.

SEORG

Great photo, I would love to see a sparrowhawk in the garden.

SEORG

Had a couple of siskins in the garden over the last few days.

The black cap seems to have calmed down a bit too.

Still haven’t seen a coal tit in the garden.

SEORG

Got a text from my better half yesterday evening while I was out.

SEORG

The bald collared dove is still around

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A few catch up photos

SEORG

The goldfinches are back in the garden, they may have started a gang war with the house sparrows.