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Small birds

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  • 29-09-2020 4:47pm
    #1
    WastedYouth
    Registered Users Posts: 164 ✭✭


    All I see these days are crows and I have only heard seagulls. There were two birds that landed in the front garden last week. They were huge and I don’t think they were seagulls. Beaks a lot different.

    Anyway where are the small birds? Like finches and such?

    Is it the wrong time of year for them?


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    #2
    upupup
    Registered Users Posts: 605 ✭✭✭upupup


    WastedYouth wrote: »
    All I see these days are crows and I have only heard seagulls. There were two birds that landed in the front garden last week. They were huge and I don’t think they were seagulls. Beaks a lot different.

    Anyway where are the small birds? Like finches and such?

    Is it the wrong time of year for them?

    They're in my back garden eating peanuts:)


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    #3
    kylith
    Registered Users Posts: 17,736 ✭✭✭✭kylith


    upupup wrote: »
    They're in my back garden eating peanuts:)
    Mine too, queueing up for the feeders.


    OP, it depends on what kind of habitat you have around you. Small birds like to have cover nearby. Food availability is obviously a factor too; put out a seed feeder or some fat balls and you'll probably attract quite a few, starlings, sparrows, and tits at least.


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    #4
    Storm 10
    Registered Users Posts: 5,882 ✭✭✭Storm 10


    My back garden as well must have over 30 Goldfinches in every morning and late evening ,couple of Blue Tits Sparrows and Starlings one Robin, and yes my Magpie is still coming in and never bothers them, costing me a fortune in bird seed but well worth it


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    #5
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    At this time of year the number and diversity of garden birds is always very low because the countryside is currently full of insects, ripening berries, seeds, nuts etc - so there's loads of options available to them. It's usually late November by the time numbers in gardens start to increase properly and birds are there on a daily basis - (just in time for the BirdWatch Ireland Garden Bird Survey!)


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    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    The trees are shedding their leaves OP. Last month of autumn.

    There have been blue tits and Robins in our garden with incidences of a thrush.

    Small birds like lots of cover and foliage to sit in.


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    #7
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,425 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Loads of small birds in our garden ... blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, goldfinches, chaffinches, robins, blackbirds and sparrows along with some larger ones such as magpies, collared doves, wood-pigeons and feral pigeons, along with a recently arrived grey squirrel.

    As someone said, small birds like cover. Our feeding station is at the back of our garden near some trees and a back wall covered in ivy, and the birds come and go the feeders from this. They're very flighty and the slightest noise will send them flying off back to safety, so you can look out one minute and the feeders will be covered with birds, and the next minute they'll be completely empty.


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    #8
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    I rarely see small birds as they are too canny and know there are cats, but there is one that greets me from safe high in a bush when I go out . I am useless re bird song but I always thank him .


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    #9
    WastedYouth
    Registered Users Posts: 164 ✭✭WastedYouth


    Sorry for not responding.

    The thread list in my profile doesn’t show any responses to my question.

    I’m not a bird watcher and would struggle to name any of the small ones but I do notice them but don’t remember what tunes of the year they appears. Just one day I started to wonder when they show up.

    We have a bird feeder and so does my mother. A couple of days after I posted I saw a little on my mother’s bird feeder but he didn’t stay long. She said it was the only one she had seem - nothing since then.


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    The changing weather these days doesn't help. The little birds will be on the feeder for 5 seconds tops, then gone.
    Do you listen for birdsong on the vicinity?


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    #11
    WastedYouth
    Registered Users Posts: 164 ✭✭WastedYouth


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    The changing weather these days doesn't help. The little birds will be on the feeder for 5 seconds tops, then gone.
    Do you listen for birdsong on the vicinity?

    I’ve only heard crows and seagulls and even they are not making much noise.

    That one little bird I did see didn’t hang about for long just like you say. I guess it is possible that there could be more when we are not looking but I don’t think the amount of food in the feeders have changed.

    I will put a mark on them later and see if the level is going down.


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    #12
    Juliet799
    Registered Users Posts: 28 ✭Juliet799


    In my yard, there are still a lot of small birds in my feeder. you can put favorite food of finches such as nyjer or finch's feeder to attract them.


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