Author Topic: Bird food (Read 5558 times)

border-rider · « **Reply #25 on:** 13 January, 2010, 01:22:37 pm »

Another busy day on the feeders

Apologies for the crap picture - taken though the kitchen window to avoid frightening them off.

Moloko · « **Reply #26 on:** 13 January, 2010, 01:57:28 pm »

Goldfinches.

Lucky you.

border-rider · « **Reply #27 on:** 13 January, 2010, 02:29:16 pm »

We have them all year here. We have a Nijer seed feeder that they like.

What we're missing at the moment are the siskins.

rafletcher · « **Reply #28 on:** 13 January, 2010, 02:35:57 pm »

Very unusually we've had Song Thrushes (2 males, still squabbling) in our (long, thin, hedged) garden. Usually they prefer the wide open lawn space of our neighbour, but were after the privet thingy berries.

We also get pheasant, collared dove, wood pigeon, blackbird, sparrows, blue- coal- and great-tit (long-tailed ones seem to go elsewhere in the winter), goldfich, bullfich, chaffinch, stralings, robins, magpies, probably a few others, ond over-flying herons and hovering red kites.

jogler · « **Reply #29 on:** 14 January, 2010, 10:31:42 pm »

Being colour blind & not ornithology-savvy(is that grammatically correct?) I found it interesting that Mrs. Jogler was chuffed up because we had two Redwings in the garden this morning.
I couldn't see the red bits

& wouldn't appreciate the rarity of the sight without explaination from Mrs. J..

Marj · « **Reply #30 on:** 14 January, 2010, 11:01:31 pm »

We have goldfinch, bullfinch and pied wagtails. The chaffinch and blue tits are coming up to the patio door, which they don't normally do, must be out of hunger. We have been defrosting the water two and three times a day for them. Son-in-law mixes the bird seed for us which also contains meal worms.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #31 on:** 18 January, 2010, 08:51:27 pm »

Mrs Blackbird is getting more bolshy. This morning I went into the shed, got my bike out, locked up the shed and made to leave. Then I realised she was sitting in the tree by the feeders, tutting and muttering as if to say indignantly, why didn't you bring me any food when you came out? So I re-opened the shed and got her some.

Told Pingu when I got home and he said she did exactly the same with him when he went to work later.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #32 on:** 18 January, 2010, 08:53:36 pm »

Has anybody tried using those adjustable mesh boxes which are supposed to be able to let you feed the ground feeding smaller birds, while letting you keep out the blasted pigeons and seagulls?

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #33 on:** 24 January, 2010, 09:06:15 pm »

I've been wondering about hanging a feeder from the brackets keeping my window boxes on the wall, but I'm two floors up. This might sound like a really stupid question, but would that be too high for small birds? How high do little birds fly?

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #34 on:** 24 January, 2010, 09:12:19 pm »

If you build it, they will come.
Yeah, don't worry. It might take them a couple of weeks to find it, but once they do....

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #35 on:** 24 January, 2010, 09:17:59 pm »

Maybe I could hang a nesting box as well, but that would probably be way too high for baby birds to learn to fly from. I wouldn't want to be responsible for them plummeting to their squishy deaths. I think I'll get some feeders though.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #36 on:** 24 January, 2010, 09:27:14 pm »

Pingu reckons that nestboxes shouldn't be sited next to feeders anyway.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #37 on:** 24 January, 2010, 10:59:45 pm »

I'm getting small fat balls.

border-rider · « **Reply #38 on:** 24 January, 2010, 11:03:29 pm »

Fat balls are very popular

I deployed 3 this morning, and they're almost gone now

pcolbeck · « **Reply #39 on:** 25 January, 2010, 09:01:27 am »

We have two rather pretty collared doves that visit our bird table every day. They sit on its roof like statues for ten minutes before venturing in and feeding. They like the mixture of seeds and poultry mix I put out on it.

jogler · « **Reply #40 on:** 25 January, 2010, 09:57:20 am »

Our birds are having to share/compete with a squirrel who passes thru' our garden every morning of late.

border-rider · « **Reply #41 on:** 26 January, 2010, 05:51:03 pm »

I was reading in the paper today that the bird food suppliers have been doing their best trade ever recently - to an extent that it made the newspapers....

Good.

Hello, I am Bruce · « **Reply #42 on:** 26 January, 2010, 09:48:13 pm »

The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch is this weekend. Spend an hour counting the birds you see and send in the data.

Julian · « **Reply #43 on:** 26 January, 2010, 09:59:56 pm »

Apparently Costco are currently selling monster bags of bird seed for four quid.

Regulator · « **Reply #44 on:** 27 January, 2010, 01:07:07 pm »

We have loads of food out...

...but no birds. I've had to throw some insect/suet pellets and a fat ball away as they were beginning to go mouldy.

Quote from: Kirst on 24 January, 2010, 10:59:45 pm

I'm getting small fat balls.

I'd see a doctor if I were you...

border-rider · « **Reply #45 on:** 27 January, 2010, 01:50:19 pm »

Another shipment from the RSPB just arrived - about £70's worth

That isn't the first this year, though the previous one was less money. it's almost a full time job keeping all the feeders topped up at the mo - the peanut feeder in the back garden needs filling twice a day (and it's not small) and the rest at least once a day.

I have just seen a jay though - and whilst they're not rare it's only the second one I've seen in our garden.

Bledlow · « **Reply #46 on:** 27 January, 2010, 03:07:43 pm »

Quote from: Hello, I am Bruce on 26 January, 2010, 09:48:13 pm

The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch is this weekend. Spend an hour counting the birds you see and send in the data.

Registered . . .

Pingu · « **Reply #47 on:** 27 January, 2010, 03:57:38 pm »

Me too, also

Pingu · « **Reply #48 on:** 30 January, 2010, 12:06:45 pm »

The scores on the doors:

Blackbird	4
Blue tit	2
Carrion crow	2
Chaffinch	4
Dunnock	2
Feral pigeon	7
Goldfinch	4
Greenfinch	1
Jackdaw	2
Magpie	1
Robin	2
Woodpigeon	2
Fieldfare	4
Grey Squirrels	2

The bird activity seemed rather low & unusually, no coal tits, great tits or sparrows

Hello, I am Bruce · « **Reply #49 on:** 30 January, 2010, 06:00:28 pm »

Poor show from the birds on survey morning.

House Sparrow 2
Wood Pigeon 2
Blackbird 2 (M+F)
Robin 1
Starling 1

I think I started too early, it's a north facing garden and the birds tend to wait until it has warmed up. Am very jealous of Pingu's results -- perhaps I should move back to Aberdeen.

No coal, blue or great tits, dunnocks, corvids or gulls.

Author Topic: Bird food (Read 5558 times)

border-rider

border-rider

border-rider

border-rider

border-rider