(no subject)

[endlessrarities]

It's results time.

Here's the tally for the Big Garden Birdwatch 2011:-

Blackbird -  8    (This is a record, and I blame it all on the Fruity Nibbles.  I have a raised a generation of handout-dependent Fruity Nibbles addicts who just won't grow up and find themselves a job.)
Robin -  2
Magpie - 1
Chaffinch  - 8
Greenfinch - 3
Goldfinch - 4
Blue Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1
House Sparrow - 1
Collared Dove - 1
Jackdaw - 3
Feral pigeon - 3

For once, the stats reflect the genuine bird population in my garden.  Some trends are worth noting.  A big decline in greenfinches, while the rest of the finch populations remain stable.  [NB: this may be a food issue.  The greenfinches preferred husk-free sunflower mix, while the nyger/HFS mix I use now tends to attract goldfinches, which are pretty, but damned antisocial and prone to throwing their weight around]. The siskins didn't visit , which may be an indication of the warmer temperatures today.  The blackbirds have increased exponentially, and the tits and smaller songbirds have declined.  Wrens have always been infrequent visitors to the garden, but we used to have five dunnocks in residence, and this year they've all gone.  Does this reflect a crash in the national dunnock population, or the fact that they've been elbowed out by the blackbirds?

Unfortunately, we ran out of a) apples and b) fat bars just in time for the weekend survey, so the thrush didn't bother turning up, and this may also be a reason why the tits have been so poorly represented.  I find that the number of species and the size of the population is closely linked with the range of food available and the weather conditions.

I also can't help wondering if last year's freak absence of birds over the weekend was linked with the appearance of the sparrowhawk.  When it hits the garden, the birds tend to vanish for a couple of days afterwards...
 
Is it just me that has a devil of a time counting finches?  Maybe I should subscribe to the tried and tested Japanese method for studying whales.  Shoot them all first, count them later.  Okay, so you've wiped out a species, but at least your data's correct.  AND you get to eat everything afterwards!!  {Yes, folks.  Don't worry.  I'm being facetious...)

Comments

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

I just finally got bird feeders set up, after the cold snap, of course. But I'm certainly enjoying watching the ones who are discovering it. Oddly, I was more knowledgeable about the local birds in Oklahoma so other than cardinals, wrens, blue jays and sparrows, I really don't know some of the visitors. I'm definitely going to have to remedy that lack of knowledge.

And is it horribly puerile of me to have giggled at, "the tits have been so poorly represented"? I guess I was channeling my inner pre-teen boy.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

You're terribly puerile. Go to the naughty corner. Right now!!

No cardinals and blue jays here. The pink with a bit of blue and some black and white jay (European jay?) is so rare as to be a once in a blue moon bird. I've never, ever, ever seen one in the garden, and nor am I likely to:-(

I like your American red-shouldered blackbirds. They're really snazzy birds. I had a complete double-take when I first saw one.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, red-winged blackbirds (which is what I call 'em) are lovely. I've seen them with gold as well but don't remember where or when.

The niftiest bird I ever had show up at my feeders was a painted bunting. I just stood there and stared for as long as he was there.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Painted_Bunting/id
I'd had a female visiting and couldn't figure out what it was due to her subtle coloring.

But yes, lots of cardinals and blue jays. They're abundant and cheeky. Down in Oklahoma there were times that I had more than a dozen cardinals at the feeders at one time. They weren't very good at sitting still for pic to be taken.

Standing from my corner, I can see both feeders so it's not a horrible punishment. *grin*

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. To add injury to insult, you've now given me a severe case of bunting envy. Our reed buntings, snow buntings and baby buntings (okay, I made the last one up) just can't measure up to your painted buntings, indigo buntings and lazulli buntings. Grrr, grrr, mutter, snarl...

And as for these smug folks who have hummingbird feeders... Oh, don't get me started... The closest I can get to a hummingbird is a hummingbird hawkmoth, and that's not even a bird!!!

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Oh, then I probably shouldn't mention the hummingbird feeders.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Sob. Whimper. Sniffle...

Now I really do feel so inadequate...

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

It's not you, truly. I just put out the feeders and they come; greedy, combative little creatures.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Are they migratory??

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yes. The legends there are amazing; there are still people who believe that they ride on the backs of geese as they migrate to Central America. It's fascinating but totally fallacious because they fly at much lower heights and stop more frequently. Hummingbirds are actually carnivores; the nectar is to fuel them for fly-catching.

I usually see them from mid-April until sometime in early October. They're just so much fun to watch.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! I always thought they were exclusively nectar-eaters. I've learned something tonight:-)

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

I got fascinated with them when I put up feeders in OK. I wish I had time to spend on learning more about birds and participating in bird watches. There's a computer program that I'm lusting after:
http://www.thayerbirding.com/

When I finally get a job, that will be one of my little self-indulgent splurges.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So many birds. I'm envious.

And you got a collared dove!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I spoil the little feathered blighters. And running an organic garden helps, though I note that our friend the thrush, though eager to scoff apples, doesn't deign to snaffle snails.

If I remember right, you only started feeding them last year, didn't you? Give it a couple of years, and vary the menu a bit, and the word should spread...

I was expecting the woodpigeon to visit, not the collared dove. The latter used to be a regular visitor, but it's been a bit shy through the last year. But there it was - large as life and twice as beautiful.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to go look for images of some of these--I wonder what a coal tit looks like, for example, and I'd like to see a greenfinch. Your goldfinches are much more colorful than American ones, I remember that! And English robins are so very sweet (to look at anyway--I remember the story about how they're less social than... I forget what other bird--maybe tits! Or maybe sparrows...)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

The greenfinches are a bit drab compared to the goldfinches, which are absolutely stunning. The siskins are rather nice, too. The tits are all lovely (oh dear, the smutty jokes are going to run, and run...) - you should check out the long-tailed tits, too.

Our robins are always at each other's throats. Quite literally...

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of different birds! I don't see many in our garden, mostly the European sparrows, gold finches and we have a pair of doves that have started hanging out. And the neighborhood ducks. We do have native silver eyest that visit in the winter. There's a tui and a morepork that live somewhere nearby, I hear them often.

[annietopia.livejournal.com]

I googled a bunch of the birds that you listed as I am not familiar with the names. Pretty cool and I learned something today!

[turk-diddler.livejournal.com]

We struggled to get an accurate count on the finches too, they really ought to organise themselves into neater tighter flocks.

Greenfinches are suffering in most areas at the moment, the issue is unclean feeding stations. There is a mould that develops on peanuts which they are particularly affected by and an entirely different disease passed between the birds when their saliva or droppings accumulate, so a bit of a double whammy really.
Just takes one person in your neighbourhood to cripple your local population, so it might be worth mentioning if you notice grimy feeders next door.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

The dreaded finch virus....

I've suffered from that in the past (9 dead birds in 2007) and it was utterly soul-destroying. I now have a strict cleaning regime (out with the Arklens on a regular basis!). I don't think FV is a problem this year - I saw one possible suspect chaffinch last year, but supposedly FV is a problem of mild wet winters. When the temperature's below freezing, it gets wiped out.

Salmonella and e-coli are a different matter...

[goddessofchaos.livejournal.com]

Not a bad turn-out! Mostly what I get round my way is sparrows - they're supposed to be in decline but that's just because they're all living in the tree directly outside my bedroom window, cheeping their little lungs out every morning at dawn (nice to hear when dawn is around waking up time, not so great when it's 3am...)

The only one on that list I would never see is the magpie, they haven't made it as far north as Inverness yet, although I think they're creeping closer.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

So THAT'S where all my house sparrows got to! They headed north - probably to avoid the magpies.

Magpies are bad news. But you've got hoodie crows already, and they're bad news, too...