alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Did you know that with the weather as cold as it is, small birds, like blackbirds and smaller, need to eat FOUR TIMES THEIR OWN WEIGHT of food per day...just to stay alive?

That's not to feel full, happy etc, but to not die of hunger.

With the ground frozen and food also covered by snow, their life is hard.

You can help them: when cooking meat, why not soak up any excess fat onto pieces of bread, and throw it out for them to eat?

That way, your diet is a bit healthier and the birds might still be alive come spring.
Thanks.

legb4rsk

Good reminder.

My pet theory of the decline of small gardens birds is related to the magpie & the removal of hedgerows.When I were a lad there were hundreds of sparrows plus lots of blue ****,finches & wrens etc in my garden which was in a built up area bordered by farmland.
I only ever saw magpies in the farmland areas along with crows,blackbirds etc.

Now all I seem to see is loads of magpies around my urban area & very few other birds & no sparrows for about 30 years.
I think the magpie has adapted to urban living very well with the loss of it's natural habitat much like the fox & as a very clever master predator has killed off most other small birds.

Anyway that's just my view of it based only on my own experience.Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Our lot live the life of riley lol, they get sunflower hearts, peanut granules and sultanas which the blackbirds love. You can buy packs of the sultanas from Asda or Tesco for around 80p, just soak them in water over night.

Fresh water is important to them as well especially in residential areas where water isn't easy to find, just change it daily so germs don't build up as they bath in it as well which can be funny to watch.

daveyj

iTrader: (1)

Yeah definitely. Even in Urban Northampton we used to get loads and loads of Starlings. Dad says he hasn't seen many for years now. Down in Gloucestershire it's the opposite. Twitchers paradise.

hodgy0_2

yep good reminder, will go and fill up the birdseed holders now

An0n0m0us

Thanks, been meaning to do mine for days so just gone out now and done them as it's this time of day that matters most for feeding up before roosting.

Also in reply to Magpies being predators you aren't wrong there, i've seen a Magpie take a Starling down. That's behaving like a bird of prey which corvids are most certainly not however they are meat eaters and are adapting to what is plentiful and catchable. Not as good at it as Sparrowhawks though:



I've got it on video too, was rather an unpleasant struggle and end for the Starling.

dpb

Less hedgerows and more fertilizer and production generally must be the main reasons for decline ?!

Along with few more predators

Carnut

Ive got lots of different seeds and fat ***** etc out side. And just remember, if you make the effort the first time you MUST continue to fill the feeders, birds will travel some distance for a food source they now is there, if you ddon't bother to re fill it will be a wasted journey for the bird and more energy/ food it wil need.

One of the big killers in modern times is not what lots of people may think, ie magpies etc, its us. Cars on the road during the warmer months kill many of the bugs that both adult and young birds need, unfortunately the list goes on.

Finally, if anyone is intrested, the Sparrowhawk in the pic above is a musket, or male if you like, not so common with falconers as the females due to the small size. February is also a good time of year to look for them, some will have young on the nest and will be active looking for food, they often nest in pine woods if you have any near you and look out for old tree stumps with bits of blood and feathers on them which they use as a feeding post.

Good thread

Carnut

Most hedgerows are protected these days and by law farmers are only allowed to cut them at certain times of the year to protect nesting birds.
Fertilizer does the opposite, it contributes to the nitrates and helps things grow, you maybe thinking of Insecticides.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

It's amazing how a small bird table can attract lots of birds. I've definitely noticed a pecking order. Crows, pigeons, magpies, blackbirds, starlings and then the smaller ones like ****, finches and wagtails. We get all of them and the bigger ones are all nasty b@stards. They'll chase, attack and harangue the weaker ones.
The pigeons will literally chase any weaker pigeons right away. Magpies generally make good their escape before they're attacked by stronger ones. They are amazingly intelligent and can pick out high calorie food from the bird table.
Similarly the crows will favour meat. Filling their beaks and flying away. We have a regular magpie that only has one leg. It's amazingly resilient and uses both guile and bravado to get food. It holds it's ground and always knows when to back down. It's this resilience that has ensured it's survival.
The gutsiest bird we've had is a robin. It kept attacking a stubborn pigeon till the pigeon flew away. Then it and it's mate ate at their leisure.
Last summer we had a family of five jays visiting regularly.

An0n0m0us

I do falconry and will end up with a Spar eventually. Currently fly a female Harris whose aviary overlooks the bird feeders and gets to sit and watch them eating all day.

That Musket was filmed in my garden and was so busy killing the Starling it let me get within 10 foot of it to take pictures. I was there for a good 10 minutes with it before it flew off over my shoulder carrying the dead Starling, not a bad feat for a Musket to carry something that heavy.

Chip

We've got a Sparrowhawk around here, he's killed quite a few collared doves which we get a lot of, or at least used to. He had one and ripped it apart right in front of our french doors. Saw us looking at him and just carried on. Beautiful bird but nature can be a little unpleasant at times. Got some pics but don't know how to post them.

Carnut

Yeah, a big meal for a Musket. I've had quite a few different birds including a female spar and the obvious Harris to get started. The Sparrowhawk was by far my favourite though, sometimes I would get the wife to throw it out the car window in Tesco car park and while i would feed the bird she would go shopping.

Take lots of time though a bird of that size, their only keen for a short window of time and you have to keep them on the edge, until they get older at least then they get a little easier but you can't have daily distractions.

Chip

The jay is a lovely looking bird, we see them occasionally around here, best I have seen in our own garden was a Green Woodpecker who visited our garden quite a few times last year.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

The jays are beautiful. I don't know of you've noticed but most of the crow family puff up the feathers on their head to assert their position. They look as if they've been combed when they do this, especially the jays.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'll feed anything, I especially put out food for the crows and seagulls on the green at the front, plus a couple of pairs of Jackdaws.

I cannot abide Magpies though, and actively seek to destroy them.

They and house cats are responsible for the decline of garden birds.

I did some work for a lady some years ago, had a key to her house during the day. She had two cats: between them they killed SIX Greenfinches in the two days I was there...and that was only the ones they had brought inside

An0n0m0us

Yep a nice bit of hedge bashing or some car hawking will be right up my street. All the guys I know in falconry fly goshawks and have flown spars so will get the help with it when I get one but that won't be for years yet, having too much fun with my harris.

Where I live now a spar would clean up with the amount of magpies I have on my permission along with wood pigeon, hundreds of rooks, pheasant and partridge. My permission is probably more suited to a spar than it is my harris.

What else you flown?

Carnut

Sorry if of topic, its for AnOnOmOus really.

Yeah a harris is a great bird, alot of the more experienced people are a bit snobby about them due to them being relatively easy but I don't think you can better having a nice walk through the woods with a harris following on. Being part of the team can be a bit more rewarding than something more one minded that just wants to be presented with prey or sit in a tree.
I'd also say IMO the harris is one of the more intelligent birds of prey there is.

I started with a harris then got a red tail as well before getting rid of the harris (pete waterman the music producer had her) and getting the spar. Then my friend flew the red tail and I got a female gos which was great but only preferred over the harris when it came to a open field and a pheasant.
So the gos went and was flying my friends Perlin (Peregrine x Merlin) before getting a steppes x golden eagle then getting rid of both the eagle and spar and going back to a harris. (The spar was actually hit by a car a week after my friend took her)

I suppose it may look like a bit but over a longish time and having such a big circle of friends we would swap and change between us. I have been quite fortunate to fly with most the well known birds though including a few great gyrfalcons which a friend of a friend used to breed.

I'm don't know how big a stretch North Yorkshire is for you but if you get the chance Malham cove is just about the best place I've flown hawks. You would need a knocker box and collar (should probably throw a ferret in for good measure) but the place is riddled with rabbits and much more, just make sure you get nice and high and just about anywhere is great.

An0n0m0us

Very nice, you've done the lot there. To say a harris is intelligent is not wrong, mine is the most intelligent creature i've ever encountered. My mate who has been doing falconry 40 years and flown everything (except a harris strangely) said she is the most intelligent bird he's come across. I also seem to have a knack of getting a very good bond between me and the bird due to working from home and having them in the house with me for the first 2 months from getting them. However combine the high intelligence and very strong bond and it's lead to some imprinting which has p1ssed me off but is the only thing i'd change about her.

I take her out for an hour plus of solid following on most days (no tree hopping) and love it, it's more enjoyable than taking my dogs for a walk. Today was just one of those days, perfect weather and bird couldn't have behaved better, only bettered had she caught something whilst out.

My mate has said after seeing the 2 harris i've had (i had a male before this one) that's what he will have next, they have made his Gos look just plain aggro in comparison and it's one bird he hasn't owned.

Thanks for the info on Yorkshire, sadly i'm right down on the South coast by the New Forest however over the New Year me and my mate went up to one of his mates in Bradford and we went hunting up near Leyburn and there were rabbits galore. Was superb. Down here it's dead for rabbits, even ferreters I know who go far and wide across Dorset, Hampshire and South Wiltshire are finding it dead everywhere they go. It couldn't be more opposite to how good it is up North for rabbits. Another reason why a Spar is so appealing, far more quarry to fly at down here than there is for the harris. Like you say though not for the inexperienced. Plus I get too attached to my birds so couldn't move them on and would have to fly both a harris and a spar and i'm not sure there are enough hours in the day for that!

Sorry for going off topic...

Carnut

Yep spot on with the harris, you can see them looking at what you're doing, say for example if you kick a bush they will jump over to the other side and anticipate something coming out.

As you say, you will have plenty or quarry with a spar, just about anywhere is good but you do have to bring their weight right down to get them on the maggies and away from carrying small stuff. Working from home is ideal, it sounds like you have it made. I had to give up when I went full time with my farming and don't have the health these days either, shame really, some of my best day.

p.s have you flown two together (or more), mine have never paired up with others or my mates bird likewise which is a little strange and disappointing?

An0n0m0us

Don't I know it, and not just when hunting either mine knows when i'm doing my dinner, she knows when i'm taking the dogs out, she works out just about everything including undoing the falconers knot when on her perch in the garden (I always double knot anyway and pull very tight now). If I leave her jesses on in the aviary she will pull them out her aylmeries for me, basically she's an absolute bu66er for learning things you don't want her to learn.

I started late at 39 so I will never get the experiences that those who started in their teens have done like my mate, there just aren't enough years! My ultimate goal is a spar so that's what I will aim for in years to come.

And no never flown mine with other Harris. She's been around other birds at field meets but she gives the impression she won't play nicely with others so unlikely to try her. Put it like this she wants to kill my mates Gos (a female finnish so much bigger than her) when they've seen each other and she was the first to have a go baiting off the fist at it.

dpb

Course i meant pesticides

i heard the EU are ruling out certain products now , which might help perhaps

( much to the farmers chagrin)

thenewgalaxy

It's amazing what turns up on bird feeders, this chap turned up for a few days back in October. We get through about three or four sacks of nuts between September and March.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Lovely.
We sometimes get Waxwings and Fieldfares when the weather is bad.
We are only a stone's throw from open farmland.

Turbohot

Such a good thought, Alcazar.

Shame I can't even hang one of those tubes full of nuts on my trees for them. My cats know how to climb trees, and will total the birds. I had to get rid of my bird table for the same reason, and the bird bath is also used by the cats to sit in it.

I do feed my sandwich crust to the canal ducks. I may actually sneakily start putting some food for the visitor birds on the top of my flat roof shed when my cats aren't looking.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I used to do the same: the neighbour's cat sat on the fence, out of sight, then jumped up and caught one.

Plus it became sparrowhawk central, so I had to stop.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Good idea that Jeff, as we use the George Forman with drip tray all the time. As you say before it hardens and cooks, few crusts of bread dipped in would help (especially in a long thin garden like mine).

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Yep, get Isaac a simple book to identify which birds are coming.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

He's currently into the solar system and planets, Jeff. I have to remind myself he's only 3.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'll look for a book on birds.