Where have all our garden birds gone?

[tomparryharry]

Our local farmer has bred some 3-legged chickens, as both He, his Wife, and Son all like a leg of chicken....

 

"What do they taste like?" I enquired.

 

"Don't know", replied the farmer. " The little bu**ers run so fast, I can't catch 'em...."

[John M Upton]

A bird I and my Fiancee have seen a few times in the park in Horsham:

 

 

Definitely the same bird each time and 99% certain it is a female blackbird but oddly it has a truncated or at least very short tail compared with other blackbirds.

[DDolfelin]

Yes, female blackbird.

I like it's daisy roots.

[DonBradley]

I like it's daisy roots.boots (go look)

Edited June 27, 2013 by DonBradley

[John M Upton]

Found another view of her which shows the truncated tail.

 

 

Result of some sort of near miss with a cat or similar?

[Clive Mortimore]

Not in my garden but on my normal dog walk, a kestrel nest. Chicks hatched last week and are now looking out the nest. The first photo is from yesterday morning. There is chick next to the adult who is feeding them.

 

The nest two are of this morning. The adult posed for some time before going up to the nest. By the time I switched the carmera back on it had feed thye chicks and perched on a ledge at the nest mouth.

 

When it flew off I switched off the camera. Just about to walk off and a chick appeared stretched its wings then disappeared as I was messing around with my camera.

 

They are a good 5 to 6 weeks later than last year.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Clive Mortimore

[Fat Controller]

I was amused today, looking out from the kitchen window as tea was brewing.

The wheelie bins are directly under one of the 'fat ball' holders, and so a lot of crumb ends up on top of the lids. Some of the smaller birds have realised that this is a viable source of food, without the risk of being displaced by jackdaws and magpies. However..it also means that the surface, which slopes, is quite greasy. The result is that each time the birds' beaks impacted on the lid, it produced a reaction, causing their legs to fly backwards. Thus, in order to feed, the birds were obliged to 'run on the spot'- very entertaining.

[alfsboy]

Non birdie content

 

 

 

I was at Ranworth Church today  with doggies and spotted this beauty .Stupidly I had left my DSLR at home...doh, and only had a iPhone but managed to get it OK .Never seen one before

[10800]

Lovely - you're in the right (only?) part of the country for swallowtails, lucky you to get so close.

[DDolfelin]

Here's a friendly sort of chap:

 

[steve1]

Sadly, I know where some of them have gone...

 

 

steve

Edited June 29, 2013 by steve1

[alfsboy]

My daughter ,a wildlife lover ,lives in Surrey so gets plenty of birdies in her garden even parrots .She moved to a slightly larger    house three doors down .The couple who bought her house moved in with ten rescued cats and the previous  people who owned her new house left a near feral tibetan as well .All wildlife has rapidly gone .She feels really fed up 

[Sidecar Racer]

Here's a friendly sort of chap:

 

EagleOwlB.jpg

 

His head appears to be on the wrong way round .  

[Clive Mortimore]

Only two chicks this year, there were three last year. All the kestrel nest around Chelmsford have lower number of chicks, could be due to the parents laying the eggs 5 to 6 weeks later than last year. My mate has a camera on a pole ahd has videoed them with a meal. Sorry I don't think I am allowed to share it on here so you will have to put up with my photo from this afternoon.

[coachmann]

The BBC said recently that bees are in de cline but I think they are in de garden. There's plenty in mine now the weeds have flowered!

[melmerby]

The BBC said recently that bees are in de cline but I think they are in de garden. There's plenty in mine now the weeds have flowered!

All the flowering shrubs, plus the clover in the garden are covered in bees right now. It helps because it is warm and sunny.

 

Keith

[Mallard60022]

I think that mystery bird could be a Turn or Gull (as it's white) but in woodland - probably not? That blunt head reminds me of something I've seen in a book . 

P

Edited June 30, 2013 by Mallard60022

[melmerby]

I think that mystery bird could be a Turn or Gull (as it's white) but in woodland - probably not? That blunt head reminds me of something I've seen ina book. 

P

There's plenty of trees around here (semi-rural suburbia), although not woodland, and we get urban gulls mixing it with the crows/magpies/ a.n.other.

 

Keith

[tomparryharry]

There's always nuts on our bird feeder. Sometimes I shoo them away, and the birds can get at the breadcrumbs.....

 

We've got a colony of sparrows here, spread over a couple of houses. I don't think we get too much trouble with cats, as our dogs would prefer 'feline' to Chum, or whatever Mrs. S is feeding them at the moment.

 

Our large holly has reached to top windows, so I now get an audience when I'm in the rear rooms.

[Horsetan]

Still experiencing trouble with acrobatic squirrels.

[PhilJ W]

Our large holly has reached to top windows, so I now get an audience when I'm in the rear rooms.

Such thorny bushes are ideal for birds, they keep the cats away.

[tomparryharry]

We've got several hollies in the garden, and the birds are very happy with that. There's also a large clematis in the front garden, where we put most of the food. Our Mahonia is in berry at the moment, so we get a great deal of to & fro from the local blackbird population.

[Ramblin Rich]

Couldn't get a picture, but yesterday late afternoon there was a buzzard circling overhead with a single (herring?) gull attempting to see it off. The buzzard seemed completely oblivious & kept circling up - presumably in a thermal - until it was very much higher, then set off accross country...

I've seen bunches of crows mobbing buzzards before, but never a single bird. Can you have a single member mob?

[geoffers]

Not a wild bird (in one sense) but at the Royal Norfolk Show last Thursday there was a raptor display during which a Saker Falcon was mobbed several times by about 7 seagulls (Lesser Black-Backed I think) so large gulls. The display master was really quite worried by this as he said the gulls could kill the falcon. It amazed me that the gulls would recognise the falcon as a threat given that Sakers are not native to the UK but I guess the size and shape gave it away. The unknown bird - from the silhoette it looks a bit like an owl (pigeon sized it could be a Barn Owl and you can get some very white examples) but the wings don't look quite right.

[DDolfelin]

Often, Rich.

 

Even the smaller birds will 'have a go' if the buzzard flies over a nest site.

I wonder that the buzzards don't attack but they just flip over and present their talons if approached too closely.

In suitable weather, we have two or three buzzards overhead at a time.

They may be trying to tell me something.