Technology8 mins ago
AB Birdwatchers who are you?
55 Answers
Do we have enough posters for a mini forum...we could post our sightings and share advice and other info...
I'm not brilliant but keen, some just love watching their garden birds, but sometimes the 'proper bird forums' are full of people who are really scary as they are soooo knowledgeable while the charm of AB is we can admit we don't know and blatantly google stuff for each other...
I'm not brilliant but keen, some just love watching their garden birds, but sometimes the 'proper bird forums' are full of people who are really scary as they are soooo knowledgeable while the charm of AB is we can admit we don't know and blatantly google stuff for each other...
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I used to post a birdwatch Q every few months & we gathered a lot of lovely regulars but slowly they dwindled & I haven't done one for ages.
I'm in Derbys & have lots of birds visit my garden, (not quite as many varieties as rowan though) I've got hedges & I planted trees & lots of shrubs & over the years have seen the numbers of most birds increase.
I've got a lovely flock of up to 30 sparrows now which I'm really pleased about but finches are down & I haven't seen the reed buntings which usually return in the autumn. I've seen blue, coal, great & long tailed tits, robin, wren, lots of blackbirds, collared doves & the greedy feral pigeons recently but today me & my neighbour have had a g. spotted woodpecker on the new suet blocks. I know they're not rare but they are to us so we're like excited children this morning. :o)
I think it costs more to feed them than it does to feed my little dog!
I'm in Derbys & have lots of birds visit my garden, (not quite as many varieties as rowan though) I've got hedges & I planted trees & lots of shrubs & over the years have seen the numbers of most birds increase.
I've got a lovely flock of up to 30 sparrows now which I'm really pleased about but finches are down & I haven't seen the reed buntings which usually return in the autumn. I've seen blue, coal, great & long tailed tits, robin, wren, lots of blackbirds, collared doves & the greedy feral pigeons recently but today me & my neighbour have had a g. spotted woodpecker on the new suet blocks. I know they're not rare but they are to us so we're like excited children this morning. :o)
I think it costs more to feed them than it does to feed my little dog!
One of the attractions of this site (in which I've participated since 2004) is noting the similarities of so many aspects of intersts and daily life between the U.K. and here in the western U.S.
Bidwatching is one of those. While the lists presented have passing comparisons to any I would post, the enjoyable task of checking Google or someother source for clarification of terms used by the posters within the U.K. are often striking in the similarities.
We are on the fringes of the Western Flyway for migratory waterfowl and as a reuslt are in the midstof literally thousands of Canada Geese, Snow Geese and a plethra of various ducks. Obviously,we don't get very close to them (except to harvest a quick Sunday dinner) their flight (especially on a clear, cold moonlit night) is a joy to behold!
Ya'll know,of course, why one leg of the typical "V" formations is linger than the other, don't you? Thought so...
We don't put up the feeders until the last vestiges of Starlings (thank you England) have disappeared. They overwhelm the feeders and keep the lesser birds away.
We feed almost exclusively shelled sunflower seeds with about 1/4 by volume of whole oil sunflower seeds mixed in. Seems every variety takes a liking to it.
Two of our favorite native, perennials are a very large variety of woodpecker known as the Pileated (seen here: http://www.pbase.com/...OW7Aw&ved=0CBwQ9QEwAA ).
They are heard a long ways away... a schreeching call never mistaken for anything else. And, in the barn and nearby woods are three different varieties of owls that love to talk to each other on moonlit winter nights...
Bidwatching is one of those. While the lists presented have passing comparisons to any I would post, the enjoyable task of checking Google or someother source for clarification of terms used by the posters within the U.K. are often striking in the similarities.
We are on the fringes of the Western Flyway for migratory waterfowl and as a reuslt are in the midstof literally thousands of Canada Geese, Snow Geese and a plethra of various ducks. Obviously,we don't get very close to them (except to harvest a quick Sunday dinner) their flight (especially on a clear, cold moonlit night) is a joy to behold!
Ya'll know,of course, why one leg of the typical "V" formations is linger than the other, don't you? Thought so...
We don't put up the feeders until the last vestiges of Starlings (thank you England) have disappeared. They overwhelm the feeders and keep the lesser birds away.
We feed almost exclusively shelled sunflower seeds with about 1/4 by volume of whole oil sunflower seeds mixed in. Seems every variety takes a liking to it.
Two of our favorite native, perennials are a very large variety of woodpecker known as the Pileated (seen here: http://www.pbase.com/...OW7Aw&ved=0CBwQ9QEwAA ).
They are heard a long ways away... a schreeching call never mistaken for anything else. And, in the barn and nearby woods are three different varieties of owls that love to talk to each other on moonlit winter nights...
Great lists and some surprises...had buzzards overhead too and the odd cormorant on a flypast... Redman and I have started a joint list... and in a few visits I have added little egret, puffin, guillemot, razorbill and shag,black tailed godwit, and wild mallard shelduck and widgeon...target birds are now: merganser, common scoter,pintail the divers and of course those elusive wax wings would like to get chough and Raven as well...all likely visitors so good chance...Redman has never seen a Red kite...so will have to drag him down the M40 at some point although no need to go to red kite centres now...just stand outside the surf shop in Borth for 10 minutes and look around never looked up and not found at least one...
No Clanad I do not know why one leg of the 'v' formation is longer than the other. Do tell,
I don't have too many interesting birds in my garden at the moment. We've had mainly blackbirds, the sparrow population has fallen greatly, now we have Jackdaws nesting in my chimney. Thankfully the Magpies have moved on, I really don't like them they raid the blackbird's nests every year. And the starlings have almost gone they usually congregate on our telephone wires ready to fly off for the winter. Woodpigeon bumble about sometimes, and we have a stray Heron now and again. Blue tits and green finch come by occasionally, and we have a wren that calls in too.
I'll be getting more fat balls to hang out for the winter. Trouble is the squirrel may turn up again.
I don't have too many interesting birds in my garden at the moment. We've had mainly blackbirds, the sparrow population has fallen greatly, now we have Jackdaws nesting in my chimney. Thankfully the Magpies have moved on, I really don't like them they raid the blackbird's nests every year. And the starlings have almost gone they usually congregate on our telephone wires ready to fly off for the winter. Woodpigeon bumble about sometimes, and we have a stray Heron now and again. Blue tits and green finch come by occasionally, and we have a wren that calls in too.
I'll be getting more fat balls to hang out for the winter. Trouble is the squirrel may turn up again.
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