BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?

Subject: Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 05:43 PM

In previous years on this rented property, we have seldom seen birds right at the windows due to the prevailing cat population-- it's a farm property that has long had "employee cats" to keep barn rats away from the house, so... the prettier birds have settled the tallest trees only.

We'd see the occasional hummingbird come onto the front porch to buzz the red berries on the pine-hedge... But altho we set out feeders, it was never really a place they would choose to settle. Not enough "flars," I guess, as our dear Giac used to call them.

Then, one year, a big tall tree by the back porch went down. The mourning doves that had nested there, noting that the cat population had dwindled (we replaced outdoor employees with indoor ones), began to settle in the very tall (untrimmed) piney shrub-trees. We had allowed these to grow wild all around the rear, stone-flagged porch.

For several years we sat and played music with friends on the FRONT porch, so we discouraged swallows from nesting there-- where they'd poop on guests' heads. We encouraged them to nest in the upper niches of the back porch, so they'd keep the 'skeeters' numbers down (near the door we use most).

A further opportunity for cat-free lodging came when the last of the outdoor predators broke a leg. She did not come to report this until it had already healed badly, and she can't really climb into those pine shrub-trees.

Now, this year we are turning that back porch into the sitting porch, and using the front one just for dry storage. So we eradicated the old back-porch swallows' nest I used to watch from my sink window, and I was sad to know I would not see them there anymore except as I sit typing near the front porch windows. But I thought it was a good tradeoff, and I'd just step outside to see birds this year anyhow.


But I see we have been given a fabulous gift, this year, to fill that space in the back porch ecology: an incautious lady cardinal has not only taken up residence in one of the tall shrubs, where it's been just mourning doves ad sparrows-- she's sitting on it right outside the living room window that faces south.

We see her (and her mate, now, feeding her?), flitting in and out between the covering branches. A bright red flash when he calls, and the less obvious back-winged landing of the lady to her nest. Brave girl-- the cats sleep inside, on that windowsill, inches from her.

But she is safe. She's out there now, undaunted by pouring, cold spring rain, settin' them eggs. I just saw the Mr. flash in and out too, a-visitin' her.

Her shrub is across from the back door, and JUST far enough from that and the BBQ to have gone ahead and laid the eggs, even when our activities out there busied up after she'd built the nest, in the last few weeks. Silly bird, crazy bird-- glorioouis bird!

Truly, a gift, TBTG.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 01:48 PM

LH-
I am pretty sure that is a Nazgul.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 10:38 AM

I work close to the waterfront in Portland. Friday, a pair of seagulls visited us with a dead pigeon which they proceeded to disembowel most of the day.
Gross!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: MikeL2
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 10:28 AM

Hi

We have Blackbirds - male & female - Thrushes - Collered Doves - pigeons - a pair of robins....Mr Robin in bright red plumage - Blue tits - Great tits - an occasional magpie - an even more occasional crow - and in the last couple of days a pair of wagtails.

We live in the middle of Cheshire too loke Dave and we too get loads of starlings but surprisingly few sparrows.

There has been snow on the ground here for about a week and ever more birds are coming to my bird feeding table.

I put out lots of bird nuts and wild bird seed. I also put out any bread and other left-overs. I treat them to a few Rich Tea Biscuits and yesterday I put out the scraps of a stilton cheese we had over the holiday...they left the bread nuts and biscuits for the cheese !!!

Cheshire birds are very fussy lol

Regards

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Smedley
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 10:14 AM

Down here about a mile inland from the south coast of England, our snowy back garden has seen blackbirds, blue tits, robins, woodpigeons, collared doves, starlings and a very handsome mistle thrush. In warmer times we've had wrens. And noisy seagulls are a constant irritant.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 10:06 AM

We had a robin the other day...on the snow too..He looked as if he'd jumped out of a Christmas Card. I'd just removed a whole pile of dead branches from a flower bed and he was there instantly, with sparkling eyes, licking his little beak with wormy anticipation...

I love robins, as they always remind me of my dear Dad, who had a Gardening Robin, who'd fly onto the handle of his spade...Dad would whistle softly to him, as that little bird cocked his head from side to side, listening...and watching for juicy worms..

:0)

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 08:49 AM

Chickadees, so far!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 07:41 AM

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I'm in the middle of Cheshire.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 07:39 AM

Two wood pigeons, one robin, the occasional crow and about a million house sparrows.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Genie
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 01:05 AM

Well, apart from the pigeons, crows, and jays, there are a few more intriguing feathered friends who frequent my yard and trees.   I have some hummingbirds in the summer here in Portland, Oregon (do they fly south in winter), and, of course, robins (pretty much all year round). Then there are several kinds of little brown birds -- very nondescript until you get up close, whereupon you realize their plumage is really exquisitely decorative -- that sing really lovely songs. They are probably sparrows of one sort or another but I haven't identified them yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Jan 10 - 08:25 AM

Should this thread now be linked-up with "Birdwatching 2010"..?

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 10 Jan 10 - 08:09 AM

With the cold, and since this morning the snow, reaching West Clare there has been a change in visiting birds. In addition to the usual I spotted two snipe in the garden, blackbirds and thrushes coming much closer to the house (and the feeders), a fieldfare hanging around in a tree and loads and loads of redwing lurking about allover. All seem to take quite a knock from the weather.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 04:28 AM

I don't think it's a hawk at all. I can't find it in my Field Guide to North American Birds.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Darowyn
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 04:25 AM

Isn't it a Little Hawk?

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 03:24 AM

Was astounded to see a tremendous bird pass overhead today. I noticed its shadow first, looked up, and saw something the size of a 747...well, no, bigger than that. It was silently winging its way overhead in a westerly direction. Fortunately, I was able to snap a picture with my digital camera, and here it is:

Can anyone identify the species?

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 02:24 AM

A bit off the topic, but a recent article may be of some interest to those with birdie brains:

Feeding the birds may alter their futures

"Scientists seeing 'profound' evolutionary impact from human handouts."

Note that the article takes no stance as to whether it's good or bad to feed the fluffy friends. It merely remarks that the feeding that is done has had an observable effect in changing the bird populations - and the birds themselves - seen in particular places.

It suggests that "watchers" should be alert for similar changes in populations of visitors, even over fairly short spans of time.

Perhaps some of our own observers have seen suspicious evidences of "different" visitors over a time in their own places of observation and might have comments?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: paula t
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 04:53 PM

Hi Steve,
I was quite surprised to see that my cookie hadn't worked. I am indeed "Guest" who replied to your posting.The hunt was around again today, but thankfully they stayed out of the garden. We almost became one of the first test cases in the country.....but apparently they had a valid excuse. They "lost control" of their hounds.Ho hum...

Paula

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Darowyn
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 03:57 AM

Below Congleton Edge, on the Cheshire/Staffordshire border, the stars of our show are the pair of Pheasants, the cock pheasant having an unusually light coloured plumage, almost white, and the little flock of chaffinches. Robins and wrens are regular visitors, but I've only ever seen one sparrow in the garden.
What is funny is watching the pair of Jackdaws using the bird feeder. They are very fair in the way they take turns while the other waits on the fence. They knock seeds onto the floor where a wood pigeon comes and eats them.
In the field there are magpies- up to five (that's silver!) and a flock of seagulls at the bottom of the valley. A mob of about twenty rooks turned up in the field last week. I suppose they live in the woods on the Edge. The usual inhabitants of the field are the cows- but they don't really count as birds!
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 03:54 AM

He's back! Dancing away on the redundant UHF ariel on a neighbour's chimney...

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:45 AM

From my office window I get either gulls or starlings; yesterday a very characterful magpie put in appearance & did some highly entertaining gymnastics on next door's guttering, before flying onto the roof of our WC annexe and looking right in my window to see what I was up to. Hello, hello, hello, quoth I, a single magpie being a creature of ill-omen but quite frankly a happier bird I have not seen. One for sorrow? I was smiling for the rest of the day!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:44 AM

I have a raven perched on a bust of Pallas above my chamber door.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 02:15 AM

Down yur in that Lunnon (here in the UK's capital city), there were, yesterday in my small garden:

Blue, Coal and Great tits all over the place
Blackbird (a youngster, systematically stripping my firethorn)
Magpie (bouncing around from the house over the back to the bay tree)
Robin (showing off his new waistcoat and trying to scare the magpie)
Sparrows (who think they're blue tits and hang off the feeder)
Crows (who were eyeing up the ivy)
Pigeon (who was hoping the blackbird would leave him some berries)
Kestrel (which although technically didn't land in my garden, was hovering over it for some time until she decided the cat was too big for lunch)

I think 10 varieties is pretty good for a small urban garden!

It may have been 11... there have been some rustlings in the ivy recently that might be a wren - I saw one there a while ago, and it's the perfect spot for a wren nest. The recent winds brought down a nest from my bay tree that I hadn't noticed previously, so anything could be living in that ivy!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 07:15 PM

Are you still paula t., oh Guest? :-) Gosh, I'd sue the hunt if it ever got in our garden but I can't do anything about the rabbits or the roe deer that are trashing it!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 11:42 AM

Hi Steve,
Yes, the green woodpeckers are really stunning.They spend most of the time on our lawn, because they eat ants - which we have in huge numbers!
The little owls are always in the garden. Their young seem to enjoy perching on top of our wooden swing and the roof of the gazebo. They were once described to me by an owl expert as the "Football hooligans of the owl world" because they are always up for an argument.They sit and "shout" at us if we walk underneath "their" trees (which means whichever one they have chosen to perch in at the time). To do this, they stand as tall as they can (not very tall!) and make direct eye contact while making a racket.Very comical.The chicks are often raised in a large "bonfire" which we built 12 years ago when we first moved in.(We left it for a few weeks after pruning back some old woody shrubs and weak trees, and things moved into it. It has therefore been left alone and is quite a nature reserve in its own right!). We nearly lost some chicks a few years ago, when the hunt got into the garden and the hounds decided to try to get into the bonfire.Very distressing, but we managed to chase them off.

I love this place.I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 08:20 PM

Sounds a bit like round our way here in Cornwall, paula t. We have little owls too but I didn't mention them because I haven't actually seen them in the garden. Whitethroats too just up the lane. My fieldfares are here because of my apple trees too. I envy you for your green woodpeckers!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 06:01 PM

We have this ground nesting bird and a couple of Cardinals and mockingbird.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:48 PM

You all have much more exciting gardens than mine! :0) I need to find that box I packed with nesting boxes, nut holders, bird houses etc..I know it's somewhere amongst the other 20 boxes still waiting to be unpacked...

"In my old dead tree out back,
a pileated woodpecker ... amazing site"

Dan, I can't resist this, with reference to you 'Spaw' thread...Did the woodpecker have the same dish as you then? ;0)

And wild turkeys! Wow!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:45 PM

It is late Spring here, and our tiny garden pond is populated by 12 ducks, with one still in next-doors' derelict swimming-pool.
These are Mummy-duck, her two remaining first brood (one next door) and ten newborn 'bumblebees' as Her Indoors calls them. Mallard.

I had to put a plank in the swimming-pool for the tinies to climb out with, after mummy came frantically asking for help. They were in there up to two days, with no way out. 12" of water.
The pond is about 10' X 8' and shallow. The goldfish are not amused, growing ducks chase food-competitors and eat their tails.
The big ducklings made their first flights getting out of the swimming-pool.

Apart from them, Mynahs, Sparrows, Songthrushes, Silvereyes, sometimes Parakeets, and the Blackbirds which are nesting in the carport. The hen was born there, recognisable because of her spots. She took over her late mother's territory.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:17 PM

Robins, doves, finches, sparrows; an occasional woodpecker, cardinal, or blue jay. Lately I'm aware of one big brute of a crow that I wish would decide to fly south. In a typical week we fill one trash bag just a little too full to slip it down in the garbage can for trash day. If I set the bag out with any lead time at all, the sonovagun rips any number of holes in it.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST,paula t
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:06 PM

We have visits from a pair of green woodpeckers,buzzards which circle overhead, a sparrowhawk,a kestrel,wrens,robins and sparrows . We have a pair of coal tits which nest in a hole in a wall and a pair of Little Owls which nest at the bottom of our paddock.Other frequent visitors are Pied wagtails,jackdaws, a tawny owl, a lesser spotted woodpecker, bluetits, great tits, chaffinches goldfinches,song and mistlethrushes,numerous collared doves and woodpigeons.Autumn brings flocks of fieldfares to eat the windfall apples.I love it!

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: olddude
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:00 PM

In my old dead tree out back,
a pileated woodpecker ... amazing site

two red tailed hawks in the grape vineyard

One small goss hawk about a month ago in the tree

and a huge flock of wild turkeys. The grape vineyards are wonderful for birds of all types, especially the birds of prey ... loads of small critters like meadow mice and rabbits

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Mavis Enderby
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 02:53 PM

Slightly off-topic as they didn't really visit me, but this morning, walking the dog round the housing estate pre-sunrise, I enjoyed the dawn callings of the many local blackbirds who seemed on good form today. This was then surpassed by the noise of a large flock (clamour?) of hundreds of rooks flying from rookery to field. Nature has the most remarkable spectacles sometimes. It fair set me up for the day (the dog was unimpressed though).

the treasure you are seeking is in your own back yard

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 01:35 PM

We've had a gray hawk of some kind, sparrows, bluebirds, one yellow breasted something, doves and various of hummingbirds, and once an owl...even found a regurgitated packet from that sucker.

Animal-wise we get mule deer, coyote, possum, skunk, raccoon and feral cats.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 01:17 PM

Cornish Choughs were on "Country File" (BBC), earlier in the year, I think - making something of a comeback, via some conservation work.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 01:05 PM

Oh....a Hairy Woodpecker!   He sounds fun!   Any pictures?

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 11:59 AM

It's been mostly goldfinches, hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, mourning doves, red cardinals, bluejays...and a small hawk that swooped in and grabbed one of the goldfinches one day.

The goldfinches have changed color now, going into their winter plumage. They're cute little things.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 11:39 AM

Not sure they come a-visiting, or even just visiting for that matter. In bird currency, they live in my garden, so perhaps I am visiting them?

Ok, since next door built a pergola next to my fence and put bird food hanging from it, my fence has become a meeting place for cats.

Hence, by attracting birds, they have managed to scare them away.

There is a rookery (or at least lots of crow nests in a copse) just down from me, and those buggers come a-visiting, or a-dive bombing just after I have washed my car. Amazingly, they have learned to swoop and evacuate at such angles as to ensure my patio windows get a dollop as well.

if only the blackbirds / crows / whatever they are would land, the cats would join the party and for me? serendipity.

There you are, managed that without mentioning tits & choughs. Didn't even mention the bird that used to visit me after her husband had gone off to work.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 10:23 AM

Oh, I'm loving this thead! :0) :0) :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 10:22 AM

The choughs aren't around here. Dammit, forgot about the pied and grey wagtails. Add them to the list of "occasionals." Skylarks as well on the next-door field. There are plenty of stonechats, linnets and rock pipits a few hundred yards away on the cliffs, and we get lots of wheatears there all summer. A heron completely cleared my pond this autumn of my golden orfes. Every one gone. It'll be a wildlife pond from now on. No fish to eat the tadpoles every spring. We have thriving populations of frogs and toads, and the full-size toads are genuinely friendly beasts that don't mind you talking to them or even giving them a chuck-chuck under the chin.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 09:54 AM

At the bird feeders at the moment we have rakes or Great Tits, Blue tits, Coal tits and a few Long Tailed tits as well. (Yes the resident teenager has done 'Look, there's a pair of great tits in the garden').
Chaffinces, Green Finches, Goldfinches and Bullfinches, the odd Siskin too, House sparrows, Chiffchaffs. I have seen treecreepers but not many or often, both Grey and Pied Wagtails, Robins and Wrens ofcourse (the cats do tend to decimate the Wrens though). Magpies are a nuisance around the house (several nests around the house this summer, a heron has emptied the pond of goldfish (we seem to have scared it away now). Hooded Crows, Rooks, Blackbirds and Starlings. Ravens overhead every day. I have seen a Stonechat in the garden during summer but only once, the odd cuckoo has landed in our trees (they're unbelievably loud up close). Pheasants visit, I saw a Peregrine lift a small bird off the feeder once but Kestrels are more common. More ofcourse, Skylarks, Thrushes, Pigeons. More probably that I forget right now or just don't recognise when I see them.
We don't get Coughs right here but I do see them near the Cliffs of Moher (which is maybe ten miles away as the crows fly).

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 09:27 AM

Have you ever seen a Cornish Chough, Steve? I read somewhere that they're making a comeback....

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 09:26 AM

Thanks, gnu....didn't realise that was here..

BIRDWATCHING 2009 - Mudcat Thread

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 09:08 AM

Dammit. We also have occasional visits by tawny owls and barn owls, and a greater spotted woodpecker has started to turn up every day, making a noise on my window feeder like someone trying to break in.

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 09:03 AM

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=117366&messages=390&page=1&desc=yes

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 08:57 AM

Poem 174 of 230: CIRCLES - AUTUMN 2001

The ringed homing of pigeon;
    The telescopic gasworks,
Which alter the horizon;
    There's what could be, for some, perks -
Chopper-journeys as sight-sources,
    And advanced driving courses;
Plus, on our flats' thermals,
    The circling flights of seagulls.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 08:47 AM

Here in north Cornwall, just inland, rural location, as follows:

Common as muck: blackbird, wren, house-sparrow, greenfinch, dunnock, blue tit, great tit, wood pigeon, collared dove, robin, starling, fieldfare (winter), chaffinch, magpie, swallow

Frequent: buzzard (overhead), goldfinch, sparrowhawk, kestrel, heron, rook, crow, long-tailed tit (little winter flock), sand martin, house martin (not nesting on our house unfortunately), song thrush, mistle thrush, chiffchaff, pheasant, mallard, redwing (winter), swift (overhead)

Occasional to rarely seen: nuthatch, coal tit, bullfinch, blackcap

We rarely see town birds such as pigeons and jackdaws. We get things flying over such as all those gull jobbies (found a dead guillemot outside my garden once), and a little egret about 12 years ago when they were rarer than they are now. There are peregrines around here but I can't remember seeing one over my garden. I'm sure I've left something out.

Subject: BS: Which birds come a-visiting you?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 08:15 AM

A friend was telling me about some of the feathered visitors to his garden, today...and it got me thinking...

The place where I now live has a window that overlooks the Curly Willow tree in the garden, right up high, on 'bird level' and it's a real pleasure to sit and watch them in their secret world...

In this particular tree there's a beautiful wood pigeon who sits there for hours sometimes, nightimes too, just swaying in the breeze, happy as a er...a wood pigeon, rather than a lark...

The tiny blue tits (no jokes, lads...well...just a few then) ;0)...the tiny blue tits seem to prefer the feathery mimosa tree and they chase each other around in there.....

And the squirrels jump from tree to tree like acrobats..


But I got to thinking about how many more birds I used to see, as a child...the endless sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, robins and thrushes...yet they seem to much fewer now..

Down on Dartmoor, we used to have a little wren, tiny little thing she was, who'd dart in and out of the small spaced lattice fencing, almost as if she was playing on it, loving being able to do that...and I used to watch her for ages, her little wren's tail pointing to the sky...

Birds make me happy. (lads, please!) :0)


Anyway, I was just wondering what feathered friends come to your gardens, as I know we've contributors from many parts of the world on Mudcat....

Lizzie :0)