RSPB annual bird watch.... anyone doing it this week end ?

[Dave7]

The wife put some raw bacon on the bird table, a Red Kite swooped down picked some up in its claws and flew off, then came back for some more.

Nice. Darn Sarf they are ten a penny but not oops North. I've never knowingly seen one

 

[Dave7]

Just done my watch/survey.
A good selection with 9 species including a Blackcap.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Nice. Darn Sarf they are ten a penny but not oops North. I've never knowingly seen one

I saw a Sparrow Hawk under out holly tree a few years ago

It was eating a pigeon

thing is - I could see the pigeon moving its head while it was being eaten
then after a while it move its leg that was holding the pigeon down
after that the head stopped moving but a leg kept kicking

I didn't interrupt - nature is not designed to be nice

I went backa while later and it was gone
and so was all of the pigeon - no feather, bones or anything

 

[All uphill]

Magpies seem to have replaced pigeons in our garden this year. My theory is that the dozens of plump pigeons came to the notice of a sparrowhawk, and the magpies eat the leftovers.

We also have various tits, a wren and a robin, but have never seen a sparrow here.

I'll be reporting. Given the amount of rain we've had I wouldn't be surprised to see cormorants and ducks on our list.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Does the birdwatch thing include things like bike rides - the canal has a good selection of birds most of the time

 

[Dave7]

Does the birdwatch thing include things like bike rides - the canal has a good selection of birds most of the time

You must choose just 1 place, anchor** yourself there for an hour and make your list.
**The guidelines are a bit ambiguous as it says eg your 'local park' which indicates to me that you can walk/cycle around it.
Mine were all viewed through my patio door.

 

[geocycle]

Just doing ours now, the sparrowhawk showed up and unsurprisingly all went quiet. Now got 8 long tailed tits, 2 bluetits, coal tits, great tits, dunnock, wood pigeon and robin. Halfway through!

 

[Gillstay]

Done ours today and quite pleased as some in quite high numbers such as Dunnock, Greenfinch, but some missing as the wren did not show nor the pied Wagtail. Also the Buzzard never shows up for the survey which is a shame as I would like to put that down
I find its a good way of judging how well your garden is doing. When we moved here we only recorded 7 birds that year,
but now we get a good range and good numbers.

 

[biggs682]

Our regular birds seem to know it's this weekend and all flew over to @Drago 's nest to avoid being counted

 

[Webbo2]

Given the amount of bird feed Mrs W has just bought any bird visiting our garden might have difficulty leaving. Which might mean their easier to count.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

There was a most interesting piece on Winterwatch on Thursday about the harm v benefit of garden bird feeders. The risk of disease transmission is well known but the other point they were raising was less obvious. Basically that only some species can benefit from the feeders, eg blue tits, so in the neighbouring habitats could the boosted population of these species be harming the populations of species that can’t benefit from them, eg. pied flycatchers. One of their team taking part on the discussion said he had stopped using feeders and was focussing on growing a food rich habitat in the garden instead. This benefits many more species not just a select few. They said that the RSPB was producing a study paper to be published in the coming months, I will be watching for this with great interest.

 

[VinSumRox]

Yep, usual wide range of birds turned up.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Not doing it myself but have been having a look more than usual
actually vert few of any kind except unidentified gulls high up
partly due to weather - and party due to the recycling centre down the road that thousands seem to like to hang around!


anyway - did notice this - anyone got any idea what it is
Certainly something unusual round here

I was wondering about a partridge???

 

[kynikos]

Pheasant - of the female kind.

 

[geocycle]

There was a most interesting piece on Winterwatch on Thursday about the harm v benefit of garden bird feeders. The risk of disease transmission is well known but the other point they were raising was less obvious. Basically that only some species can benefit from the feeders, eg blue tits, so in the neighbouring habitats could the boosted population of these species be harming the populations of species that can’t benefit from them, eg. pied flycatchers. One of their team taking part on the discussion said he had stopped using feeders and was focussing on growing a food rich habitat in the garden instead. This benefits many more species not just a select few. They said that the RSPB was producing a study paper to be published in the coming months, I will be watching for this with great interest.

Yes that was an interesting discussion. It comes down to ecological scale. We have created ecological niche through farming that birds moved into and probably diversified. That has been reduced as the hedges etc have been ripped out and fields have become more mono cultures. Only a restricted groups have been able to adapt. In gardens we have seen an increase in wildlife friendly approaches but again these favour a sub group of species. The use of feeders further tweaks the winners and losers. So while at the small scale the argument we shouldn’t feed is likely correct, it misses the much bigger big picture of changes that have reshaped populations over decades and centuries.