Bird-watching

[nanila]

Our bird feeders (2 seed, 1 fat ball, 1 peanuts) have needed regular refilling since the weather in the UK started to cool earlier this months. We're filling the seed feeders pretty much daily now. (For geographical reference: I live in rural Worcestershire.)

This year we seem to have an unusually high number of sparrows. Last year it was more tits than we could count, but their numbers are definitely down this year. We have great tits, a few blue tits and occasional visits from a flock of long-tailed tits. I have yet to see any coal tits this autumn. We have a chaffinch and a greater spotted woodpecker, probably the same one we had last year, who monopolises the peanuts when he's around. He's very territorial. It takes him a while to work a peanut out of the spherical feeder and he defends it ferociously from the smaller birds while he's at it. Once he has one, he flies off for a minute or two, to enjoy it from the comfort of the higher branches, and then dives back in and throws his weight around.

What bird life are people seeing in their parts of the world?

Comments

[spiralsheep]

We seem to have more blue tits than usual and I'm not that far away from you so maybe you'll get them back next year.... The redwings arrived this week and are beginning to strip the rowan berries from the tree outside my window. Apart from that it's mostly bird business as usual around here. :-)

[nanila]

Maybe your blue tits have come to our garden for a visit! We've seen a good deal more in the last three days. We also saw the kingfisher - I think it lives further along the canal but sometimes it wanders down for a dip in our lock.

Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm in central Illinois with 2 suet
feeders, a hopper seed feeder, and a
fly-through seed feeder. So far this
year I've seen sparrows, dark-eyed
juncoes, cardinals, and mourning doves
at the feeders. New this year is a
tiny little wren which has taken a
liking to the suet cage on my office
window. I've never seen a wren eating
suet here before, so that's cool.

Re: Okay...

[nanila]

I miss juncos. Also, hummingbirds.

We have wrens in the hedgerows along the canal, but they're pretty wary of our garden. I suspect the cat has something to do with that. :/

[ysilme]

This is interesting, as it seems to be quite the opposite hereabouts. We have the same variety and number of feeders, and last year I needed to refill them daily, or resolved at some time to not refill them more often because we were going through a huge amoung of bird food (about 26kg from late autumn to early spring.) I live in a small village in Southern Germany, close to the forest, and we've had a nice variety of visitors last year, but only very few this year. The feeders keep as long as a week or more, and only a few great tits are to be seen. We used to have masses of great and blue tits, sparrows, greenfinches, two woodpeckers, three wild pigeons, greenfinches, nuthatches, and the occasional black redstart.
The only other frequent guests are our resident blackbirds which are here all year long and are happy about the huge amount of windfall apples we put out for them to pick. But even those had many guests last year, as well as fierce rivalry by by fieldfares.
Our winter has been very mild until now, though, so let's see what will happen when/if that changes.

[nanila]

What a neat comparison, especially since we have the same feeders! Despite the recent storms, the temperatures remain relatively mild here. We're no longer refilling the peanut feeder daily although the woodpecker is definitely about. There are some very fat wood pigeons prowling around. The sparrows are still decimating the seed feeders daily.

I forgot to mention that last year we saw big flocks of redwings and fieldfares, but not until later in winter. Perhaps it's been so mild in Scandinavia that they haven't needed to venture as far south as our climes.

[ysilme]

That sounds very reasonable!