Autumn Birdwatching 2014

[nanila]

The nights are drawing in here in climes northern hemispherical (rural Worcestershire, UK), and we've started filling the bird feeders (seeds, fat balls, peanuts) again. The great tits and blue tits are going wild for the peanuts, and a pair of magpies keep trying to land on the fat ball feeder and failing. There are plenty of plump sparrows around. This morning heralded the first visit by a flock of long-tailed tits - very happy to see them after their absence last year. The greater spotted woodpecker hasn't appeared yet.

What birds are people seeing in their gardens?

Comments

[el1ie]

I'm in N Shropshire and the weather is just strange, it's so warm, and the birds are singing like spring.

For the last 10 months or so, mostly all I get at the tables and feeders are sparrows! Huge flocks of them. I know I get the occasional sparrow hawk, but it doesn't explain the loss of the greenfinches, chaffinches, great tits, long tailed tits, starlings, robins and goldfinches which we used to have in abundance. Couple of years ago, we were getting a pair of bullfinches, a pair of bramblings, a woodpecker and the odd nuthatch, but nothing lately except a few blue tits, the odd robin and masses of sparrows.

There's not even many blackbirds around, although I blame that one on the proliferation of fruit and berries in the hedgerows, so maybe that's where everyone else is too! Or the neighbours have tastier treats than me.

A heron flew right down yesterday, but the pond was emptied by them many years ago now, think it forgot until the last minute and then aborted! One of these days one of them just won't make it and crash land!

We haven't even has the usual family of hedgehogs coming to clean up under the bird tables, I have seen the odd adult around during the summer, but no babies this year, I blame the clearing of the old orchard behind me for building.

[calissa]

I'm in the Southern Hemisphere, in Australia, so the birds we see around here are rather different.

We get plenty of sulphur-crested cockatoos, galahs and house sparrows year-round as well as crested pigeons. The crimson rosellas don't seem to be coming around quite as often, while the corellas seem to be increasing.

[st_aurafina]

Australia too - lots of baby birds! I saw a pair of black swans ushering a herd of fuzzy grey-brown cygnets across a paddock, and the sand pipers that live on the corner of my road have produced one ridiculously tiny chick that looks like a ping-pong ball on sticks. Baby currawongs in the back yard with their parents trying to teach them how to grub for worms - they have this particular whingey kind of cry that really sounds like "But Muuuuuuum!"

[nanila]

Yay, springtime in the south! BTW, if you need a dose of cute, I recommend an image search for "Sandpiper chick". B'awwww.

[nanila]

Hurrah for Southern Hemispherical updates!

I had to google a good proportion of your listed birds. They're gloriously colourful. :)

[foxfirefey]

I saw a Stellar's Jay at my feeder in the Pacific Northwest! And some kind of adorable finch I don't know the name of.

In fact, these are the only two birds I have seen at my feeder period since I installed it a year ago because BIRDS ARE NINJAS and the food disappears but I rarely notice birds when I am actually looking.

[calissa]

I've not seen a sand piper chick but I'm definitely going to have to google it now.

[calissa]

If you want the truly colourful, try Eastern rosellas. We do get them around here, but they are on the shy side and quickly bullied out by the other birds.

If you're looking to become more familiar with Australian bird life (or just want to ogle the pretty), I recommend checking out Lirralirra. She does the most amazing photography.

[calissa]

Wow, what fantastic colours!

[st_aurafina]

I googled for a picture and it turn out that the birds that everyone here calls a sandpiper is actually a masked lapwing plover. (Which explains a lot, since we're a fair distance from the water.) But you can see the chicks about halfway down this page: Mark David nature photography. And also the black swan and cygnets, so fuzzy!

[calissa]

I seem to recall that the National Arboretum had masked lapwings nesting and were running bird watching tours. I may have to check that out.

Cygnets really are adorable. There is a pair of black swans on the pond near my mum's house. Every year she loves to regale me with how many cygnets they hatched.

[nanila]

Baby lapwings! *starry eyes*

I also love how prehistoric-looking baby moorhens keep up a neverending peeping noise when they're following their mums around.

[nanila]

Oh, I miss the Stellar's Jays. My parents always get them at their feeders (Pacific Northwest USA, south of Seattle). They're beautiful.

[nanila]

The last two days have been absurdly warm.

I've only been in Worcs for a little over two years, but like you I've noticed a big shift in the visiting bird population since we arrived. That first winter was properly cold and we had a striking mix of finches, all types of tits, robins, blackbirds, woodpeckers, flocks of redwings, etc. Though we still have the numbers, the variety is definitely down. I haven't seen a chaffinch in months. :(

A heron patrols the strip of canal outside our house (extending up and down a few locks). I see it pretty much every day, standing hopefully on the overflow of our lock.

Aw, I envy you your hedgehog visitors. We've never seen one in our garden.

[nanila]

Wow, wow, thank you for the link to that photography blog. What stunning shots (and I have a bit of camera/kit envy now too)...

[calissa]

My pleasure! The patience required for that sort of photography really is incredible.