Where have all the birds gone.

[tenet]

Up to 2019 thru to spring 2020 we had loads of Goldfinches, Great Tits, Blue Tits et al visiting our feeders. For whatever reason we just get a few Blue Tits and the sighting of a Goldfinch to the Nijer feeder a rarity. Have they been predated or just moved on to pastures new. Anybody else experiencing this?

 

[Paul_B]

They're all in my garden, they're not too bothered about the feeders which have sunflower Kernels, but they love the heads on sunflowers that I grow for their winter feed.

 

[Mrtrout]

No shortage with me, never get many Goldfinches here but tits great and small in droves and as for sparrows we counted over 70 on the lawn recently.
S.

 

[wobbly face]

Not getting as many on the feeders but seen plenty of goldfinch flying about, the odd large group of long tailed tits, my daughter counter 21 magpies just the other day, 5 black birds (waiting on territory battle to come). The sparrows seem to have diminished but then we've got far too many cats roaming. The usual woodpigeons and pair of resident dunnocks. Not seen the wren in a while or the robin. Blue tits and great tits only been occasional visitors. Heard starlings but very few visiting. I can only assume there is still plenty of natural feed. Not had heavy frosts or much snow here.

 

[GEK79]

Up to 2019 thru to spring 2020 we had loads of Goldfinches, Great Tits, Blue Tits et al visiting our feeders. For whatever reason we just get a few Blue Tits and the sighting of a Goldfinch to the Nijer feeder a rarity. Have they been predated or just moved on to pastures new. Anybody else experiencing this?

We here have lots of finches of different sorts our highest count is 21..
Robins we have blackbirds thrushes lots of crows and some aggressive wagtails.. They all enjoy porridge oats.

 

[pvthubbard]

Bird cam - Centre for Alternative Technology (cat.org.uk)

Have this on in the background on desktop whilst I work on laptop, had a look when it was dark last night and there was some strange glowing in between the 2 feeders?

 

[ohanzee]

The frost makes them preserve energy during the day but if you put food out very early they go mad for it, then once they know its there they keep coming.

 

[Wee Jimmy]

They're all in my garden, they're not too bothered about the feeders which have sunflower Kernels, but they love the heads on sunflowers that I grow for their winter feed.

They cant all be in your garden....because they are all in my garden...;-) The coalies love my black sunflower feeder. Hunners of blue tits on my peanuts and suet berry bites. Not as many great tits as last year right enough..?

 

[Gdog]

We've got gold finches, blue tits, robins, blackbirds, thrushes and the odd sparrow and pied wag tail. We also get loads of starlings gobbling up our cats food if left outside, wood pigeons, and the odd unwanted larger bird, magpie, jackdaw and grey crow all in our small suburban garden.

We are less than a mile from the coast and were invaded by sea gulls last summer for a few weeks, they perched on the roofs of ours and a few other neighbours houses, thankfully they only stayed for about 2 weeks.

The cat keeps all the birds honest and takes a few starlings every year and hides it somewhere in the shrubs, she's killed at least 2 pigeons and a whole nest of baby robins one year. She's left the robin's alone since then.

It's similar to birds other people see in their gardens across the water from here, these birds seem to have adjusted best to modern suburban living.

 

[noel]

We've got bugger all and we live on a proper village green.

 

[diawl bach]

Great cover from Arnold Wiles, 1968, pretty much our situation, the birds tell us when the feeder's getting low

 

[ohanzee]

Great cover from Arnold Wiles, 1968, pretty much our situation, the birds tell us when the feeder's getting low

Good to see you back

 

[Gdog]

We've got bugger all and we live on a proper village green.

Noel, not even a starling or crow?

 

[noel]

No starlings just a family of Jackdaws in the chimney of the old manse . I can put the feeders out full in January and top them up in April .
Ts23 1es

 

[skyeman1]

We have plenty of the usual small birds and some pigeons cleaning up under the feeders. Something I don't understand though. One small seed feeder with two "ports" and perches gets crowded and competitive as soon as filled. The other, larger with four ports and perches, plus a surrounding wire cage to keep the larger birds off is hardly touched until the smaller has been emptied. When tits, chaffinches, golfinches, etc do go to it they enter easily enough. Anyone have similar experience, or explanation for the preference?

 

[Paul_B]

I've got mesh above my feeding stations to stop it being a raptor feeding station, I've also noticed that when the magpie population dropped the small birds flourished.

 

[williegunn]

We have plenty of the usual small birds and some pigeons cleaning up under the feeders. Something I don't understand though. One small seed feeder with two "ports" and perches gets crowded and competitive as soon as filled. The other, larger with four ports and perches, plus a surrounding wire cage to keep the larger birds off is hardly touched until the smaller has been emptied. When tits, chaffinches, golfinches, etc do go to it they enter easily enough. Anyone have similar experience, or explanation for the preference?

Try swapping the positions and see if the once popular one becomes less favourable. A perceived safety is important.

 

[ohanzee]

Asda bird seed - put 2 foil trays out with some in - put it out with some bread ends - half an hour later bread gone, seed not touched, birds sitting on the fence waiting for more bread, had a look at the packet and its full of oats birds are not interested in it.

 

[Fishtales]

Asda bird seed - put 2 foil trays out with some in - put it out with some bread ends - half an hour later bread gone, seed not touched, birds sitting on the fence waiting for more bread, had a look at the packet and its full of oats birds are not interested in it.

I stopped using the wild bird mix for that reason. The small birds just threw out all the oats and all that did was attract pigeons and made a right mess, changed to sunflower hearts and the garden has lots of small birds, including Gold Finches that we haven't had in years, and less pigeons. I also have peanuts but that only gets eaten if the sunflower hearts run out, we then loose the Goldfinches until I fill the sunflower hearts back up

 

[skyeman1]

Try swapping the positions and see if the once popular one becomes less favourable. A perceived safety is important.

I thought that and switched them around and up and down. Preference remains. Tis a mystery.