Jo
16-02-2009, 02:01
Posted in here for obvious reasons :lol: Shot through my mums filthy conservatory windows.
My mum has had feeders up for about 6 months. In that time she has had more bird species than I thought possible for where she lives. Shows how much I know!
So far she has had:
Blue tits
Great tits
Coal tit
LTT
Dunnock
Robin
Black Bird
Magpie
Chaffinch
Sparrow (house and tree)
Collard Dove
Wood Pigeon
Sparrow Hawk
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Starling
Swallows
Housemartins
Goldfinch (at one point 60 at once every day :eek:)
Greenfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Wren
1 (possibly 2) Ring necked Parakeet
Recently she recieved her first Siskin, a male. Which in the following days was joined by a few more. Then a few days ago I got an excited call from her as she had spotted something else new! Her boyfriend (who claims to know it all :lol:) told her it was simply a siskin, but the light was making it look different. My mum accepted this reasoning until the next day when she clearly saw the red. Now my mum being my mum got hold of her bird books and looks for the rarest possible match (:lol: bless her), and claims it's a Linnet. But since they were spending their time (and by the second day there were 2 of them) on the Niger seed, I told her that I doubted this because as far as I'm aware Linnets don't feed from feeders. Though of course the last few weeks of very cold weather have done strange things to the birds eating habits, so I didn't completely rule it out. But I knew they were more likely to be Redpolls.
Well today we went to see for ourselves. They indeed look like Redpolls to me (definately not Linnets) but I really can't be 100% sure of which ones. I think she has Lesser and Common Redpolls :shrug: Today there were 12 counted at once, so the numbers are increasing daily. I managed to get a couple of shots with the two together. So if someone can confirm either I would very much appreciate it.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_70042.jpg
And a clearer shot of the back of one if it helps:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_6980.jpg
Then there is this one, which makes me laugh. I wish I had such lovelies on my feeders. But not even the Siskins have turned up yet this year.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_7004.jpg
Oh and while I was there she also had a fleeting visit from a female Brambling! I've told her to keep a watch for those as it will likely be back with a friend or two.
I can honestly say to anyone. If you don't find birds interesting, but wouldn't mind popping out a feeder anyway. Do it! My mum was so bored of listening to me talk about my birds and feeders last year. In the end I thought the only way to give her an idea of the thrill was to set her up with some. So I gave her 3 of my old feeders and enough seed for a couple of refills. Since then she has been going crazy over her birds. She has even been on a guided walk where she lives, and got on a bus to go and see the waxwings that were in Edwinstowe, a few miles from her. Her interest in birds has rocketed, and I am so chuffed to have given my mum that interest.
Oops, I appear to have rambled on a bit too much :lol:
My mum has had feeders up for about 6 months. In that time she has had more bird species than I thought possible for where she lives. Shows how much I know!
So far she has had:
Blue tits
Great tits
Coal tit
LTT
Dunnock
Robin
Black Bird
Magpie
Chaffinch
Sparrow (house and tree)
Collard Dove
Wood Pigeon
Sparrow Hawk
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Starling
Swallows
Housemartins
Goldfinch (at one point 60 at once every day :eek:)
Greenfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Wren
1 (possibly 2) Ring necked Parakeet
Recently she recieved her first Siskin, a male. Which in the following days was joined by a few more. Then a few days ago I got an excited call from her as she had spotted something else new! Her boyfriend (who claims to know it all :lol:) told her it was simply a siskin, but the light was making it look different. My mum accepted this reasoning until the next day when she clearly saw the red. Now my mum being my mum got hold of her bird books and looks for the rarest possible match (:lol: bless her), and claims it's a Linnet. But since they were spending their time (and by the second day there were 2 of them) on the Niger seed, I told her that I doubted this because as far as I'm aware Linnets don't feed from feeders. Though of course the last few weeks of very cold weather have done strange things to the birds eating habits, so I didn't completely rule it out. But I knew they were more likely to be Redpolls.
Well today we went to see for ourselves. They indeed look like Redpolls to me (definately not Linnets) but I really can't be 100% sure of which ones. I think she has Lesser and Common Redpolls :shrug: Today there were 12 counted at once, so the numbers are increasing daily. I managed to get a couple of shots with the two together. So if someone can confirm either I would very much appreciate it.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_70042.jpg
And a clearer shot of the back of one if it helps:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_6980.jpg
Then there is this one, which makes me laugh. I wish I had such lovelies on my feeders. But not even the Siskins have turned up yet this year.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/jojo24/IMG_7004.jpg
Oh and while I was there she also had a fleeting visit from a female Brambling! I've told her to keep a watch for those as it will likely be back with a friend or two.
I can honestly say to anyone. If you don't find birds interesting, but wouldn't mind popping out a feeder anyway. Do it! My mum was so bored of listening to me talk about my birds and feeders last year. In the end I thought the only way to give her an idea of the thrill was to set her up with some. So I gave her 3 of my old feeders and enough seed for a couple of refills. Since then she has been going crazy over her birds. She has even been on a guided walk where she lives, and got on a bus to go and see the waxwings that were in Edwinstowe, a few miles from her. Her interest in birds has rocketed, and I am so chuffed to have given my mum that interest.
Oops, I appear to have rambled on a bit too much :lol: