While there is an absence of feeders at the Birdy Bistro the Greenfinches have taken advantage of the Sunflower seed heads I had cut off and placed where I could see who eats the seeds. In the past I have always missed this activity. Some of the sounds on the recording are actually of heavy raindrops.
For weeks I have been trying to build up a video of birds visiting the bird bath which has been frustrating as each bird spends very little time there but here are a couple of short clips of a Robin (slowed down to half speed as it was only 10 seconds) and Goldfinches.
Have a great weekend watching the wildlife antics near you.
The greenfinches sure do seem to like that seedhead, even if they do have to work a little harder for the seeds. Great footage, John. It is steadily raining this morning and will have snow mixed in this afternoon. I got my feeders topped off last night, but I think the goldfinches have moved farther south already. Smart birds. Cheers, Wilma
ReplyDeleteMy first comment disappeared, I think! I was so sorry to read that the Birdy Bistro is temporarily closed, but under the circumstances, can understand why. I'm glad to see the birds are enjoying the sunflower heads ~ the birds in my garden are flitting about through the bushes and trees, much more interested in the seeds that nature has provided than the bird feeders. I have just put out a formed bell-shaped feeding ball, and a suet feeder where the other feeders were.
ReplyDeleteI love the way your goldfinch wiped its beak on the edge of the birdbath when it had finished drinking. No need for a dribble-bib for that one!
Thank you Wilma. It is nice to get a close view of how birds go about gathering their natural food. Fine drizzle here today but at least it should be many weeks before we see any snow.
ReplyDeleteHi Glo. Sorry about your missing comment. If it was done yesterday then Blogger was having all sorts of problems for an hour or so and I kept getting error messages all over the place.
ReplyDeleteThe Bistro is closed to some birds, though a few finches do still come to glean what they can find. I have put out food for the tit families and the Robin still visits as my garden is part of his territory. I have added extra suet food as the birds appreciate that more as the days get colder.
I think the threat of a bib has made the Goldfinches more careful about dribbling ;)
Hi again John, my... lots have been happening in your garden since my last visits.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the flicks and fav there just has to be the greenfinches feasting on sunflowers. You captured a great series of pics of them too :-D
Interesting to read that the hogs weren’t taking the mealworms from your lawn – guess you’re not getting as many visitors now. Yep… there are always the ‘hoover’ Starlings to sort out any surplus food out there! Great capture BTW :-D
Sorry to read you’ve had birds with Tricho coming to your feeders. Closing your Café was what I’d have done too. My bird visitors had slowed down of late prob as I hadn’t been able to pick up some sunflower hearts. I had plenty of peanuts and fatballs and as a result plenty of blue/great titis and house sparrows! Once the sunflower heart feeders were filled again a good sized group of goldfinches arrived almost like they were on look out! Sadly looking out my window I spotted one tubbier chap arrive which I suspect had the early stages of tricho. I’ll keep an eye for his return and then consider what to do with mine.
Your new camera at you pond is a great idea and it will be interesting to see what it captures especially at night. I love to be able to see what goes on then. Hopefully you will get lucky with the heron. Great shots you got of it going over your house! One goes over mine from time to time but I’ve been gardening at the time with no camera to hand :-(
Worms are a sad story in my garden and a wormery is something I’d never consider here. I’ve had New Zealand Flatworms (arriving around 12 years ago) which feed on the earthworms taking (est) 99% of them from the garden. A wormery would be a Bistro for earthworms in my garden sending Flatworm population soaring and straight to neighbouring gardens too (which probably have few worms too). After seeing first hand exactly what happens to the condition of soil without the aid of the tunnelling earthworms in another garden I’d have a wormery in a minute! Enjoy yours. I smile when I see just one!!
Fantastic to hear of the LTT’s arriving in your garden now. Perhaps in a few weeks we might see them up this way too. Perhaps I should pick up another fatball feeder.
Brilliant to hear also that you’ve a new camera nestbox! Once again looking forward to seeing what you capture visiting it :-D
Sorry, perhaps this comment is long enough now… I’ll try not to leave visiting quite so long next time :-D
Hope you are well :-
Hi again Shirl.
ReplyDeleteNo hogs visiting for more than 2 weeks now. I have had that batch of mealworms for quite a while. For some reason the hogs didn't like them but as you say the feathered hoovers aren't so fussy ;)
The wormery is a self contained plastic container so nothing can get in or out. No chance of flatworms invading it!
You can see the one I use here:
http://www.originalorganics.co.uk/the-original-wormery.htm
So far I haven't seen any invaders in the garden soil but when I come to think about it there are far less worm casts in the wet weather than there used to be.
Yes, it was great to see the LTTs arrive though I haven't spotted them again.
Apart from the odd gout 'attack' we are well as I hope you and yours are.