Squabbling Starlings

I can guarantee a noisy session when a group of Starlings descend on the seed feeders.



I always think of them as a brat pack, like little children who only what what someone else has.

Fledgling Starling Feeding Time

A couple of days ago there were two fledgling Starlings in the garden. Yesterday there was only one, patiently waiting to be fed. After feeding the youngster the parent had a shower and dried off in the Sun.



So far today I haven'n seen any in the garden.

Eat, Argue and Bathe

You don't have to see them to know a flock of Starlings has arrived at the bird feeders. Between eating and bathing they seem to spend the rest of time maintaining the pecking order - very loudly.



Never a dull moment when they are about.

Bird Table Cam - First Results

When checking to see what has been recorded the phone app looks like this:



The orange bars show when movement was detected and recordings made. Not all clips show birds actually on the bird table but here are the best so far:



Dunnock, Robin, Starlings and Blue Tit. As I thought, the seed is well in focus but the birds are just a bit too close so end up in soft focus but still recognisable.

More Bird Feeder Visitors

The soundtrack was recorded at a different time using a small wav / mp3 recorder
50p coin for scale.



Most of the bird sounds, including the clicking, were made by Starlings.

The Gathering of the Clan

I had nipped out to visit our local garden centre as I needed to replenish some items in my bird food stock; fat balls and peanuts. Now the temperature on many mornings starts in single figures some of my local visitors are returning. Also I had a £10 discount voucher so their exorbitant prices looked a bit more normal. It always pays to have a long hard scout round the bird food section. Prominent were piles of tubs with 50 fat balls at a certain price. Tucked away on a bottom shelf was the same item except they contained 60 for the same price. One guess which I took home!

While I was having a wander round some of the displays of Winter bedding plants what should I spy?
A gathering of Starlings on the overhead power lines.





As well as our resident flocks there are those which migrate to and from Northern European countries. Not sure which these were or which way they might be heading. Not in the direction of my bird feeders I hope.

Failed Again

I keep trying to make feeders solely for small birds.
Every time I try something new I am outwitted by:



Yes, those pesky, greedy Starlings:





Though I must admit the low Winter Sunlight did bring out their colouring.

Keeping Warm? + Sunrise

Early morning - A group of Starlings clustered on one chimney stack:

Visitors to the new Bird Table

It didn't take long for the locals to start using the new bird table.
First brave soul was a Robin:


Others included.....
Dunnock:


female Blackbird:


Starling:


Great Tit:


and Chaffinch


I also noticed a Blue Tit but it was too fast for me. There were plenty of House Sparrows but they seemed to prefer the hanging feeder under the bird table.

Title was created with the Mac app Art Text 3 and the FeatheredFlight font.

Friday at the Flicks - Bird Table Visitors

Enjoying the remains of a suet cake:



Starling, a pair of Great Tits and a Robin.

It shouldn't be too long before the first youngsters arrive. Recently I have noticed a male Blackbird with a beak full of Sunflower hearts and a female Blackbird collecting spiders from the lawn.

Friday at the Flicks - Starlings + Peanut Butter

 




The last bit of video was so short I slowed it down to about one third speed.

Peanut Butter for Birds

Now we are nearing colder weather I decided to start adding peanut butter to the Birdy Bistro range of feeders so I looked out the log feeders I made a few years ago. One has one inch holes, the other half inch holes, to hold the peanut butter:

   

 Photo form 2012:



The main thing to keep in mind when choosing a peanut butter is that most made for human consumption must not be used as they have added salt. Here are two types I use:



The one on the left is specially made for birds and costs up to £2.49 for a 330g jar. On the right is a variety for humans which has no added salt and costs around £5 for a 1Kg tub. The CJ Wildlife contents are finely ground, fairly dry and crumbly whereas the Meridian Foods one is much softer to handle though with larger peanut pieces.

This year I have hung the logs together and put them with the other feeders.
In the past they were hung in a different part of the garden.




It takes a while for the birds to get used to them being there but once the Starlings find the peanut butter it won't last very long. Blue and Great Tits also like it as does the occasional passing Great Spotted Woodpecker. Some people spread the peanut butter in the bark on tree branches for the more timid birds to enjoy a high energy treat.

Less than 24hrs later there was never a doubt about which birds would be first:

 





It can be a bit of a messy job stuffing the peanut butter in the holes, usually every day, but worth it to help birds through bad weather with an energy boost and for the entertainment value watching the antics of Starlings as they work out the best way to get at the goods.

Friday at the Flicks -- Starlings

Doing what they do best - squabbling over food:

Friday at the Flicks - Waterfall Bathers

I managed to sneak the camera and tripod just outside the back door, about fifty feet away from the waterfall. The birds hardly noticed me behind the tripod. Mainly House Sparrows with Starlings soaking everything in sight and a fleeting visit from a juvenile Collared Dove:



It was unfortunate I had to change the soundtrack. For some reason the natural sound recorded at the time has a lot of background noise.

Soundtrack:  Eternity by Positively Dark
A free download from:  http://www.entropymusic.com/

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Friday at the Flicks - Starlings and Elderberries

Autumn is not only the season of mists, and we have had lots of those recently, but also the season of mellow fruitfulness. One of the plants which has done well this year is the overgrown Elder in next door's garden. That was full of elderberries ..... until the Starlings came visiting:



After a couple of days all that was left were bare stalks.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Friday at the Flicks - Pollen Beetles + Enterprising Starling

As promised a few days ago here is some video of the Pollen Beetles at work.
They sure do love their pollen:



The soundtrack is 'Hunger After Dinner' from a ProTracker module by Delta X of fraxion.


Sometimes there are darn near fifty Starlings in the trees around my garden. The only feeders they can use are the wire baskets containing a mixture of peanuts and suet pellets. Naturally the pellets disappear first but the birds have to work for them by clinging on the outside and pecking off small pieces. To my astonishment one of this years brood had other ideas. It must have found out by accident that the lid can be lifted to gain access to the inside. As far as I can tell only one bird regularly does this and even though the others can see it they don't seem to have tried copying:



I was worried that it might lose its footing and fall in head first and get stuck. Sorry the end of the video goes out of focus. I forgot that it is better for this sort of video to use manual focus.

Have a great weekend observing the antics of the wildlife around you.

Stay There While I Find More Food

Yesterday was not a good day car wise. Twice I had a real struggle trying to engage reverse gear. Not nice in a tight parking space close to a car in front when that's the only direction mine wants to move. Took it to my local garage this morning fearing a gearbox or clutch job. The most probable diagnosis was clutch. Had to leave it there as it finally refused to recognise reverse at all. As it was due for a service and MOT test the consideration was would it be worth having all that done on a 17 year old car. So I had a look at the cars for sale and liked the look of a very reasonably priced used Honda Jazz. Test drove that in the afternoon and found it to be to my liking. A bit of a change from a Mitsubishi Charisma but with my low annual mileage it will do the job for £100 a year less in road tax.

Not much opportunity for nature photography with poor weather and clatting about with car, changing insurance, etc... Did manage one photo of a parent Starling setting off having just fed one of its brood:

The Brat Pack Arrives

Tuesday has been a mixture of Sunshine and heavy showers. Also it has been very noisy with the arrival of the Brat Pack - the first batch of fledgling Starlings which spend all day calling and nagging their parents for food, food and more food:

Bird Table (Toshiba X-Sports)

'Twas a good start to the day, bright though not particularly warm:



I decided to have a session with the Toshiba X-Sports next to the bird table and grab a few still shots as well as movie:



Today, just a few of the still shots, all cropped.

Blackbird:




Starlings:






As before I put my feet up in the Summerhouse and controlled the camera from the iPod Touch while my supervisor did what she does best:



I'll probably put together some of the video clips for Friday at the Flicks.

Automated Bird Photography

Regular visitors may well remember my home brew motion detector which I sometimes use to photograph birds visiting the pond waterfall. This time I set it up to monitor any visitors to the bird bath:



Essentially the set up consists, in the background, a room type passive IR detector which activates a relay which in turn activates a wireless release for the camera. That is powered by a 12V gel cell.  In the foreground the Canon 350D with Sigma zoom lens set for auto focus mounted on a tripod. The camera being fired by a wireless receiver. Camera was fixed at 1/500 shutter speed with auto exposure.

This time there were many false triggers (over 60 birdless shots binned), maybe moving tree shadows and also me or Penny walking within range, but I managed a few captures. It is a question of things being set up at the right time as the birds tend to arrive at fairly set times of day. Unfortunately I had to cut the session short when it started to rain heavily.

Blackbirds.
Male:
 
Is that a growth or a ring on its leg?

Females:




 

Starlings:




Dunnock:


Great Tit:






I can see I will be having some automated sessions throughout the Summer. I keep searching for a decent quality, cheapish camera which would allow externally triggered video. I don't think the trail types are as good quality as they make out and anyway  I want something with a zoomable lens.