Garden birds

Witzend....AWWWWW!

We seem to have all the pidgeons in the area parading up and down the back garden like midget turkeys because they are so fat! Also, any number of magpies - no shortage of them at all.

I've bought sunflower hearts, sunflower seeds and the birds ignore them.

They do love the worms, though. Usually the feeders empty quickly but at the moment the only one emptied is the one with worms. The seeds are going very slowly.

Skydancer, yes, I did read somewhere that birds don't need feeding in autumn as there is an abundant supply of fruits and seeds around and this is a mast year.

Skydancer

It’s mainly because this is a Mast year meaning that in the countryside there are more berries, nuts and fruits than in a normal year. So the birds have no need to visit gardens at the moment. But also, worryingly, a disease is currently affecting Blackbirds.

That may explain why I’ve barely seen a blackbird this year. Normally plenty in the garden. That’s very sad.

Gone on a last minute cheap holiday to Benidorm for a migration break,?

So far still got all my birds. Robins, wrens, starlings, all finches & many more. Plus all my pigeons as if I could forget them little beauties! Maybe I am just lucky!

I've fed the birds for years, despite all the gloomy warnings about encouraging rats. I do have rats living under the deck but they don't bother me. I live next to a field and a stables so I'm going to get them in the garden whether I put out food or not. I keep reading how much robins (UK) love sunflower hearts but when I put them out, my resident robin ignores them and just wants live mealworms (not cheap!)

Hello ladies, first time I've posted for a long time. Very sadly & tragically - 'our' visiting birds who migrate south - all too often, 1,000s get trapped in nets & 'glue branches' in Cyprus, Lebanon; other European countries too! It is illegal in most countries but all too often their police do 'nothing'! More has been achieved since an organisation campaigning about this have been 'on the ground'... finally getting some police involved. The groups who go & document this - all too often get threatened with violence! [sad} If link allowed here is the group/s who report on this! in-cyprus.philenews.com/local/cyprus-bird-trapping-wildlife-activists-operation-akas/

I don't have a garden anymore as I live in an apartment in the city, so I am very envious of those of you who have gardens and can feed the birds as I used to do. I always knew that spring had arrived when I heard the first chiff chaff in about march every year. A couple of years ago my son helped me cross something off my bucket list. He lives in Somerset and took me to the levels to see a never to be forgotten murmuration of starlings. We would swap some American starlings for all of the Canada geese and grey squirrels over here.

We used to get a variety of birds come to the bird table but twice i have seen a bird of prey swoop down and take a blackbird , I always supported the RSPB but no longer , when ever they show programs about birds it seems that all they are interested in is watching birds of prey growing in numbers, What about the small sparrow ,the thrush, the black bird you hardly see them now

I don't think I've ever seen a starling in our garden in 21 years, but there are lots within a couple of miles each way. We have a lot of pigeons, magpies, jackdaws & even jays I don't know if they put the starlings off?

They're not eating the bird food at the moment, but there are so many berries & seeds around, I'm sure they are still there in the hedges & shrubs.They don't need water or food round here at the moment, that's probably why you're not seeing many either?

HowVeryDareYou2

Where are all the birds lately? I occasionally leave food out for the birds (not every day), but noticed this morning there were none around. The garden was silent - not even any pigeons anywhere.

They are all round mine.

Yes, we used to have literally thousands of birds in starling murmurations, settling and covering the entire field with their songs as they searched for food. Then they would go quiet, and as one, rise in the air with a great whooshing sound. Not so many are settling near us now, but we do see and hear them in great flocks above us, either going north or south.

We get loads of golfinches every day enjoying the niger seeds I put out for them, have large trees in the back garden that have different kinds of birds at various times of the day but they never eat anything I put out for them

Hi Kamj - we have lots of Red Kites here. They don’t kill their food, they only eat anything that’s pre-killed!

I can't help but blame the red kites around here.

It’s mainly because this is a Mast year meaning that in the countryside there are more berries, nuts and fruits than in a normal year. So the birds have no need to visit gardens at the moment. But also, worryingly, a disease is currently affecting Blackbirds.

We had a lot of pigeons and doves 2 months ago they could easily have moved to the fields after harvest and the predators would have followed then. A nice slow fat pigeon is a much more attractive prey than a garden bird.

I hope that’s what happened and it’s not bird flu

Thanks for all your comments. It's eerily quiet in the garden. I hope all the birds come back.

Many of ours have disappeared too.

We do have a sparrowhawk in the vicinity but I don't think that is the reason.

I'm not seeing many birds but yesterday I put the Merlin app on for 5 minutes and it found 17!

Might there have been a predator bird about? I've sometimes been aware of the birds going quiet and then see a hawk about.

It is migration time, so your birds may have left for better climates.

My DH noticed a robin (American Robin) in our yard looking a bit lethargic, so I kept an eye on him, and he hung about all day. He did get moving, and ate quite a few worms. I expect that he is taking a day off from migrating south to refuel, and perhaps hunker down from expected high winds. Somehow they seem to be good forecasters of weather.

Our robins are fun to watch because they hop around the lawn or garden, cock their heads to listen for bugs and worms, and are extremely accurate one they dive for a worm!

We had put out a block of suet which the Steller's Jays were enjoying, but then the dreaded flock of starlings took over and finished off the lot. They are an invasive introduced species here, so I don't encourage feeding them. I'll wait another week or until cooler weather to put out more suet.

David49 I blame farmers for a lot of things, but not bird flu. The seabird populations have been decimated by avian flu - can't blame the farmers for that.