Did my hour this morning and have entered the results. Why is there no where to say what time of day you did it.
I have blackbirds who are waiting for me at 7.30 am, woodpigeons who like a lie in and never arrive before 10.30, goldfinches who only show up between 12.30 and 3.30, and happily the longtails arrived at 4pm and missed the survey but made me very happy.
Perhaps they travel a regular route of gardens or maybe distance to roosts is a factor.
Does anyone else have birds they can set their clocks by?
thats where its all going wrong if you ask me.....should be an all wkend survey
I think the birdwatch should record over 1 day. As you point out regular garden birdwatchers know different birds seem to get up later than others ! I hour is hardly ever a true record of your daily visitors.
I agree with you, it is all in the timing, the birds that we see only seem to turn up at specific times. The ones that are around for breakfast are different to those that are around after the school run at 3.30! Mind you, there are less species than last year, our bullfinches have gone, the goldfinches were absent this weekend, the robins (usually three) were not around either. Maybe it was just too cold for them? We did have the added bonus of a pied wagtail yesterday - the first I've seen in the five years we've been here!
Hello,
This was my first BGBW today and like you i wasnt too sure when to do it and in which garden.
My back garden gets Bullfinches, Greenfinches, that the front never see's, and the front garden gets Nuthatch and Goldcrest that the back never see's,
The GSW comes every day between 2pm and 3pm but I was going playing football this after so i couldn't take part then,
Another question I have is this, were asked to record how many birds we see at any one time, and of course that is what happened.
4 Blackbirds in my back garden were recorded but I actually saw 7. 4 x Male and 3 x Female, I know this because at 1 point I had 4 x Male in the garden, and then 3 x Female plus 1 Male. So how is recording only 4 helping the RSPB.
Jas
Hi!
This was my first BGBW too, and I had the same problem with blackbirds - I only recorded 2 but I know there were 3 around at different times.
It was also frustrating as I live at the end of a housing estate that looks out over farmland. The dense bushes that separate my neighbour's garden from the field beyond was TEEMING with birds - mostly sparrows and tits - but I couldn't count those as they didn't come into my own garden! Grr! I was a bit disappointed with the number of birds that visited and the limited variety, to be honest, but I think the birds obviously find shelter and food in and around the bushes by the farmland and don't really need to venture into people's gardens. (There are a lot of cats in our neighbourhood too).
I also only recorded 2 blackbirds as only 1 male and 1 female were in my garden at the same time. There were however a number of different blackbirds which landed individually throughout the hour. 1 large male with a bright yellow beak and eye rings, 1 small slim male with a black beak and eye rings, 1 large male with a darker yellow beak and less noticeable eye rings, 1 very large dark brown female, 1 medium sized reddish brown female and 1 medium sized reddish brown female with more orange on her throat than the other 2.
My starlings were tricky to count because of their squabbling over my home made fat block and live mealworms, but had 25 in the garden together.
Most of my regular birds didn't make an appearance when I did my count so I don't believe 1 hour is enough for the numbers to be accurate. My regular goldfinches didn't come into the garden while the starlings were there, but 5 of them were in a neighbour's tree.
My house sparrows were the same. Only 15 recorded but I have 30 - 40 feeding in my garden nearly every day. Like the goldfinches, they kept their distance while the starlings were squabbling for more or less the full hour.
I think a full day count would be better as I normally have up to 29 species visit, but only recorded 8 species during the hour.
I agree - at all times of day there are birds to be seen from my kitchen window, but they don't all come every hour! The pigeons for example. If you only need to send them the maximum seen at one time, then all day or even all weekend would be a more accurate result.
Also, if male & female are distinguishable - as in the above-mentioned blackbirds - and my blackcaps - then I think you should be able to record them separately; that would give a more accurate result as well.
Also, I have a dunnock who comes every day, but not within the hour - nor did my regular wren :(
I agree wholeheartedly with you! I have noticed that the birds in our garden have a definite "feeding timetable"! There are parts of the day when there is virtually no bird activity (so obviously did not choose those times!) and it would have been interesting if we had to stipulate what time of day the hour's survey was carried out. Like you, the blackbirds seem to be the first customers, chasing each other around instead of getting on with the important business of feeding, followed by the wood pigeons and collared doves, robin, thrush, sparrows and different varieties of tits, most active around our lunchtime. Today I spotted a sparrowhawk in one of our conifers which obviously didn't make into the weekend survey!
I wonder if anyone else had the problem we have? It happens every year. So far in 2011, we have had Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Long-Tailed Tits, Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Starlings, Collared Doves, Feral Pigeons, House Sparrows, a Wren, and a Sparrowhawk in our garden. When I did the Birdwatch, I logged two BLackbirds and three Sparrows. Do they know when it's on or something?
Max
I must have been really lucky then because I saw most of the birds which regularly visit my garden whilst I sat with my coffee and camera! ........ I do agree though; doing over a day or even the whole weekend would give a much more accurate picture.