Someone has probably asked this in the past, but each year I do the Birdwatch I always wonder why it's done in January. It generally has the worst weather, and while I feed the birds daily, gardens aren't exactly abundant with Nature's pantry. In my area we woke up with a good few centimetres of snow today. My results of this morning's count was even worse than previous year's. Most of the rest of the year the amount and variety of birds is much greater, so I wouldn't have thought that January gives a good picture.
Tomorrow I'll do a count in the afternoon. See if that's better
I wonder if it is January to take account of birds that may perish in a harsh winter so it gives a more accurate overall view of species, only a guess on my part but I imagine it's better to count the birds when the conditions are not totally perfect and it wouldn't be suitable for the bird count during the breeding and nesting season.
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Regards, Hazel
Hi,
I agree why January???
This morning with my children we stood and watched for an hour, it was very disappointing, even though birdfeeders are full of seed, meal worms and a large fat ball (incidently we put these out and not one bird comes to them what ever season of the year it is, so now have decided to give up on putting fat out for the birds as its just such a waste, even the pellets don't help) any way we waited patiently and saw just a few, the children got so fed up after 45 minutes that they went and did somthing else, but I carried on regardless, after the hour was up and counted the number of birds which was hardly any, but i suppose we should be grateful that we had a few come into the garden. So hopefully when we do the next count it will be a lot better. So any way it would be good to hear from the RSPB why now, why January???
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I think between you the main points have been covered, but hopefully someone from the RSPB will also reply. Today, as the snow melted overnight, I did get a better count and more species in my hour of watching - including some long-Tailed tits!
For Becca, -----Sorry to hear that you haven't had much luck with your feeders, I also think that shop baught suet balls etc are a waste of time - the birds in my garden won't touch them either. I make up my own mix which all the birds go mad for, and your children could help too. If you have a food processor, whizz up roughly 1 cup of sunflower hearts +2 cups peanuts + 1/2 cup of dried fruit until its fairly fine, and add enough melted lard or left over fat to bind it together. I press this into 1/2 a coconut shell with a hole in it to thread on wire to hang it up, or an old clay pot will do as well. thread a length of wire through the hole and round the pot so that it hangs horizontally + stuff with the nut mix. throw a bit in the floor for the ground feeders too. This is o.k. to feed all year round as its very fine and will not harm chicks. Give it a week or two for the birds to discover, and hopefully you and your children will enjoy a busy garden full of birds.
I think it's because in January when the weather is often very cold, we get unusual visitors to our bird feeders who fly-in from open country because they can't find food there. My next-door neighbour once saw a snipe on her bird table during a spell of snow. In warmer weather the birds' natural food is abundant, so they don't need to come to our bird tables, so we are less likely to see them.