THE LG OSPREY GABFEST for JANUARY, 2015

June and Willow, I counted for several hours consecutively on both days and will choose the best hour to send in as my results.  It is likely that the hour from 8am to 9am will turn out to have yielded the most birds--I have not tallied up the totals yet.  It was below freezing here, early on both mornings, and I expect the birds were feeding up after the long cold night.  And I was thrilled that the little Goldcrest did appear and stayed around long enough (about a minute!) for Hubby to see it as well.  And a quick visit from a Wren, 3 Siskins, a few Long-Tailed Tits and 5 Goldfinches, among many other birds.  Mostly satisfactory, June, though I had hoped for a couple of Greenfinches but none appeared.  Maybe next year.  Willow, most of our birds seem to disappear off and on for part of the day, like yours do!  Perhaps they have a lunchtime nap elsewhere!  Seriously, I think they just do the rounds of the neighbourhood, but some do return to stock up late in the afternoon, too.

Ann, sounds like a great experience for you.

When I was  still feeding the birds, I too noticed that they made the rounds down the back yards of our street, west to east.  Almost like they were having breakfast, lunch and dinner, as they would appear in greatest numbers rather early in the morning, then mid afternoon and again around dusk.  

I still say it is impossible to get a 100% accurate count of birds (they hop and flutter too much)  but I'm sure also that the count give them a good indication of bird numbers and that thy can learn much from it.

These from Boat of Garten Facebook

More Burns Night fun.  The piper is from a video HERE.  He is playing the song I know as My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.

A little googling has informed me that Burn's night is celebrated here in Cincinnati as well as other cities around the USA.

Keith, I am sure the RSPB understand the pluses and minuses of doing the Big Garden Birdwatch!  Of course, the count in each garden will vary greatly depending on the weather and time of day.  I just view the count as a bit of fun (as does Hubby who always tells me he saw an Eagle while I took a break--not very likely in Surrey!) and I often learn more about the birds which visit our back garden.  For instance, this year I saw a Long-Tailed Tit hanging up-side-down from tiny branches on our cherry tree, eating flower buds!  Never saw that behaviour before--I thought they only liked suet!  A Chaffinch was also eating buds within a couple feet of the LTT--did the LTT learn to do that from watching the Chaffinch?  I also saw a Jay who seemed afraid to join 3 or 4 Starlings on the suet pellet tray, but waited for them to leave--would not have guessed that a Jay would be afraid of a few Starlings!  Or was that Jay just more timid than most?

June, Yes, I do enjoy the BGBW count in January, though it is mostly the only counting I do of birds, except when we are occasionally visited by more serious bird listers when we feel obliged to do our own count!  My main birdie enjoyment is just watching the antics of the birds in our garden (as well as following a few of the Osprey nests!) with the occasional visit to a bird/nature reserve, when again I just love to watch what the birds are doing.  But I grew up with a lister so I understand and accept the mania to list birds as well!

Ann you are lucky to get starlings we dont get any! We used to get a gold crest but not been seen this year but i will look out for it.We did have a black cap but not for the garden watch! I love to watch the birds and not a lister! They are fascinating to watch

More Robert Burns music for Robert Burns night:

A man's a man for a that

Comin Thru the Rye   (1904 version)

My Love is Like a Red Red Rose  

No way can I listen to all this Scottish music and not play my very favorite, even if it wasn't written by Robbie himself. Besides, the clock just passed midnight so even here in Ohio it is no longer Robert Burns night.

My thanks and appreciation once again to the Gabber friend who introduced us to this lovely song, Wild Mountain Thyme, or Go, Lassie, Go.

NEW BLOG by Jen Clark with EXCITING NEWS!

Quote: Millicent has decided to move south and over the last 7 days has travelled around 1070 km  and at times at altitudes of over a 1000 m to a new location in Sierra Leone.  This is the furthest south any of the Loch Garten tagged Ospreys has travelled.