Daft Question of the Week

I know this is going to make me sound like a complete idiot, but I have honestly tried to find the answer from various websites with no joy.  So here goes:

I keep coming across advice to do with feeding garden birds which ends "...especially (or especially not) in the fledgling season."  But nobody ever says WHAT the fledgling season is, or WHEN it is.

I'm guessing it's something to do with baby birds, and therefore probably around Spring-ish, but if anyone could be even a bit more precise, I would be very grateful.  Then I shall pretend I knew all along, and we need never mention it again!

BB

  • "There's no such thing as a daft question....................just daft answers", hopefully this isn't one.

    Fledgling season is a rather vague term used to describe the time when young birds are leaving their nest, and are quite vulnerable not only to predator attacks but also have a habit of eating quite silly things.

    as nature doesn't have a rule book to follow, some birds can produce a very early brood and others continue to do so late in the season, this term could apply to nearly any time in the spring or summer, although I would hazard a guess that the main time of fledgling activity is between mid May to mid July, although I stand to be corrected on this if anybody else knows.

    ND

    "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Mary Poppins

  •  

    Hi,

     

    I think it's a daft term- as some birds breed almost all year round  ANY time could be fledging season. :)

    They probably mean May to July as you suspect :)

    S

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • Thanks, ND - I now have visions of young birds eating silly things (rubber chickens, whoopee cushions, etc.)!

    I shall look forward to May, when my heating bills go down and my mealworm bills go up.

    BB

    PS Is there a separate species of Dipper actually called the Norfolk Dipper, or are you the only one?  I did have a moment of confusion with your avatar, thinking "I guess that must be a Norfolk Dipper, but it sure looks like a puffin to me..."   :-)

  • Badgerbread said:
    PS Is there a separate species of Dipper actually called the Norfolk Dipper, or are you the only one?  I did have a moment of confusion with your avatar, thinking "I guess that must be a Norfolk Dipper, but it sure looks like a puffin to me..."   :-)

    Another good question................

    If you click on my name and read my profile it will explain the name.........

    BTW, Badgerbread?...............nothing to do with sandwiches is it?

    Couldn't get a good picture of a Dipper so used one of a Puffin taken on the Farne Islands

    ND

    "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Mary Poppins

  •  

    Hi,

    Here's a Norfolk (Black bellied Dipper) from last year. Now we know what you should look like:)

    S

    .

     

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • Thats a great pic Seymour, what camera do you have. I'm upgrading for my birthday and am asking the owners of good pics what cameras they have, to give me an idea of what cameras do what.

    There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.

  • seymouraves said:

     

    Hi,

    Here's a Norfolk (Black bellied Dipper) from last year. Now we know what you should look like:)

    S

    .

     

    Damn your eyes,.........................My true identity has been discovered, I must change again.............How about 

    "The Scarlet Ptarmigan"

    I know, I know the P is silent, but it was the best I could do, or what about "The Scarlet Pipestral", or is that even worse :-}

    ND...............sorry, SP

    PS, No "Black Adder" jokes.

    "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Mary Poppins

  •  

    Hi,

    I digi-scope using a canon powershot and a Swarovski 65mm with wide angle zoom lens. That's what I took that pic with. The pics in my gallery were all digi-scoped with that set up. It takes less than 5 seconds to be shot ready if I see a decent subject while birding.

    For normal photography I use a Samsung DSLR . For birds I still have a  manual focus 15 year old second hand 600mm mirror lens. It works well for birds in flight etc .

    :)

    S

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • Unknown said:

    Thats a great pic Seymour, what camera do you have. I'm upgrading for my birthday and am asking the owners of good pics what cameras they have, to give me an idea of what cameras do what.

    Hi,

    my choice for a good all round camera atm would be a Lumix :)

    S

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • seymouraves said:

    Thats a great pic Seymour, what camera do you have. I'm upgrading for my birthday and am asking the owners of good pics what cameras they have, to give me an idea of what cameras do what.

     

    Hi,

    my choice for a good all round camera atm would be a Lumix :)

    S

    [/quote]

    Hi Seymour, thanks for that, which Lumix model would that be, and can you change the lenses on it, I did look at one Lumix model earlier tonight but I don't think it would be suitable, I'm wanting the camera for wildlife photography so would like a powerful lense, at the minute I have a fujifilm s5000 which takes cracking pictures if light  conditions are spot on, if its not light enough it has trouble focusing, it only has 22x zoom which means for a bird I have to be within about 15 feet for it to half fill the picture. Yours is the second Canon now that I have come across on the forum which has cracking results, I'm asking about on the forum here in the hope that some of these cameras will be older ones, as I think I will have to buy second hand from LCE in Norwich.

    There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.