Hi, its mine and my partners first year in feeding birds and we've been feeding them since september, but as it turned colder we started supplying sunflower hearts and plenty of fat based food, we have a medium sized garden with two big trees and alot of shrubery, and attracted the following birds; blue tits, coal tits,great tits,long tailed tits, house sparrows, dunnocks, wren, starlings, doves, robin, blackbirds,song thrush, pied wagtails,black cap, red wing, green finches, chafinches, bullfinches and goldfinches and a leucistic goldfinch, also a Sparrow-hawk!!!! (and crows, doves, pidgeons, magpies and a jack daw) As we havent been feeding the birds for long i would like to know if it's normal to get 70-80 goldfinches and 20-30 chafinches along with all the other birds at one time? this happens every day. (It is fantastic to watch!)
And one more question (sorry) why is it when theres birds in my garden and the blackbird does this call (which is the same every time) do all the birds fly away at once? i guessed it might be a warning call but theres nothing about.
Buzzard said: I've had forty Goldfinches in my semi rural garden, again I wouldn't know if it is normal! I put it down to a constant food supply that attracts the birds, a lot of birds gather in large flocks during the winter for a number of reasons.
I've had forty Goldfinches in my semi rural garden, again I wouldn't know if it is normal!
I put it down to a constant food supply that attracts the birds, a lot of birds gather in large flocks during the winter for a number of reasons.
Just to warn you Dani - our fellow forum member and Good Egg, Buzzard, is a goldfinch hogger. Not only that but he encourages all our goldies to migrate to his garden, then he locks them in and chains them up. Stick tight to yours, and if they disappear, you know where they have gone!!!!!!!! LOL
Cheers, Linda.
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Hi Dani
I am sure that it is a warning call. I doubt that the blackbird would cry wolf, but that it has seen something that it genuinely considers a threat. It may have seen a bird of prey fly over or a cat on a prowl that has gone unnoticed by a human observer. Garden birds understand each others' warning calls, so when whichever bird announces the presence of a danger, they all respond accordingly. Many birds have a slightly different warning call for each type of predator (for instance, is the threat approaching from the air or on the ground), so the other birds know what they need to escape from.
The blackcaps that nest in Britain do still migrate south for the winter. However, over the past 20 years or so there has been an increasing tendency by central European blackcaps to stop in Britain for the winter, attracted by the milder winters and reliable food supply at garden bird feeders. Despite this, blackcaps are still unusual garden visitors, and you are very lucky to host one of these lovely birds.
I started off with one of the small red trial goldfinch feeders to see if any were going to come to my garden and I had them queuing up in the tree waiting for a taste of the Niger seeds. I bought a goldfinch flocker with 8 ports and it's regularly full but there are squabbles between them. I can't imagine what 40 or 50 look like! It must be a wonderful sight to watch.
I do have a pair of Blackcaps that love my latest suet feeder. They seem to outrank the bluetits and usually have it to themselves when they visit.
I have a couple of Redwings this year too, but they have only taken berries off the bushes. They haven't visited any feeders or landed on the ground. One of the reasons for this could be that I have managed to attract a very bossy female blackbird. She scares off every other blackbird, robin, chaffinch and wagtail and even squares up to the starlings! She clearly thinks that she owns the place but the problem is that she spends so much time chasing every other bird out of the garden that she doesn't have time to eat anything, so all of my food on the ground is still there when the wood pigeons come and hoover it all up. Even madame blackbird has drawn the line at attacking the pigeons. I wish she would go somewhere else.
Best wishes Chris
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I started off with 3 metre long feeders full of sunflowerhearts, wild seed, niger,black sunflower seeds etc, i put it all up and hoped for the best :) they do have there squabbles but most of them eat off the ground now, if they cant get on the feeders.
Do blackcaps usually turn up in pairs?
my blackbirds the same as well, she makes me laugh, even though thhe male has been here longer she still does not let him any where near the garden!
Dani, i have a pair of Blackcaps here, they love the suet blocks up in a Rowan tree (where all the main feeders are) and they also visit a sunflower heart feeder i have in an evergreen bush, it's in a very quiet area and away from the main feeders.
Interestingly, i've not seen the male for 5 days now and i'm wondering why .... i hope he's okay.
I also have approximately 50 Goldfinches regularly visiting and approximately 25 chaffinches and think that it is just that your garden is particularly attractive for whatever reason.
Give yourself a pat on the back for getting it right.
(I also get about 15 bluetits, 20 Great tits and a dozen long tailed tits. Plus the pesky sparrowhawk who sits on the bird bath!. In the very cold weather I also had 10 blackbirds of differing ages and genders(first time).As you say, an absolute joy to watch.
before moving into this house I never knew what a goldfinch was, now I'm like you I have lots, not counted them, but there is so many of them.
very petty birds, lots of fun to watch.
my main birds are goldfinchs, greenfinchs, blackbids, woodpigieons, robins, tits ie: coal, blue, great, long tail, wagtails, collared doves, magpies, crows, sparrows, song thushs, wren, great spotted woodpeckers,sparrow hawk, redwings.
Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!
Those of you that have finches visiting are sooo lucky. I don't get so much as a chaffinch. Does anyone know if they would come if i put out niger seed or is it not worth it in such an urban area.
Sarah
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
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bramble67 said: Those of you that have finches visiting are sooo lucky. I don't get so much as a chaffinch. Does anyone know if they would come if i put out niger seed or is it not worth it in such an urban area. Sarah
Hi sarah,
you could always put out a small nyjer feeder, if they're in the area and they see it your luck could be in :o)
I have on/off Goldfinch visitors (same with Chaffinches) but the Nyjer is always up. As soon as the food is due to be thrown away if they haven't been I move the feeder so the Woodpigeon can reach it and he polishes it off for me, saves me throwing it away :o)