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The most bizarre bird entered my garden yesterday, a Moorhen!
There are two small ponds in the garden but it was paying no attention to them (OK they were covered in snow and ice) and was more interested in the shed roof and sitting in the poplar tree.
I have never ever seen a water borne bird in the garden before, so why could have been there? Was it lost? Or was it desperate for food?
Anyone else had any incongruous birds in their garden?
Alex
Hi Alex, goodness me - that is two unusuals in one day as Colin Wilkinson posted one a bit earlier on. It makes you wonder if these birds know something about the impending weather that we don't and so are advance scouting for prospective food sources in readiness for their times of need.
Could be going for the bird food as I have seen them at Montrose basin eating off the bird table! It was highly amusing to watch them.
Oh I feel so sorry for the water birds at the moment, all of the ponds & canals are frozen near me. I hope they can get some food from near by gardens. Maybe that's what your moorhen was doing.
But what on earth do you feed a moorhen should it happen???
We had a juvenile moorhen in the garden last summer, who, (we are presuming it is the same one) has returned . It certainly looks odd amongst the other birds but eats the seed as fast as I can give it.
Is that just a general wild bird seed Brenda or husk free smaller seed?
It seems to prefer the sunflower hearts. I guess he likes them as he comes back for more.
I should add it loves broken corn flakes.
Hello Harley883,
We occassionally get moorhens under the bird feeders here at the Lodge, who are quite happy to peck at the fallen seed on the ground. Moorhens will eat a variety of things, dependent on the availability. Berries, seeds, plantlife as well small fish, aquatic insects and food scraps all feature in the Moorhen diet.
Not relevant to moorhen's diets, but it reminded me of a moorhen encounter a couple of years ago which happened near the Far Ings reserve at Barton-on-Humber. I was driving down the approach road to a local hotel when I noticed a group of moorhen chicks (cuteness alert!) on the road with their mother, who kept diving at something. I had to stop but this gave me the chance to see what 'mum' was doing - she was actually trying to drive off a stoat who was taking too much interest in the chicks. Not sure of the outcome except there seemed to be the same number of chicks on my way out, so mum apparently sucessful in her efforts. :-)
We had one visit the ground feeder in the garden today, the bad weather is making food scarce, somebody has reported seeing a snipe in their garden today.
Not that unusual to see moorhens near bird feeders, most visitors to RSPB Titchwell will have seen the small group that lurk in the scrub near the row of bird feeders,
Hi thebirdmum
Like you i feel sorry for the water birds at the moment, the canal at the end of our garden is frozen solid. We usually have a few ducks and a moorhen swimming about and coming into the garden. I have'nt seen the moorhen for a few days but a few of the ducks have been flying into our garden, having a good feed and flying out again We have been feeding them lots and they really enjoy crumbled up fat balls. They are quite happy to feed with the blakcbirds and starlings as well.
Wish it would melt soon !