# Is there a bird expert out there ?



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

It's -2 deg c in our garden and the birds are out in force eating the food I've just put out for them.

A typical pattern eg a thrush, is to pick at a some crumbs, then fly up to a tree, then down again to the bird table, off to the hedge , back to the bird bath and then to the shed and so on. Each time he stops to eat he takes only a couple of crumbs or a seed or two.

He must be using quite a lot of energy in simply keeping warm let alone flitting round the garden so busily.

The evidence is there that he seems to be full of energy and thriving but I wonder why he does not stay quietly somewhere less cold and conserve his energy instead of being quite so active ?

Incidentally, something rather touching. We've had a friendly resident robin for years and notice, around this time, that he is joined by a mate. This morning, as I was filling the bird bath, he brought his mate to " introduce" us ! Aahhhh!

G


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## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Birds are warm-blooded. In general, this means that they maintain their body temperature within a certain range even when the temperature around them changes. The maintenance of body temperature within a normal range depends on the amount of heat the bird produces.

On cold, wintry days, most birds fluff up their feathers, creating air pockets, which help keep the birds warm. The more air spaces, the better the insulation. Some birds perch on one leg, drawing the other leg to the breast for warmth.

To keep up their high metabolic rate, most backyard birds eat rich, energy foods such as seeds, insects and suet. There are some times, however, when birds are not prepared to deal with sudden drops in temperature or sudden winter storms. At times like these, it is especially helpful to have feeders full so that birds can find food easily. 

Robins are very aggressive towards their own kind. At certain times of the year, only one bird will be seen in your garden. However, romance is in the air in December and by the New Year you might notice a pair of robins in your garden instead of the usual pugnacious individual! 

Robins quickly associate humans with a guaranteed food supply and are easily tamed to feed from the hand, especially if fed insect food such as mealworms. 
Ahhh sweet :lol: 
We have one in our garden I hope he finds a mate then.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

locovan said:


> . However, romance is in the air in December and by the New Year you might notice a pair of robins in your garden instead of the usual pugnacious individual!
> .


Thanks Mavis...good to get that confirmed that Fred is doing the right thing !

He's very curious and comes and sits up on the patio doorstep as we eat our breakfast, peering in at us and looking pathetic to make sure I get out there and feed him.

G


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## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Grizzly said:


> locovan said:
> 
> 
> > . However, romance is in the air in December and by the New Year you might notice a pair of robins in your garden instead of the usual pugnacious individual!
> ...


They are really cute our robin is always there waiting for me each morning
and when Im gardining in the summer he gets in the way because he wants to investigate every bit that I dig up.
He isnt afraid of the dog either.
They are great little characters.


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## Kelcat (Apr 20, 2008)

We have 2 tame Robins - one in the front garden & one in the back - and they keep well away from each other. The one in the front garden will now hop into your hand to eat - I hasten to add we didn't encourage this - he was friendly from the first time we met him about 12 months ago. He will even stay on the gate whilst we are opening it.
As for your Thrush - birds rely on constant movement as a primary defence from Predators - very few birds stay still for all that long (even waders have eyes where one can be looking skywards whilst he other looks for food). I suspect this sort of behavious is 'hard wired into them' and no matter the situation it's beyond there control. Even our little Robin won't come near if the dogs about - & the dog sadly kills at least a bird a month - so they obviously know!


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Kelcat said:


> . I suspect this sort of behavious is 'hard wired into them' and no matter the situation it's beyond there control. !


I'd not thought of it that way but, yes, I think you're right. Even the robin, whose a cocky little beast, doesn't relax. The only ones that keep their head down and eat are the collared doves and they are the ones that finish up dead most often !

We've got a constantly barking dog next door. At first all the birds took off as soon as he started. Now they just ignore him. Wish I could do the same.....

G


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## lifestyle (Apr 27, 2008)

Grizzly ,when i was younger i liked to think i was a bird expert ha ha .
We have Robin`s... Blue Tits...Blackbirds...2 big Crows ...Wood pigeons which we feed , our problem is that we are plaqued with Quirrels who take all the bird food

Les


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

*NATURE NOTES*

Send your wild life questions to an expert.
email her on [email protected] (its the Mrs OK)
She writes a regular monthly page in the village mag for starters.
Her web pages include
http://www.aqwc55.dsl.pipex.com/nature%20notes%20photo,s.htm

But she,s not bad!

C.


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## annetony (May 1, 2005)

we have a blackbird that sits on the hedge and watches us through the window,

we thought he had found a mate in summer as there were 2 franticly gathering nesting material

but he is back on his own and is always watching us, even though we have a cat and 2 dogs, it doesn't seem to worry him




Anne


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## SpeedyDux (Jul 13, 2007)

I seem to be keeping fed a pair of blackbirds, up to 7 wood pigeons, 2 dunnocks, 2 robins, 3 blue tits, 2 great tits, a lonely starling, random magpies, and 2 pied wagtails. 

No sparrows, or finches, though.  

The male pied wagtail is aterrible. He keeps chasing the female away; the poor hen needs the food too. He even chases the robin. Agressive little chap.

SD


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Get 4-5 lbs of bird seed (approx 30p/lb)
A packet of lard
An old bowl or similar
Pair of rubber or laytex gloves


Put seed in bowl, Add chopped peanuts, bacon rinds (chopped) and anthing else (except bread) eg wheat, scraps ext

Put lard in jug in microvave and mmicro on full power till it melts.

Tip lard into bowl and with gloves on mix with seeds till fully coated

Make into tennis ball sized balls with your hands and put on a tray and place in a cool place until the fat congeals. Makes 15-20 balls

You now have ready made fat balls which are much better than the ones you buy and cheaper.

these can be place on tables, stuck between branches and into empy bird feeding units

The starlings love them.

Note robins thrushes and blackbirds are mainly surface feeders so dont forget to put some on the ground or on a flat surface as these critters dont hand off things much

watch out for cats though

Phill


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

Grizzly said:


> ............A typical pattern eg a thrush, is to pick at a some crumbs, then fly up to a tree, then down again to the bird table, off to the hedge , back to the bird bath and then to the shed and so on. Each time he stops to eat he takes only a couple of crumbs or a seed or two.
> 
> He must be using quite a lot of energy in simply keeping warm let alone flitting round the garden so busily.
> G





locovan said:


> ............To keep up their high metabolic rate, most backyard birds eat rich, energy foods such as seeds, insects and suet.


While we put bread and crumbs out during the summer we don't do so during the winter months as we've been told that bread/crumbs are not energy rich.

We do put out home made fatballs, peanuts and seeds of various kinds hoping that the birdfood we put out is worth the effort the birds make to get to it.


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## apxc15 (Dec 1, 2007)

Cut an apple in half and place on the floor near the feeder. Blackbirds love them. Don't do it though unless you plan to do it on a regular basis. The same for anyone feeding the birds this time of the year once you have started there can be no stopping.

Pete


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## lifestyle (Apr 27, 2008)

How do you stop Squirrels getting the bird food ?


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

What a fascinating lot of answers !

We do put a variety of food - fat balls ( and thanks for the recipe- these look a lot more exciting than the market ones), peanuts, seed and cooked rice, cous cous and breadcrumbs plus any little scraps we have left. With 2 apple trees in the garden there are still some apples left and I've noticed how something is enjoying them. 

We have a "squirrel- proof" nut feeder which, 90 % of the time does it's job but we have one very clever squirrel who simply hangs off it and twists his body until the tube unscrews and all the nuts fall out. The bottom half of the feeder then falls to the ground and last week I had to rescue a blue tit who'd crawled inside, head first, and could not turn round and would not back off.

Cats are our chief predator here but they know me well enough to growl at me even when I see them in the street well away from home so the message must have got through !.

Thanks for the link to an expert Clive. I'll compose a question.

G


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## lifestyle (Apr 27, 2008)

G, i`ve tried all the so called squirrel proof feeders ( is there such a thing ) I use to catch them in a trap and rellease them in the forest a few miles away, but i`ve been told this is illegal , so i`m overrun with them now, i have at least 8 of the pest on a good day


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## apxc15 (Dec 1, 2007)

lifestyle said:


> G, i`ve tried all the so called squirrel proof feeders ( is there such a thing ) I use to catch them in a trap and rellease them in the forest a few miles away, but i`ve been told this is illegal , so i`m overrun with them now, i have at least 8 of the pest on a good day


As far as I'm aware Grey Squirrels are classed as vermin and as such you can trap and kill them, if you wish. Releasing them on somebody elses property though is probably illegal. After all if someone trapped rats or Feral Pigeons and released them on your property I think you would be a bit miffed to say the least. 
Grey Squirrels are not cute, they cause a lot of destruction and spread disease to the indigenous Red Squirrel.

Pete


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

lifestyle said:


> Grizzly ,when i was younger i liked to think i was a bird expert ha ha .
> We have Robin`s... Blue Tits...Blackbirds...2 big Crows ...Wood pigeons which we feed , our problem is that we are plaqued with Quirrels who take all the bird food
> 
> Les


Fortunately we don't get squirrels, just the occasional sparrow hawk but by constant feeding all year round we get a very wide range of birds.

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen a wood-pecker, great tits, blue tits, coal tits, willow tits, long tail tits, chaffinches, gold finches, green finches, black birds, wrens, sparrows, robins, collared doves and a kestrel who perched on a rock at the bottom of the garden.

We are still waiting for our winter visits from the redwings and the wood pigeons seem to be steering clear of us.

We put feeders out that contain either a wild bird seed mix or peanuts so that they have a choice. We also make sure that there is a dish of water available for the birds to drink and/or bathe in.


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## some-where-in-oxford (Apr 18, 2006)

drcotts said:


> Get 4-5 lbs of bird seed (approx 30p/lb)
> A packet of lard
> An old bowl or similar
> Pair of rubber or laytex gloves
> ...


I remember making these at school at about this time of the year, that was back in the late 50's.

I wonder if they have similar project these days for the kids to do?


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## 117630 (Oct 21, 2008)

*Nature WATCH*

According to the RSPB adding chilli flakes to bird feeders stops the squirels


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## some-where-in-oxford (Apr 18, 2006)

lifestyle said:


> How do you stop Squirrels getting the bird food ?


There have been some great short films on the TV about this.

Just think of the background music "Mission Impossible"


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## apxc15 (Dec 1, 2007)

cronkle said:


> lifestyle said:
> 
> 
> > Grizzly ,when i was younger i liked to think i was a bird expert ha ha .
> ...


If you ground feed you should also have Dunnocks which look a little like Sparrows and used to be known as Hedge Sparrows.They are very different in their habits from Sparrows and a little shy.

Pete


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

*Re: Nature WATCH*



fryar said:


> According to the RSPB adding chilli flakes to bird feeders stops the squirels


 :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have this lovely mental picture of our local squirrels sitting on the fence spitting and coughing and then running round the garden to the bird bath for a drink!

I actually enjoy watching them and don't mind them taking food. The films that somewhere-in-oxford remembers were great. Every single time the stainless steel sleeve on the squirrel-proof nut feeder slides down and covers the nuts the look on the animal's face makes me laugh.

G


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

some-where-in-oxford said:


> There have been some great short films on the TV about this.
> 
> Just think of the background music "Mission Impossible"







pete


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