Comments on shirls gardenwatch: The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2008: Results for sh...

Hi there, Jane :-)Thanks so much for sending me a ...

2008-02-04T21:51:00.000Z

Hi there, Jane :-)

Thanks so much for sending me a rough bird count from your trip! This is fantastic :-D

Hi Shirl. I'm staying on an island in the Florida ...

2008-02-02T03:04:00.000Z

Hi Shirl. I'm staying on an island in the Florida Keys, USA at the moment. I visited the neighbouring island on Saturday and went for an hours walk in the nature reserve (which is made up of tropical hard wood forest (hammock), beach and mangrove. I didn't do a proper count, but these are the birds I saw: 4 x osprey, 5 x Northern Cardinal, 5 x ibis, 1 x banded kingfisher, 1 x egret, 6 x brown pelicans, 1 x blue heron & a whole flock of yellow rumped warblers (about 10). Your birds looked great! Take care. Jane

Hi again, Meems :-)Thank-you. Yes, I am really app...

2008-01-31T14:47:00.000Z

Hi again, Meems :-)

Thank-you. Yes, I am really appreciating the antics of garden birds now too especially on cold, wet or wintry days when it’s great to look out on them :-)

No probs that you didn’t take part with a count I appreciate that you intended to do one – instead you’ve been able to share your turkey vulture story! Wow, that must have been quite a sight especially them circling above. They make my Sparrowhawk seem like a canary in comparison :-D

I can completely understand that you didn’t get photos – part of you probably wouldn’t want to take them anyway I bet. Yes, I agree it was very interesting to read and see photos from the other counts :-D

Hi Shirl:I loved your photos and your post on the ...

2008-01-31T01:31:00.000Z

Hi Shirl:
I loved your photos and your post on the birds for your Birdwatch. This is such a fun idea. Watching birds and all their adorable antics is one thing I love to do on any day!

I fully intended to participate but it was one of those odd weekends when I couldn't seem to stop for an hour to do my observing. My grandchildren were with me all weekend and Sunday morning we woke to some odd happenings in my backyard. From my kitchen window I caught sight of two huge turkey vultures obviously picking at something dead behind one of my flower beds. Turns out it was an oppossum. More vultures came and went -as they do -circling overhead and fending off each other on the ground. It was quite the eye-full for my 9 and 5 yr olds. Too bad I didn't even get a photo of any of the action... they really are ugly birds and not too tempting to photograph.

I also enjoyed everyone else's count and photos.

Hi there, WS :-)Thank-you for your comment! I cann...

2008-01-29T21:19:00.000Z

Hi there, WS :-)

Thank-you for your comment! I cannot agree more that there is so much we can miss outside. I have found that by writing about what is going on in my garden I have to ‘really look’ and as you have seen in the comments of this post I’m not the only one :-D

I too only knew the names of the most common birds before the last two years. If I videoed or photographed a bird and wanted to post on it I found myself looking up books for ID’s. I am a novice when it comes to birds :-D

Thank-you for sharing the visitors to your garden – I cannot imagine a flock of parrots turning up at my feeders! I can however imagine the birds at your pond as that’s exactly what I thought when the grey heron flew over my garden on Saturday morning – he was out for a take-away!

Wow, how I love the image of all these folks takin...

2008-01-28T23:05:00.000Z

Wow, how I love the image of all these folks taking the time to count their birds! Sometimes I think nobody ever stops to simply and enjoy and observe the things going on outside. It's nice to know I'm wrong.

I feel woefully inadequate compared to your other commenters, since I recognize very few birds by name: robin, blue bird, pigeon. I can sometimes see hawks and even the occasional eagle overhead. Along with the migrating egrets, they all consider my fish pond to be an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet.

During summer, we even have a flock of parrots - presumably the adapted offspring of escaped pets - but they've long since headed further south for winter.

Hello, Julie :-)Thank-you! How nice to hear from s...

2008-01-28T15:03:00.000Z

Hello, Julie :-)

Thank-you! How nice to hear from someone who did a count here in the UK :-D

Good to hear that you still have goldfinches, sparrows and greenfinches in your area. I know this is not so in some other parts of England and Wales not too far away from where you are.

I am glad you enjoyed getting photos too. It is quite challenging to catch a moving target – that’s what makes it so rewarding isn’t it? I still have a lot to learn to get better photos myself but I really enjoy taking them. If you browse my links column for bird/wildlife blogs you’ll see some great photos there :-D

Hi again, Robin, Frances and Yolanda :-)Robin – Th...

2008-01-28T14:39:00.000Z

Hi again, Robin, Frances and Yolanda :-)

Robin – Thanks for trying a count knowing the starlings would come! I am guessing by looking at your photos that the zick dough is the same as our fatcake. I gave a mention about that in my post especially with you in mind. You will find it above my count list. It has a link for something that might help a little with your starling problem. Not surprisingly yours is not the first offer of starlings :-D

Frances – delighted to see the red cardinals I was hoping someone would get them visiting! The hour is tricky and it can be disappointing not to see the usual numbers. However the RSPB says these figures average out and still give account of birds in our gardens. Thanks for joining in a count and posting photos too.

Yolanda – Thanks for the Dutch entry ;-) It was very interesting to see how similar our counts are. If you were comparing a garden from England or Wales they may well be quite different from mine. Funnily enough the Chaffinch was only the top of the list in Scotland last year. It was 5th place in the UK with house sparrows taking top spot. Great to hear your house sparrows are on the increase. It will be interesting to hear how ours fair this year :-D

What a wonderful blog. Beautiful photos too. So ni...

2008-01-28T14:04:00.000Z

What a wonderful blog. Beautiful photos too. So nice to be able to see your garden visitors in this way. We did the bird count too, here in Manchester uk. Goldfinches and sparrows, a blue tit, a greenfinch and magpies visited our feeders on the green.
I took some (v poor) photos of the goldfinches, but what fun it was!
Thank you for sharing your garden treasures, Shirl.
Julie

Hi again, Jodi and Mr McGregor’s Daughter :-)Jodi ...

2008-01-28T12:41:00.000Z

Hi again, Jodi and Mr McGregor’s Daughter :-)

Jodi – Thanks for joining my on this and for all your link backs too! I’ve been over to see your count which looked good! No eagles as you say but your previous post makes up for that! I’m not sure what you mean about a live link but I added one here as well as in my post hope this is what you meant :-D

Mr McGregor’s Daughter – Thanks for joining me but sorry to hear that it has been a revelation for you. I agree completely that the cutting down of the trees is very likely to be responsible for the loss of birds visiting your garden. How sad this is but unfortunately this is likely to be the case everywhere with new developments isn’t it :-( This is where we the gardeners become the bird’s friend :-D

Hi Shirl, Here are the results of the Dutch count....

2008-01-28T10:29:00.000Z

Hi Shirl,

Here are the results of the Dutch count. ;-) I did mine on Saturday:

9 chaffinches
8 house sparrows
2 great tits
2 turtle doves
2 blackbirds
2 starlings (pecking away at the fat cakes)
1 blue tit
1 wren
1 greenfinch
1 robin
1 hedgesparrow

So you see, you're not the only one with such a pletora of chaffinches. Mine usually come to feed together with the housesparrows.

The top ten of most spotted birds in my country last weekend:

1) housesparrows
2) great tits
3) blackbirds
4) blue tits
5) starlings
6) chaffinches
7) Jackdaws
8) turtle doves
9) wood pidgeons
10)tree sparrows

The sparrows are making a strong come back I'm happy to say.

I have posted my count for this year. There were ...

2008-01-28T02:03:00.000Z

I have posted my count for this year. There were some regular customers that did not show up during the hour I choose, but the talley was respectable.

Frances at Faire Garden
http://www.fairegarden.blogspot.com/

Shirl, I tried to do a count yesterday from 11:00 ...

2008-01-28T01:46:00.000Z

Shirl, I tried to do a count yesterday from 11:00 AM to noon and was off to a good start, with a blue jay, female cardinal, downy woodpecker and three Carolina chickadees, then the starlings and sparrows arrived. I had put out the Zick dough and there were so many starlings and sparrows I couldn't have possibly counted them all. Of course when they came the other birds left. I gave up.

If you guys need starlings, I'll be glad to send you mine!

I tried again today, but it was a warm, (43degrees F.) and sunny. I didn't see a single bird at the feeders other than my lone downy woodpecker.

I want to keep using the Zick dough, so I'll have to see if I can find a starling proof solution.

Shirl - this bird count was an eye-opener for me. ...

2008-01-28T00:03:00.000Z

Shirl - this bird count was an eye-opener for me. I did mine while shoveling the driveway yesterday morning from 7-8 a.m. While I saw some Finches & Wrens in the trees behind my next-door neighbor's house & heard a couple of Song Sparrows, I saw only 2 birds on my property, high up in trees. They were a nesting pair of cardinals. I couldn't get a good shot of either 1, as they were too far & the light was all wrong for it. There used to be a lot of birds in my garden. What happened? Development. Last Fall, developers cleared all the trees from a wooded 2-acre area behind the house across the street from me. Loss of habitat & cold have made for the abysmal showing. Even the Mourning Doves that were such frequent visitors are missing. Now I'm mourning.

Hi Shirl: Got my bird count report up now, but I d...

2008-01-27T23:46:00.000Z

Hi Shirl: Got my bird count report up now, but I don't know how to post a live link here: I did make a tiny url, which is http://tinyurl.com/22z3o2

It was a lot of fun...cold again today, but not as windy. And no eagles here at the house, of course. :-)

Hi again, Lisa :-)Thanks for joining me with a cou...

2008-01-27T22:23:00.000Z

Hi again, Lisa :-)

Thanks for joining me with a count from your garden in SW Indiana. You have twelve different species just as I had although I didn’t see any squirrels! In fact I haven’t seen any visit my garden at all since I stopped putting peanuts under my Acer tree :-D

50 House sparrows, 15 house finches and 8 dark-eyed junco sounds impressive to me! You had a few more of other species too. If you were disappointed with your count I expect you must see a lot more usually – you must have a great garden for birds :-D

Hi again, Mike :-)Yes I agree, I still cannot beli...

2008-01-27T22:03:00.000Z

Hi again, Mike :-)

Yes I agree, I still cannot believe her timing at exactly 10.30am just when my count was starting to look good! I have never seen her sit that long either. I just wish I had managed better photos seeing as she was there - but they were taken through the window at an angle!

Yes, had I not taken part last year I would never have remembered we had lots of starlings then – having none this year really is quite a difference! Ah, the siskin – I am delighted to see them still with us and there are around twelve that I have managed to count too. It would be interesting if you still did a count, as you say, it would give you a comparison for next year :-D

Shirl, I just posted on my blog what I had at the ...

2008-01-27T21:18:00.000Z

Shirl, I just posted on my blog what I had at the feeders for an hour. If I had watched longer I know I could have added other species but your one hour limit was my guide line. We are located in SW Indiana, USA.

Cheers...

Hi Shirl,Not bad results considering the Sparrowha...

2008-01-27T21:11:00.000Z

Hi Shirl,

Not bad results considering the Sparrowhawk and the Woodpigeons (they are a pain), very interesting to compare last years results with this years, very happy to see Siskin numbers increasing. Wish I had done it now but went out instead, maybe I will do it just out of interest and keep a record for next year.

Hi again, Ewa :-)Thank-you! I was glad to get a go...

2008-01-27T21:10:00.000Z

Hi again, Ewa :-)

Thank-you! I was glad to get a good selection of the birds that visit although there are quite a few more that come too. It would have been good to have had a count without the sparrowhawk :-)

Yes, the strong winds were a problem for my count too but I suppose that is what makes these surveys work. Up and down the country our weather would have been different. Although I do wonder why January was chosen for a count? I have to agree about the birds being sweet but then again I think all garden birds are lovely :-D

Perhaps your birds were also hiding from a predator and not just the bad weather!

Hi again, Entangled :-)Thanks for joining me with ...

2008-01-27T21:00:00.000Z

Hi again, Entangled :-)

Thanks for joining me with a bird count from your garden. Looking at your post you had a wide variety of birds. It is also interesting to see that you are regularly recording your visiting birds too. It is great that with access to the internet we can very easily help record statistics of birds and wildlife.

Yes, it can be quite frustrating trying to get used to new settings with your camera especially when you want to take a shot in a hurry! I love your photo of the Bluebird – its feathers almost look like it has fallen in a tub of deep blue dye :-D

You are very welcome - I am glad you were able to join me :-D

Hi again, Barbara :-)Wow!! What a lot of blue tits...

2008-01-27T20:44:00.000Z

Hi again, Barbara :-)

Wow!! What a lot of blue tits to visit in an hour. We only ever see at the most four - except when there are juveniles visiting in the summer when we may see seven or eight. Is this usual for so many to visit at this time of year? I am wondering how many you could have next summer if they successfully raise broods :-D

It is very interesting to see that all the birds that visit your garden in Switzerland can also all be seen in my garden in Scotland! I agree it is very likely that the warm weather gave the birds no reason to rush to the feeders. Thanks so much for taking time to do a bird count with me. I agree it is really interesting and entertaining to watch the behaviour of our garden birds :-D

Thanks – wishing you a good week too :-D

I am really impressed by your count! Your birds ar...

2008-01-27T19:47:00.000Z

I am really impressed by your count!
Your birds are sweet :)
Ours were hiding entire weekend - I saw only 1! bird in my feeder, the other 4 were passing by.
Weather was really awfull - nobody wated to fly :(

Shirl, I just posted the list of birds I saw this ...

2008-01-27T18:45:00.000Z

Shirl, I just posted the list of birds I saw this morning. It was a gray morning, and I'm still practicing with my new camera lens, so no pictures from today's count. I did get a nice picture of an Eastern Bluebird earlier in the week.

Thanks for inviting me to your bird count!

Yesterday evening I filled the feeder and I counte...

2008-01-27T18:30:00.000Z

Yesterday evening I filled the feeder and I counted around midday. We had a lot of sun and temperatures around +6°C. So, this is what I saw:
a lot of bluetits (certainly more than 20, sitting in the little tree near the feeding place)
2 blackbirds (turdus merula) on the ground walking
1 pica pica sitting on the birch
2 corvus c. corone also flying from one tree to the other
2 robins (erithacus rubecula)
6 house sparrows (passer domesticus)
3 coal tits (parus major)
1 unidentified
I think the weather was too good for the birds to come to the feeding place. But it was fun to watch them...their behaviour sometimes looked rather "human" ;-)!!
Have a good week!
Barbara