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dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 18 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

today seems to be new sparrow day, there are a dozen or so eating berries and bugs in the bramble.

it is rather nice that the "tribal elders " consider me no threat and will bring the kids to forage within arms length

i get used as a perch sometimes

4th set of youngsters this year by my count.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 18 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

If they can get water, I think this year has been a good year for birds that can delay nesting. The spring was late and cold, but since then there has been lots of food for birds, judging by the insects around and the berries. With the continued warm weather they should go into the winter well fed, which is always a plus.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 18 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I have never found sparrows that sociable, dpack, however cheeky they may be. My mother always fed the birds and according to a friend they will need help this winter. My blackberry crop is enormous this time, i've been picking for weeks now, and that is a sign of hard a winter coming-my mother to blame again.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 18 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

this is the first sparrow flock that has trusted me to the extent of perching. i have been mobbed for bun crumbs a few times but that isnt quite as cosy as sharing a hedge.

there have been quite a few chaffinches and robins that have jumped on board over the years, the ones in derbyshire were very chummy and along with their more reserved comrades formed a very effective warning system that could be used to identify and pinpoint a stranger on the ground anywhere in 36 acres of thick trees and huge holes.
the blackbirds formed the chain home spine and the others filled in the details.
the level of cooperation regarding warning tweets is quite amazing as is the detail they reveal once you grasp how to interpret the system.

my grannie was quite a robin wrangler and always called and hand fed them. fun and a good way to steer one's pest control staff

feathery dinosaurs are fun and useful, they are also rather interestingly clever for such small critters

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 18 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ps learning their languages and them learning your language is interesting.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 18 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I do have robins that get very friendly sometimes, but have never got them to feed out of my hand. I use the bird early warning system too, but it doesn't work quite that well for me as they will also warn of cats, dogs and other large wildlife I find, to say nothing of buzzards and kites.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 18 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the calls will be different, very different between avian and ground threat.

the calls are different depending on the behavior of the threat

the calls differ between human and fox/dog or cat , human and dog is different to human or dog alone

most vegetarians get ignored so deer etc are "stealthy" as are bunnies etc

the bird community work a IFF system and potential threats that have proved to be no threat will create no reaction among the tweeters. ie they will ignore a person they know to be harmless and will call out a stranger loudly, same with dogs.

the nature of the threat is indicated by which birds are most concerned

learn the sounds and find out what causes each of them is the way we worked it out

the yellow hellhound and myself could sneak or scamper with no reaction from the birds, a stranger would be serenaded yard by yard

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 18 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

a local and current birdy observation is that the young robin (perhaps the spring yard one ) seems to have inherited the territory.

he is singing ownership big style while just getting the red shirt in what was his parents patch, this makes me think something drastic happened to them. they did have a next hatch but i have not seen adult or young un.

invertebrate diplomacy will be attempted

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 18 6:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We had a young robin either carve out a territory or inherit one last year. I saw him as a youngster the year before, and last year we were sharing the proceeds of the compost heap.

I will try to listen more carefully to the birds, but somehow I am not very good at bird calls, not even being able to remember which is which. I prefer flowers; they stay still long enough to be identified, and don't change at will like fungi.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 18 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Driving back from delivering log sacks on Saturday we saw 3 big birds, one in the road ahead of us and another 2 in the field by the side of the road. As we came along the one in the road tried to take off carrying a rabbit; it was a buzzard and the other two rooks or similar (they were against the light so couldn't be sure). The buzzard flew only a short distance to a clump of trees, so we carefully avoided the dead rabbit and hoped it would come back for it. Suspect it did.

yummersetter



Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset
PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 18 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Having had no sparrows here since the 1980s, a small gang of half a dozen spent last winter in the pyracantha columns just outside the studio. This summer they've come out every couple of weeks to present their latest batch of youngsters - they're hard to count but must have got up to well over fifty birds. Now they are out and about in proper flocks eating the berries; I've noticed that none of them have any trace of a black bib, so I guess the boys have left to do what they do.
They also pay no heed to us or the dogs and will flutter around us, Fantasia style if we have bird food.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 18 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    


Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 18 6:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That sounds great. You have a brilliant recovery then.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 18 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

birdy observations

the blue tit can pick invertebrates from cracks in brickwork

there are about a dozen sparrows in the current crop

they are tame enough to accept a loud stranger up close

the new robin uses sparrows , i'm not quite sure how.

the local "suburban " woodies are the fattest of the fat when in gets to mirror mirror on the (shed roof ) who is the fattest bird of all.
fat walter was plump but his grand children are as well.

the sammison family are doing ok and rather liked their share of the last tomatoes

something is killing leopard slugs, they dont normally expire in full view so these ones met a different fate. no visible wounds ,dead on the concrete path

there seem to be a few new spider species but that might be me getting better at noticing differences

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 18 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Interesting. I wonder if 'build' runs in birds as well as people. I am always wary of getting too friendly with mice, as you tend to get rather a lot of them, but if you are happy with your sammison family...Wonder if someone is putting out a different sort of slug bait to kill the slugs.

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