Starlings have fledged every nest around my home and at work yet there have been no parties of calling chicks and adults to be seen only adults. I wonder if all the rain meant no food and they actually died before they fledged or they died after they fledged?
the same is with the Great and Blue Tits from work.
where are the young starlings
There are quite a few youngsters here, starlings, sparrows and tits.
What do the young goldfinches look like, I spose behaviour is the best guide?
There were 3 dead broods of tit chicks in the 50 dormouse boxes I checked this morning :( but 9 alive and well.
One box had a youngster just fledging sitting with one foot on the entrance and one foot on a twig - plucking up the courage to launch itself :)
They are not on the ground in my garden either perhaps they will be very soon. I've seen a few fledgeling sparrows being fed direct from the birdtable while sitting next to it:))) I regularly feed my birds & have several starling nests in my eaves despite having it all replaced in plastic!!! The house sparrows are nesting under the tiles. All nests are full & very vocal especially early in the morning as the fledgelings are getting bigger. Reckon it wont be long before they all appear. Did have some collared neck doves nests in my conifers but the squirrels had those :(
there are dozens of young sparrows around my house just now.
young Goldfinches are identical to their parents except for the black, white and red head colours which are replaced with a pale brown hence their name Greypate
Thanks - much easier to ask than look it up in my book lol
Interesting. I've not seen any of those this year yet then, though now I think about it, I was seeing them last year.
they arent fledged yet but should be any day.
Goldfinches and Bullfinches are the last resident birds to breed.
I look forward to them coming - must order some more nyger!
Saw green woodpeckers this morning and heard what I think was a tree pipit - must listen to my CD
I've been watching a family of 3 young starlings and their poor harassed parents here Mark.A family or robins too.Sometimes during the day it's a bit like a creche out on my patio, with chicks squawking,frantic parents zooming too and fro.But I've not seen any sparrow chicks yet,and normally there's loads.
the goldfinches have at last discovered my niger feeder,and almost empty it over night,I was almost going to give up on that one.but like you said, it takes them a while to get used to it.
I put out old sandwiches the other day here at work and only one Starling had a chick in tow. Bill Oddie was saying last night the times are bad for chicks because of the weather
I missed that program Mark, wish I hadn't I enjoy his programs.What was it about the weather ? too cold? too warm?I think I still may have sparrows building nests, they keep arriving with bits in their beaks, then sit on the branch for a couple of minutes trying to work out how they can feed with it in their mouths,then drop it.
also, I was watching a starling yesterday pulling off the 'anther' bits left from the clematis , he spent a good 10 mins doing this,and flew off with a beakful,to do what with I don't know.
I'm sooo upset! This morning I found the wren's nest on the ground. It had been hoiked out of the thick ivy it was in. Could have been a cat, but I'm much more suspicious of the grey tree rat that has been raiding the bird food and getting increasingly bold.
As with so many baby birds, the nestlings had been making a lot of noise calling for food and so drawing attention to the nest. I'd been really enjoying watching the parents zooming round the garden like little round fighter planes, so intent on collecting food for their ravenous hoard.
Oh well, such is nature! Perhaps this should have gone in the 'Nature is red in tooth and claw' thread :(
do they raid nests then philomel? are they after the chicks?We were watching a female blackbird yesterday.My sister and I were sat on the patio, and she landed about 2 ft from us on a gravel patio, under the feeders.She fedd for about 1 min, then sort of fluffed herself up. spread her wings,and sat with her beak open.She looked distressed, but we weren't too sure. She was like this for a good 10 mins.I put a dish of water in front of her incase she was hot or thirsty, and she only backed away a couple of steps.Then one of my cats appeared,(always time it well)and she scampered under the bush.I shut the cats indoors, but never did see what happened to her. I'm hoping she was o.k. and flew off.
Blackbirds always look like this when they are sunbathing. sometimes they seem to go into a trance
Dead adult robin this morning - so perhaps it is a cat.
...........must look out my weapons!!!
Yes tree rats do raid nest sueone. They are very partial to eggs and chicks! (Native reds are not reported to do this)
I had a batch of dormouse boxes in one wood I had to monitor that were faultily designed (I had nothing to do with design or putting them in). The squirrels learnt to talke off the lids and help themselves to the contents!
Yes those blackbirds just go SOOO stoopid! They can look distressed but often just blissful :)
Baby starlings appeared yesterday. Felt sorry for one mum with three fat chicks in two, mouths open making a racket. Looks strange to see chicks, bigger than mum standing next to food that she picks up to feed them. What's even stranger the local birds seem to know my cat has arthritis & has no chance of catching them. They totally ignore the fact she's there!!!
As you said nature is cruel.
I'm glad to know she wasn't in trouble, just sunning herself.
Must be disheartening philomel when you check the boxes to find them raided.
Rosalia, it's the same in my garden, I can sit with my sunlounge door open,both cats sat on the mat by the door, with birds hopping just feet from then.Both my cats know they're not allowed to touch the birds,I'm sure they have a go if I'm not there, but as I am most of the time, they just ignore them,give a few mews sometimes when one hops a bit too close,then looks at me as if to say 'o.k. o.k. I'm not going to touch your precious birds !!.'
Those starling chicks certainly give their parents a hard time,one was even pecking at it's poor old ma or pa yesterday as if to say faster,faster.
.........Those starling chicks certainly give their parents a hard time,one was even pecking at it's poor old ma or pa yesterday as if to say faster,faster...........
That made me smile. I think it's quite funny when the parents have had enough & ignore them hoping they start picking up their own food. Wish I could have done that to my two girls when they were more than old enough to leave home but showed no sign of going! :)))
By the way I'm looking after a neighbours garden while they are on holiday & a family of house martins have decided to build a nest in the house apex right over a downstairs window. You can imagine the mess! She wont be too happy when she gets back I think.
a simple deflector board either made or bought will stop the droppings falling. when I had them nesting a put out a newspaper and lifted the top sheets every morning
Thanks Mark I'll tell her. It's odd really that I never get them but my neighbours do. The houses are the same. It wouldn't bother me if they nested on mine but my neighbours don't like them. I remember watching bats pour out from under one of my neighbours eves in the evening a couple of years ago thinking how wonderful it would be to have them in mine. When I told her she freaked! Wasn't happy either when I told her they were protected & she couldn't do anything about it. It was a really lovely sight to watch them
It might be worth trying an artificial nest on your house to see if you can encourage them to use the house with the warm welcome?
? artificial nest. Where can I get one that would attract house martins? Also does anyone know if close proximity to people causes birds to abandon the nest.
I planted a 4 plants deep hawthorn, sloe & beech hedge at the bottom of my garden about 4 years ago. This year I've noticed I have a blackbirds nest about 3 feet from where we sit in the evening. Will that cause a problem? Should we move!
Ros
Blackbird wont mind provided you arent there when they are busy feeding chicks.
Schwegler make woodcrete House Martin nests. These can be obtained from either CJ Wildfoods http://www.birdfood.co.uk/shop/index.htm I'm buying some and Swift boxes
Thanks for the link Mark, looks an interesting site. Will move my bench away from the blackbirds nest. It's very big considering the size of the bird.
Ros
the bench wont annoy the bird on the humans at it