Bird contact

[Woody girl]

I'm sure bird viruses are spread by well meaning bird feeders of the human kind who just didn't bother to clean their feeders regularly . I know that I would have no woodpecker in my garden if food was not there for them. There are certain foods that are not suitable at certain times of the year. Especially at nesting time for instance dried fruits and mealworm need to be soaked properly before being put out as they can swell inside their tiny tummies and cause deaths . Fats can go rancid in the summer sun. White bread has no real nutritional value to chicks.
I feed lightly in spring summer and autumn but make sure there is plenty at all times in the winter.

 

[Tengu]

I come from a family who spend more on bird food then they do feeding themselves, (Whilst loudly telling everyone they find it a dratted nusiance and when will those pesky birds move out into the wilds where they belong?)

No wonder I am half bird!

(I cannot tell you if I hatched from an egg or not, as I have no mother...)

This is all year round.

The experts these days advise us to not feed the wildlife at all, as it encourages unnatural behavior.

The wildlife (and this includes in some places apex predators) seems to live in the city now. (Except those sort of creatures who are unable to adapt and so presumably doomed for extinction) So I suspect they do not listen to experts. (Which is just as well, the doom and gloom we get today).

Im not permitted to feed birds on site here, -bring in rats. But if I was to, I would feed high energy food in the winter, and a focussed natural diet in nesting time.

 

[Woody girl]

I cannot imagine not being allowed to feed birds. I'm a bit of a rebel when it comes to people telling me what I can or cannot do. I guess that stems from being told so often as a kid that I couldn't do this or that as it wasn't ladylike or i wasn't good enough for something or other. Now I do what I want and to heck and back with jobsworth. As long as I don't harm anyone or anything I can't see what all the fuss is about.
Phew! Rant over!
Today the female blackbird came to within a few feet of me and didn't seem at all bothered by my presence. I was hanging out washing so not taking a great deal of notice untill she caught the corner of my eye about a foot away from me.
I have a little sqeaky sound I make to tell them all is safe and well so I made my sqeak and she just kept on hopping around my feet.
Another lovely moment.
Haven't seen woody today but then I have been busy cleaning and repacking kit after my trip. Still lots of tent pegs to straighten out after the wind took my tarp for a trip of its own!

 

[Lou]

I feed birds all year round. Most of them are very discerning and at this time of year the bird table is only occupied by the odd house sparrow (we have a fledgling living in the bush nearby). Birds are feeding their young mostly insects at the moment so are not interested in seeds or fat. Goldfinches are on the lawn eating dandelion clock seeds and will hopefully come to the sunflowers I have planted, which will be ready in autumn. The woodpecker loves the peanuts I put out though. I have found his nest in the woods and I have to say after spending a while watching him and his mate's activities, he spends most of the time in the trees looking for food.

@Woody girl my surname was Wood before I got married so I spent most of my life being at the receiving end of Woody Woodpecker jokes mostly at school, wears a bit thin after a while ;-)

 

[Woody girl]

My best buddy at infant and junior school was called Teresa Wood. She was fed up with..... trees are wood ...... by the time she was eight. I always said I'd happily swop names.

 

[MrEd]

Be careful that you don't underestimate the intelligence of birds there MrEd.

i am not, but it does alter behaviour, and i am not talking in a single bird during 1 year, i mean generationally

 

[Robson Valley]

I feed bread to the resident Ravens in the winter when it is -20C or knee-deep fresh snow or both.
Nutritional balance is stupid under those circumstances. The birds need calories. Period.
I shovel a feeding track 10m across my front yard, call to the birds and scatter 2-3C chopped dry bread crust.
The road kills get buried and the Ravens and eagles have to wait for the wolves, coyotes, cougars, lynx and bobcats to dig it up again.

 

[fielder1963]

It's lovely to hear about it woody girl. I get a lot of pleasure even just watching the birds in the garden, I've never had one land on me though.
A red squirrel did once jump on to my stomach off a fence rail in a sanctuary.
Must have thought it was a bouncy castle!

 

[Lou]

I found the Great Spotted Woodpecker's nest in the woods (the one that comes regularly to the bird table) and the babies have been getting huge recently, the parents diligently feeding them all hours of the day, so much so that they were bulging out of the hole in the tree and yesterday morning one of them was with its dad at the table being fed peanuts by him. Magical moment. They were here again early this morning. I hope I'll see the whole brood here soon.

 

[Woody girl]

That's wonderfull to hear that the woodpecker babies are doing so well. I havnt seen my Woody for a few days. Normaly I hear them during the day and havnt heard them either so I hope they are OK. Maybe they have fledged and flown off but I had hoped to see the family at my feeder. Keeping watch!

 

[Broch]

At this time of year they get far more food raiding small tit and treecreeper nests

 

[bobnewboy]

Our woodpeckers are raising at least one youngster, who now flies with them to our feeders. Not always a pretty landing, but getting better, and he/she seems to be getting the idea of picking pieces of peanut out of the mesh.

In the last week or two our pheasants have been less visible in the garden. Perhaps they are nursing chicks too at the moment? In any case we do seem to have gained a pair of red legged partridges, which are very cute, especially when taking dust baths on the path next to the house inside the roof’s drop-line. The hen seems quite ok with us in the garden, but the cock is much more flighty. I will try to get a few pictures of them

 

[Woody girl]

Sad news. My lovely blackbird is no more. Found a bunch of feathers under the apple tree last night. No sign of him all day today. He is normally regular. He has been ...cat-ted. .. I know who is responsible. Taz a ginger Tom of known bird decimation has been caught a couple of times hiding behind the compost bin to get out of the heat.
A giant water gun was purchased this afternoon and is ready and waiting for his next visit!

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

Many of us feed birds and animals when out on the trail. Why not? They too are hungry like us and find hard times like we do sometimes. So why not help each other out? The raven & crows tell us where some animals are so we know. We reward them with left overs. When i was younger iand spent lots of time paddling the far north beyond the tree line brother wolf would sometimes creep into my camp to look for food as they found it as hard to find food as we did sometimes.

Some people say this is wrong and maybe if there are places where wolves get used to being fed that is bad as wolf no longer respect man, or his dogs. I have heard of wolves taking dogs from the camps of those who fed them too often and got them tamer than they should be. Animal afraid of human doesn't get hunted by them too easily.

Enjuė

 

[Sundowner]

You're all lucky to have tits, weeks, woodpeckers etc out there. It's probably because you're feeding them. I have a bird bath a few feet away from where I take my coffee in the morning and trust me, the blackbirds and spooked don't mind me at all. But this is all the variety I seem to have, perhaps the odd Robin, and yes a pair of signed doves but yellowhammer, blue tits etc seem to have disappeared. Shame really! Will I have to start feeding them?

 

[Robson Valley]

All the Ravens here have gone off to do whatever Ravens do for the summer.
They are back in a hurry in big rain to shelter in the core of my big spruce trees.

I feed them in the winter when deep snow buries road kill. They have to wait for the wolves/coyotes and the cats to dig it up again.
I feed them when the nights are -20C and colder. Just bread for the calories is what they need.

The Whiskey Jacks in Banff and Jasper get fed enough (BIG NO_NO) that they sit on your hands and will steal food.

 

[Tengu]

Herring gulls are a regular menace here in Cornwall.

But then this is because they know they can get away with it.

at least we are not like in India where it is dogs and monkeys...

 

[Broch]

What? Herring gulls eat dogs and monkeys in India?

 

[Tengu]

Wouldnt it be nice if they did?

There are loads of small children and mutts here...

(Greater Blackbacks, of course, do that anyway)

 

[Janne]

You guys have not been attacked by a Ching Ching......
Think WW2 Kamikaze, black with sharp claws and beak. Small.
They are very protective of the nests.

I hate birds flying around me when I sit outside in a café or eatery.
They exhibit lacking Anus control!