Show us ya birds !

[sime42]

Too many Tits!

Yep, as hard as it may be to believe, one can have too many tits. In the garden.

We get loads of the little buggers, but not much else. Mainly Blue Tits but also the very occasional Coal, Great and a gang of Long tailed. Plus the ubiquitous robins and blackbirds. Nothing ever that interesting or rare though. I don't know why, we put out a variety of different food.

Anyone know if Blue Tits actively repel other birds? They can be aggressive little sods.

 

 

[AJStrees]

21 hours ago, sime42 said:

Too many Tits!

Yep, as hard as it may be to believe, one can have too many tits. In the garden.

We get loads of the little buggers, but not much else. Mainly Blue Tits but also the very occasional Coal, Great and a gang of Long tailed. Plus the ubiquitous robins and blackbirds. Nothing ever that interesting or rare though. I don't know why, we put out a variety of different food.

Anyone know if Blue Tits actively repel other birds? They can be aggressive little sods.

 

 

I think you will find garden birds are mostly what you are seeing. Woodland birds differ and the different habitats in different parts of the country get different birds. I get lots and lots of dunnocks, sparrows come by occasionally and jackdaws, but that is close to woodland area. But by the pond I get grey wagtails and woodpeckers, etc... a lot of the wild birds are pretty shy. If you look in the right places you will find tree creepers, goldcrests, greenfinch, goldfinch and a host of other birds, but they won't come for bird food too much as they like to eat other things in their natural habitat. On a different note. A male kestrel came swooping in today and picked up a worm off the path. 

 

That's what I see. Occasionally great spotted wood peckers come in for the feeders. 👍

[spudulike]

If you want to see Goldfinch, put out Niger/Nyger seed. I am guessing the two names are because of other connotations! 

Goldfinch can't resist it and it always hits the spot. Long Tailed Tits like a quality fat ball. Get plenty of both where we are.

 

[sime42]

Cheers both. Sounds like I shouldn't complain too much. Forgot to mention that we do live towards the edge of a big city.

It is Yellow Finches that I really want to entice into the garden. They always look exotic to me, with their bright red faces. I do deploy Niger/Nyger seed, but still no luck. Even freshly put out stuff, from different sources, (I read somewhere that it needs to be fresh, maybe on here)

[Stubby]

11 hours ago, sime42 said:

Cheers both. Sounds like I shouldn't complain too much. Forgot to mention that we do live towards the edge of a big city.

It is Yellow Finches that I really want to entice into the garden. They always look exotic to me, with their bright red faces. I do deploy Niger/Nyger seed, but still no luck. Even freshly put out stuff, from different sources, (I read somewhere that it needs to be fresh, maybe on here)

I found ( a few years back ) that it seems to be that Gold Finches prefer sun flower hearts over niger seed ( its actually thistle seed ) dependent on the time of year . I think they go for the niger seed when feeding young as its smaller . 

[spudulike]

11 hours ago, Stubby said:

I found ( a few years back ) that it seems to be that Gold Finches prefer sun flower hearts over niger seed ( its actually thistle seed ) dependent on the time of year . I think they go for the niger seed when feeding young as its smaller . 

Yup, my wife said that today, sunflower hearts do indeed hit the mark. I have also seen them getting excited over clover in the grass as well. 

The point is that if you want to see Gold finch, you need to supply Niger seed, sunflower hearts or support a natural environment that will support their typical food source.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, spudulike said:

Yup, my wife said that today, sunflower hearts do indeed hit the mark. I have also seen them getting excited over clover in the grass as well. 

The point is that if you want to see Gold finch, you need to supply Niger seed, sunflower hearts or support a natural environment that will support their typical food source.

Steve I do supply the above and used to enjoy copious amounts of the little fellas but of late , not a sausage . Plenty of other birds though .

[5thelement]

Loads of Goldfinch on my feeders, they are emptying the one containing sunflower hearts daily.

[nepia]

On 04/03/2023 at 08:28, Stubby said:

I found ( a few years back ) that it seems to be that Gold Finches prefer sun flower hearts over niger seed ( its actually thistle seed ) dependent on the time of year . I think they go for the niger seed when feeding young as its smaller . 

Sunflower hearts are everything's favourite. The Goldies also go for the mixed seed and actually leave the Niger seed uneaten!

[5thelement]

4 hours ago, nepia said:

Sunflower hearts are everything's favourite. The Goldies also go for the mixed seed and actually leave the Niger seed uneaten!

I had to stop buying the mixed seed. Birds of several species would discard the seed they didn’t want in favour of the ones they did, leaving a pile of germinating seed in the flower beds and emptying quite a large feeder in an hour or two.