Choosy Birds

The birds continue their feeding frenzy.

When it reached the stage they were eating £10 worth of Sunflower seeds and Nyger Seeds per week, I decided they would have to go on an economy drive.

I bought less expensive feed from my local supermarket (ASDA).

The birds are not keen on it however, it is lasting much longer simply because they are not feeding as much, fussy little blighters that they are.

You can see here, the dark coloured seed is Nyger Seed (expensive) and they are eating that, one chap is actually sitting on a branch waiting his turn. The light coloured seed is the less expensive stuff from ASDA, and they are ignoring it. 

They must be socialists, ie they are getting something for nothing and still they are not happy!

Warning for Cyclists

Amusing, but true!

Have a Laugh

This guy is funny!

There are four parts.

Fat Birds, an obesity problem?

The Goldfinch population of South Tyneside continue to dine at my expense.

They are incredible troughers, I have been feeding them Black Sunflower seeds and Nyger seeds, and they have been going through 250grams of seed, of each type, per day.

Now according to the British Garden Birds website they weigh about 15 grams each.

Typically we get a "flock" of about 12 birds, of whom a maximum of 8 are feeding at any one time (there are only four feeders, each with two perches). I assume it is the same 12 birds who come to feed each time, but since they do not wear visitors badges with their names on them I cannot be sure.

You can see one chap here, looking impatiently at the empty feeder, while perched at a feeder with some remaining seed, greedy little devil, doesn't he know there are birds starving in the world?

I do not want to appear mean, going on about the amount of seed they are eating at my expense, but if you do the maths, they are eating 500 grams of seed per day between 12 birds, that is 40 grams each (approximately), which is almost three times their own body weight, per day.

Kathleen is getting seriously concerned about their figures, she thinks she may have to develop an exercise and fitness programme to keep their weight under control, as well as restrict their intake, ie breakfast, lunch, and dinner with no snacking between meals.

At this rate, I can see our Goldfiches being candidates on the Biggest Loser!

As I sit watching them pig out, great excitement in the household, we have a woodpecker.

Kathleen even breaks off from drying and straightening her hair to come and look!

It is the first time either of us have seen a woodpecker in the wild!, that is, if you count our front garden as being "in the wild".

A quick check of the British Garden Birds website and I  think it was a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, but it may have been a lesser spotted woodpecker.

I was too slow in getting the camera ready to take a photograph, before it flew off, so we will have to wait and see if I can get a photograph if it comes back.

Got the the little blighters!

After saying yesterday that I could not get a photograph of the birds (Goldfinches) feeding, I managed to get this.

OK, it is not "Wild Life Photographer of the Year", but at least I got a shot.

I am actually pretty pleased with it, it is taken with a fairly ordinary digital camera (Pentax Optio E85 12.1 megapixels, but set at 5 megapixels so the images don't swamp my hard disk drive). I had no extra equipment, not even a tripod, and being a man I have not even read the instructions for the camera since I got it about 18 months ago.

I got so excited there, I posted it on the wrong blog!, I need to get out more.

The Birds

A few years ago, after watching an episode of Springwatch, with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble, I was motivated to buy some bird feeders for the garden.

We had them in the back garden, where we could watch the birds feed as we sipped our red wine.

But, the birds did not have any table manners, and spread the seeds from the feeders all over the place. Some of it even took root and we had a variety of plants of undefined type growing in the borders, where Kathleen had decreed that only flowers should be.

So it was no contest, the birds had fallen foul of her who must be obeyed, their feeders were consigned to the refuse bin.

Recently, while felling a tree in the front garden, a neighbour was telling me he had occasionally seen a flock of Goldfinches in that very tree.

This tugged at my heart strings somewhat. Not only had we created a bird starvation area in the back garden, but now I was making a flock of Goldfinches homeless. This combined with the fact that grandson Daniel likes to watch (well ok and to chase) the birds in the garden, when he visits us, similarly I am sure grandson Gabriel will be interested when he visits, clinched it. I decided I would acquire some new bird feeders.

Amazon duly obliged, and four hanging bird feeders arrived within  days.

After a warning from Kathleen, along the lines of "remember the mess we had last time with those things", I had a plan to outwit the birds messy feeding habits, I located the feeders in the lower branches of the large tree in our front garden, so they were over the lawn. Reasoning that any debris dropped would land on the lawn, where regular cutting would prevent it being a problem.

I was taking this very seriously!

I checked the RSPB website to first of all check that the brightly coloured birds I had evicted were in fact Goldfinches, having confirmed that, I went on to discover their favourite food. Nyger seed and Sunflower seed it would appear.

A quick visit to the local pet shop, and I had a bag of nyger seed and a bag of black sunflower seeds.

The feeders were filled, and put in place.

We waited patiently.

Nothing!

But after about a week, presumably when the birds had decided it was not a ruse to further disrupt their lives, they began to visit the feeders regularly.

Now we have an almost constant flock of Goldfinches feeding there, Kathleen is even worried we will soon have a bird obesity problem, and have to provide bird aerobics.

I have tried several times to get a good photograph of the feeding frenzy, to post here, but so far without success, I will keep trying.

The idle pointless things you do when you are retired, great!