Garden full of Redwings.

A robin practically came into my hall. He must have been starving. It is beautiful to see the birds but when I clicked your link on the redwings, it reminds us of how devastating this weather is on wildlife.

I have my birdfeeder fully replenished as always, but it is hard to keep the water from freezing for them.
 
I think we have one of these in the garden and he is the biggest bully going. Runs the other birds as soon as they go near the berries. He's a big fatso because he has nearly cleared the bush of all the berries.
 
It said on Mooney show other day that a huge amount of Redwings have come in from Scandanavia as food was running out there. An amount of birds are getting killed with cats at moment so seemingly if cats could either have a bell on them or be kept in a bit more which isn't easy, worse times for this are early morning when birds are hungry after the night and are all looking for food and late at evening when they are feeding themselves up to go through the night.
In order to keep warm they seemingly fluff up their feathers and this makes them slower taking off. If you notice when you're driving they are very low flying at moment.
 
The birds are getting very brave/desperate alright. My uncle said the robin came in the kitchen window and perched on the tap when he started getting the bread ready. Robins are generally very territorial but we have 4/5 every morning looking for food. The blackbirds are pacing the window cill looking in the window as soon as we are down for breakfast. They are normally very shy birds.

But watch out, feeding the birds at ground level also attracts other hungry/cold creatures...rats

And don't forget to leave out some water, they will die of thirst too.
 
We have had seagulls swooping in for any bread we put out the last week or so, I think we managed to count 20 of them in one go! They are horrible creatures. It's been interesting to watch the other birds reaction to them, particularly the crows who started chasing them out, one crow standing on the washing line overseeing things! We did have a rat but that has disappeared, possibly due to the appearance of a cat who's a bit hopeless but we haven't had a single mouse for the first time in 10 years!

I agree the birds do seem to be getting braver, we had a couple of collared doves sitting on top of a chair outside staring into the house as if they were waiting for us to put food out, they didn't fly away as the normally do when I opened the back door and then only went as far as the back wall.

I have to say I love watching the comings and goings in the back garden!
 
Yes its fantastic to watch. We have a little wagtail and poor thing has to be very fast or a blackbird will have her food gone.
 
Sue Ellen said:
I think we have one of these in the garden and he is the biggest bully going. Runs the other birds as soon as they go near the berries. He's a big fatso because he has nearly cleared the bush of all the berries.
Click to expand...
Here you are Sue Ellen. Easily constructed and takes ball bearings. Also holly berries or very small condiment sets. Especially handy with lazy teenagers at the table. :)
http://www.knightforhire.com/images/spectra-Catapult.jpg
 
We have a wagtail ( not a bit afraid of the bigger birds, it seems), crows, a hooded crow ( hate them), seagulls, a very territorial and cheeky robin, loads of starlings, magpies and blackbirds. We are putting out as much as possible for them at the moment.

I thought you were supposed to wet bread before putting it out for birds- fact or fiction, does anyone know?
 
Vanilla said:
I thought you were supposed to wet bread before putting it out for birds- fact or fiction, does anyone know?
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In this freeze they might break their teeth :). But I think it comes from the fact that if they eat too much dry bread, without taking sips, and then drinking a lot of water, the whole mixture would swell and burst the lining of their tummies. In answer to your question, fact nor fiction? I don't know :eek:
 
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Vanilla said:
I thought you were supposed to wet bread before putting it out for birds- fact or fiction, does anyone know?
Click to expand...

This from here would lead one to believe that it should be wet:

Why should you feed the birds ?

  • It is interesting and educational to watch wild birds feed, bath and interact at close quarters
  • In severe weather conditions wild birds will benefit from your food offerings
  • In some locations birds have lost their natural habitat (eg hedgerows) and so traditional sources of food may be genuinely sparse, so feeding is helping them to survive.
  • Wild birds visiting your garden will also seek out garden pests - greenfly and other insects, slugs, snails and caterpillars
Important Considerations
If you do decide to feed wild birds there are some basic precautions that you should take :

  • Situate the food in a position that is inaccessible to local predators eg cats. A high bird table with an overhanging top, or a suspended feeding cage are commonly used.
  • Make sure there is good visibility around the feeding area so that birds can see predators early and get away, but at the same time some overhead cover is desirable so that the feeding birds aren't easy prey for sparrowhawks
  • If you own a bird-catching cat, dog or ferret ...keep it indoors when you are feeding the birds
  • Only provide foods that you know have not been sprayed with insecticides, and which have been stored correctly, otherwise they can go mouldy and become toxic for the birds. Bird foods should always be stored in a dry, cool place and marked foods should be used before their expiry date.
  • The birds in your garden have a wide-spectrum of food requirements so offer a broad range of fresh ingredients including :
    • Seeds - commercial seed mixes include canary seed, sunflower seeds, hemp, and many others. Peanuts are a great favourite.
    • Fruit - eg apples, pears, currants, grapes, figs, dried prunes or apricots
    • Nuts
      • make sure peanuts are free from aflatoxins, and
      • do not give too many nuts as they are high in energy content and the birds may get fat !
    • Green vegetables
    • Coconut halves
    • Soaked bread (not dry bread), biscuits or leftover cakes.
    • For carrion birds - meat ...which can be on a leftover bone
    • For live-feeders - mealworms
  • Some birds prefer to eat flat off the ground or off a bird table surface, others (eg tits) will prefer to take food from a suspended feeder. Hiding food is useful and encourages normal foraging behaviour, for example, nuts can be hidden in cracks in tree trunks.
  • Keep all containers and feeding surfaces clean
  • You can feed birds in 2 ways :
    • Leave food out all the time - this is not such a good system because it encourages overeating and obesity, encourages squirrels and other vermin to take the food, and it means that you will not be sure at what time of the day birds will visit for a feed
    • Timed feeding - put the food out at set times of the day. Once birds learn the time they will come back every day, and you can guarantee to have some activity to watch.
    • In BOTH cases remove any spilled food or stale food regularly - otherwise it may spoil, and will attract unwanted vermin such as rodents
    • Once birds are used to visiting your feeding area on a regular basis you should maintain the food supply, otherwise they may waste a lot of valuable energy travelling to your garden in the winter for no reason.
  • Provide fresh water as well for :
    • Drinking
    • Bathing
 
Very interesting post Sue Ellen thanks. Some good ideas there.

I did notice some very fat birds over the weekend - especially the dominant birds so yeah maybe they are overeating or its too much stodgy bread.
 
Teatime said:
I did notice some very fat birds over the weekend - especially the dominant birds so yeah maybe they are overeating or its too much stodgy bread.
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Are you talking about me? I'm only getting over the Christmas! Diet starts Monday.
 
We've had a lot of those thrushes too and robins. We have those fat balls from the pet shop hung out in little nets and the birds are devouring them. It's nice to see such activity in an otherwise desolate garden.
 
Teatime said:
I did notice some very fat birds over the weekend - especially the dominant birds so yeah maybe they are overeating or its too much stodgy bread.
Click to expand...

When it's this cold, they puff up their feathers to keep a layer of heated air under the outer layer of feathers, they just look fatter.
 
I couldn't believe my eyes when i looked out the window Sunday morning and there was pheasant sitting on our back wall, and i live in Tallaght beside the dual carrigeway! Although there's a green field and river behind the house. It looked so huge and out of place! The bad weather is definitley messing with the birds routines and territories. We've had a few yellow wagtails, pied wagtails, robins, lots of blackbirds and some thrushes. I've been making cakes for them - melting lard in a pot and throwing in oats, seeds, raisins, breadcrumbs and cheese. They are going crazy for it! B & Q have 15 kg bags of bird seed for €15 and lidl are great for oats, only 38cent for a bag of porridge oats, raisins are very cheap too and frytex is only around 80 cent so it's not expensive to keep them stocked up!
 
Well done Ciaraella. People like you make my day. I think you'll have feathered friends for life after all the nice goodies you're giving them.
 
The Redwings are still there today. About 8 of them. There appears to be an uneasy truce between them and the blackbirds of which there are 6. Our two Robins are still chasing our two sparrows though. The family of Jackdaws would eat everything if we let them. There is a noticeable drop in the number of Magpies that used to torment us, I wonder is someone killing these because we get a build up of 10 or 12 and then they seem to drop in numbers to 2 or 3. Plenty of Blue Tits, Chaffinch and a Wren that also visit us daily.
Our garden is only 60' x 40'. We leave two big bowls of water out and constantly topped up. It's funny watching them queue up for their baths. Our choir mats will be devastated for nest material in the spring, the Magpies being the worst culprits.
 
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