Snow birds

[Palustris]

We do get a lot of feathereds as well as cats.

[ideasguy]

Lovely photos Eric
A little challenge there for our bird watchers
What are they?

[NightHawk]

Top photo is a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Can't see from that angle if it's male or female.  If it had turned its head to the left, a male would have a red patch on the base of its head.  A female doesn't have it.  Definitely not a juvenile as they have a red crown.

Bottom photo - from left to right - Blue Tit / Great Tit / Blue Tit / Blue Tit.

[roiphil]

great pic, the wife thought she heard a woodpecker on our daily walk the other day, we have plenty of birds around here i have noticed that the crows dominate  the back garden and the smaller birds tend to stick nearer to the house

[Eric Hardy]

Lovely shot of the woodpecker, Eric.

A some time ago a great spotted woodpecker committed suicide by flying directly into my upstairs study window. I heard the bang and went downstairs but sadly it was dead.

I don't know whether anyone else experiences this but birds, particularly wood pigeons, very frequently fly straight at our windows. They make quite a loud bump and often leave a greasy outline of themselves on the glass. They don't seem to kill themselves like the unfortunate woodpecker but I bet they feel a bit stunned 

When we first had the house built, 57 years ago, and birds flew at our windows we thought that it was because they weren't used to the house being there, but this has happened from time to time over all those years.

Eric

[NightHawk]

We've experienced a bird flying into one of our windows on only two occasions.  They flew off again without any serious injury.

As you can imagine, being in the New Forest we have loads of birds flying about so it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often.

Having large picture windows, or patio doors, are the main problems as there is a bigger surface area for reflections.  It is most likely to be the reflection of the bird hitting the window, seeing it as another rival in its territory and wanting to attack it.  Sometimes they just get confused and just don't see the windows.

Either way Eric, if it's happening on a very regular basis then you may have to consider putting silhouette bird stickers on your windows.  The type that resemble birds of prey would be most effective, as this is the outline that is best known to them as 'danger'.

[ideasguy]

Yes, I have two incidents to add to that Eric.

My sister and hubby build a new conservatory last year. She feeds everything wild (including a fox) and attracts many wild pigeons to her garden.
One pigeon crashed into the conservatory  shortly after it was built and left a vivid impression on the window. Remarkably, it didn't die. Must ask if they took a photo. It lasted for ages .
One morning we heard an almighty crash, and looked out to see that pesky sparrow hawk lying on the path.
We could see it was still alive. I was tempted to finish it off as it makes a regular visit each day about lunchtime (appropriately), sweeping past at speed to catch any birds which panic and fly into the air under the tree with our nut feeders.
I let nature take its course - in about 10 minutes it managed to get itself onto its feet. In about half an hour it flew to a bush, then later it took off (hungry I hope!).
Not a fairy tale ending but it still makes a call occasionally. They all lived happily ever after?

[Eric Hardy]

you may have to consider putting silhouette bird stickers on your windows.  The type that resemble birds of prey would be most effective, as this is the outline that is best known to them as 'danger'.

I haven't heard of that, Laurie, I must investigate.

With this weather I have found myself on the forum more than usual today  Apart from shovelling the snow off our drive there is not much more I can do outside.

Eric

[Eric Hardy]

I was tempted to finish it off as it makes a regular visit each day about lunchtime (appropriately)

From the sparrow hawk's point of you it was jolly lucky you didn't finish it off!

Eric

[Palustris]

Like this one you mean?

We like seeing them and they have to live as well you know.
This one recovered and flew away afterwards.

[ideasguy]

Yes, just like that Eric.
I have a photo of the crumpled heap, but not as good as that one Eric. I used Eric Hardy's technique - I took it from inside the house 
Yes, they gotta live to balance the species, or so I believe. I believe they are protected - is that correct?

[NightHawk]

I believe they are protected - is that correct?

That is correct George.

The sparrowhawk is now fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take an adult sparrowhawk, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents.

[Palustris]

Same Woodpecker, but more visible red on the head.

[Eric Hardy]

That's great, Eric, you can see it really well.

We have a little mound in the lawn where there used to be a cherry tree. The ants found it a good place to be. Last year we looked out of the kitchen window and there were three green woodpeckers, two adults and a young one, standing on the mound and pecking away at the ants. That was another time I wasn't ready with my camera 

Eric H

[NightHawk]

Ditto with the green woodpeckers Eric.

As well as the Great Spotted Woodpeckers visiting our garden, we have also had Green Woodpeckers.

Saw a first for our garden two days ago - a Goldcrest.  They mainly favour pine forests, where we've observed them many times, but this was a real treat.

[Eric Hardy]

I hope you don’t mind me adding a few more snowbirds to your posting, Eric.
Taken at a focal length of 200 (360 in 35 mm terms) I discovered that in this dull weather I was having difficulty holding the camera still enough. I set the camera up on my tripod in the kitchen pointing through the double glazing at the bird table then focussed manually on the spot I thought birds were most likely to be. This way I had simply to squeeze the button when I saw a good opportunity. These shots are heavily cropped so it didn’t matter if the subject was well off centre because the cropping would cope with that. The EXIF tells me that the birds were about thirty feet away.


Great tit eating peanuts


Blue tit eating a buggy suet ball


The woodpigeons were not popular because they kept wolfing down the seed. I have now  ordered a seed feeder from the RSPB which they say has been dispatched.




Song thrush



Song thrush

Amazingly I haven’t seen a single house sparrow this winter. They used to be so common.

Eric H.

[NightHawk]

Beautiful set of photos again there Eric - you never disappoint 

We get house sparrows visiting our garden, so you must just be unlucky where you are Eric 

[Palustris]

Love that thrush. Ours only visits for a short time in autumn and then it is always so far away as to be very difficult to photo. They are getting very rare these days.
We get a lot of sparrows too.

[Eric Hardy]

We get a lot of sparrows too.

We get house sparrows visiting our garden, so you must just be unlucky where you are Eric 

I wonder why they don't like us. We are compensated by the fact that there is hardly a moment when we can't look up and see a red kite or two. We leave scraps of meat out and they swoop down and grab them. They are far to quick for me to get a photo of them.

Eric