For WHO's birders

[Nurse Ratched]

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

[Coffee]

"Coffee 7:19 Fri Mar 27 For anyone who knows about tropical birds: I saw a small bird the other day, about the size of hlaf a sparrow, but with a long, pointed beak and a yellow/greenish hue. Any ideas what it is? ______________________________ I've found out what it was -- a Tailor Bird, apparently. Wiki: ""Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider's web to make a cradle in which the actual grass nest is built."" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmfWUsU8VEo"

[Nurse Ratched]

"Mex The RSPB Shop delivers products to the EU (postage is £15, but that might be per package, not per weight, so stock up) https://shopping.rspb.org.uk"

[lowermarshhammer]

Mex You could try making your own feeders https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/scotland/posts/do-it-yourself-bird-feeders

[Mex Martillo]

"Ok, thanks for the advise. I have cleaned all old food of the table and put just hamster food. It is a bit exposed, but difficult to move, I made it a bit too permanent, right near my kitchen window so I could see them every morning. Certainly is different here in Spain. Never seen feed or feeders for wild birds on sale in my supermarkets. I am not sure how frequent it is done now, but tradition was to catch these little sparrows and the like and put them in the paella. I’ve seen old film of how they did it, putting out a bit of seed to attract the little birds and then throwing a net over the area to catch them all. I’m sure the previous owner of my house was up to something as I was astonished when I first moved in, sitting in the garden there were no, absolutely no birds, it was really weird. Now in the morning I have a dawn chorus as you’d expect, but they are very timid, never really come close. They are always flitting about though and I thought they would appreciate a bird table. Patience..."

[Tomshardware]

"Yes chim, they are the green woodpecker, they are ground feeders, partial to ants. Lovely to see but very easily spooked, make quite a racket when they fly off."

[chim chim cha boo]

"Two absolutely beautiful woodpeckers on Hampstead heath yesterday. Bright red heads, yellow bellies and green wings. Hard to believe that they are British birds with them being so colourful. Made my day."

[Nurse Ratched]

Try 'Bird Up'

[yngwies Cat]

"Hello Who birdys. Is there a like a bird song app like Shizam? Without the planes at the moment the amount of bird song is bonkers. Really nice. We get the usual garden suspects, but some tunes can't quite work out what bird it's is, plus I'm no Roger Whittaker. Cheers."

[lowermarshhammer]

Yes Mediterranean types can be absolute epic shitcunts when it comes to blasting defenceless lickle songbirds out of the sky. I think in Crete it's seen as routine. Backwards cunts.

[J.Riddle]

"Mex, there were a couple of young rangers who interrupted a bird shoot in Catalonia a couple of years ago, who were shot and killed for their troubles, probably shitting themselves."

[lowermarshhammer]

In Spain? Just read that... Local tactics might be different. I wonder if they even sell bird food.

[lowermarshhammer]

"Hectic time for many garden birds. Nest building, shagging, sitting on eggs all day, accordingly somewhat less interested in eating. Seed feeders always seem to take longer to empty around this time. Just my observation. Mex, another thing might be your bait. They can be fussy. One brand / blend of seed can often disappear far quicker than another. Same goes for suet balls / suet blocks. Don't give up. It can take ages and then they show an interest."

[lowermarshhammer]

"Hectic time for many garden birds. Nest building, shagging, sitting on eggs all day, accordingly somewhat less interested in eating. Seed feeders always seem to take longer to empty around this time. Just my observation. Mex, another thing might be your bait. They can be fussy. One brand / blend of seed can often disappear far quicker than another. Same goes for suet balls / suet blocks. Don't give up. It can take ages and then they show an interest."

[Nurse Ratched]

"They might not feel safe for some reason. Maybe they feel too exposed with not enough tree cover nearby. Do you have cats nearby? You're in Spain - do they have a tradition of feeding wild birds? I'd be surprised, because they're fucking savages towards bulls, goats and donkeys, etc. If you can get proper wild bird food (seed mixes, sunflower hearts, fat balls/blocks, mealworms, etc) you could try that. I have a friend who lives in Italy and he struggles to find wild bird food, too. Hamster food words for him, though. He gets loads of birdies."

[Mex Martillo]

"So birders, where am I going wrong? Birds not interested in my bird table? It started well, had some old rather dodgy chicken food so I set up a rat proof table and put the food on it after a little while the birds seemed happy then it became just collared doves as they ate everything and did not let other birds near until there was no food. So I put a metal mesh over it that only the little birds could get through. Took about a week for the little birds to test the new caged table. I saw a few visit, but they never got into it and don’t visit anymore? I had some old hamster food so I added that into the mix. No visitors? What’s wrong with the little critters?"

[Bungo]

"yngwies Cat 7:54 Mon Apr 6 Definitely. I live nearly as close to Heathrow as you (TW16), and we now look up when any plane goes over (as we used to for Concorde), as they are fairly rare at the moment."

[Coffee]

Mike Oxsaw 8:54 Sat Apr 11 That's a question for the NETWORK.

[Mike Oxsaw]

"How many Jacob's Cream Crackers does a pair of Mynah Birds require each day? There's a pair who own the communal gardens at my apartment complex and they're quite tuneful, so I'd like to encourage them to sing from my window-cill."

[Tomshardware]

This evening I saw a peregrine again perched on a tv aerial on a nearby rooftop.

[JAC]

Ive never seen/heard so many Skylarks as I have over the last few days taking the dog for a walk. Today I counted at least a dozen ans we wandered across fields. Its truely amazing listening and trying to spot the little fuckers.

[gph]

The crows are manufacturing tiny megaphones for the other birds. Part of project CORVID-20.

[Nurse Ratched]

Mrs Cat has it right.

[yngwies Cat]

"I have a question birders. We notice the bird song a lot more since there's hardly planes around, as we are under the flight path. It's very nice actually. I made the comment to Mrs Cat that the birds were being particularly loud one morning. She commented that because of years of living in urban areas and having to compete with noise there bird song has in fact got louder? Interesting? What do the Who residential birders. Think? Is my bird talking bollocks or is there some truth in this that Bill Odie and yourselves would concur with? Many thanks Y Cat Hounslow"

[wd40]

"Famous words from Mr Banks after Michael asked if could feed the birds . ""What do you get if you feed the birds-fat birds "" Then again I do run out in my pants most morning to scatter the pigeons away from the bird table with my other half shouting -leave them they count as birds as well idoit."

[lowermarshhammer]

"Saw a LOT of deer (25+) on the A12 at 0100 two nights ago close to Brook St Junction 28. Absolute car crash about to happen, pulled over & made a 999 call to make plod aware. Just after the call a barn owl flew over the A12. Lots more barn owls about in Essex compared to when I was a kid."