Bird Charmer

[Baccus]

I have read that they are worried about the drop in Sparrow numbers in England

.
I do however like the revenge of pigeons

. Basically it goes that the more polution that is generated and trapped in water sources that feral pigeons will drink the more acidic their droppings become so their droppings actually "eat" through concrete, steel etc quicker. Sort of a a bird pay back for messing with the environment.

 

[Haveagojoe]

I wa being slightly sarcastic with my last comment,yes sparrows are on the decline in certain parts of the UK but where I am they are quite common, not as many as when I was a child, you don,t see the large numbers as you did years ago but they are still around,what I have noticed is the increase in birds that you wouldnt have seen years ago in towns and cities such as goldfinches, longtail and great tits, yellowhammers etc, I think this is down to people in general being more aware of wild birds and the amount of wild bird food being on sale over here, I think people tend to feed them more than ever before.
Love the tale of the caustic pigeon poop it does sound ironic.

 

[Baccus]

I would be glad to see no sparrows around here, but that is only because they are introduced and taking native birds food sources. I would also dearly love to see no turtle necked doves amd Indian myhnas. I am lucky though where I live I dont have black birds mucking up my gardens (they are hated futher south in New South Wales and Victoria for that reason), and I do get quite a few native birds in my yard. Pale Headed Rosellas, Red Winged Parrots, sometimes Galahs and Corellas, Rainbow Lorikeets, sometimes scaly breasted lorikeets, Pee wees, Magpies, Willy Wagtails and Rofus Wagtails, various small nectar eaters, Butcher birds, Ibis, Boobook owls, double bar finches and peaceful doves are all frequent yard visitors and when my mulberrys are fruiting I also get Spangled Drongos, red eyed fig birds, blue faced honey eaters, Koels. Oh and how could I forget my resident sacred king fisher that thinks my pond is its own personal buffet

.

 

[creeker]

Baccus, your "turtle necked doves," are those the Eurasian Collared Doves we have rapidly spreading and taking over here in the U.S.? Crazy how fast they're spreading. BTW, your yard bird list is awesome! I've been into birding my whole life and would love to see some of those in the wild!

 

[Baccus]

The correct name for them is Spotted Turtle Dove (I just always knew them as turtle necked doves) Streptopelia chinensis, so it might be the same type that is taking over in the U.S.
When I first moved to the town I am in there where none of these doves, but thaey where in the nearby small city of Rockhampton, but in approx 8 years these doves have invaded and are now all over the town. I think part of their spread is down to the recent housing boom that has taken place. What was once horse paddocks with wildlife galore even kangaroos is now mass made houses on tiny allotments

. Most of the yards are so small, just planting one tree in a back corner you would end up shading three other yards

. I guess I am lucky where my house is not only do I have a decent sized yard, but also when I first moved in the first thing I put in the yard was the primary tree plantings so they could get established in readiness for my later garden projects of making basically a mini rainforest in my own backyard.
But sadly all my tree planting and creating semi wild habit has not stopped our only local native wren, the red backed wren from moving on further out of the reaches of town

. The red backed wrens used to always be in my backyard, but alas I have not seen them now in about 6 years

.

 

[creeker]

Interesting. We do have a very small population of S. chinensis (small enough that I've not seen one in the wild.) The big problem invasive here is S. decaocto. Breeds several times a year and is aggressive. I've even seen them chasing crows, trying to take their food away.

 

[Baccus]

I managed to get some video of some black cockatoos at work today, unfortunately only on my phone. Hope I can upload it here properly.


<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1139.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn547%2FBaccus4702%2FVIDEO0058.mp4">

http/s1139.beta.photobucket.com/user/Baccus4702/media/VIDEO0058.mp4.html
If you have the sound on you can here them calling to one another

 

[moochy13]

im in the UK, i was lucky enough just to hear a Bittern without seeing it. any body who knows their birds will know this is pretty special. i live in the area of their main residence, according to the RSPB, theres only 75 breeding pairs. in 1997 there was only 11 birds left.

what an incredible sound. from what i read it could have been up to 2 miles away hahaha

http/www.rspb.org....tern/index.aspx

top left corner for the Bittern Boom

even better BBC video of one actually booming. apparently the first time its been caught on film in the UK at least. the guy waited 5 and a half years to see it !

http/news.bbc.co.u...000/8663139.stm

i hope you can watch it outside the UK

 

[Baccus]

The booming Bittern is sounds a lot like a Cassowary and the way they boom.

 

[comocrayfish5]

i forgot that there were wild parrots in Australia! *gasp* i am going to move there and take them all

 

[Baccus]

Australia is the land of parrots (as well as reptiles

). Our best export has been Budgies, they can now be found in every country in the world.

 

[comocrayfish5]

i would be so amused seeing parrots outside, especially is i could feed them!

 

[Baccus]

Its nice to feed the cockatoos but when they have easy meals laid on they hang around and get destructive, they are intelligent birds and when not having to forage for food their brians and beak kick into overdrive and they start chewing everything they can reach.
I sometimes get short billed corellas and Galahs at my feeder, and again these can become real pests. Sadly Red tailed black cockatoos have never come to my yard, they would if I planted a white ceder tree but I don't want the itchy grubs that live in white ceder trees in my yard. So for now I just get to see the cockatoos flying over or in the parks in town.
Further out west you can find wild flock of budgies, if you ever saw a wild type budgie you would be amazed at how much smaller and slimmer they are to the domesticed budgies, English budgies in comparrison are giants.
Whats really funny to see with the birds that come to my feeder is the rainbow lorrikets bullying a sulper crested cockatoo off the feeder, when the cockie is probably 3 times the size of a rainbow lorrie.

 

[daizeUK]

I can't claim to have cockatoos in my garden, but here are a few pics of our local birds appreciating the food I put out for them today!

 

[Baccus]

Awwe I love robins they are sweet little birds and very personable.
Blue tits are pretty little guys as well.

When I lived in New South Wales in winter I used to make a high fat food for the wild birds with birdseed (budgie mix or wild parrot), peanut butter and melted lard. Mix the whole lot together and then push the mix into opened pine cones and allow to set. The pine cones can then be tied up by some string from trees and small birds can easily feed without being bullied by bigger birds. For lard I usually used the melted fat from cooked bacon, but really any lard will work.
With the cold and snow Europe has been having no fear of the fat remelting before the birds have polished off the treat.