Big Garden Bird Watch.

I give eggs to my in-laws, neighbours (to keep the peace for my squawkers),  and random folks who visit us.

Hrm.  That would mean we have to interact with people.  My husband wouldn't like that.  We'll probably wait 'til this is something we need to do (I fully expect society to collapse in my lifetime (there's a whole story here about The Apocalypse Game, but I won't bore you).

I'd kind of made a New Year's resolution to take better care of the birds so instead of just putting out fat balls and mixed seed, I ordered a bunch more feeders and some different things for them to eat.

It seems to be paying off because there is definitely more traffic overall and I just saw my first pair of Greenfinches, yay! 

I worry if we get a big bird feeder we'd just make them sitting ducks for the many neighbourhood cats that frequent our yard. Is that an unreasonable worry? We get a lot of blackbirds and pigeons, and a handful of smaller birds I can't identify. My cat would love to have more to watch and chatter at through the window.

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I worry if we get a big bird feeder we'd just make them sitting ducks for the many neighbourhood cats that frequent our yard. Is that an unreasonable worry? We get a lot of blackbirds and pigeons, and a handful of smaller birds I can't identify. My cat would love to have more to watch and chatter at through the window.

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What about putting some seed on the outside windowsills,  upstairs?  I do that too, for the squirrels mainly but the birds come also and the cats love the show! 

If you did put a feeder out, I think it's supposed to be out in the open and not close to bushes where predators could lie in wait.

What about putting some seed on the outside windowsills,  upstairs?  I do that too, for the squirrels mainly but the birds come also and the cats love the show! 

If you did put a feeder out, I think it's supposed to be out in the open and not close to bushes where predators could lie in wait.

No windowsill outside But I think if we put it in the middle of the yard it'd be ok then, and maybe hire someone to cut back the bushes a bit since they're taking over beforehand.

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No windowsill outside But I think if we put it in the middle of the yard it'd be ok then, and maybe hire someone to cut back the bushes a bit since they're taking over beforehand.

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There are little perspex feeders with suction cups for attaching directly to the outside of windows. Depending on how your windows open that might be an option too?

https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/window-feeders/window-bird-feeder.html

Living in a tenement (ie: no garden), at this time of year I mainly only see herring gulls and magpies out the back.
But on our way back from Inverary we stopped off at a farm shop, and in the car park I was lucky enough to see redwings and waxwings!!!

There are little perspex feeders with suction cups for attaching directly to the outside of windows. Depending on how your windows open that might be an option too?

https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/window-feeders/window-bird-feeder.html

We stayed at a B&B that had one of those and spent hours watching the buffet get nommed.
Got one and put it outside our back window - nada. Moved it to the front window, thinking that there are trees out front and they might sit in the trees and see the seeds. Nada.  The seeds were, just prior to the deep freeze setting in, sprouting out there. 

We stayed at a B&B that had one of those and spent hours watching the buffet get nommed.
Got one and put it outside our back window - nada. Moved it to the front window, thinking that there are trees out front and they might sit in the trees and see the seeds. Nada.  The seeds were, just prior to the deep freeze setting in, sprouting out there. 

Awww! That's a shame! I would persevere though.  Try sunflower hearts, they seem to be the most popular! 

I saw a Firecrest!    Well, according to it's distribution, it's more likely to have been a Goldcrest but it looked exactly like this pic I found online.

I had never seen or even heard of these birds before but I saw a TINY little guy with a bright orange blaze on his head. He'd just taken a bath and was sitting in a bush, fluffing himself up and drying off. So I googled what I had seen (tiny bird with orange head) and bingo! I am unreasonably exited about the whole encounter! 

http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-firecrest/

I saw a Firecrest!    Well, according to it's distribution, it's more likely to have been a Goldcrest but it looked exactly like this pic I found online.

I had never seen or even heard of these birds before but I saw a TINY little guy with a bright orange blaze on his head. He'd just taken a bath and was sitting in a bush, fluffing himself up and drying off. So I googled what I had seen (tiny bird with orange head) and bingo! I am unreasonably exited about the whole encounter! 

http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-firecrest/

Unreasonably?  Are you sure?  I think your excitement is entirely reasonable.  LOOOK AT IT!  Can you give me some perspective?  That photo makes it look teensy... how small was yours?

Unreasonably?  Are you sure?  I think your excitement is entirely reasonable.  LOOOK AT IT!  Can you give me some perspective?  That photo makes it look teensy... how small was yours?

He was the tiniest thing, really, really little, smaller than a wren!     And not shy! I'd been filling up the bird baths and and disturbed him having a bath. He flew up into the bush and I got a flash of that colouring. I really wanted to see better so I moved closer, fully expecting him to fly away immediately but he just sat there preening and fluffing so I got a really good look! Teeny tiny!   

Awww...!  Yay!  I'm glad you got to see him and he stuck around preening for you while you had a closer look!  He sounds adorable!   

So cool Larrabee! I'm terrible at bird IDs.

While we were wandering a park last week we saw a bunch of bright green and yellow ring necked parakeets. I'd never seen them outside cages, but I guess they've colonised after escaping captivity here.

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So cool Larrabee! I'm terrible at bird IDs.

While we were wandering a park last week we saw a bunch of bright green and yellow ring necked parakeets. I'd never seen them outside cages, but I guess they've colonised after escaping captivity here.

Wow! I didn't know that but you're right!  https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/our-positions-and-casework/our-positions/species/invasive-non-native-species/ring-necked-parakeets/

That would blow me away! 

It's not easy to identify the little ones because they are so tiny and they move so fast and so many look so similar to each other but I've found that with binoculars, and the aid of the handy RSPB garden bird chart, I'm slowly getting a bit better at it!