I really miss thrushes. I swear they were as common as blackbirds (another kind of thrush) when I was small.
I blame slug pellets. There's plenty of wild areas and lazy gardeners up here and the noise of singing song thrushes can drown out all the other birds at times.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
A few days ago I replaced the "bird seed mixture" in this feeder with nothing but (unshelled) sunflower seeds. It didn't take long for the goldfinches to spot their favourite food, even though I had never seen them in my garden before. Well, they have to share with the tits. But their technique of "eating" is different: the tits come to look for a seed, then go to shell it quietly a little further on a branch of the apple tree. The goldfinches, for their part, peck and throw husks (and seeds) all around them. In one day the feeder is emptied.
Have only ever seen one goldfinch here and he was flitting about in our campsis/trumpet vine which grows over an old well, now dry. I buy mixed bird seed and mix it with unshelled sunflower seed to put down for the ground feeders. Other than that, I have fat blocks with insects or meal worms and fat balls with seeds. Peanuts when I can get them. Lots of tits and sparrows but no finches of any description for months now.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
The birdy parade has been beefed up by the arrival of a Blackcap pair and a male Great Tit. All too flighty at present for a chance of a photo. With luck they might stick around & become part of the RSPB Garden Birdwatch count this weekend?
After a slow start in December the Goldfinches arrived once the word got out! I now have a flock of about thirty that empty the feeders everyday. No sign of a Chaffinch or Greenfinch which is the first time since we have been here, we used to have Hawfinches but not now.
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Well, they have to share with the tits. But their technique of "eating" is different: the tits come to look for a seed, then go to shell it quietly a little further on a branch of the apple tree. The goldfinches, for their part, peck and throw husks (and seeds) all around them. In one day the feeder is emptied.
Have only ever seen one goldfinch here and he was flitting about in our campsis/trumpet vine which grows over an old well, now dry. I buy mixed bird seed and mix it with unshelled sunflower seed to put down for the ground feeders. Other than that, I have fat blocks with insects or meal worms and fat balls with seeds. Peanuts when I can get them. Lots of tits and sparrows but no finches of any description for months now.