The little brown one could be a dunnock or one of the sparrows. Dunnocks have pinkish legs and tiny black stripes ontheir sides and wing,so not as uniformly brown as robins. Female chaffinches are also brown, but they have bits of white too, on their wings. There are other small 'brown' birds too, so if they have any other markings, that will help ID them. Great tits have a black head, and are bigger than blue tits, with a black stripe down their front.
Female blackbirds are completely brown, including beaks. They're ground feeders, so not likely to be on a hanging feeder. Unless you have a new, potential Olympic champion in gymnastics....
You can use the RSPB online to identify birds too Loana. You can put in all the things you can see on the birds you have - colour, size, type of beak etc, and it gves you lots of options to narrow it down
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hi fairygirl ( love your avitar ) thank you, that is very good idea re RSPB...i think you are right, she was a female blackbird, yes the blackbird does hang on the suet feeder, wings flapping like crazy and then goes on the ground to pick up the mess he's made. Could have been a great tit, will see if i can get a better look sometime....they are so quick and flighty
So we purchased a new feeder, plenty of sunflower hearts, half a coconut filled with fat and seeds, duly hung them with all the other feeders within view of our lounge and not one bird has pecked at any of them - the feeders overlook a field with rough grass, there is wild ivy hanging on the walls, trees in the garden - what more can we do apart from shooting next door's cat (only joking). We are making a pond nearby. There were far more birds around 10/20 years ago and we had a cat then too.
It sometimes takes quite a few weeks for birds to 'discover' new feeding sites - other than starlings and wood pigeons! We have three cats and no shortage of birds feeding and no, they very rarely get caught by the cats.
When you next see the naughty cat try hissing at it - I have a naughty black and white one that lurks in my garden and every time I see it I hiss loudly. It hasn't been back for some weeks now.
Today I've seen a wren, robin, sparrows, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, 3 long tailed tits, 5 golfinches, 2 magpies, woodpidgeons and a starling on the TV aerial. I hope they will all be on hand for roll call next week for the Birdwatch!
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The little brown one could be a dunnock or one of the sparrows. Dunnocks have pinkish legs and tiny black stripes ontheir sides and wing,so not as uniformly brown as robins. Female chaffinches are also brown, but they have bits of white too, on their wings. There are other small 'brown' birds too, so if they have any other markings, that will help ID them. Great tits have a black head, and are bigger than blue tits, with a black stripe down their front.
Female blackbirds are completely brown, including beaks. They're ground feeders, so not likely to be on a hanging feeder. Unless you have a new, potential Olympic champion in gymnastics....
You can use the RSPB online to identify birds too Loana. You can put in all the things you can see on the birds you have - colour, size, type of beak etc, and it gves you lots of options to narrow it down
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hi fairygirl ( love your avitar ) thank you, that is very good idea re RSPB...i think you are right, she was a female blackbird, yes the blackbird does hang on the suet feeder, wings flapping like crazy and then goes on the ground to pick up the mess he's made. Could have been a great tit, will see if i can get a better look sometime....they are so quick and flighty
So we purchased a new feeder, plenty of sunflower hearts, half a coconut filled with fat and seeds, duly hung them with all the other feeders within view of our lounge and not one bird has pecked at any of them - the feeders overlook a field with rough grass, there is wild ivy hanging on the walls, trees in the garden - what more can we do apart from shooting next door's cat (only joking). We are making a pond nearby. There were far more birds around 10/20 years ago and we had a cat then too.
It sometimes takes quite a few weeks for birds to 'discover' new feeding sites - other than starlings and wood pigeons! We have three cats and no shortage of birds feeding and no, they very rarely get caught by the cats.
Aym280
When you next see the naughty cat try hissing at it - I have a naughty black and white one that lurks in my garden and every time I see it I hiss loudly. It hasn't been back for some weeks now.
Don't feel guilty AYM - it would have found someone else or gone back home.
Today I've seen a wren, robin, sparrows, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, 3 long tailed tits, 5 golfinches, 2 magpies, woodpidgeons and a starling on the TV aerial. I hope they will all be on hand for roll call next week for the Birdwatch!
I'm on the edge of Bristol aym. We are lucky that we have a small community farm across the road that is like an oasis surrounded by roads and houses.
Marygold - I always find that the birds 'disappear' when I start counting for the Big Garden Birdwatch then appear from nowhere when the hour is up!
The blackbirds are out there already, shouting for their porridge ... I'd better go and make my second coffee and serve their breakfast ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.