Fledgling Greenfinches

groovehouse: 30th May 2006 - 15:59 GMT

Wonderful idea and wonderful photos... do you have to periodically clean all the bird poop off the ledge there?

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 30th May 2006 - 16:02 GMT

Bless the little greenfinches!

elaine: 30th May 2006 - 16:18 GMT

amazingly they barely shit there. i told the universe, the day a pigeon turns up the whole deal is off, because once they turn up somewhere they stand around all the time pooing on their feet, but none of my visitors do that. i think it is the sunflower seed diet that keeps the pigeons away, apart from the odd bit of bacon rind for the magpies i don't put out any pigeon food, which is mainly kentucky fried chicken and the like these days.

elaine: 30th May 2006 - 20:17 GMT

links for twitchers and other nature lovers - it being spring here, there are many baby things to see, and obligingly many webcams to see them with. peregrine falcon family in a quarry here www.plym-peregrines.co.uk/ and LOADS of critters on www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/springwatch/ including otters and bluetits and many other things. also here is a webcast of the entire springwatch programme. this is on every night for the next 3 weeks monday to thursday. it is being shown just after the tv show, so 9-10pm BST. british summer time is one hour ahead of GMT. good luck working it out wherever you are, but if you are at all into nature, nad you have access to broadband, it is well worth a look.

Tyfoid Kid: 30th May 2006 - 21:49 GMT

These are really great shots. Birds are hard to get. And that's a great way to shield the bird food from the elements. I'd love to have a bird feeder. Unfortunately so would this wee beastie (the bird feeder would turn into a cat feeder)

kc: 30th May 2006 - 23:12 GMT

looks very quizzical, that first one. fun! I'd love to do that, but you don't see all that many feeders in NY, not out front at least. I think my building's tenant guardian would be up here within seconds declaiming about rats. (Do they like seeds?)

elaine: 31st May 2006 - 02:41 GMT

i am on the 4th floor, and although rats can climb, i don't know that they would come up specially. i did see a squirrel on the roof of the opposite building once, but i think that was a bit of a fluke - i don't know if even he knew what he was doing there.
that quizzical look is great, isn't it? although behind glass, i was right next to them and holding the camera inches away. no adult bird that i feed would tolerate such cheek from me. if you pick up a camera, move, or even think about moving, or even just look at them you get a look from them that is way beyond quizzical, it's more like fury. i wish i could capture them on camera, but they have evaded me for months.

elaine: 31st May 2006 - 02:43 GMT

ps. tyfoid kid, that kitty would definitely be more than a deterrent, i can see those claws itching to get some killa action.

kc: 31st May 2006 - 11:27 GMT

Yeah, that rat issue I imagine would be more about the shells falling to the ground below...although rats and mice don't really seem to follow the chipmunk/squirrel predilection for seed eating--or hiding! Used to have a feeder upstate, and I once found a boot in an upstairs closet filled with seed! You need one of those feeders with...I'm not sure what it is, but some kind of one-way glass. You look out, but they can't see you. Prohibits *relationship*, of course.

elaine: 31st May 2006 - 12:22 GMT

what would be really cool would be if i could get one way glass and nest boxes, now that would be fab.
some of the birds are messy eaters (yes, i mean you, green finches) but they are not very wasteful and i think that they would not be keen to share anything edible with anyone on the ground.
i was a bit worried the blue tits would not get a look in when the greenfinches arrived en masse in the autumn, so i hung a fat ball from one of the handles on my window, and a starling knocked himself on the glass getting at it and the last i saw of him was he fell...
i took the feeder down after that, i didn't want to have to wade through stunned starlings to get to the shop.

elaine: 13th Jul 2006 - 16:11 GMT

the bird feeding has finally come to an end. the greenfinches continued to feed their little faces long after the insectivores had gone elsewhere for their dinner. however, recently the pigeons have discovered me, and the feeding had to stop. pigeons are especially revolting close up, they have RED EYES. yes. red eyes! i couldn't risk the pigeons so i stopped the feeding altogether. i felt sad, but it is hardly winter, and if the greenfinches don't learn how to forage now they will be banjaxed by the time it does come around.
yesterday i had a wayward bluetit in my kitchen. he did not seem too bothered, though, and he sat in the lotus flower in the front of the statue of buddha i have on top of my boiler and calmly watched me as i put some seeds near the open window and explained that that was the way out when he was ready. it was a very nice terminal engagement with my little customers.

georgia x: 30th May 2008 - 19:14 GMT

hiiyahh the photoz are great :D
but what do u feed the birdz 2 keep them coming back..?
we have a couple of diffrent types blackbirds,thrushes,blue/greytits sparrows jaydoorz a crow starrling,greenfinches etc

but i whant them to keep coming tho !!!!!
what shound i feed them i keep given them lotz i of diffrent thgingz but they seem 2 like chesse,grapes,sunflowerseeds cake fruit/vegsalad the best do u have any other ideas ????

xx wb soonish tar xxx