Bird ID please

[Janet]

 

Can some help ID these birds please

Thanks

Janet

 

[John Morrison]

Top: female chaffinch... Bottom: house sparrow...

[Janet]

Brilliant, thank you John

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, John Morrison said:

Top: female chaffinch... Bottom: house sparrow...

 

Shame that the house sparrow is in decline. Hardly see one around here these days.

 

Allan

 

 

[wiskerke]

6 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Shame that the house sparrow is in decline. Hardly see one around here these days.

 

Allan

 

Plant big hedges or thick thorny bushes. Hang up specific sparrow nest boxes and feed them. Maybe add a bath and/or sand box.

My hedge is thorny but not big enough. They are mostly attracted to my feeders. The bath was no success.

Their chatter is lovely.

 

wim

[Allan Bell]

4 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Plant big hedges or thick thorny bushes. Hang up specific sparrow nest boxes and feed them. Maybe add a bath and/or sand box.

My hedge is thorny but not big enough. They are mostly attracted to my feeders. The bath was no success.

Their chatter is lovely.

 

wim

 

Thanks wim but any form of planting or indeed putting up other attractions for the little darlings is not in my schedule. You do know I am looking to move house in the not too distant future don't you?

 

Allan

 

 

[Joseph Clemson]

23 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Shame that the house sparrow is in decline. Hardly see one around here these days.

 

Allan

 

 

 

We routinely see flocks of 20-30 sparrows around our garden, more in late Spring when the fledglings start to appear (NW England, former council estate). Our mature hawthorn hedge helps, but I suspect much  of it may be down to the 90 year old semi detached houses where the sparrows nest in the eaves and in other numerous nooks and crannies.

 

On the other hand, I haven't seen a greenfinch for five years, chaffinch is non-existent and the goldcrest and long-tailed tit a very occasional visitor to the garden. There's a greater variety in the countryside around us, but less variation in our  garden than I suspect one might find in the leafier parts down south (i.e. anywhere past Manchester 😉)

[Janet]

Hi Guys,

 

just for info I was on holiday in Bude  Cornwall a week or so ago which is where the photos were taken, but in London I don't see hardy any of the birds at all.

 

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Thanks wim but any form of planting or indeed putting up other attractions for the little darlings is not in my schedule. You do know I am looking to move house in the not too distant future don't you?

 

Allan

 

 

 

You're not going to Seville are you? 😂

 

wim

[NYCat]

We definitely have sparrows in NYC and they seem to be quite fond of the openings of pipes in the street lights and traffic signals. Lots of pigeons, of course. In my garden (lucky me) we get robins, blue jays, cardinals, and mourning doves as well as an occasional stranger. We are on the flight path for migration and bird watchers love Central Park.

 

Paulette

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, wiskerke said:

 

You're not going to Seville are you? 😂

 

wim

 

No, remaining in the UK.  Or should I say England.😁

 

Allan

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Allan Bell

[spacecadet]

58 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

No, remaining in the UK.  Or should I say England.😁

 

Allan

 

 

In a few years' time they'll probably be synomymous.🙄

Worse still, he's moving to Lincolnshire.

Edited June 7, 2019 by spacecadet

[Allan Bell]

3 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

In a few years' time they'll probably be synomymous.🙄

 

Not being picky but don't you mean synonymous?🙂

 

Allan

 

 

[spacecadet]

Must have not had my readers on for that. They're next to each other.

[pazmander]

The house sparrow is female.

 

Massive decline in the species in the past twenty years in the UK to the extent that it appears on the red list. Common in some other parts of the world though and not currently globally threatened.

 

Gareth

[Betty LaRue]

I would say in the U.S., the house sparrow is one if not the most populous bird. Some people with bird feeders, (not me) consider them pesky because they take over the feeders.

A funny thing when I first began feeding birds years ago. The sparrows loved the small birdseed. I preferred to attract birds like Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, Chickadees, etc. so I quit buying common birdseed and began buying black oil sunflower seed. My husband still continued to broadcast the common birdseed on the ground and the sparrows were happy.

Over years, the house sparrows tried to eat the sunflower seeds occasionally, but it seemed their beaks were too small and not strong enough to crack them open. Then they adapted, and the new house sparrows seemed to be able to crack them open just fine.

I watched all of this through the 80-400 Nikon lens, then the 100-400 Fuji lens. I learned a lot about bird behavior.

The chickadees were smaller, with tinier beaks, but they held the seed on the branch between their feet and pecked the seeds open. The Downy Woodpecker normally searched for insects in cracks of tree bark. Then they also learned to eat sunflower seeds by wedging them in cracks of bark and pecking them open. I loved watching these birds adapt and change.  

Sunflower seeds must be very tasty to birds.

Betty

[Inchiquin]

Round here the goldfinches have taken over, and now have top billing. There is the occasional sparrow but I haven't seen a chaffinch or robin for three years, or a wren for five. Blackbirds are getting rarer, and very occasionally I hear a song thrush.

 

Not long ago I was living in Wiltshire where I logged no fewer than 44 species in the garden over two years. Wish I was back there...

 

Alan