Is this the right place to talk about garden birds?

[MadGardenBirdLady]

I started feeding the wild birds during the cold spell earlier this year - which coincided with the last few weeks of DDogs life; he was PTS three weeks ago, leaving me without a pet for the first time in 26 years.

I have compensated by 'adopting' the garden birds - I feed them daily, there are now different feeders around the garden, I make sure the shallow area of the pond is clean for drinking and bathing, I put out fluff/hair for their nests, I browse websites like 'Wiggly Wigglers' looking at product ranges......and, this is where I fear I've gone too far.....I have begun to name them

Am I the only mad garden bird lady on MN?

I have not progressed as far as you, but I do love them! We have three robins living in the garden, plus a pair of pigeons and a pair of doves. I was very excited when, after 2 years of having niger seed out, a flock of goldfinches have just added us to their daily routine!

Our garden is pretty much all paved, but I'm excited to say the blue tits are back for the third year building a nest in out soffit bynthe back door! They are back and forth with bits and pieces and infuriating DDog endlessly, but I love it

I have started to get a tad obsessed too. It started when I bought my DH a window attached feeder for Christmas. I HAVE to make sure there are nuts in it at all times, as there are a lot of birds that fly away in disgust if there are only seeds. I have frantically googled identification pics over breakfast too.

So nice that the swallows, swifts and house martins are starting to come. Heard a cuckoo yesterday, and curlews.

Sorry about your dog.

Definitely not - I love my garden birds and put out lots of different types of food to please everyone. My current favourites are my blue tits. They often come and sit on my kitchen windowsill but they're never quite brave enough to come inside.

My grandfather feed the birds regularly but he has a special blackbird who he feeds separately and comes to his call. She's called Beauty.

The best bit,of the snow was getting more wild birds in the garden. I was very excited when the woodpecker came in.

I'm getting obsessed too. And like you, OP, I am sadly without a pet (cats in my case) for the first time in decades .

The ironic thing is that I wasn't that keen on birds for a long while - my dad and his friend were fanatical birdwatchers, and so lots of our holidays were spent having to be quiet, in hides across the country and beyond.

My favourites are long tailed tits - they giggle! And they are fluffy. God, that sounded trite. We've recently had jays move in to the street, and it is so interesting watching them become bolder and learn who puts what food out and when.

The chap across the road is the epicentre of neighbourhood avian activity. He puts out whole bunches of grapes in his tree - red and white, each day.

I have an allotment and have very friendly birds there too. Usually a robin, and shout blackbirds, but yesterday o had a green woodpecker friend too.

Ahh to your Grandad and Beauty, Fairfax

You're not at all mad! Birds are a source of great pleasure. I used to have a pair of blackbirds who flew through the back door into the kitchen and raided the cat's food bowl on a daily basis. Unfortunately, they didn't like the jelly, just the meaty lumps, so they flicked the jelly all over the floor!
I had a robin who used to perch on my spade handle while I was digging, and two morbidly obese wood pigeon, that the kids christened Mr and Mrs Fatty, who nest in my weeping willow. There's a spotted woodpecker who likes the peanuts in the bird feeder, and an evil sparrowhawk who sits on the patio table and eyes up the little birds as potential dinner. Then there are some crafty rooks who discovered how to rip the feeders open, and tip all the contents onto the lawn, for a quicker meal! Over the years, I've had fieldfares, blackcaps, chaffinches, blue tits, coal tits, a jay, herring gulls, siskins, thrushes, a very noisy wee wren, starlings, sparrows, and lately even goldfinches. They're very entertaining, even though they cost a small fortune in feed!

Put out a container with water, I love watching the robin and the blackbirds splash in it.

No you’re not mad at all, or if you are I am too

All my garden birds have names, we have a daft pigeon called Bob who constantly amuses my teens with his antics

Billy bluetit, rob robin, Mallificent and Malachi magpies I could go on

If the birds brighten your day and help you through a sad time where is the harm?

I’m disabled and on a bad day my birds flitting in and out make me smile, it sounds like you’re turning into a garden twitcher

Ok, this might sound a bit bonkers but can anyone remember how the noise of a woodpidgeon was described by a MNetter some years ago? It was something along the lines of imagining them saying 'I'm over her Mavis, I'm over here' but funnier (well I thought so!)
Every spring I start to hear them and wrack my brains for the phrase she used......

I started feeding the birds over the winter. My mum used to do it and after she died I kind of took over as a wee nod to her, not thinking much of it.

We have a pair of goldfinches, several blue tits, some great tits and a family of wee robins in the tree in the front garden. I’ve spent many happy hours watching them eat, play about in the bird bath and just playing in the garden.
I never expected to find the joy I have in them, it’s lovely to watch.

They are a delight.

I saw a tiny mouse under the feeders this morning. Lovely little thing.

We also love the garden birds and are lucky to have a large variety. I spotted a tree creeper a couple of days ago.
I’ve even forgiven the blackbird that has destroyed my succulent bed looking for worms and grubs.
I like watching them in the bird bath, but even better when they take a shower under the fountain.

I feel so much better, thank you!

It's still early days, so no finches, wagtails or tits as yet - but I'm buoyed by @Thepeopleversus experience and will continue to put a variety of seeds and feeder types out to try and attract them.

Can't wait for the nests to be full of cheaping chicks - I might even try breeding some live mealworms to keep them happy!

It’s a delight to have birds in the garden. I’ve been adopted by a robin who’s ruthlessly exploiting me for food. He follows me round the garden and flies up to meet me immediately I appear, then peers meaningfully at me until I chuck some (specially-bought) suet bits down for him. He’s almost at the point of flying onto my hand. He landed on my foot the other day when I was sitting down relaxing and reading the paper with my legs crossed (this was outside, I hasten to add )

I love the birds in my garden. We have two cats, but they are fortunately crap at bird catching. I did the RSPB birdwatch this year and was thrilled with the variety we saw - too many to name, but especially pleased to se a bullfinch pair.

I'm also a great fan of long tailed tits - they are just so cute and hang around in flocks.

Count me in .When we moved a few years ago I really started to take more interest in the birds,our garden is much bigger with a small wood behind it.DH jokes we spend more on their food than ours !We have a hilarious colony of sparrows that roost in the hawthorn hedge and every morning they do a fly past en masse to the bird feeder and tree stump where I scatter mealworms,grated apple etc.We just don't seem to get any goldfinches though which is disappointing.A pair visited a while ago to pick at some seed heads I'd left on plants but since then none.I have had a Niger seed feeder up all winter but still no finches.We are in a northern county.Anyone any ideas how or if I can attract them ?

the starlings are back nesting under the roof - we can hear their feet tapping about above us while in the bath which must be directly under where they are.
We have fat wood pigeons nesting in the holly tree and they waddle over to sip out of our tiny puddle pond.
My mother's wood pigeons are called Albert and Victoria, and she keeps a watchful eye out for the threatening presence of the sparrowhawk - Captain Jack.

It's the annual brush the dogs in the garden ritual here.

Love watching the birds collect the hair for their nests.

Sorry to hear about your dear dog.
I encouraged the birds this winter, enticing them with feeders, fat balls and lots of treats, and was rewarded with loads of friendly visitors. This was after losing my gorgeous ginger tom, who wouldn't allow any birds in 'his' garden, and would actually climb up on the bird table, should a brave (foolish) one dare come within a mile of his turf.

We have robins, blackbirds, blue tits, all sorts. A magpie swoops in at 4 pm every day (yes, if I'm here, I look for him) and pigeons are nesting in the tree down the bottom. When I was pruning the trees I would leave twigs near the fence, he'd swoop down and spend hours carrying them, one by one, to build his nest.

I've named him Percy, and the magpie is Monty, after Monty Don...don't ask why, I'm daft and he looks a Monty.

Next Autumn I am going to hang up some little nesting boxes for them to suss out, and then hopefully I will have more baby birds next Spring.

They are part of the garden, I love them. My ginger puss would disown me...

You're not mad! I'm very jealous, we have a back yard with a tiny patch of grass and small strip of soil (currently full of weeds). Our feeder is frequented by jackdaws and sparrows with the occasional pigeon. I miss having a nice garden, when I was a child we would have all sorts of finches, tits and other lovely birds.

The goldfinches in my garden love sunflower hearts, and have abandoned the niger seed feeder completely. We have a pair of chaffinches that potter around in the flowerbeds, and they are my favourite to watch at the moment. Frequent visitors include: robins, sparrows, wrens, bullfinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, wood pigeons, collared doves, dunnocks, long tailed tits, and blackbirds. There are barn owls in the neighbourhood too.

It is great fun feeding the birds, although my bird watch count was truly pathetic this year !

Birds are a delight and we have destroyed so much of their natural habitat and food source that it is almost a duty to give back and feed them, and not just in the winter.

I started feeding birds last autumn after realizing that my cats are finally old and prefer to stare at birds rather than hunt them anymore. So far no bird fatalities except on from the icy weather conditions in February. I have been reading about birds a lot too, and discovered that actually summer is the worst time for survival: there are no berries or seeds available, spring insects have gone and if the ground is dry, finding worms is hard. Plus 50-100 flights per day to and from the nest to feed the chicks, leads to many a death from exhaustion. Therefore, to have a reliable food source and water available means that the birds will stop off and grab an energy snack, and then continue the hunt for worms/caterpillars to feed their young with. Without this energy source mortalities are far higher, of both chick and parent.

Hence my 10kg of sunflower seed which DH frowned at, “its spring already” but he now understands. And understands the therapeutic bliss that comes with feeding them.

Sorry about your dog OP.