A lot of people with a garden put out food for the birds during the Winter. So do we. The food can be fat balls, peanuts, breadcrumbs, sunflower seeds, a grain mix, and fresh water.
Blue Tit
We started feeding the birds a couple of years after we moved into the house—when the trees and hedges had grown enough to attract birds. This was over 30 years ago and during those years some things have changed.
Thirty years ago the fat balls, sunflower seeds and peanuts were the exclusive territory for Great Tits, Blue Tits and Greenfinches. Breadcrumbs and grains were for all the other birds: Blackbirds, Wood Pigeons, Chaffinches, Song Trushes, Hedge Accentors, Wrens, Collared Doves, House Sparrows, Common Starlings, and Robins.
After a decade or so the Common Starlings had discovered the fat balls and had a go at them. It was a moderate success; they fed off the fat balls occasionally, but they preferred breadcrumbs over fat balls. Since then their numbers have dwindled and now we don’t see that many Common Starlings in the garden anymore. They are still in the neighborhood and sometimes I spot them on fat balls in other people’s gardens, but it is clearly not their first choice.
Great Tit
The next species that gave the fat balls a try were the House Sparrows and it became an instant success. An entire group would descend on one or two fat balls and start bickering who could have a go at it first. The individual Great Tit or Blue Tit is no match for a group of streetwise House Sparrows. Luckily for the Tits we have 5-6 fat balls hanging in the garden at any given time during the Winter so there is always food available for them.
In the meantime the Greenfinch couple had died and hasn’t been replaced. There are a some couples in the wider area, but they haven’t claimed our garden yet.
Blackbird
During the past winter, 3 common garden species tried feeding off a fat ball, a new food source for them, for the very first time in over 30 years.
The Hedge Accentor
The timid Hedge Accentor tried feeding off a fat ball, but it wasn’t a very successful attempt. I guess it didn’t like to swing on its food high above the ground. Instead, it stuck to picking up the leftovers on the ground underneath the fat balls.
The Blackbird
One male Blackbird was spotted several times a week feeding off a fat ball, but it wasn’t easy as you can see on the photo. I suspect it was the same male every time because he chased all other Blackbirds away from his part of the garden. I wonder whether it will catch on and if other Blackbirds will follow his example next Winter.
The Robin
Robin
The Robin was spotted almost daily feeding off a fat ball. It’s easier for a Robin to feed of the fat ball than for a Blackbird, but the Robin isn’t as comfortable hanging upside down as Great Tits and Blue Tits do. As Robins are a very territorial species I believe it was the same Robin every day.
The pictures of the Robin and Blackbird aren’t that great, but that’s because I had to take them through the kitchen window.
What makes this Winter so special that 3 species of garden birds tried out a new food source? Past Winter wasn’t very severe, but more severe than the last couple of Winters and it lasted longer.
Is this the explanation. Or is it a next step for those species in their adaptation to living around humans?
Time will tell.
| I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven. |
| Emily Dickinson |
