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Post by roofgardener on Jul 9, 2019 19:13:42 GMT
All of my sparrows have disappeared  I noticed in on Sunday afternoon. Normally, around 17:00-ish they mob the bird food table, and generally whiz around making a huge racket. But there was just silence. It's been like that every since. The special 'sparrow' bird feeder is remaining full. No sparrows flying around. No tweeting. What has happened to them ? There was a flock of about 8 ? |
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Post by sweetpea on Jul 9, 2019 22:36:38 GMT
Got a fair few here but don't think they were yours.
Our bats are back though and the swifts.
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Post by grindle on Jul 10, 2019 4:43:31 GMT
it's getting into the moulting season roofie, once their young have fledged they start to disappear, but reappear in a couple of months
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Post by SueA on Jul 10, 2019 7:59:03 GMT
It does seem odd that they all disappeared at once so suddenly but as grindle says they do tend to move on when they've raised their families & stay undercover while they're moulting. We still have sparrows visiting but usually just 2 or 3 at a time now, they were arriving in larger groups & have been doing a great job picking off the insects & caterpillars off the roses in particular when they were feeding their babies.  |
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Post by sweetpea on Jul 10, 2019 10:41:37 GMT
It does seem odd that they all disappeared at once so suddenly but as grindle says they do tend to move on when they've raised their families & s tay undercover while they're moulting. We still have sparrows visiting but usually just 2 or 3 at a time now, they were arriving in larger groups & have been doing a great job picking off the insects & caterpillars off the roses in particular when they were feeding their babies. I think its called 'Eclipse' |
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Post by keith on Jul 11, 2019 5:57:11 GMT
I know exactly where they are in our shopping center (opposite the beach) they even fly into the coffee shops and will sit on the chairs waiting for the crumbs. One Supermarket (now closed) they would fly in as soon as the doors opened and straight to the bird seed.
I am 1.5 klm from the beach and never see them at all.
Keith
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Post by SueA on Jul 11, 2019 7:25:23 GMT
It does seem odd that they all disappeared at once so suddenly but as grindle says they do tend to move on when they've raised their families & s tay undercover while they're moulting. We still have sparrows visiting but usually just 2 or 3 at a time now, they were arriving in larger groups & have been doing a great job picking off the insects & caterpillars off the roses in particular when they were feeding their babies. I think its called 'Eclipse' I looked that up sweetpea & it seems to mainly apply to ducks, the 'eclipse' plumage is when the males moult their colourful breeding colours & look drab & very similar to the females until they moult again later in the year & get their bright colours back. I did know that that's why it looks like there are no male mallards on the canals around here in the late summer (they're disguised as females!) but I didn't know it was called 'eclipse plumage'. Having said we've only had sparrows visiting 2 or 3 at a time recently we had a little gang of 9 yesterday suddenly descend on the garden! |
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Post by Cherry on Jul 11, 2019 9:37:40 GMT
roofgardener I man glad you asked that, with a very emotive emoji, because I really learnt something about the ducks moulting, etc. Very interesting.
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Post by chrism on Jul 14, 2019 19:14:11 GMT
Despite having to replace our soffits with plastic ones, our little mob have remained. I think our hedge helps, as it gives the argumentative tykes cover. Great little birds, sparrows.
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Post by roofgardener on Jul 16, 2019 10:28:41 GMT
They're back  Well, SOME of them are It appears to be a couple of male adults, and a whole load of juveniles. The juveniles look like female sparrows, but WAY more stupid. Daddy Sparrow lands on my window feeder, and Junior - following 12" to his right - crashes into the window. Frequently ! |
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