"Martin" wrote after...
"JennyC" wrote:

This is vaguely OT but I was wondering how birds almost immediately know
when I
start to put food out for them?

I don't feed in the summer, but as soon as I put any crumbs out the birds
seem
to whiz down in three minutes flat to feed. Their mates seem to hear about
it
too and before long the garden is humming!

The feeder is hanging in a sumac tree so they don't come to it much in
summer as
it has no fruits or berries. It's can't be that they see me go near the
tree, as
I tend the plants around its base all year long........

Do they have amazing eyesight - a terrific sense of smell - do the know
what
time of year I start to feed - or what ??

Have you got enormous flocks of starlings where you are?
It's the first time for years, that I have seen them in large numbers,
likewise sparrows seem to be making a come back.
The starlings have been having a feeding frenzy on all the berries
that were on the trees. All gone now.

Funny, but here we have both commented on the disappearance of our small
birds recently. Usually when I fill the bird feeder it's empty within a
couple of days, it's been untouched for weeks now and there are no small
birds flying about in the trees either, just silence where there was
constant birdcalls. Our local Robin and Wren have gone as have our
Coal/Blue/Great/Long Tailed Tits, no sign of the Green/Goldfinches, even the
Blackbirds aren't around, weird silence.

Did notice a tree a couple of miles away yesterday at midday full of
Starlings, unusual.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London



--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London