Gimlet Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 (edited) Has anyone else noticed an increase in corvids visiting their garden bird table? I always get the odd magpie or pigeon especially at nesting time, but this year I'm inundated. Every morning I've got magpies, crows and jackdaws stripping everything bare. My mother lives 200 yds from a large rookery and has done for 50 years and they've never been much trouble in all that time. This year she's given up putting out food for the songbirds, the rooks descend as soon as she's closed the door. I don't shoot many corvids so can't comment on numbers on farmland but they're a plague in the garden. Anyone know why? Edited June 11, 2012 by Gimlet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sha Bu Le Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yo Gimlet...yes I have noted an increase in the number coming into our gardens especially neighbours (Joes & Anns diner). A year or two ago they only ever stayed in the cemetery grounds. Now I see 3, 4, 5 on Joe next doors bird feeders. They don't come into mine much, don't like the HW100. There is an exceptionally fat mag that I am determined to have but he's as cute as a box of monkeys. ATB Bri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I think it depends on the size of the food that you put out the people across the road from me puts out lots of different size stuff the crows come for the wheat and bread and the little birds have the small seeds. The funny thing is she has two house cats that she walks in the garden on leads its so nice to see a sensible cat person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisheruk Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 We always get Jackdaws and Maggies but dispatching half a dozen to the wheely bin usually the others take the hint. I've even had a Carrion Crow this year and several Jays. Certainly on the up and in need of controlling. No stopping them this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 So less bread on the patio table and more Eley Hi-Flyers out of the bathroom window then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ack-ack Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 I welcome the blacks. They give good value. I could watch them for hours. There's one on the lawn most mornings and the Terrier is absolutely fizzing ready to go out and smash it, but it knows he's coming and after letting him get tantalizingly close gracefully flaps up into the tree. They're not a pest round here so I'm happy to enjoy their company. Even the Woodies are welcome. They are getting very tame. It's put me right off shooting the adjacent field though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted June 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) I welcome the blacks. They give good value. I could watch them for hours. There's one on the lawn most mornings and the Terrier is absolutely fizzing ready to go out and smash it, but it knows he's coming and after letting him get tantalizingly close gracefully flaps up into the tree. They're not a pest round here so I'm happy to enjoy their company. Even the Woodies are welcome. They are getting very tame. It's put me right off shooting the adjacent field though I get two woodies in the garden every spring. They drink from the bird bath and wander around collecting nesting material and they nest in the same clump of trees across the field behind the house. Which makes me wonder: do pigeons pair for life? If not there must be a waiting list for those trees. I also have two collared doves which sit in the tree above the bird table and coo. They're quite tolerant of me wandering about the garden and I'm always pleased to see them. Edited June 12, 2012 by Gimlet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) A couple of years ago I had a pigeon build a nest in a large ash tree in my garden the nest was only about ten foot from the ground and it was a pathetic nest but she must have laid eggs in it as she sat up there for about two weeks maybe not but it seemed like that. At first here mate would come and change places but one day I saw a dead pigeon in the road about 500 yard away I think it must have been here mate as after that she seemed to be there on here own day after day I would look out at her sat there never moving. At times I would hear her calling for her dead mate and I would feel so sorry for her. In the end she gave up and left I never saw any sign of egg parts I can only assume that magpies took them when she had to leave for food/water I do not like pigeons much but I did feel so sorry for her all of that work on her one for nothing. The other day I was out with the dog and we came across a baby crow running about on the ground in the trees above there was mum and dad keeping watch so we moved on in the afternoon I thought that I would see if it had gone only to find it dead with its head missing I assume it would have been a dog got it very sad but that is life I suppose. Edited June 12, 2012 by four-wheel-drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratman2 Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 They only visit my wife's bird table once, just the once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicW Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 We have a rookery across the road from the house and they are very intelligent birds. We have fat balls hanging from the trees on string that the rooks couldn't get at,at least not at first. I was watching their efforts at it one day when I saw one of the rooks perch on a branch by the string and then get hold of it in one claw and pull it up until it could get a fat ball in its beak!! I changed the string for garden wire and that stopped that trick. Vic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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