Welcome back to greenfinches and collared doves

 It's good to see greenfinches back in the garden, after an absence of several years. They were common here a decade ago, then their numbers plummeted when trichomonosis disease struck. It's caused by a protozoan parasite that infects the bird's throat and prevents it from swallowing. It will be good to hear the greenfinches wheezy call again this summer. 

There is advice from the BTO here on managing bird feeders to reduce the spread of trichomonosis

Greenfinches' plumage becomes brighter and greener as the breeding season approaches.

Collared doves have also returned to the garden this spring and it looks like we have a pair that might breed. They did once before (see here). A decade ago, we had as many as a dozen visiting the garden, then their numbers steadily declined. I suspect that they are rather easy prey for sparrowhawks. They also have a gentle, nervous nature and are easily out-competed for their favourite bird table food - sunflower seeds - by the larger and much more assertive wood pigeons that visit the garden in larger numbers every year.

 

Adaptability and Resilience - the secret of survival?

After two days of gales and driving rain, these two well-fledged collared dove juveniles re-appeared in the hawthorn tree in our garden, waiting to be fed by harassed parents who have successful driven magpies away from their nest over the last few weeks. 

In a little under a century this species has dispersed from Turkey right across Europe and even into Norway. 

If I had to bet on a bird species that would adapt to climate change, I'd put my money on collared doves.

You can see one of their earlier breeding efforts here.

News from the Nest

Back on March 23rd. I posted some pictures of a pair of collared doves that had built a nest just a few metres from our bedroom window.  Now they have two chicks - the one on the right in the picture above has its beak facing towards the viewer, the one on the left is facing away. In the 17 days since the original post there have been three events that could have resulted in disaster for the doves. First a grey squirrel visited the hawthorn tree but didn't find the nest and eggs. Then, a week ago, we had a whole day of heavy snow and high winds. Then today a sparrowhawk perched on the top of the tree and flushed the parent bird. She escaped safely and now she's back on the nest with her chicks. Meanwhile, the local sparrowhawk is still around. We'll be glad when the nestlings have fledged - this is all getting very tense!

(This picture of our local sparrowhawk was taken at the end of December - it's the female, presumably his mate, that shows up in the garden at the moment)

New Neighbours.......

This lovey-dovey pair of collared doves have built a nest in a hawthorn tree just five metres from our bedroom window,

This offers an excellent opportunity to watch their nest-building skills, which are rudimentary - just a few twigs heaped together in the branches of the tree, which the female just sits on and turns around in a circle a few times, to flatten them with her breast feathers, then a few minor adjustments with her beak and that's it. Not one of nature's construction masterpieces..... but it seems to suffice, judging by the remarkable breeding success of these attractive birds.

Watching this pair raise a family is going to be interesting (and a little nerve-racking, as there are magpies nesting at the bottom of the garden). So far their incessant soporific call  is a novelty; I'm not sure how I'll feel about it after a week or two when I've been woken up by it at dawn every morning ......