# Siskins



## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

Managed to get a pic of the pair of Siskins we have in the garden at present. Such pretty little finches. We only see them in Winter & not every year.


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Lovely :thumbup:

My mum started getting them a few years ago, and two years running they actually bred in and around her garden  Which is brilliant and went down in history with the local recorder!

Are they home made fat balls in the holder?


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## Amethyst (Jun 16, 2010)

They are beautiful, I don't think I've ever seen these birds before ... not sure, I'm no bird expert 

Lovely pic :thumbsup:


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

Aurelia said:


> Lovely :thumbup:
> 
> My mum started getting them a few years ago, and two years running they actually bred in and around her garden  Which is brilliant and went down in history with the local recorder!
> 
> Are they home made fat balls in the holder?


Brilliant they are breeding in your Mums area. Here they go back up North in Spring.:thumbup:
They are scones in that feeder, the Long-tailed Tit's, Blue Tits & Great Tits & even the Blackcaps love them. They are the cheap 33p scones from the supermarkets.


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

Amethyst said:


> They are beautiful, I don't think I've ever seen these birds before ... not sure, I'm no bird expert
> 
> Lovely pic :thumbsup:


Depends where you live, we didn't get them here for a long time. Cold Winters do help, they come further South & West. In a mild Winter they never bother to migrate this far down.


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## Malorey (Jan 25, 2011)

They're very lovely birds. You'd think they'd come back more with all those food options!


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## MikeP (Jan 20, 2011)

I don't think I've ever seen one before either. Maybe I've mistaken them for green finches or yellow hammers in the past.

Great pic.


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

They are much smaller birds than green or gold finches, Mike. Yellowhammers rarely come into gardens, but those do look like canaries.


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## MikeP (Jan 20, 2011)

I've just noticed the yellow flash coming back from their eyes, I'm sure I remember seeing that before somewhere. Or maybe there are other birds with a similar eye marking.


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

MikeP said:


> I've just noticed the yellow flash coming back from their eyes, I'm sure I remember seeing that before somewhere. Or maybe there are other birds with a similar eye marking.


Male Yellowhammer...
ARKive - Yellowhammer videos, photos and facts - Emberiza citrinella

Did it look like this? Female is less yellow & more brown.
There are also tags on that site for related bird species.

We used to get them on the moor above our house, but haven't seen any there for ages now, they are very endangered.


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## MikeP (Jan 20, 2011)

Yes, very possibly. It was at least a year ago though.

I've just identified another odd bird I saw at the weekend on my mother-in-law's bird feeder, a nuthatch, I'll try to get a good photo and post although the zoom on my camera isn't great.


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

MikeP said:


> Yes, very possibly. It was at least a year ago though.
> 
> I've just identified another odd bird I saw at the weekend on my mother-in-law's bird feeder, a nuthatch, I'll try to get a good photo and post although the zoom on my camera isn't great.


We haven't had Nuthatch in our garden for a very long time either, not since they built houses behind our house.
Would like to see a photo, if you can get one.
Which camera have you got? Mine isn't brilliant, but I wanted a compact to fit in a pocket. I have a Panasonic Lumix TZ9.


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## MikeP (Jan 20, 2011)

Hi Valanita

I see the nuthatches (and lizards, insects and adders) in and around my mother in law's garden. She lives in a very secluded house on the edge of a heath on one side, farmland on another and surrounded by huge oak trees etc. Unfortunately the weather has been bad and taking photos through a rain soaked window just doesn't work! I'm determined to get a shot though, will post one when the weather is better and I can hide somewhere for long enough to catch them, she also gets tree creepers which aren't as pretty but cool to see. Other interesting birds around there are woodpeckers and owls which we rarely see but hear quite often.

My Camera is a Fujifilm FinePix S9600. It's the cheapest decent camera I could find with a big lens and good macro ability for under £200. I do like it although my wife's smaller digital (a bit like yours) takes better photos in some circumstances, better colours anyway


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

MikeP said:


> Hi Valanita
> 
> I see the nuthatches (and lizards, insects and adders) in and around my mother in law's garden. She lives in a very secluded house on the edge of a heath on one side, farmland on another and surrounded by huge oak trees etc. Unfortunately the weather has been bad and taking photos through a rain soaked window just doesn't work! I'm determined to get a shot though, will post one when the weather is better and I can hide somewhere for long enough to catch them, she also gets tree creepers which aren't as pretty but cool to see. Other interesting birds around there are woodpeckers and owls which we rarely see but hear quite often.
> 
> My Camera is a Fujifilm FinePix S9600. It's the cheapest decent camera I could find with a big lens and good macro ability for under £200. I do like it although my wife's smaller digital (a bit like yours) takes better photos in some circumstances, better colours anyway


Your Mother-in-Law gets a lot of birds we don't in our garden. As I said, since they built on the farmland at the rear of our garden, a school there too, I'm very surprised we get what we do get.
Is your camera complicated? Another reason I got the Lumix was it's idiot proofness.:thumbup:


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## skyblue (Sep 15, 2010)

they're certainly well fed:thumbup:


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## MikeP (Jan 20, 2011)

Valanita said:


> Your Mother-in-Law gets a lot of birds we don't in our garden. As I said, since they built on the farmland at the rear of our garden, a school there too, I'm very surprised we get what we do get.
> Is your camera complicated? Another reason I got the Lumix was it's idiot proofness.:thumbup:


Well it can be complicated, but I find the auto settings are ok for nearly everything. I love the macro more than anything, I'll dig out some of my others and post them here when I next get some spare time.

It's a shame about the building where you are, we live in a large town and the few birds we did get have now been scared away by two cats we took in from a rescue center.

Skyblue's right about yours being well fed though, that must cost you a fortune in seed etc.


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## Valanita (Apr 13, 2010)

We are retired & have no pets, so the money we spend on the birds, would go to a dog if we had one now. The cost isn't too bad.
We buy in bulk from Haiths, bird food & their special mixes, but I do get fat pellets & fat balls separately, from a local pet shop.
We found most birds go mad for those cheap scones you can get in supermarkets at 33p per pack, (they taste good too, better than the dearer ones). I break some up & put them on the bird table or patio & I put others in a fat ball feeder.

We have cats around but the birding cats are so fed up with me throwing apples, nuts, water, in fact anything I get my hand on when I see them, that most avoid our garden now.
I tolerate the non-birding cats.


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