Long-tailed Tit feeding behaviour.

Way back in December 2013, the 24th to be precise, I was watching birds visiting the feeders in the garden when I noticed a Long-tailed Tit hanging from a twig by one leg whilst holding a sunflower heart in the foot of the free leg and feeding on it. I had never seen a Long-tailed Tit feeding on a sunflower heart in this manner before and I couldn't find any descriptions or reports of this behaviour in the literature I had to hand or from internet searches. I posted a brief account of what I had seen on the blog at the time and a link to that post can be found here.

It didn't appear to be common behaviour amongst the many Long-tailed Tits visiting the garden back then and although I observed this feeding behaviour on more than one occasion later that winter it may have been limited to just one individual. This was one of those situations when it would have been really informative if the Long-tailed Tits were colour-ringed as I would have been able to establish how many individuals were involved but what I can say is I didn't see more than one bird feeding in this manner at the same time.

I have seen and photographed Long-tailed Tits using this feeding method each winter since that first encounter and it has gradually become more common amongst the birds that visit the garden. I haven't started colour-ringing my Long-tailed Tits (yet) so it is still not possible to be certain of the number of individuals involved but last weekend (13th & 14th Jan) at least 4 were using the 'hanging and holding' feeding method simultaneously out of a total of ten or so that were in the garden at that time. Establishing numbers is further complicated by the fact that more than one Long-tailed Tit flock may visit the garden over the course of a day and birds from the same flock may switch between feeding on sunflower hearts and fat cakes but there is no doubt it has become more prevalent amongst the the birds that visit my garden. This also begs the question as to what extent it is an innate skill as opposed to having to be learned. Again colour-ring could help answer that as it could show if there are any differences between age groups (potentially a nice line of research for someone).

There is a bit more to it than just hanging upside down and eating - a Long-tailed Tit will take a sunflower heart from the feeder and carry it in its bill to a suitable twig and then hang upside down before transferring the seed to one of its feet. Now I don't know if individuals have a preference over which foot they hang from and which foot they hold the seed in or if they can be ambipedal but I have seen individuals hang from either foot and photos in this post show that (now there is another research project for someone). The twig that an individual chooses to hang from may be near the feeder but is often one or two metres away, presumably to avoid disturbance from larger species that may come to use the feeder. The twig selected obviously has to be a suitable diameter to enable the bird to get a good grip and the way the tendons work in the birds leg and foot probably allows it to hang with little or no effort.

There are a couple of aspects of this feeding behaviour that I find really interesting, one is that they seem to be increasingly taking advantage of a relatively new food source in the form of sunflower hearts and the other is the question of how common and widespread it has become. With that in mind I contacted Kate Risely, who runs the BTO Garden Birdwatch project, to see if it was something she was aware of and if had been reported before. Kate wasn't aware of any reports of this behaviour and thought it was interesting enough to try and find out how common and widespread it is by putting a request out on Twitter (link here). 

Kate also did a little digging and kindly pointed me to some references in the literature on Long-tailed Tits feeding whilst holding food items in one foot and hanging from the other. Two of them were notes in British Birds, one from 1959 and the other from 1989, and related to food items that had been provided. Ornithologist Derek Goodwin commented on the latter report saying: 'this is normal and usual behaviour if a Long-tailed Tit finds an insect too big to be swallowed immediately'. This shows the feeding method itself is not that unusual, although I would say I think it is one that is easily missed or overlooked in anything other than a garden or feeding station setting as Long-tailed Tit flocks are usually always on the move. However, the use of this feeding method to exploit sunflower hearts taken from feeders does appear to be relatively new.  It remains to be seen how common and widespread it is or if it is an increasing trend as has been the experience in my garden. Early replies to the BTO tweet show it has been noted elsewhere but none make comment on how long it has been happening or if it is increasing at the locations concerned.

References:
Hall-Craggs, J (1959) British Birds 52, 21-2.
Shackleton, K (1989) British Birds 82, 373-4.

Waxwing - you are winding me up.

I went to Crawford to check the feeders on Friday afternoon (6th Feb) and there were loads of birds around. A mixed flock of over 50 Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers and Greenfinches came up from the remnants of the seed on the ground and there were plenty more in the surrounding hedges along with some Chaffinches and Goldfinches. All the feeders were empty or very nearly so making it a timely visit.

I had been planning the next ringing session at Crawford for today but the forecast was for a foggy morning so I opted for yesterday instead. I arrived just after dawn and got the nets up quite quickly. A pre-dawn start isn't required as the birds don't usually start arriving in any number until after sunrise which suits me now that the days are getting longer.

A Blackbird, a Robin, a Yellowhammer and 2 Goldfinch were caught straight away and the next round was even better with 15 bird caught including 4 Tree Sparrows. A very productive ringing session looked to be on the cards when I received two calls from home to tell me there was a Waxwing feeding on one of the apple halves in the garden. At first I thought it was a wind-up as there have been very few in the country this winter but I was was reassured it was there, it was real and feeding quite contentedly.

I just didn't know what to do, should I stay or should I go (now there is a good song). I wasn't sure if I was in the right place at the wrong time or the other way around. Now it isn't as if I haven't seen Waxwings in the garden before and long time readers of this blog will know I had up to 220 feeding in the garden back in spring of 2013 but the allure of Waxwings is such that it doesn't really matter how many you have seen. That attraction is all the greater when it is a Waxwing in your own garden, you haven't seen one for nearly 2 years and it is only the second winter period you have ever had them in your garden. I had to weigh this up against what looked like being my best catch of sparrows, buntings and finches at Crawford this winter including the possibility of catching some much sought after Corn Buntings. What to do????

I decided that I just had to go home just in case the Waxwing didn't linger and even though I knew that my son had already taken some photos of it. There are still plenty of berries around (Cotoneaster, white Rowans and some Hawthorn) so it is not as if there aren't plenty of alternative feeding opportunities available to it. In fact it seemed strange that it found the apples in my garden at all given the other brightly coloured and more abundant options available in the area. Because of this I had asked my son to try and get some photographs of its legs to see if it was ringed as I thought there was a chance that it could be a returning bird from 2013.

It took me a bit longer to get the nets down than I would have liked because I had caught more birds. When I had finally packed up the ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Blackbird 1; Song Thrush 1; Robin 2; Blue Tit 6 (1); Tree Sparrow 6; Chaffinch 1; Greenfinch 5; Goldfinch 2 (1); Yellowhammer 2; Reed Bunting 1. Total 27 new birds and 2 retraps,

I got home at about 10:30 to be told the Waxwing had been last seen about 15 minutes previously. I had a quick look at the photos my son had taken and could see it was an adult female which meant there was still a chance that it could be a returning bird but unfortunately he hadn't been able to get an image showing both legs so I couldn't tell if it was ringed or not. The pictures weren't great as some had been taken through the window and in some the bird was also back-lit but they were more than good enough as record shots.

The white fringes of the primaries extend right around the tip indicating it is an adult. 

The diffuse border of the black bib where it meets the breast and relatively narrow yellow tip to the tail are indicative of  it being a female

Unfortunately the bird's legs are obscured in each photo.

I positioned myself at the window and waited and waited. At around 11am it reappeared in the trees just across the road from the garden and it sat there for at least five minutes before flying off when some Goldfinches, that had joined it, suddenly flushed. It returned again an hour later and sat looking down at the garden for around 10 minutes but didn't come down to feed. Other birds were quite jittery at this time so there could have been a cat or a Sparrowhawk lurking somewhere. I continued to looked out for it for the rest of the day but it didn't return. During the afternoon someone was flying a drone on the park just across the road and that may not have helped.

This was my first view of the bird. It sat in a tree opposite the garden for around 5 minutes.

It returned about an hour later but again just sat watching the garden.

Who is looking at who. I can see drones becoming a bit of a nuisance and another source of disturbance to wildlife in some circumstances and if not used with due consideration.

A summary of the legal requirements for flying drones can be found here.

Although I got to see the Waxwing I didn't get to see it as close as I would have liked and, more frustratingly, I wasn't able to confirm if it was wearing a ring or not. It is too early to start Waxwing lyrical again but there is still a chance it may return. Interestingly, in 2013 the first Waxwings appeared in the garden on 10th February (post here) so the timing is remarkably similar. Also the first to start feeding in the garden was an adult female (post here) and she didn't return for a couple of days after her initial visit. Make of that what you will but it is just a bit too much of a coincidence for me. As for what I missed ringing at Crawford by packing up early, well that is anybody's guess but there should be more good days to come there.

I woke up this morning to find the fog had formed as forecast. It wasn't very dense but was thick enough to make mist-nets just a bit too visible to be effective. I kept an eye on the garden all morning but there was no sign of the Waxwing. By lunchtime the fog had thinned so I put an 18ft net up by the feeders while I did some jobs in the garage. I haven't done any mist-netting in the garden for a good while and there were plenty of Goldfinches about. I soon started catching and I caught so well that I didn't get much work done. The ringing totals for the afternoon (retraps in brackets) were: Goldfinch 36 (5), Blackbird 2, Blue Tit 1 (1), Song Thrush 1, Starling (1). Totals 39 new birds and 8 retraps. One of the retrap Goldfinches had been ringed in December 2011 and the retrap Blue Tit had been ringed in September 2011. No sight or sound of the Waxwing all afternoon but I will continue to keep looking and listening.

Ticking over

It was a sub-zero start at Crawford this morning and the near calm conditions were ideal for mist-netting. The feeders have been emptying quite quickly and the loose feed has been going equally fast so a busy ringing session was anticipated. I erected a couple of nets by the feeders at first light and waited for the birds to arrive.

The first round of the nets was very disappointing with just 2 Chaffinches and a 6 Long-tailed Tits being caught and it didn't really get much better after that. The variety improved as the morning went on but it only ticked over in terms of numbers.

On the plus, if frustrating, side a flock of 31 Corn Buntings flew over uttering their liquid ticking calls and part of this flock landed in the hedge near one of the nets with the others landing in a tree nearby. I haven't seen any Corn Buntings down on the feed yet but perhaps it is only a matter of time. It is the prospect of catching some Corn Buntings that tempted me to start feeding this site in the first place and their appearance today will ensure the feeding continues.

The best bird caught was this Mistle Thrush. Although I see them in the vicinity of my ringing sites they rarely turn up in nets. It has been around 10 years since I last caught a full grown Mistle Thrush.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Long-tailed Tit 7, Blue Tit 2 (3), Great Tit 2 (2), Dunnock (1), Robin 1 (1), Greenfinch 7 (1), Goldfinch 4 (1), Chaffinch 3, Tree Sparrow 1, House Sparrow 1, Yellowhammer 1, Blackbird 2 (1), Mistle Thrush 1. Total 32 new birds and 11 retraps.

Tits Up

A ringing session at Crawford yesterday (22nd) produced far more Blue Tits than expected given its farmland setting. I have been baiting the site with the aim of attracting buntings, finches and sparrows but they failed to turn up in a any number and those that did mainly approached the feeders along the hedge line and largely avoided the nets. There are plenty of stubble fields in the area so they may not be struggling for food yet and although it has been cold we haven't had enough snow to cover them and restrict the feeding opportunities they provide. Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Blue Tit 13 (4), Great Tit 3 (1), Willow Tit (1), Dunnock 1 (2), Robin 1 (1), Blackbird 2 (4), Woodpigeon 1, Bullfinch 1, Goldfinch 5, Greenfinch 5 (2), Chaffinch 3 (1), Reed Bunting 1, Yellowhammer 1. 

This adult Blue Tit had a long wing length of 69 mm

The site still has plenty of potential and catches may improve once the food supplies in the surrounding farmland are depleted. Birds around included 32 Tree Sparrows, 2 Reed Buntings, 3 Bullfinches, 4 Corn Buntings and 8 Yellowhammers. Chaffinches were surprisngly scarce and the only birds seen were the 4 that were caught. Up to a 18 Greenfinches frequented the feeders and few Goldfinches joined them from a flock of 44 that were feeding in some alders nearby.

This male Bullfinch was a nice addition to the finch total.

Male Reed Bunting.

Watching how the birds arrived at the site and then approached the feeders and the food on the ground caused me to have a rethink about the current set up. After I had taken down the nets I improvised some additional cover by digging in some large branches and I also repositioned some of the feeders. Hopefully this will result in more birds crossing the net rides when approaching the food and lead to better catches of the target species.

Tree Sparrows have a very patchy distribution in the area and they are absent from many sites they used to occupy.

The area still holds a small population of Yellowhammers but like Tree Sparrows they are not as common as they once were.

Normal Service Resumes.

It has not been the best start to the year for me in many respects hence the absence of posts over the last couple of weeks. The weather hasn't been great for much of the time and when I have been able to get out the birding has been distinctly poor or average for the time of year. Having said that there have been a few bits and bobs of interest and I finally managed to catch a Blackcap (a male) in the garden on the 10th. This was almost certainly the bird that first appeared in the garden on the 1st and was seen regularly thereafter. The female that also appeared on the 1st didn't linger and wasn't seen subsequently. A second male Blackcap found the fat feeders on the 16th and was caught and ringed the same day so that species is not giving me the run around anymore. However the French ringed bird which evaded capture in Andy's garden appears to have moved on so that one certainly has got the better of me to say the least.

When caught this male Blackcap had much more brown in the cap than it appeared to have in the field. Interestingly the second male caught was similar in appearance.

The supply of fat cakes in the garden is also attracting a few Starlings and I have caught and colour-ringed another 10 for my RAS project. Their bill colour changes ahead of the breeding season with the bills of both sexes gradually changing from black to yellow and also turning blue at the base in males and pink at the base in females. Two of the birds caught today were well on the way to completing this transition with the male being a bit more advanced than the female. Interestingly the change from black to yellow ahead of the breeding season is quite slow and takes several months but the change from yellow to black at the end of the breeding season is fast by comparison and only takes a few weeks at most.

Male Starling showing blue base to bill.

Female Starling showing pink base to bill.

I wasn't going to put out food at any of my ringing sites this winter, other than the garden, but temptation has got the better of me. I started feeding the Crawford site towards the end of last year and it is starting to attract a good mix of birds including a small flock of Tree Sparrows, a bird I don't catch very often. A ringing session there yesterday (18/01/15) produced 37 new birds and 5 retraps from 2 nets in a visit that was hampered when freezing fog rolled in and turned the nets white. Totals with retraps in brackets were: Blackbird 8 (2), Song Thrush 2, Robin 4 (1), Greenfinch 6, Chaffinch 4, Goldfinch 2, Tree Sparrow 3, Blue Tit 7 (2), Great Tit 1.

Lastly I checked the Black-headed Gulls on the park across the road today and the German ringed bird was still present. I have now recorded this bird 37 times over the last three winters so I think we can safely say it is faithful to its wintering site.

Yet another record shot showing part of the ring number and address of the ringing scheme. This must be one of the most photographed Black-headed Gull legs and rings in the world.

Hopefully normal service has resumed and I will be back to regular blogging for the rest of the year.

Blackcap run around

I received a call from local birder, Andy Makin, earlier in the week regarding a female Blackcap that was feeding in his garden. It had been there a few days but he had only just noticed that it was ringed. He had managed to get a few photos which allowed him to read some of the inscription on the ring and he had phoned me to see if I could help him trace it. He read out a few numbers and the word 'museum' which didn't mean a lot on their own but when he said the word on the middle line was 'Paris' it took it to a whole new level of interest.

I was able to tell him that there should be 7 numbers on the ring and no letters in the combination but he still wasn't sure if he had the full number. As there are very few records of French ringed Blackcaps being found in the UK in winter I arranged to go and try and catch it to confirm the ring number. There is little doubt that the increase in wintering Blackcaps in the UK is due to milder winters and a wider range of foods being provided in gardens which has led to the improved survival of wintering birds. However there is some debate as to why this trait evolved in Blackcaps especially now that the recoveries of wintering birds are showing they originate from a fairly limited area of central Europe. More recoveries can only help to unravel this and one paper even commented on the lack of recoveries involving northwest France. If you wish to read some academic papers on the subject some interesting reading can be found in Ringing & Migration here,   The RING here  and  Ornis Fennica here.

So on the penultimate day of 2014 I went Andy's well fed garden and after a quick recce put up one net. The Blackcap had been seen feeding that morning and given the perfect weather conditions and good layout of the garden a quick capture seemed on the cards. The ringed Blackcap quickly returned to feed but came and went to a feeder on the wrong side of the net rather than its usual feeder. The net was repositioned to cover the bird's approach to this feeder but it went under, over or around unlike 4 Blue Tits, 2 Coal Tits, 3 Dunnocks, a Wren, 4 Blackbirds and a Collared Dove. Adjustments to feeders and the addition of a second small net didn't help either and in the end I just had to admit defeat.

Andy's Garden with net set up in the first location.

While I was failing to catch the Blackcap Andy showed me the photographs he had taken and I was able to confirm that he had captured most of the inscription with the only slight doubt being over the first number. As this first number is either a 1 or a 7 (part of it can be seen and 7 looks the more likely) it narrows the ring number down to only two possible combinations at most. It is very unlikely that both these combinations have been used on Blackcaps and females at that and even if they had the combination starting with 1 may have been used so long ago that it rules that possibility out as the bird was clearly a first year (judging by his images showing the tail). I was confident that Andy had captured enough of the inscription to establish the ringing details for this individual and I will be submitting the details via the BTO, with appropriate notes, on Andy's behalf. I will post details of the ringing location when we get them back in due course.

I had commented to Andy that I hadn't seen any Blackcaps in my garden so far this winter so I was more than a little surprised to see one in the garden this morning. I actually did a bit of a double take but a male Blackcap was one of the first birds I saw in 2015, if through rather bleary eyes. It was feeding on an apple only a few feet from the window as I supped my first cup off coffee of the year. If that didn't rub just a little bit of Blackcap salt in my failure to catch wounds the appearance of a female Blackcap a few minutes later certainly did. The weather was rather grim, heavily overcast and breezy with occasional rain so putting a net up was out of the question but If I had been able to they would have probably evaded me given my recent form. ):

One thing that was really interesting was seeing the male and female face up to each other and then have a bit of a mid-air battle. There are several apple halves around the garden and numerous fat cakes but there was clearly some territorial or food dominating behaviour being displayed. In many respects it was much like that seen in the garden Robins. 

Blackcap, almost the first bird I saw in my garden in 2015 and certainly the first my eyes actually focused on. You are taking the **** was my first thought. It is a rather grainy image because of the poor light even though it was taken later in the morning when the conditions had improved, slightly.

So my birding New Year started much as the last one ended with Blackcaps - frustratingly so near yet so far.

Now in a complete departure from this tale the following You Tube video is a recently rediscovered music track. I had tried to put a top 10 together recently but that quickly became a top 15 and then I gave up because I knew I had missed out loads of good tunes. If you were to ask me what my favourite bird is or top 10 birds are I would have a similar problem so there is a slight birding connection in that respect. 

Happy New Year

24/12/13: hanging and holding.

It is not uncommon to see a Blue Tit, Great Tit or Coal Tit holding a seed or a nut under a foot or sometimes with both feet while it pecks at it and eats it. They generally carry the food item to a suitable branch that allows them to perch and hold onto the food item securely. Today I photographed an interesting variation on this food holding but this time it was a Long-tailed Tit.

A small flock of Long-tailed Tits came to the feeders and while some clung onto the wire mesh and pecked at the sunflower hearts in the usual manner another was hanging from a twig nearby. When I got the camera on the bird I realised it was only hanging from the twig by one foot and was holding a sunflower heart in the other. It then fed on the sunflower heart much in the way you or I would eat a chocolate bar; using its foot like a hand. It hung there for around 20 seconds until it finished off the seed. While it is not uncommon to see Long-tailed Tits hanging upside down to feed I have never seen one holding food in this way. It showed a great deal of dexterity and repositioned the seed in its foot as it ate it. I love capturing interesting behaviour like this and especially when it is something I have never seen before.

Long-tailed Tit taking a bite from a seed it is holding in its foot.

I put together a little video of the best shots.

24/12/13 Feeding Goldfinches benefit a Goldcrest

I can't wait for the weather to improve so I can get a net up in the garden and do some ringing. The garden has been buzzing with birds and today has been no exception with at least 40 Goldfinches coming to the feeders. Looking at the weather forecast the first ringing opportunity may be in the morning and that would be a really good Christmas present for me, I just hope the wind drops off enough.

 

 

 

 

I have 10 feeders in the garden and 8 of these are filled with sunflower hearts. Whilst watching the Goldfinches I noticed a Goldcrest  kept coming to feed in the branches just below them.  It seemed to be picking up tiny fragments of sunflower hearts that the Goldfinches dropped and had landed on the branches below. At one point it even took fragments from one of the feeders. I am fairly confident that this was what it was feeding on as I didn't see it feeding in any of the branches above the feeders. Also the Goldcrest only appeared each time there was a large group of Goldfinches feeding.

A flock of Long-tailed Tits has also taken to feeding on the sunflower hearts from time to time and will be the subject of a separate post. There was only one Siskin at the feeders today and that was a cracking male. A few Starlings also came to feed on the fat cakes and one showed its best side for the camera.

A stunning male Starling showing how colourful they really are.
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03/11/13 Getting a grip

This afternoon the weather brightened up as forecast and I noticed a few Blackbirds starting to feed on the Rowan berries in the garden. Each bird didn't feed for very long and only took 3 or 4 berries at each visit. Some dropped a fair proportion of the berries they picked and it seemed to be a case of the bird letting them slip rather than actively discarding them.

Both adults and juveniles were involved so it is unlikely to be related to experience. The fruit are quite large and a Blackbird's beak is fairly long and narrow plus the gape isn't large like a Waxwing's so they can't just throw them into the back of their throat. They simply seem to lose control as they move them back along the beak towards the throat.
 

 


This bird loses this Rowan berry as can be seen in the next photo.

 

 



Full stretch









A bit of a mouthful

This is the first time my Rowan trees have kept their berries into November; they usually get stripped bare by early October. There is a bumper crop of Rowan berries this autumn and I am noticing heavily laden trees in places where I didn't know Rowan trees existed. It remains to be seen how long this glut will last and what birds it may attract.
 
Not much to report on the ringing front with heavy showers and or strong winds limiting ringing to a brief spell in the garden yesterday morning. That session produced another 13 new and 4 retrap Goldfinches along with new singles of Blue Tit, Greenfinch and Collared Dove. Two of the retrap Goldfinches were adults that had been ringed as juveniles last year and were duly photographed to add to my bank of photos of known age birds.