Tags
bird seed, birding, birdwatching, British birds, feeding the birds, Jackdaws, seed-eating birds, Tufted duck
Shame on me! I bought a big bag of bird seed at one of the local cheapo shops for just a pound. It was a mistake, a case of false economy, as it’s almost 90% large seeds that the littler birds, the robins and tits, can’t eat, and it’s those littlies that I like to feed – I figure most of the larger birds can take care of themselves.
Still, the cheap seed needs to be eaten. So, today, battling blustery winds, sheltering from hail behind too-narrow tree trunks, I bore two containers-full to Cosmeston, one lot for the Tufties, who lived up to their name as diving ducks by plunging constantly underwater following the sinking seed, and one for whichever of the bigger birds wanted the bounty I broadcast under the trees, which turned out to be a small clattering of grateful Jackdaws.
I’ve never thought of water birds eating seed, as they don’t have the beaks to open them – or do they just swallow them whole?
Here the big seeds are eaten by our voracious ‘herd’ of pheasants – over twenty of them in the garden each day. The smaller birds take what they can find amongst the rest but we also give then suet pellets and (brown organic) bread.
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They just swallow the seed whole, Viv. Lots of geese and ducks graze in fields once cereal crops have been harvested. 🙂
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That’s true – about the grazing in fields – we have swans that graze in the nearby crop fields.
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Indeed there is. Sometimes one of them will land on the tree outside my window and we are eye to eye, it feels such a privilege to be so close.
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🙂
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Yes, false economy to buy cheap food. The local Jackdaws now land on my fatball feeders, they are such smart birds.
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Very smart and there’s just something about a bird with blue eyes!
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