Goldies have vanished!

Nod

Nod

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Nod (UK)
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For a fair while, we had a small flock of 6-8 Goldfinches chewing through the Nyjer seeds we put out for them but we haven't seen them for a couple of weeks. I know that some species move around through the season - are Goldies one of the peripatetic group? Had it just been a couple that had gone AWOL I would suspect predation but the whole flock seem to have moved on.
 
They certainly do move around as a flock but they are probably nesting now too so that may be an added factor ... I see quite a few but not in the open flocks as at other times of the year.
 
Until about 7 or so years ago we saw a similar thing. A flock would appear, usually late Jan/Feb, hang around for a few weeks and then disappear. Then they became residents and haven't looked back. At present they are the most numerous bird in the garden almost anytime of the day. I can understand the pressure of nesting but would have thought a ready source of good food would keep them coming back.

Dave
 
Thanks for the replies. Hopefully they'll reappear before too long - we miss their colours!
 
You couldn't make it up! After a 2 week holiday, they're back. Lobbing 1/2 sunflower hearts around like they've never been away.
 
We have a local gang of Goldfinches. If they're not on our feeders, they're on someone else's. Always great to see them.
 
Good to hear they are back. They are always a delight to see and hear.

Dave
 
Goldfinches do seem to make themselves more scarce at this time of year, mainly as there's plenty of food about so they don't have to rely as heavily on bird feeders. Whilst on the subject of garden birds, I'm quite pleased as there's a pair of coal tits using one of the next boxes in my garden, which makes a nice change from the usual blue tits. They're not going near the bird feeder that's full of sunflower hearts but flying off into other gardens to find insects to feed their chicks instead. In winter they're a regular visitor to the bird feeders along with goldfinches, so it goes to show how some birds change their feeding habits as different food items become seasonably available.
 
We've got a couple of LTTs and a pair of Coal Tits who pick blackfly off the camelias. The ladybirds and their larvae take care of them on the cherry tree.

For the next few weeks the cat will only be allowed out under supervision. 99% of the time her ambitions are thwarted by her age and the weight of bells on her collar but she still manages one or 2 captures each year. We almost always manage to get her to drop them unharmed but enough fledgelings get had by the magpies so we try to stop her catching if we can.
 
My little gathering are more interested in dandelion seeds at the moment but I`ve let loads grow in my garden so they still visit regularly
 
Nod, we have peaked at over 40 individuals,I know I know..... I just never saw that coming at all:D !!!! I thought we would get the 4(what I thought resident.) shows how much I know lol

They are moving mate back and forth,ours are at their lowest right now,I think the breeding is compounding things. I don't know nuffin Nod just telling you what we see. I'm beyond sure nowt is wrong,well I know that now re your post above I think in a more rural area,(I have no knowledge of urban) numbers will fluctuate breeding a facet, but available food a much bigger factor?? I think all those big numbers were caused by then feeding on a field besides the house left uncut. Our feeders were just a bit on the side,the draw was a massive food source suited to them

Nod as an image maker all this interests me,i've never really baited anything bar me backyard mates,bless 'em. But folks have some srong opposing views on this subject It isn't really mused with garden feeder birds,but become more opinionated with say BOP. But I don't think even the garden birds are ever really reliant upon us,and that's born out in your and Chris's words.I certaintly can find little to say any bop does either There are times when our bit of grub will help them along ,sure,but this thing that millions of years of evolution go in the bin when I bung 'em some niger or sunflower hearts is a myth to me,or when someone baits a bop.

Our(feeder) birds use us to help them along, I think what you have become aware of is very natural . If one has situations like last year here one can see a huge influx of one species,and I'd also expect that number to be at it's lowest right now

Many bird use insects in early stages of their youngsters growth as Mr B has stated,late in life they'll be vegitarian,it's those protein levels for the kids to get them growing fast


Glad they came back though:)

stu
 
Me too!

Cat is rather peed off due to her ASBO - strictly supervised and restricted times in the garden. We go out stomping for a minute or so to get all the youngsters off the ground and try to get them away from the garden altogether. 1/2 tempted to keep her (cat) on a lead until she's empty but not sure she'll "perform" on a string! Obviously we can't stop her going over the fence but she's pretty good at coming back to a rattle of the door catch (sounds like a supressed Sterling machine pistol!) and associates that with food. Not had a kill for a few months (and have seen a magpie with a fledgling in its beak :() so the bells and advancing years seem to be working.

We don't really bait for them, just snap them occasionally when they visit the feeders. Spend far more time just watching them, including lying on a swing bed a couple of metres away from the feeders (sometimes with cat on my lap, snoring [cat not me!])

Still not back to full strength on the goldie front but loads of baby sparrows and dunnocks as well as a squab or 2 (they have a nest in the tree at the back of the garden.)
 
they have popped over to see me ...lots in my area this year not seen so many for a couple of years :)
 
We used to get 2-3 gangs of them torturing the sunflower feeders but they’ve slowly faded out over the past week or so,
Hopefully they’ll be back again soon,
Seems like the gangs of greenfinches have taken over on our feeders,
They come mob handed lol
 
Liam_89 said:
We used to get 2-3 gangs of them torturing the sunflower feeders but they’ve slowly faded out over the past week or so
Click to expand...

Apparently the group name for them is a 'charm' of goldfinches. Quite who picks these group names, and why, is something of a mystery to me!
 
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