Fieldfares and odd bird behaviour

I have not heard of this. I had a look around online and can't find any information. Perhaps the resident birds saw the fieldfares as competing for the berries.

Dave

Good shot of quite a striking bird.

I've not seen fieldfares here in our garden in several years, (the last time we had heavy snowfall.) They seem to move into town whenever the weather is bad, but I like seeming them- lovely birds. 

A bit of a long answer but members might find the following interesting nonetheless as I believe everything in nature is interconnected, so just call the following, observations’ of a wandering minstrel or better still the life and times of Alan.

So this bird is really something quite special in that it has a nasty habit of defecating on anyone that approaches their chosen nesting site, a temperamental bird one could say! The fieldfare is also quite an aggressive bird too when it comes to food sharing unlike the redwing which tends to be more laid back in its temperament, and so this is likely to be just a simple case of a fight for survival during the harsh winter months to come when the abundance of natural food is scarce.


And so tolerance or lack of it (which this is) can cause mobbing and quite often does, but interestingly enough I cannot say I witnessed the same amount of fighting over food and territory in those far off halcyon days, this I put down to the sheer abundance of food in the hedgerows and fields. But then flora and fauna was more abundant then it is today which very often resulted in some species of birds nesting in very close proximity and being quite tolerant of each other, such as the case of the barn owl and little owl to name just two species. In fact I knew of cases where it was nothing usual to find these two species successfully breeding in the same barn, and so one can see abundant food resources and tolerance seems to be interconnected. But unfortunately farming practises have dramatically changed since those days resulting in fewer suitable habitats and far less food / prey and therefore far less numbers of animals / insects seen today.


In fact my diary records so many mice amongst the chicken coups and straw stacks that they were simply heaving with mice running around in all directions, all food for kestrels, corvids foxes and owls whilst the smaller bird lavished of the spilt grain. Neither was it unusual to see rats running up and down the rows of sugar beet during the harsh winter months. This state of affairs is not exactly desirable of course but nonetheless they were all part of the food chain and so in the long run were kept in check as Mother Nature intended.


Of course with today’s much more efficient farming methods’ those days are long gone having been replaced by far more efficient machinery, poisons, traps, and sprays that have reduced the plant / insect population, not to mention the demise of the grey partridge which was a common sight on almost every farm I visited, but sadly not today. There is also the question of huge numbers of pheasants reared to further decimate the natural food that should be left for our own wild birds and animals.


The cockchafer is also another species that has been reduced in numbers (a favourite food of the little owl,) but suitable habitat / hedges dividing the smaller fields are all but gone in many areas making way for larger fields / cereal crops, and dare I say it farmland having been sold and used for yet more housing. But fortunately the little owl is adaptable in its choice of prey as is the kestrel but due to this habit change their suitable nesting sites have been dramatically reduced too, from old buildings / barns to suitable trees that have been cleared and cut down.


That is not to mention working horses (all but gone in my day) but nonetheless there was chickens, pigs, sheep, and cattle all roaming free and contributing to the abundance of flora and fauna by way of their droppings which later contain beetles, larva, and such like.These droppings also spread seeds and promoted plant growth too.


The number of species of birds seen during this time was quite something to behold, and not in very small numbers as seen today but in huge flocks too numerous to count, all largely missing now from our farmland. But instead many animals and birds now largely breed and reside in gardens, parks, bird sanctuaries, and uncultivated ground where most of the available food / fruit trees now grow.


Some notes from the diary of a wandering minstrel