BirdWatch Ireland Cavan Branch
Monday, 25 November 2024
"How to make your home a nature reserve"
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Branch Outing to Dundalk Sunday 10th November
Thursday, 7 November 2024
"Make your home a nature Reserve" Presentation by Donna Mullen, Thursday 7 November at 7.30pm
Thursday, 22 August 2024
Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Goldfinch |
The best way to tell the difference between a male and a female Goldfinch is the amount of red on their head - for males, the red extends behind the eye, but for females it doesn't!Juvenile goldfinch
Goldfinches prefer to feed on fine seeds, but in summer they will eat insects and in winter they will eat peanuts at garden feeders. In the wider countryside that means the seeds from grasses, dandelions, ragwort, teasels and thistles - so that rough un-mowed patch at the back of your garden or side of your field is really valuable for them! Believe it or not, it's only in the last 30 years they've started coming to bird feeders before that they were very rare in gardens!
Goldfinch feeding on thistle seeds
“The Birds of Ireland”, in 1900 describes the goldfinch as “Resident, widely distributed. Breeds in every county, but is rare where bird-catching is rife”. Thankfully the goldfinch is still widespread and the trapping of wild birds has been illegal in Ireland since 1931.
Goldfinches are partial migrants - some stay in Ireland for the winter, and others fly abroad. Their movements vary year-to-year depending on conditions - so if it’s cold in the UK we might get some of their birds over here, and some of the Goldfinches from the colder parts of Ireland and the UK might move south to Spain and France. So that Goldfinch on your feeder this winter might be from the hedgerow in the field at the back of the house, but it might be from much further away too!
If you would like to record the birds you see in your garden this winter then why not get involved with the Garden Bird Survey organised by BirdWatch Ireland where each week over the Winter months you make note of the highest number of birds of each species that you see in your garden.
Goldfinch feeding on nyjer seeds
Goldfinch-friendly plants for your garden include lavender, dandelions, sunflowers and teasels; and their preferred feeder food is sunflower hearts followed by nyger seeds, then sunflower seeds and then peanuts.
Post by Tom Broe (Cavan Branch Secretary )
Photos by Liz Mc Kenna
Information on BWI Garden Bird Survey
Thursday, 25 November 2021
WETLAND BIRDS OF COUNTY CAVAN ,Presentation by Niamh Fitzgerald Sunday 7th November, Killeshandra.
Niamh Fitzgerald, national co-ordinator of the Irish Wetland Bird Survey, gave a very enjoyable presentation on the birds you might find on Cavan lakes. She talked about distinguishing features of water birds – for instance the mute swan has an orange bill, while whooper swans have a yellow more wedge shaped bill. She highlighted all the striking plumages of the male ducks you might see (females are usually a variety of shades of brown to help them camouflage in the reeds during breeding season) and spoke of the different shapes of these birds as very often you might only see a silhouette in the poor Winter daytime light and being able to recognise a longer neck or a tuft of hair as in the case of the tufted duck may be the only clue to identify the bird. She also gave helpful tips on how to estimate the size of flocks as its not always easy to count individual birds and many flocks contain multiple species.
Thankfully when we got to Derrybrick Lake the sun was still out and we were able to see a wide variety of water birds including: mute swans, whooper swans, tufted ducks, mallards, wigeon, great-crested grebes, coots and canada geese. We were particularly fortunate to see a flock of lapwing land at the waters edge.
Special thanks to Niamh Fitzgerald for an excellent presentation, to Ben Malone from the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) for coordinating the day and to Anne and Anna May for getting Killeshandra Community Hall ready and providing refreshments.