Can you ID this garden bird?

mike65

Its smaller than the others of its type and is being bullied, not getting food and can't fly. Not sure if its injured or what.

This is its sound (very small mp3)

http://www.filefactory.com/file/15dbee/

Mike.

mike65

I think I typed too soon, the little critter must have been turfed out of the nest a bit early! I just spotted mum/dad feeding him/her (junior is a good 40% smaller/lighter than any of the others)

Mike.

Alun

So did you get a good enough look at mum/dad to tell what it was?

mike65

Nope I'm a bird ignoramus. I imagine its a finch.

Mike.

jmkennedyie

House Sparrow perhaps?

dranoel

jmkennedyie wrote:

House Sparrow perhaps?

I reckon it must be a female, it doesn't have the black bib of a male.

mike65

Cheers that looks like it, said bird is possibly dead, he/she was still in the garden scurrying about getting picked on by some larger birds - but the bigger threat was from a cat I spotted dunno how long it had been in the garden but I hav'nt heard the sparrow since said cat left the area.

Mike.

crosstownk

The cat will do damage to a small fledgling like the suspected sparrow in the pic - easy picking for the cat. Magpies may terrorise the poor thing too. The nest can't be too far away - worth having a quiet look for.

mike65

Well I think the cat must have got him, not seen or heard the little fella all morning.

Mike.

Lillyella

God, sometimes nature is so cruel.

I still haven't gotten over the crows pecking out the lambs eyes.

dranoel

Lillyella wrote:

God, sometimes nature is so cruel.

The cat is hardly natural is it? Unfortunately domestic cats kill countless wild birds every year.

Saruman

Off topic but how is it not natural? It is "natural" for cats to try and catch birds to kill. Mainly to play with because they rarely eat them. Its their "nature" so what part of it is not natural?

The fact they are domesticated animals makes no difference.

My mother cat has killed 2 little birds this summer. She did what was instinctive to her and could have done no different. To say this is not a natural thing is rubbish.

bug

That looks like a sparrow to me, a little damaged around the beak area.

To be honest it looks big enough to be able to fly, its wings fully formed and it has fullish brown feathers.

It could have been injured in some way on its initial flight tries....hence the parents still feeding it to give it a chance.

I live with two cats and it's a constant battle of clapping and shouting, (luckily one doesn't have any teeth so that sort of ruins her chances of actually killing anything).

To be honest I never feel to bad about the cat getting a bird unless its a wren, a blackbird, or a turtle dove, since the initial two species seem to be in short supply in our area. And well even though there are lots of doves, they tend to go around in pairs, but they tend to be too big for the cats to hold on to.

Other than that we have multiple finches and sparrows, which come back every year to nest in the same place since I can remember so the cats can be that much of a threat.
Nature is perverse, and its a bit sad but you have to accept it. They'll nest again next year and they still get to have 3/4 or thereabouts which is really good odds.

dranoel

Saruman wrote:

To say this is not a natural thing is rubbish.

It may be the instinct for a cat to kill a bird, but what is not natural is our huge population of domestic cats which are fed kitikat by humans. It is most likely that the suspected bird eater is this case in someones beloved pet. Less pet cats would equal more birds.

bug

dranoel wrote:

It may be the instinct for a cat to kill a bird, but what is not natural is our huge population of domestic cats which are fed kitikat by humans. It is most likely that the suspected bird eater is this case in someones beloved pet. Less pet cats would equal more birds.

True, but to be honest- I'm more worried about the developer who has bought the hawthorn filled land next door to me having an impact on the local bird population and future nestings than I am about my toothless cat.
My cat may get one a month, this guy will take out their habitat completely.
Just puts it in perspective in relation to the whole cat thing really.

dranoel

I agree with you about the developer but maintain that cats are still a big problem. Development is hammering Ireland's wildlife habitats and their populations. The quantity and diversity of our biodiversity is on a downward slope. It's disappearing from under our noses.

magicbastarder

i read a year or two ago how the number of cats owned as pets has more than doubled in ireland in the last five or ten years, due to the number of new apartments, etc., where people cannot keep dogs. i can't remember where i read it, so can't provide a link or reference.