currant bush

[lucy78green]

We have just had a huge amount of birds descend on the bird feeders, and we had our first ever chaffinches. One bird (think greenfinch) decided to pull flowers off the flowering currant bush. Don't think he actually ate the petals but we were wondering if he was after nectar or something

[lucy78green]

Actually I caught a house sparrow doing it too, and through the lens of the camera the finches are too yellow - think siskins

[Kayleigh]

We have sparrows eating the petals of the red hot pokers and blue tits eating the flowers of the mahonia. I cant see my ornamental currant from the kitchen so I don't know it they eat that..

[lucy78green]

do they eat the actual petals then? surely it's in their best interests to let the flowers be so they can get eat currants later on?

[wyevilla]

I suspect the birds are simply taking advantage of a bit of early year sweetness. Also the buds of flowering currant look not unlike berries.

The birds are not going to think along the lines of leaving alone a potential food supply now in case this will lead to more in the future. This way of thinking is peculiar to humans.

Find food - eat food (before a competitor comes along) is the norm.