Unidentified garden bird

[tcvarlh]

In the Salzkammergut region of Austria they have 'Vogelfänger', fowlers then birderers now; in the long gone past this was to guarantee a supply of much needed winter meat. These days they trap the birds in autumn, cage them and hold, not keep them until spring. When I first saw this I was perturbed, I considered the whole idea wrong. As I met more and more of these people I realised the Vogelfänger was helping nature a little bit. So many small birds die from the extreme cold up in those mountains, that come spring it is entirely possible to have just a handful of nests in an area the size of Cumbria. With the Vogelfänger the Salkammerguter attempt to ensure the forests are filled with the song of small birds. The species caught are regulated and each ‘birderer’ has a quota. My father-in-law was allowed to hold Crossbills, Goldfinches, Bullfinches and Hawfinch, although I never saw a Hawfinch, Hannes reckoned they were extinct in his ‘Waid’, sadly. Pairs were caught and always males and females in equal numbers, so they were not held simply for their plumage or song. Now, whether it does any good or not, this tradition came about in defence to the ‘Gentry’s’ attitude to blast anything as ‘Sport’. The chattels of a peasant’s household could not be shot at. The birderer has duties too, nest boxes to make and install, feeding duties in poor weather, clearance, pest control, ringing, reports to make. Even Mozart knew of this tradition, Papageno is a birderer, not as the English translation will have it, a fowler. My beloved Almen and Auen would be the poorer, greyer and less awe inspiring without Vogelgesang! And I guess, two hundred years ago, taking a walk through a forest meadow full of blossoms and the song of wild birds, with your loved one had much the same meaning.
H

[Catrin]

Thanks for that tcvarlh. I have always been interested in nature, and now we do what we can to attract birds to our garden - an extra dimension to this is that our surname is Fincher. The origins of the name are lost in the mists of time, but I have long suspected that my husband's ancestors trapped small birds for meat. I know that there is a long tradition of this on the continent - it's really interesting to find out how this has now been adapted to help preserve birds in Austria.

[Catrin]

Our bird (now known as Strange Orange Bird) has been around a lot, sometimes sitting on the windowledge, looking into the kitchen and singing loudly. We have had more pictures, but nothing that added to anything - until today.

I can now see that the SOB definitely is ringed, so must be an escapee. Given the limitations of our camera I don't think we can do much better than this, which is through the kitchen window.



All the evidence points to some kind of canary, although I don't know exactly which variety. Whatever it is, we are really pleased to have it as a regular visitor to our garden at the moment.

Once again, thanks to everyone who helped with the identification of our SOB

[Fieldfare95]

Great news
I hope it carries on surviving, as for the type of canary I would say a border, is the song loud and choppy?(if so that discounts a roller).
It could even a greeny mule.

[Catrin]

The song is certainly quite loud, but I'm not sure how I would describe it beyond that - there seem to be quite a lot of trills and even whistle-like sounds. I was wondering if there is any way that I could try to record a bit - I might be able to borrow a digital recorder in a few days.

[Fieldfare95]

Your description of song sounds like a border canary, however mules are often very good singers.

[Lance Morgan]

Even sounds like a canary
Looks like a canary cross
sounds like a canary
could it be a canary cross

[daffy66]

its a punk reed bunting.

[Catrin]

Our Strange Orange Bird (now renamed to Bizarre Orange Bird - Bob) is still with us, it has proved to be remarkably tame, as these photos taken from only about 3 feet away show. Perhaps not surprising for an escaped cage bird.





On one occasion we watched as it sang loudly to a visiting female greenfinch, then leapt on her, pursuing her into the bushes. Isn't it a bit late in the year for amourous advances?