Food, drink, parties and more food characterised the Christmas and New Year period for many but the unusual spell of rain over the past few days gave birds a tough time in finding food.

Though when speaking about birds one would usually think in terms of sparrows, which seem to be always very willing to come hopping to nibble a piece of bread thrown to them, a variety of birds can be seen, especially where there are small green open spaces and some soil.

Apart from Spanish sparrows, one can easily see starlings, Sardinian warblers, black redstarts, robins, chiffchaffs and white wagtails at this time of the year. All of which will readily take crumbs of bread or cake, bird seed and other food offered to them in one's garden.

Sparrows are sometimes dubbed as pests but in Malta no studies have ever been undertaken about their population levels. Sparrows eat a lot of insects, especially during the breeding season as young birds are raised almost entirely on insects. In many European countries, sparrows are experiencing sharp declines in population because they do not find enough insects with which to rear their young. Chemicals found in unleaded petrol and radiation from mobile phone masts are suspected to be among the causes behind the decline in insects in towns.

In winter, birds often find it hard to find food in Malta too and would be prepared to eat most unusual things. Several birds observed at an orchard in Naxxar over the past two months were seen feeding on decaying olives, which fall from the trees. While some of the birds, such as the sparrows, the Sardinian warbler and stonechat, were noticed pecking at the olives, eating the flesh, the black redstarts were seen swallowing the olives whole, bone and all. This type of feeding behaviour has not previously been recorded among black redstarts, which usually eat insects and their larvae. In late summer and in autumn, they also consume fruits and berries.

Studies worldwide have shown that wintering birds have a tendency to return to the same spot year after year and Malta is no exception. Some birds passing through Malta in autumn continue their way to Africa while some stay to winter here.

While some wintering birds find cosy spots where to roost, others do so communally. Starlings and white wagtails are typical examples of this behaviour. In winter, about 5,000 white wagtails roost in Valletta, mostly in trees in front of St John's Co-Cathedral and round the corner, in front of the law courts. They also used to roost in large numbers in trees in the yard at the President's Palace but these have been replaced by smaller orange trees that are unsuitable as roosts. In Gozo, a few hundred wagtails roost in the trees near the playing field in Victoria.

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