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Author Topic: Birds in the back yard  (Read 289631 times)

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Online Dotch

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Ran across this from Audubon & thought it was kinda interesting. Wondered what baby sandhills looked like as I suspect we've had a few sandhill cranes nest in the wetland area.

https://www.audubon.org/news/15-awww-inspiring-photos-baby-birds 
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Rebel SS

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Online mike89

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interesting!!!   saw 2 dozen or more trumpeter swans this morning and red tailed hawks every where when I went to Sauk Centre this morning...
a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work!!

Online glenn57

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Ran across this from Audubon & thought it was kinda interesting. Wondered what baby sandhills looked like as I suspect we've had a few sandhill cranes nest in the wetland area.

https://www.audubon.org/news/15-awww-inspiring-photos-baby-birds 
i've seen them little fellers up close........but holy hannah does ma and pa make a ruckus when humans are close to the little fellers!!!!!!!! like prehistoric noises!!!!!!
2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Online Dotch

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Prolly the first time they'd ever seen a smurf!  :rotflmao:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Online glenn57

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Prolly the first time they'd ever seen a smurf!  :rotflmao:
:mooning: :mooning: :mooning: :mooning: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
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Offline Rebel SS

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Prolly the first time they'd ever seen a smurf!  :rotflmao:

And a funny lookin' one at that!  :mooning:

Online Dotch

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In 2016 we had a pair of sandhills and a fully feathered youngster that couldn't fly yet, walking around our backyard. I still have the pictures. The adults took off and flew into the neighbor's recently harvested hay field. The youngster after getting tangled up in the electric fence, freed itself and walked across our pasture. It hopped over a woven wire fence, then walked across the neighbor's yard to his driveway. It walked down his driveway and crossed the road to the hay field where the adults flew. There were several other cranes over there as well. Looked like a nice wide open space to try out the youngsters' wings. Sounds like it takes about 3 months for them to get their flight feathers. 
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Online glenn57

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Thinking I'm gonna set out the bird bath tonight when I get home. :happy1:
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Offline Rebel SS

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                                         :lipsrsealed:

Online glenn57

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                                         :lipsrsealed:
:mooning: :mooning: :mooning: got it set out last nite and took all of 15 minutes before the first robin was on it, so..........there  :mooning: :mooning: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
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Offline Rebel SS

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Sew buttons on yer underwear! Robin, schmobin!  :mooning:

Online Dotch

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It's also a place fer his pickled fishes to swim!  :doah:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Rebel SS

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Still ain't seen a robin! Hearin' 'em, though.  :scratch:
« Last Edit: March 03/24/20, 10:52:33 AM by Rebel SS »

Offline Lee Borgersen

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Birding ideas for  pandemic

Article.....
March 19, 2020
BY..Sharon Stiteler

 :coffee: ....
Some of the people in this country have never done fieldwork or gone camping, and it shows. While everyone else is stocking up on toilet paper, I’m making sure my binoculars are cleaned up. I’m making sure I have some bird seed and some suet. Getting outside and birding is how I will survive the COVID-19 situation.

Spring migration is underway, and with most sports and concerts cancelling or postponing and museums closing, what are we left with to do? :scratch: Hey, our yards full of wildlife. :happy1:

 :reporter; ....
As the early migration of waterfowl kicks in, it’s soon followed by native sparrows and finches. Next we will get some yellow-rumped warblers, kinglets, catbirds, thrushes and before we know it will be May with orioles, hummingbirds, and all the warblers.

When I worked at a wild bird feeding store, people would always ask me, “When do I stop feeding the birds?” :scratch: I thought this was bananas because spring is the most fun time. Oh sure, when common grackles and red-winged blackbirds find your feeders, it can be a pain in the neck, but it’s worth it when the rose-breasted grosbeaks hop in on your safflower feeder. It will be entertainment for you and it may even be educational for kids on an extended spring break.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks will be back before we know it and aren’t to be missed, virus or not.

So what can you do?

Load up on black oil sunflower seeds. More birds eat this seed than any other type of seed out there. Sunflower seeds are best.
Save one feeder for safflower only. Starlings cannot crack open hard shelled seeds and will leave it alone. Grackles and red-winged blackbirds appear to not care for it. They will certainly kick it to the ground, but don’t worry, cardinals, grosbeaks, house finches, mourning doves, chickadees and titmice will happily gobble it up in a hopper feeder or from the ground.

 :confused: Consider making you own suet. As the weather gets warmer, some suets are at risk of melting. There are several popular doughs you can purchase and they are handy when we get a sudden cold snap and warblers and tanagers come to feeders out of desperation. Bluebirds, orioles and catbirds will eat it, too. A great recipe to check out is Zick Dough from Julie Zickefoose. http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com/2010/03/zick-dough-improved.html

Download iNaturalist for kids. This app can help kids identify pants, insects, birds and critters in the backyard. You can also use it to report your findings and learn what species are to be expected in your neighborhood. There’s a simplified version of the app that really appeals to kids known as Seek. Both apps are available for iPhone and Android and are free, but you do need to create an account to use it.

Consider a bird walk in parks that are open in your area if you feel healthy enough to go outside. You can enjoy the peace of nature and in a wide open area, it’s easier to maintain a six-foot or more distance from other people. You might also see a bald eagle soar overhead or a white-tailed deer lurking among the trees.

 :popcorn: ..
Grab some grape jelly. Orioles won’t be here for another month, :scratch: but it’s best to be ready if you’re home bound for a few weeks and those bright orange birds will be a welcome sight.

The future is uncertain and circumstances are changing rapidly, but for me, I always find comfort in birds.  :smiley:
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Online LPS

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Just saw my first robin.  It was on Hwy 172..

Offline Rebel SS

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Online Dotch

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 :rotflmao: If you mail it to Reb then he can say he's seen one!  :happy1:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Rebel SS

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Boy yer helpful!  I've got a stuffed one I put out every Spring.... ;)

Online glenn57

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seen my first pair of sandhill cranes going to ramsey.  :happy1:

seeing more ad more birds around home. morning doves are becoming more plentiful. usually takes about 2 days for the robins to clean out the mealworm feeder, but now them friggin starlings are here!!!!!!! :angry2: :angry2:

in our local paper, the schmuck who has a bird feed store claims the bluebirds at least the scouts, should be around soon. we shall see, all he wants you to do is come in and buy thee over priced stuff.
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Online Dotch

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The goldfinches are starting to show subtle signs of increasing yellow color here. Rooster pheasants continue to court the females. One of the roosters scared the bejeepers out of me when installing the armyworm pheromone trap yesterday. :shocked:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Rebel SS

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Seem to be lotsa woodpeckers around....drumming and kwirring. (Red Bellied)
Actually saw a Flicker whamming on the birch tree too.

Offline HD

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We had a few visitors this morning....
https://youtu.be/Li6GBVIGTno
Mama always said, If you ain't got noth'in nice to say, don't say noth'in at all!

Online glenn57

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2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Offline delcecchi

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Birds are gradually coming back after a couple months of empty feeders.   Blue Jays, cardinal, nut hatch, chicadee, unidentified gray to black something.... Oh and red bellied and downy peckers.

Online glenn57

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Birds are gradually coming back after a couple months of empty feeders.   Blue Jays, cardinal, nut hatch, chicadee, unidentified gray to black something.... Oh and red bellied and downy peckers.
the gray to black...……..maybe cowbirds?????????????? they could be starlings or them red wing blackbirds???????
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Offline Rebel SS

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Birds are gradually coming back after a couple months of empty feeders.   Blue Jays, cardinal, nut hatch, chicadee, unidentified gray to black something.... Oh and red bellied and downy peckers.

It's those pesky grackles I think, Dell. They been pokin' around in the yard for bugs or what not, at least in my yard. Buncha common blackbirds out there, too.
« Last Edit: March 03/29/20, 05:35:51 PM by Rebel SS »

Offline delcecchi

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Birds are gradually coming back after a couple months of empty feeders.   Blue Jays, cardinal, nut hatch, chicadee, unidentified gray to black something.... Oh and red bellied and downy peckers.

It's those pesky grackles I think, Dell. They been pokin' around in the yard for bugs or what not, at least in my yard. Buncha common blackbirds out there, too.

Nah, smaller than grackles or stuff.   Are Juncos still around?   That's sort of what they look like.   

Offline Rebel SS

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Ya, I've seen a few....but they have that whitish tummy, and are rounder with that sharp, light colored tiny bill......maybe you've got a whole new species there, Delchirp.
« Last Edit: March 03/30/20, 07:50:30 PM by Rebel SS »

Offline delcecchi

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Ya, I've seen a few....but they have that whitish tummy, and are rounder with that sharp, light colored tiny bill......maybe you've got a whole new species there, Delchirp.

Great.  I'll be famous.   Maybe I'll get a better look at them tomorrow.