Author Topic: Birds in the back yard (Read 368160 times)

Bobberineyes

I've been running straight sunflower seeds in another feeder and I'm filling daily cuz of dem finches. The sparrows go for the tube feeder with a Midwest blend. There well fed around here. I couldn't find the pic with male and female cardinal so the otter one had to do.

glenn57

Quote from: Bobberineyes on January 01/13/24, 09:43:41 AM

I've been running straight sunflower seeds in another feeder and I'm filling daily cuz of dem finches. The sparrows go for the tube feeder with a Midwest blend. There well fed around here. I couldn't find the pic with male and female cardinal so the otter one had to do.

i only feed sunflower seeds and thistle seeds. i aint feeding them friggin sparrows.

LPS

Same here just sunflowers and finch feed.

fishingstar

I feed thistle seed and mix sunflower and cracked corn. I don't care what birds eat it. But I do get a lot of sparrows.
I also go though a lot of suit. There is always a woodpecker there and piliated.

fishwidow

Lots of chickadees here, plus finches, nuthatches, and a few blue jays. A couple of hairy woodpeckers. I don’t feed suet anymore because it attracts too many woodpeckers and they like wrecking my siding.
Got some good quality finch food at Fleet Farm and just opened a bag of a mix from Costco that looks promising. Mostly stick with black oilers, but this also had a few peanuts, some safflower, and no millet.

Dotch · « *Last Edit: January 01/13/24, 02:45:06 PM by Dotch* »

Black oil sunflower & thistle are the mainstays with 3 suet feeders along with ear corn for squirrels, blue jays, red-bellies, etc.

Today with the weather it's been goldfinches, chickadees, blue jays, house finches, cardinals, white-breasted nuthatches, juncos, downies, hairies, red-bellies, house sparrows, & a rooster pheasant. And fox squirrels of course.

Pheasants are camera shy when they get close to the house. There are two in the photo. One on the ground & another one concealed in the spruce on the left above him ~5' up.

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Bobberineyes

That's dinner running around Dotch, Free range chicken ! I haven't had good success with thistle, I hung a sock and the finches hit it but my thistle tube feeder was slow. I have 6 feeders out, but between the ground and 3 of em I lost count with around 40 finches this afternoon. Think I seen the whipper snappers kitty Kat drooling..

roony

Sunflower seeds, thistle seeds, ear corn and suet here this time of year.

Dotch

Speaking of kitty cats boober, watched Mother Nature at work this afternoon. Looked out the east window & out of the corner of my eye saw something pounce underneath the spruce tree. At 1st glance, it looked like the gray striped tomcat but could see a fairly large wing.

Suddenly it uncoiled & stood up, revealing a mature Cooper's Hawk. It quickly took off, clutching lunch in its talons, either a junco or house sparrow. Stuff they didn't show ya on Disney.

Dotch

Finches have been tearing thru the thistle at a pretty good clip thru this cold snap. Sunflower likewise with everything else hitting that. Got the feeders filled & heard a rooster earlier. Sporadic activity at the feeders today. Suspect there's a hawk lurking in the area again. Saw one a few times this past week. Hasn't stopped Poppy from keeping the squirrels on their exercise program.

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mike89

good job!!!

glenn57

Dotch · « *Last Edit: January 01/21/24, 10:11:02 AM by Dotch* »

Saw a Cooper's hawk yesterday after I posted. Not sure if it's the same one. Poppy scared it off. Hopefully he went to the neighbor's to snack on some nice juicy house sparrows.

LPS

We just had a sparrow hawk land on our feeder for a minute. Haven't seen a bird since.

glenn57

birds are scarce around here big time. even at the cabin i was surprised how little food i needed to add.........except that peanut butter type feeder. they hammer that thing!!!!!!

fishingstar

around here there are more birds at my feeders now that it has been colder.

roony

Been seeing a flicker this winter which seems very unusual. Just now there was a grackle under the sunflower feeder. What the heck?

LPS

We had 1 grackle the other day too.

Dotch

Activity at and around the birdfeeders here has tailed off dramatically. Think we had a flicker yet back in December but don't recall seeing it in January. Thought I heard a red-winged blackbird when we finished chores to a few nites ago but didn't see it. Was a pair of those Eurasian collared doves that I saw the other day.

mike89

thought I saw a flicker before the cold spell... seen a few doves yesterday, the good ones...

tangle tooth

Just the usual dark eyed juncos, woodpeckers, and bluejays here. What has been fun to watch is the raccoon carcass in the ditch near the house that a couple of bald eagles have been munching on.

I've often watched eagles eat roadkill. I wonder if they realize they are our national emblem. They shouldn't be eating roadkill.

LPS

You can shoot those Eurasians any time. A few dove breasts are a pretty special treat. I am not an avid hunter of them but have had a few sauteed in butter!

fishingstar

funny what a little warm weather does. The only thing at my feeders are wood peckers.

fishwidow

I’ve had flickers all winter. Other than that, it’s been juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, and a few blue jays, plus hairy, downy, and pileated woodpeckers.
We’re losing ash trees to emerald ash borers at the house north of the cities. The woodpeckers are feasting on the larvae. The wood, branches, and chips all have to be hauled to a landfill that’s equipped to take them. That’s going to cost a small fortune. Maybe even a medium fortune.