A Bird Feeder and Watching Thread.

[BigDon]

I had asked two questions in General Science and found out quite a few of us here like feeding them. Well, I don't like clogging up the science portion of this place TOO badly with conversation so I decided to open this one.

And it seems today we have a new guest show up at the feeder. A very sad looking parakeet. A blue one. I'd give him a good home but I haven't a clue how to catch him. I'm going to let him hang out and build strength. Poor little critter. Just noticed him this evening. Eating the millet on the ground. I put a little food out on the sidewalk for birds too shy to come and feed in the yard. Not a well travelled sidewalk and the canopy of the feeder tree extends over it.

[Kaptain K]

An ordinary "budgie" parakeet, or something like the Monk parakeet that's almost a parrot?

[redshifter]

I have 3 feeders set up, 1 sunflower, 1 thistle (niger) seed, and one with a mix. I haven't filled the mix feeder lately, since it mostly attracts house sparrows in large numbers, and it's expensive (the cheap stuff just gets discarded). The other feeders are favored by finches, both house and gold. I like to hear the finches singing, so they are welcome. House sparrows not so much, though they'll eat sunflower seeds as well. We aslo get chickadees and other species of sparrow, but that's about it. We need more trees close by I guess, as I hear several other species' songs but never see them.

[BigDon]

Hey Kaptain,

an ordinary, escaped pet budgie type. My brother doesn't give him a week. Though most of the small bird eating raptors are kept out of the immediate area by a family of redtailed hawks that have nested here since my youth. A cooper's hawk made a brief home here when new construction took out their old rock out croppings they used to nest on.

I thought the redtails were gone for good. But they came back this spring after a year long absence and nest farther up the mountain. Their first order of business was evicting the riff raff.

Red, - I hang two mixed seed and three sunflower seed feeders. I don't do the niger thistle as that stuff weeds badly here and takes over empty lots and easements like nobodies business. I'm still pulling the darn stuff up after a single purchase 8 months ago. Also had possums drinking my hummingbird feeders so I had to take them down for bit.

[Cougar]

That reminds me, I've got to go get the seed out of the trunk....

[Frantic Freddie]

The wife & I are avid hummingbird watchers & feeders,last summer we went through 100 lbs of sugar (not exaggerating,we bought 4 25 lb bags),not near as many hummers this year,here's a couple of pics:

Yes,he's perched on my finger



The first calliope we've ever seen on this side of the mountains:

[Swift]

Very
The only hummer I ever held was a dead one that someone I used to work with found. We only get ruby throated on this side of the Mississippi.

[chrissy]

hey BD, to catch the poor little critter you must bring the millet closer to the house and leave your door open, if it was a captive "budgie" it will be ok going near to your house, if you have a fine net or fishing net, have it on stand-by to catch it. That is the only way if it is in a bad way, or try and tempt it into your house but this will take patience and time, and by the sounds of it , it doesn't have much of that left, do the right thing and catch it in the net.

chrissy

[Trebuchet]

We're feeding only finch mix (Woodinville Finch's Favorite) here at our vacation place -- I couldn't afford to leave the big feeder out just to feed the raccoons. (I hate raccoons, in case you hadn't noticed from a couple of previous posts.

Mostly we're getting goldfinches, which is just fine as they are quite attractive. Lesser numbers of house finches and pine siskins. There's been a solitary morning dove hanging around -- hasn't been to the feeder but does pick up dropped seeds from underneeth.

[jt-3d]

We have a parakeet in the house. We also have a humigbird feeder outside teh kitchen window. The occasional finch will happen by to steal the sugar water but we get quite a few hummers. Just brown and gray ones. They just stop by for a few seconds and have a slurp. Sometimes they land but only for couple seconds. They are real skitish. Of course we do have a dog and a couple of cats but I think it's more the ravins and grackles that hang around. But hummers are the cutest little things.

[aurora]

Anybody else do Project Feederwatch?

It's part of what Cornell calls "citizen science" and is an opportunity to collect and contribute valuable data on birds.

[Swift]

No, but I almost always do the annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

[jt-3d]

There seems to be a fight going on over our feeder. We are on the edge of huricane Dolly so it's cloudy and rainy but the hummers are still looking for some delicious sugar water. But there's what appears to be a finch that keeps chasing them off. I've seem him twice today. A hummer will make an approach but before he can get too close, something finchlike in appearance will flash by and chase the hummer off. But finch or not, whatever it is doesn't come back and perch. It's like he's lurking with the sole intent of chasing off all hummingbirds.

Once I went out with the dog and three hummers came in but changed their little minds when they saw me. Mr. Bullyfinch doesn't seem interested in picking a fight with me though.

It's not the first time I've seen it so I guess they'll work it out.

[aurora]

I'm surprised that a hummer would be bullied by a finch. I sort of guessed it would be the other way around.

[ginnie]

I don't have any feeders - my neighbour does - but there are lots of them that feed naturally in my front and backyard.
Robins, Bluejays, Cardinals, Finches, Starlings, Woodpeckers, Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Grackles, Crows, Goldfinchs, Red Winged Blackbirds, Hummingbirds and Black Capped Chickadees are some of the birds that hang out around here. In the park behind my house you can add Canadian Geese, Mallard Ducks, Owls and the Great Blue Heron.

I once was woke early on a Saturday morning by this loud metallic tat-tat-tat, I looked out my upstairs bedroom window and saw a Woodpecker pecking on my neighbours downspout - I don't think his effort paid off.

My dear Mother love birds. She has many feeders and often rescues baby birds. She had a robin for a few months until it took off, and since my mom is very emotional she was of course upset but glad at the same time. She presently has a sparrow for the last four years that she rescued. Sparrows have a lifespan of just a few years in the wild, but may live up to thirty years in captivity!

I've often talked back to birds (by whistling) Usually I find out its a cardinal I'm speaking to. That bird must have half a dozen voices.

Anybody else do Project Feederwatch?

It's part of what Cornell calls "citizen science" and is an opportunity to collect and contribute valuable data on birds.

No, but we do participate in Project Frogwatch http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/frogwatch/on/

[BigDon]

Hi Ginny!

Funny, I felt like posting a bird post today as well. Sad ending to the budgie story. Found a bunch of baby blue feathers under a bush several days ago and I fear the worst.

Feels like having to play "lifeboat" with children.

Earlier on I think I mentioned that some small shy birds wouldn't come into the yard to feed so I would throw a little food out for them. Well it's went and drawn pigeons. And I mean so many I have to stop putting out food until they go away. Which tears me up but I have to be considerate to my neighbors.

[KLIK]

Originally Posted by BigDon

Hi Ginny!

..... Well it's went and drawn pigeons. And I mean so many I have to stop putting out food until they go away. Which tears me up but I have to be considerate to my neighbors.

Think positive; the perfect excuse to get yourself a Peregrine falcon or Harris hawk. ;-)

[jokergirl]

Meh, you new worlders get such pretty birds, I'm happy if I see a woodpecker in the forest every once in a while :P

[farmerjumperdon]

Our feeders have been busy as usual. One problem - - in addition to the usual assortment of winged visitors we now have a juvenille raccoon who thinks it is his own personal buffett. (It's a him, now named Rocky). It perches on the fence and quite acrobatically for a raccoon, manages to get his paws on the feeders. He has become quite used to us and lets us get within about 4 feet before scrambling down the outside of the fence and perching in his favorite tree until the coast is clear.

Though I've never seen a non-cornered raccoon go after anything (they seem to favor run-away over standing and fighting) I am a bit concerned about it allowing the kids to get so close. And it drives the dogs absolutely nuts. So I think it is time to run the little bugger out of town. The real dilemma is: baseball bat versus 4-iron.

[jfribrg]

I have a hopper feeder and a thistle feeder. Mostly get goldfinches. I used to get House Finches, but they all died off a few years ago (good riddance; they are not indiginous to my area and crowded out the native Purple finches). I used to have a hummingbird feeder, but only had one ruby-throat visit. Not enough to justify cleaning the feeder every other day. I also have nesting House Wrens in the side yard. I have kept a list but misplaced it. I think in the last 15 years, I've identified about 90 species, which isn't bad considering I live in a boring suburban house with no woods or streams or fields or marshes nearby. Highlights include Swainson's Thrush, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Saw-Whet Owl, Fox Sparrow, Winter Wren, Osprey. During spring migration, I've gotten about 15 species of warbler over the years. I also heard a few shorebirds migrating at night, including Killdeer and Lesser Yellowlegs. There has been a Pileated Woodpecker down the street showing up once every few months, but so far, it has not wandered into my yard.

[Swift]

Originally Posted by ginnie

I once was woke early on a Saturday morning by this loud metallic tat-tat-tat, I looked out my upstairs bedroom window and saw a Woodpecker pecking on my neighbours downspout - I don't think his effort paid off.

Actually his effort was paying off, just not in the way you think. Many of the woodpecker species "drum" as a way of marking off their territory (like other species sing). And the louder the drumming the better - a downspout would have great reverb. I'm just surprised he only did it once, usually once they find something like that, they keep coming back. We had one that liked the metal sheathing around the base of our chimmney.

No, but we do participate in Project Frogwatch http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/frogwatch/on/

Cool website and cool program (ok, I'm biased). There have been similar programs around here, but not nationally and not on an on-going basis.

[PetersCreek]

The Wife® and I have a seed feeder and a suet feeder hanging off the deck. The area is temperate, forested, lower mountainside in South-Central Alaska. In the 4 years we've owned our house, we've sighted the following:

• American Robin — common in the yard but rare at the feeder
• Black-capped Chickadee — very, very common
• Black-billed Magpie — somewhat common around the house but very rare at the feeder...fortunately
• Bohemian Waxwing — very rare at the feeder. They're more fond of the Mountain Ash berries
• Boreal Chickadee — rare at our feeder
• Common Redpoll — common...off and on
• Dark-Eyed Junco (Slate-colored form) — very common on the ground under the feeder
• Downy Woodpecker — common at the suet feeder
• Red-breasted Nuthatch — the most frequent and most annoying visitor. Very possessive of the feeder when they're on it.
• Steller's Jay — we see about 1-to-4 per year at the feeder...sometimes all at once
• Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle form) — very rare at the feeder. I've had only a half dozen sightings in 4 years
  
  And although it's not a bird...
  
  
• American Red Squirrel — I want to wring its neck, I really do. It can half-empty the seed feeder in no time and then complains loudly about the free meal not being up to its standards.

ETA: I'm jealous of those visited by hummingbirds. Apparently, we have only one species in Alaska, the Rufous Hummingbird. Haven't sighted one yet.

[Kaptain K]

The cure for squirrels comes in a variety of calibers, ranging from adequate to overkill!

[PetersCreek]

Don't think I haven't considered it. I own many of those very calibers. But there are neighbors...and The Wife®...to contend with. I've even considered a blow gun.

[Swift]

Since we're doing our feeder lists, I'll try to give mine. We feed blackoil sunflowers, thistle, and suet. Our lot is pretty heavily wooded, actually a swamp forest, edge of a state nature preserve.

Woodpeckers - We get lots: downy, hairy, red-bellied, occasional Pileated. I've seen flickers on the lawn once or twice. I've seen the signs of yellow-bellied sapsuckers (rows of holes in trees), but never the actual bird
Finches - house, gold, occasional purple
Titmice and chickadees - lots
Sparrows - house, song, tree
Cardinals - our town's high school is The Cardinals
Juncos - winter time, on the ground under the feeder
White-breasted nuthatch - my favorite. We never seem to get the red-breasted, though they are in the area in the winter.
Blue jays
Carolina wren once in a great while, mostly in winter
Grackles, some starlings
Robins around the yard
Occassional wild turkeys walking through the yard (a pair of females with their young a few weeks ago)
I watched a Cooper's hawk take a grackle off the feeder. We've had red shouldered hawks in our yard. I've heard Barred owls close, but haven't seen them (in our yard). Turkey vultures overhead frequently and occassionally roosting in our trees. Red tailed hawks overhead sometimes.
Not to mention squirrels and raccoons on the feeders. We usually get fox squirrels, but sometimes at night we have spotted a flying squirrel in the feeder.

[ginnie]

Originally Posted by Kaptain K

The cure for squirrels comes in a variety of calibers, ranging from adequate to overkill!

I must say that I get upset with my neighbour sometimes because she sees the natural wildlife around her house as 'good animals' and 'bad animals'.
Good - birds and the rabbits as long as they don't bug her too much. Oh, she doesn't like all birds, only the little cute, colourful ones.
Bad - squirrels and chipmunks and bats.
She probably don't like skunks, raccoons or groundhogs either.

I like them all.
Yes, the rabbits eat some of our plants.
Yes, the raccoons get into our garbage.
Yes, the groundhogs get into our compost. (Actually, that's okay with me anyway)
And yes, the skunks can leave an odour around.
But there are all friends to us.
If a bear came around, I met get concerned...

[BigDon]

Well, when the feeders are up and running I have five hanging feeders, plus I used to throw some seed out on the sidewalk for the small birds too shy to come into the yard and feed. (I'm not there all the time and the anti-rodent countermeasure AKA "Chunk" the cat is a little broad spectrum in his application.)

Mainly black oil sunflower seed. About forty pounds a month. After one try with the thistle seed I had a horrid weeding problem I'm still stomping out the last traces of. Until the redtail hawks moved back in to the cliffs up the street, we had a Cooper's hawk knocking back two or three house finchs a day. Would then sit in the bird feeder tree and pluck all the feathers off the finch.

After I watched that the first time I had to go apologize to the cat, who I thought was being unusually successful in his predations. But then I saw the difference in the pattern of feathers from when the cat caught one to when the hawk plucked one from seven feet up in a tree. Cats don't leave large oval patchs of feathers on the ground. But the Cooper's hawk is gone for now. Might come back next spring before the redtails do. Party for a couple of weeks, then move on.

The pigeons now are a problem. One learned to raid the feeders by using the "wing wash" from his wings to blow seeds out of the feeders. At first I didn't think it was deleberate, just an abortive landing attempt you know? Well, seven pounds of mixed seeds and the whole flock under the feeder eating later and I changed my mind.

Pigeons getting clever! Who da thunk it!

So in addition to the birds we have these grey squirrels with white bellies. A pregnant possum somewhere on the property, (cats learn not to mess with them) and now according to my across the street neighbor, a pair of skunks. The last evening I was over my parents house I was in the patio next to the feeders, and definately got a whiff of shunk. No, it wasn't the local potheads.

Seems to be a good year for salamanders as well. I'm careful lifting anything in the garden for fear of hurting something. We have those lungless kind that breathe through their skin. Arborial ones too. Mainly about four to five inchs long browns to burgundies with longitudinal stripes in a lot of cases. I had a black lab named Shasta I trained to find them. It was so ridiculously easy and so successful I'm suprised nobody else with an interest in finding cryptic animals has thought of dogs. (hint hint bigfoot) She could hear them crawling through the damp undergrowth or in the creases of the bark of trees.

[GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter]

Well, I'm finally getting around to replying to this thread. This time of year, my feeder's pretty busy, but not with anything unusual. It's mostly House Sparrows, grackles, cardinals, Mourning Doves, and the occasional Blue Jay or House Finch (and, of course, Fox Squirrels). The really interesting nesting birds here prefer grassland or riparian habitats, so they don't come into the city. Come winter, I'll get plenty of juncos, plus the Harris's Sparrows return from the tundra.

A few days ago, I saw some adult Brown-headed Cowbirds at the feeder. For those of you not familiar with them, they're brood parasites, like the Old World cuckoos. Because of that, I'm not terribly fond of them, but I can't really complain since I'm within their historical range. Anyway, I was wondering who in the neighborhood got "hit" by them, and today I got my answer. One of the cardinals was feeding a juvenile cowbird. This is the cardinals' second brood of the year, so I don't feel bad for them.

It would probably upset some people that I have both a feeder and an outdoor cat, but in her dotage, she doesn't even bother with birds anymore (she's still a mouser, though). Last year, she had a run-in with the Brown Thrashers that nest either in my yard or the neighbor's (whichever is more overgrown). A thrasher fledgling had jumped out of the nest, and was hopping around the yard. Without realizing the danger, it had stumbled towards the table under which the cat was sleeping. She wasn't about to pass up an easy meal, so when the fledgling got close, she pounced. Unfortunately for her, one of the parents had been keeping an eye on the fledgling. It dashed over and gave the cat a solid peck on the top of her head. The cat wisely released the fledgling and retired under the table, presumably to nurse her headache. The fledgling was escorted to safety by its parent. I haven't seen the cat try to catch a bird since.

I've also found a new favorite summer birding spot. Just south of town, whichever government body owns the land along the river where it meets the Big Ditch (the local flood-control project) built a canoe launching ramp. This provides a convenient parking spot and access to the levee, so I don't have to wade through waist-high grass. I've already seen my first Painted Buntings there, plus cuckoos, Eastern Bluebirds, Pileated Woodpeckers, and a Kestrel. Well, three weekends ago, I saw and heard some Northern Parulas. By their behavior, they had likely bred there, despite the lack of Spanish moss or beard lichens. The week before I'd seen a pair of Black-and-white Warblers at a different park, but I couldn't tell if they had bred there or were the vanguard of the fall migration (they're some of the earliest migrants).

[jfribrg]

Originally Posted by GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter

For those of you not familiar with them, they're brood parasites, like the Old World cuckoos.

I am also not fond of them. A few weeks ago, I saw a female cowbird trying to get into the House Wren box in my side yard. As far as I can tell, she was not successful. I don't recall seeing any juvenile cowbirds being fed by other species, but we have plenty of cowbirds in the area, so obviously pleny of them are successful.

[Parrothead]

One feeder has Niger seed in it, which Gold Finches frequent. The other feeder I put a mix of seeds and peanuts. The feeder is frequented by Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Grackles, Nut Hatches and I have seen a Baltimore Oriole a couple of times. Feeding on the ground underneath the feeder, some of those same birds, squirrels, chipmunks and a few cotton tails.