Bird Watching...yesss

[Pat]

I don 't drive the Marauders much anymore, but I do intend to keep it.

So to fill in the blanks during my waking hours Patricia and I have become amateur bird watchers. We have, in our back yard, Sparrows (two kinds), Mocking birds, Robins, Cardinals, Pigeons, Doves, Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, Black birds, Humming birds and squirrels. T

There's a field mouse or two that scurry's up onto the walkway a pilfers a bite or two. Did I mention rabbits?

We hung a few feeders out and I seed the walkway for the ground pounders each day at 7 AM They are all eating breakfast before I can get back in the house. Interesting and fun to watch how they operate.

[kirk]

I do a little bird watching, but I gave up the feeders a long time ago.

[Ms. Denmark]

Feeders attract the bears around here so I only put it out in the dead of Winter.

[sailsmen]

We have that plus wood peckers, eagles, vultures, owls, doves, armadillos, opossums, .....

Last Spring a Carolina Wren built a nest in a plant on our patio. We enjoyed watching the nest being built and then the 3 eggs hatch. We saw the Mom feed her babies.

With in 4 hours Bluejays ate all 3 of the babies.

We watched the Mom look all around for her babies with a worm in her mouth. Eventually the Mom gave up.

Two days latter we watched an eagle swoop down and catch a dove right off the ground.

Nature is not kind.

[Pat]

^^^^ As the movie title suggests, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". We have seen one similar incident in our back yard when a mocking bird built her nest in a very vulnerable location.
I should have tore the nest out when she first started but.............

Hawks and cats are the prime predators in my world.

[fastblackmerc]

I attract alot of birds to my yard. We also have a pair of hawks that are breeding. I guess they like the location since I keep them in squirrels (.22 air rifle). As for the cats..... I trap them and turn them over to animal control (our town has a leash law that applies to cats ).

[Pat]

At first I started trapping the squirrels, bagged 15 in a month or so, relocated to a pecan grove that became public property when the parkway was put in, 2.5 miles from the house.. They adapt quickly but so did I. But now, unless it's a new born, they won't go near the trap. Change of bait, camouflage, location, nada. But the population seems to have leveled off between 5 & 7.

I can live with that but if it increases then it's time for an alternate method of control.
We have a few fat cats.

[sailsmen]

We had rats coming to the feeder on the patio and a very small dog in it's last days.
I chased them away a couple of times to no avail.

I threw my hatchet at a rat and nailed the carcass to the fence. Rats have never come back.

I didn't like it, but I liked the dog a lot so I had no trouble doing it.

We also had coyotes. I urinated in a cup first thing in the a.m. Poured the cup along the fence line. Only had to do it twice and coyotes have never come back.

[Bluerauder]

We have, in our back yard, Sparrows (two kinds), Mocking birds, Robins, Cardinals, Pigeons, Doves, Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, Black birds, Humming birds and squirrels.

I grew up in Baltimore and don't ever recall seeing a real, live Baltimore Oriole ever ..... except at the ballpark. Guess they flew south one year and said piss on it .... we ain't going back. I did the same thing in 1972. :D

[fastblackmerc]

At first I started trapping the squirrels, bagged 15 in a month or so, relocated to a pecan grove that became public property when the parkway was put in, 2.5 miles from the house.. They adapt quickly but so did I. But now, unless it's a new born they won't go near the trap, bait, camouflage, location, nada. But the population seems to have leveled off between 5 & 7.

I can live with that but if it increases then it's time for an alternate method of control.
We have a few fat cats.

I've "gotten" up to five a day, now it's down to 2 -3 a week.

[gdmjoe]

My feeder menagerie includes: Black Capped Chickadee *My buds ... They come when I whistle and have been known to perch on my shoulder as I fill the feeders.
Junco
Tufted Titmouse
Cardinal
Nuthatch *Another bud'
Carolina Wren
Flicker
Downing Woodpecker
Redheaded Woodpecker
Morning Dove
Baltimore Oriole
Humming bird *many varieties
Finch - Gold, Purple
Owl - couple of varieties
Hawk - couple of varieties
Crow
Turkey *SEVERAL herds/flocks. I depend upon them to clean-up the sunflower seed hulls under the feeders.
Quail / Bobwhite *Can be heard in the woods.
Blue Jay *not so much ... since they tend to get lead poisoning.As for squirrels (a.k.a. tree rats) - Fox, Gray, Black, Red ... they too suffer the same plight as the Blue Jays.
.

[Pat]

^^^^ Wow.

Blue Jay's seem to be less than welcome. What am I missing? I have always admired them.

I was thrilled when one showed up from time to time. Now I'm hosting at least three. They are getting more comfortable in eating. At first they would come and take one bite then gone. Now they stay for breakfast, dinner and supper. They can tear up a suet. I did see, a few days ago a Blue Jay and Robin square off on the ground in front of my window. They were beak to beak, the Blue Jay backed down. Humm.

Robins are unique eaters, to me. Only fresh "meat". When I mow the lawn they are "helping" me. They won't touch bird seed. So I put out a little ham or chicken bits.

They will park under the suet basket and collect the pieces scattered by the pecking members of the bird world. I guess that's why in old advertisements "the early bird who gets the worm" is a Robin. Seem to be ground feeders
rather than hover.

[Marauderjack]

We have lots of birds here but these guys are by far my favorites!!:beer:

[sailsmen]

^^^^ Wow.

Blue Jay's seem to be less than welcome. What am I missing? I have always admired them.

I was thrilled when one showed up from time to time. Now I'm hosting at least three. They are getting more comfortable in eating. At first they would come and take one bite then gone. Now they stay for breakfast, dinner and supper. They can tear up a suet. I did see, a few days ago a Blue Jay and Robin square off on the ground in front of my window. They were beak to beak, the Blue Jay backed down. Humm.

Robins are unique eaters, to me. Only fresh "meat". When I mow the lawn they are "helping" me. They won't touch bird seed. So I put out a little ham or chicken bits.

They will park under the suet basket and collect the pieces scattered by the pecking members of the bird world. I guess that's why in old advertisements "the early bird who gets the worm" is a Robin. Seem to be ground feeders
rather than hover.

Blue Jay's eat other birds babies and therefore are not popular with bird watchers. Unless you enjoy watching Blue Jays eating baby birds out of the nest.

[Pat]

An update on our little Aviary.

We have acquired a couple of brown Thrushes and house Finches.

A sad story - It seems a baby sparrow was pushed or fallen from it's nest before it's time and was wounded to the point where it couldn't fly, only run. I came across "Will" when feeding the birds as he scurried from the open to shelter under the plastic steps nearby.:run:

We watched him for several days feeding with the other birds. Sometimes he would just be by himself on the walkway, pecking away and running to shelter. He was fast. :hide:

We were wondering how long he would last with cats, hawks and all prowling around. :cat:

Alas, my son's puppy visited and "Will" was caught out in the open. :dogrun: Last of Will, he was a testament to perseverance (pun intended).:violin:

We buried him with honors. :bigcry:

We are learning more about nectar feeders and whom they attract.

Cheers,

[Bluerauder]

An update on our little Avery.

Aviary :o ...

[Pat]

Thanks ^^^^^

[fastblackmerc]

The hawks ate well the last two days.

[Pat]

Holy iridescent blue Batman. At about 7:30 PM today Patricia and I saw our first Indigo Bunting. A shimmering finch-like birds feeding on the seed that spilled from the suspended feeder. At first I thought it was green, but as he moved around the color resolved into a definite blue. (it is a male, as the female are mostly brown)

We have been bird watching from our back yard fir a couple of years but have
not observed an Indigo Bunting. A real treat.

Now that he has found us, I'll put some ground seed out and see if he'll return.

Cheers,

[Pat]

two very blue small birds showed up early Tuesday Morning to feed. Seem to be different species. One very small squat finch like. The other more elongated like a sparrow.

Both seem to be solid blue. I haven't positively identified them yet, still looking through the books. I'm thinking they are variations of the Indigo Bunting.

Cheers,