While eating my lunch a bird came to the

[PRBuzz]

Most enjoyable singers in my yard are the finches, especially the yellow canary variety: gold finch. Song and tree sparrow (a chirper) aren't far behind.

[FishermanTim]

Since most of the birds are going through their mating rituals, I can only imagine what kick of havoc you might encounter by wearing a brightly colored ORANGE hawaiian shirt outdoors?

[Saltheart]

Nice bright colors on the oriole. Did you put the oranges out because they eat them or because the color attracts them?

My mother had several bird feeders in a tree close to our bay window. We got lots of finches going after I think thistle seeds? There was a whole army of the finches with all different colorations.. We also got the occasional hummingbird and lots of other pretty ones but never an oriole.

Unfortunately I have not kept up the feeding. I am never around to look out the window to see them . I do like seeing all the variety though.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by Saltheart

Nice bright colors on the oriole. Did you put the oranges out because they eat them or because the color attracts them?

They chow down on them hard until there is nothing left.

For humming birds I find they have a hard time finding their feeder but if you put a really bright cloth near the feeder, it is a magnet for them. Once they know where it is they come back all summer and you don't need the attractor.

[FishermanTim]

Orioles are an interesting bird. The arrive in spring just before the crab apple tree in our yard blooms. That's because orioles eat the flowers (or more specifically, part of the flowers). They are very fond of fruit. We will put out cut apples and oranges. If you can afford it, you could also try grapes and raisins too. The best part is that MANY birds will partake, as they're dietary needs are as varied as ours.

If you want to watch an "aerial raid", toss whole peanuts out in the yard and wait for the bluejays to find them.
They WILL find them, and won't stop until they are ALL GONE!

[justplugit]

The ones i miss, and haven't seen since i was a kid are the Rosebreasted Grossbeak, Blue Bunting and Scarlet Taninger. Although i was lucky enough to see a flock of the Scarlets in a grove of white birches 25 years ago.

We get the warbler flights come through here the 1st week in May.
The woods are alive with their singing.

Amazing ,you can get within 2 ft of some of the them as in many cases they have never seen a human being in their flights from the rain forests to the tundra.

[FishermanTim]

A lot of the 'colorful" song birds (bluebirds for example) are having a hard time keeping their numbers up because of the cowbird.
The cowbird will lay it's egg in with the bluebirds, and it will hatch first.
The chick will then proceed to push out its competitors, and I mean literally push them out of the nest. That is why when driving through a lot of rural areas they put up bluebird boxes to try and prevent the cowbirds from invading the nests.
I saw a special on this a number of years ago, but I can't recall where.

(Here's another screw-up that';s man-made: snakes in Hawaii.
Hawaii doesn't have snakes, except for the ones that stowed away with air shipments over the years. The result is that there are species of birds in Hawaii and the south pacific that have been eradicated.)

[justplugit]

Ya FT, it's amazing how many birds have become extinct.

My wife bought a book, Birds of NY State published in 1843 at a garage sale for two dollars! It's about 10 inches thick with all colored lithographs that are worth a fortune if you break up the pics in the book, but she has kept it together for it's historical value.

You wouldn't believe the pictures of birds and ducks that were there at the time
and now extinct for various reasons, mostly because of man.