Backyard bird watching

[basswipe]

Funny thing just now my picture window hummer just showed up.He's now somewhere in the tree,I just can't see him!

[striperman36]

T- for taunting ----penalty box...

[basswipe]

Could the mods merge the "time to start feeding the birds" thread with
this one?

It would be nice to consolidate all the bird threads into one for easy info.

[justplugit]

If she's eating English Sparrows or Chipmunks, she's welcome if not
she should find a different hunting ground.

I think it's a juvenile female Cooper because of her size and coloring.
Could be a Sharp-Shinned but hard to tell without a telephoto.
Legs were very bright yellow.

[Raven]

and play this video

tons of em on the web

this will send him elsewhere

[justplugit]

Geez Rav, i knew crows and owls were mortal enemies
but not crows and hawks. I've heard crows badger owls
for hours on end.

[Raven]

yeah they hate all predator birds...

soooo territorial about their roost trees....

use that to your advantage....

at a very early age i'd have birds (bluejays)
TAPPING AT THE GLASS BECAUSE I WAS PLAYING BIRD RECORDINGS OUT THE WINDOW - oops caps

you can use recordings to attract birds or repel them in that way
and it works quite well....

i wish fish responded so easily

[Old Man]

...we had a Veytoslow pigeon show up yesterday....

[basswipe]

Originally Posted by justplugit

If she's eating English Sparrows or Chipmunks, she's welcome if not
she should find a different hunting ground.

I think it's a juvenile female Cooper because of her size and coloring.
Could be a Sharp-Shinned but hard to tell without a telephoto.
Legs were very bright yellow.

Sharpies are a little more common locally than Cooper's but both do occupy the same range.I have a Sharpie that visits every year.Have yet to see him get anything from around the feeders but he's done a number on a small group of pidgeons that hang around my neighborhood.

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by justplugit

I think it's a juvenile female Cooper because of her size and coloring. Could be a Sharp-Shinned but hard to tell without a telephoto. Legs were very bright yellow.

I think it's a fish hawk targeting the fish in your window!

[Raven]

we have a Blue jay that has some throat or vocal cord damage
so that when it tries to make the normal call it comes out distorted
and sounds exactly like a red tailed hawk instead.

A flock of 500 grackles has descended upon our neighborhood making lots of noise in unison

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

I think it's a fish hawk targeting the fish in your window!

LOL, PR

Rav,my only problem is my neighbors would call the cops for
disturbing the peace with all those crow calls. I love the sound
of crows, takes me back to when I was a kid on the farm.

I was reading this morning how tough flyers the Coopers and
Sharp-Shinned are, flying through branches after their prey.
30 percent of autopsies done show broken ribs and wing breaks.

My one legged female Downy is back. Talk about tough, climbing
trees and at the same time getting food on one leg.

[Raven]

Understood Dave.... on the Noise issue deal

but to understand the "letter of the LAW"

a noise disturbance is "measured" by how many decibels
is being generated... and for how long too....

and i would imagine it would require
a mere ten seconds for the predatory bird
to hear it and FLEE the area....

[2na]

Raven, that blue jay doesn't have a throat problem; it is imitating the hawk to scare the competition. I've noticed it is not just every blue jay that does it, just a very select few. I've had one particular bird nesting on my property for the last couple of years making that call from his favorite perches in the general area of his nests. I had heard that distant call for years and always thought it was a hawk!

This seems to be the time of year that most of the posters on this thread start feeding, but I'm the opposite. I only feed in the early spring to early summer - once the feeders start getting clogged with fledged sparrows I'm done. I'll be closing up my cottage soon (then back to Quincy for the winter, where I would just attract pigeons and squirrels) and out here in the wilds of Truro there is so much natural food for them right now (berries, seeds, etc.) that I thing that it is smart to put out feed and get them dependent on a food supply then stop - I don't think that would help them make it through the winter. But once March arrives I go at it full bore. The beauty of feeding in the spring is that I'm outdoors all of the time getting my place (gardens cottages splitting wood for heat burning brush etc.) ready to go so I have learned to ID birds through their calls. It is amazing the range that the blue jay has (I like the one that sounds like a creaky door hinge). I've learned that another bird with a surprising variety of vocalizations is the goldfinch.

By the time the survivors have made it to spring they are fearless when it comes to feeding - I have literally had them land on the feeder as I was putting it up. And as the berries and seeds that were so plentiful in the fall are exhausted my feeding stations are a big hit, so my yard becomes a cacophony of bird calls. Nothing nicer than after the end of a long day doing yard work in the spring after the long crappy winter ahead than to sit down with a beer in the middle of my feeders and taking in the birds doing their thing. Only three months or so to go -

[Raven]

for drawing the more "exotic" birds in any environment

so, you (2NA) and Clammer and others who have only pesky
sparrows ought to give it a shot and feed some wood peckers and Nuthatches for a while. (strictly suet)

Birds need fat to burn in the dead of winter and insects and grubs provide that for most of the year but not in winter.

now if you have a large amount of starlings that normally are living off the three fast food dumpsters then its a lost cause.

I've had twenty gold finches sitting on a 5 x 5 cube of suet ....still kicking myself that i didn't get that on film and bluebirds and orioles in the spring that never would have been there if not for the suet.

[Backbeach Jake]

Mike I feed birds at my place the same way. In the Early Summer there is nothing more enjoyable to me than to sit with a good view of my feeder and a book and watch all the birds come in. I try to discourage the squirrels and they get POed that I'm there. We had Cedar waxwings last season,hadn't seen one in years.

[JohnnyD]

Been seeing a bunch of Blue Jays and Cardinals around. Finally motivated me to mount the feeders to the side of my place - landlord said he didn't mind me making a few holes to hang a couple feeders right in front of our bay window.

Ladder ended up being about 4' too short. Was probably an interesting site from the road seeing me hanging mostly out the window with the misses holding my waist to prevent a 20' fall. The effort was worth it though and we have a great view... now to wait for the birds to find them.

Mike, thanks for the bags. Worked perfect with the suet.

[ProfessorM]

most blue jays I have seen in years this year. Won't take them long to find it. I filled mine, I have 3 , and they were there within a half hour and I hadn't put seed in them for a good year. It was like they were watching me.

[Raven]

fastest eating sunflower seed bird
is the rose breasted gross beak

or maybe its the longest...
dunno

but the females sit there forever
with a beak thats PERFECT for splitting seeds
and they never leave

[2na]

Raven, I do get the suet out too. 2 springs ago I kept every yellow rumped warbler in Truro fed til the bugs showed up. I would have a dozen sitting around it taking turns - never saw one before or since. I use the sparrow crop as a gauge as when to stop. I think the birds have to be given a chance to learn to feed on their own, but if they make it through winter I like to give them an energy boost until other food shows.

Yeah Johnny, those bags work perfect for the suet. They'll get crappy after a while, let me know if you want any more - I find enough of them on the beach.

Paul, I put a scrap of ply on a couple of sawhorses in the middle of the feeding grounds and throw seed on that too. I have 2 seed feeders and a bag of suet within 15’; I'll sit in the middle. The birds are accustomed to me so they barely spook. Mucho relaxing. The chickadees, pine warblers and red-breasted nuthatches will land within arms reach. I've wanted to try to hand feed them, but I think that would take too much time to get them to do it.

[FishermanTim]

Chickadees are probably the least wary birds when it comes to you and the feeders. If you are filling the feeders, they will usually be the first ones there, and if you place seeds in your open hand held as high as possible (or as close to the same height as the feeder) they WILL eventually fly onto your hand and feed.
I've done this a few times in the past.

As for feeding, I feed the birds regularly during the fall thru to spring when I wean them off of my offerings and let them fend for themselves. It's about the same time that the spring insects make their appearance, so they food supply is consistent enough.

My favorite bird based on their call is the mockingbird. They will incorporate many sounds in their call, including machines and man-made sounds. I've heard them mimic cats and dogs as well as lawnmowers and car alarms.
The one that made the cat sound was funny because it was poised at the VERY TOP of a tree near a local bus stop. When I heard the sound, I thought I was hearing things since I could clearly see that there was no way for a cat to climb that high (plus the leaves were off the tree), and when the bird flew away it finished its call in mid flight, at which point I turned to a fellow transit traveler and said "Unless cats can fly, that was a mockingbird!"
They got a kick out of it, almost as much as I did!

[ProfessorM]

Mockingbird calls are in my top 4 for sure. Some have been known to do 50 different calls in a row. Catbirds are pretty talented too but they never shut up. Got an affinity for the Carolina Wren but they are loud and early and wake me up some mornings, but probably my favorite bird. Beautiful to look at too. Also luv to listen to the Baltimore Orioles song too. Probably my fav though is the Robin. Listening to the robin as it starts to get dark in early spring as it sits high in the leafless tree is the best sound you can hear as it means the days are getting longer and warmer weather is coming out way. Brings me a smile all spring long.

[2na]

Tim, I've had them land on the feeder in my hand as I was hanging it in the spring. I've read about how to wean them away from fear by putting a little seed on a table next to you, then putting your hand on the table, next move it closer to the seed, then finally get the seed in your hand, but I just don't have the time. It would be cool, though.

Paul, I lived in an apartment next to a marsh way back when, and the mockingbirds would call nonstop straight through the night. It was the only noise in the neighborhood. I've read that yearlings do that.

[Backbeach Jake]

Catbirds watch me mow the lawn. Makes it easy for them to pick the worms and grubs out of the grass. Some times when I don't need to mow they'll sit in the Privets and bitch at me.

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

Mockingbird calls are in my top 4 for sure. Some have been known to do 50 different calls in a row. Catbirds are pretty talented too but they never shut up. Got an affinity for the Carolina Wren but they are loud and early and wake me up some mornings, but probably my favorite bird. Beautiful to look at too. Also luv to listen to the Baltimore Orioles song too. Probably my fav though is the Robin. Listening to the robin as it starts to get dark in early spring as it sits high in the leafless tree is the best sound you can hear as it means the days are getting longer and warmer weather is coming out way. Brings me a smile all spring long.

Turkeys roosting and Owls hootin

[justplugit]

P. another favorite of mine is the wood thrush singing in the summer
evening. Had one nest in my rhodies near the front porch one year.

I think they are related to the robin family as they like to stay in the
marshy areas of the woods.

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Ladder ended up being about 4' too short. Was probably an interesting site from the road seeing me hanging mostly out the window with the misses holding my waist to prevent a 20' fall.

LOL, prolly thought she was shakin ya and saying, " give it up".

The Cooper was back today at 12 PM wating in a tree above the bushes
where the English Sparrows have their daily noon time racket fight for a couple of
hours.
Right now I'm rooting for the Hawk.

[JohnnyD]

Haven't witnessed any activity at the feeder... until today.

First observed visitor (sorry about the image size):


So next on the agenda, I need a guide book. What do you guys suggest?

[Raven]

i see lots of leaves

[striperman36]

Audobon field guide.