What birds are at your feeders right now?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

I've got a red-winged blackbird, which I've not seen at the feeder before. I've also got 5 cardinals...3 male, 2 female, acouple of Carolina Chickadees, a house finch, and a handful of house sparrows.

[mikeytherat]

1. Purple finches (tons), four cardinals, two titmice (titmouses?),

and the red-headed woodpecker who comes by periodically. He shares territory with a red-bellied woodpecker, and sometimes they will feed one after the other.

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. I'd love to see a red-headed woodpecker...

We've got a lot of downies, and there's a flicker who likes to pound on our siding! When I first heard him, he was doing a number on our neighbors house. I thought somebody was using a pneumatic hammer!

[mikeytherat]

13. The red-bellied guy announces his territory on our chimney cap

every spring! For about three days, he bangs the cast-iron cap, and boy, is it loud!

It is very interesting that he and the red-headed woodpecker share territory, but nice that we get to see both.

Just had a bunch of warblers show up - scattered the finches!

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. Warblers!

Where are you? I never see them around the DC area at this time of year...

[mikeytherat]

18. Just down the road a piece, near Richmond

We live on the edge of a small lake, so we get wildlife in abundance. Lots of geese, large predatory birds (hawks, turkey vultures), and every small bird we get in Virginia. During winter and spring migration, I fill the feeders three times a day!

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. I'll have to go down there to do some bird watching, I guess!

Howdy neighbor! :hi:

[anarch]

2. I'm not sure what kind of bird this is...it's very weird looking

any ideas? I think it might be some kind of finch??

[mikeytherat]

4. The infamous SquirrelBird!

I have impenetrable feeders (on the third floor of the house, under an eave). One squirrel tried to attack from the roofline above, but could not swing down on to the feeder, and kept landing on the deck below. He eventually did what all the squirrels do; sit underneath the feeder and wait for scraps!

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Zorro!

[TheBaldyMan]

62. is that a red squirrel?

totally cool if it is

[GoddessOfGuinness]

68. There are red squirrels in New England...

And from the size of those birches in the pic, I'm guessing that's where it was taken.
I remember seeing them in Maine years ago. Pretty little things!

[TheBaldyMan]

79. they're almost extinct in England :(

and under pressure from the grey squirrel elsewhere. Were they introduced to the US or are they an indigenous species?
I wonder how they hold up to the competition in the US.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

87. They're indigenous

And apparently not endangered, except for one subspecies, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis (AZ), that is found only in Arizona.

The American red squirrel doesn't have the wonderful ear tufts of your British variety. I'm so sorry to learn that they're endangered. As a little girl, I loved Beatrix Potter's "Squirrel Nutkin". :cry:

Here's more info on the American variety: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tamiasciurus_hudsonicus.html

[TheBaldyMan]

88. thanks for the link

It is the plain old scurius vulgaris here, I like grey squirrels as well so I've mixed feelings about the proposed culls in areas where the Red is endangered.

Red Alert

[sarge43]

90. Red squirrels

Here in New England they're doing very well. I see far more of the little devils than the greys. They have a genius for raiding bird feeders.

Apparently they are two distinct species. The European red is Sciurus vulgaris while the American is Tamiasciurus hudsonicus.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

91. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[sarge43]

102. Thank you Goddess

About attracting crows to your yard. Just put out some bird seed on the ground some distance from the house so they don't see you moving around inside -- they're very careful until they're sure they won't be harassed. If you have dogs or cats, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

[TheBaldyMan]

94. thanks for the info

let me lay some scurius vulgarus on you : enjoy

[sarge43]

101. Such a cutie

I'm sorry to hear they're in so much trouble in Britain.

[Beer Snob-50]

3. i wish i had the knowlegde go know!

we have lots of birds at our various feeders and a cat who thinks they are an all you can kill buffet.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. Our cats used to like to sit at the window and watch them

We called them the Audubon Society.

[Beer Snob-50]

12. ours has actually caught one or twoq

never killing them, just sort of stunning them...one cat is like 15 now and she was out there yesterday jumping up and trying to catch one

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. Mine stopped after I gave them the evil eye...

One of them liked to sit there staring, motionless until a crowd had collected. Then he'd bat the window and scare them all away.

That's my punk cat. :D

[mikeytherat]

23. When the feeders get full, a line often forms on the windowsill...

that's when Charlie bonks his head on the glass, trying to "get them birdies." The other cats just roll their eyes but, he's a kitten, he'll learn!

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. When mine were kittens

they'd try to get stuff on the TV screen. It was such a hilarious sight!

[mikeytherat]

16. We set up the feeders FOR our cats, so they could watch the birds.

I can always tell when the feeders are full of birds; the cat chattering can be quite loud!

mikey_the_rat

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. Ha! Better than "The Feline Flyer"!

[Arkansas Granny]

6. I can't see my feeders right now, but my regular visitors are

red-winged blackbirds, grackles, brown headed cowbirds, house sparrows, house finches, cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and collared doves. I also have occasional visits from goldfinches, woodpeckers and chickadees.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. I saw a couple of goldfinches earlier...

I'm thinking of putting up a sack of thistle seed to keep them coming back.

Say, are you near the swamp where the Ivory-billed woodpecker was seen?

[Arkansas Granny]

15. No, I'm right on the western border of the state, but it's pretty

exciting to think that they were found here, or anywhere, for that matter.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. House finches, many gold finches, titmice, California towhees,

White-crowned sparrows, Anna's hummingbirds, and the ever present Western scrub jays.
We had a kinglet hanging around our patio plants last week and there are black phoebes and wrens in the yard but not at the feeders.
We usually have chestnut-backed chickadees, mourning doves and mockingbirds but they haven't around for the past few weeks.
I have three obese fox squirrels hanging out near the feeders too.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. Hummingbirds are so much fun...

I can't wait to set up their feeder again.

[Texasgal]

10. Cardinals

and morning doves!

But I have TONS of Cardinals, which I love!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. The males here are starting

to turn a more brilliant shade of red. All those cute chiquitas they've got to impress...

I've nicknamed one "Cowlick" because he has one oddly colored feather on his back. He comes up to the feeder when he sees me now.

[Kali]

11. I see some LGB's cleaning up after Watson (the Macaw I try to feed

out doors because he eats like a ... well a bird! Or a rowdy 2 year old. Just put up a "thistle sock" my sister sent for x-mas - hope it isn't some hyper prolific invader species....

Saw my first cardinal of the winter up the canyon yesterday. Lots of Gambel quail down at the corral.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. My grandmother used to have quail

that would walk through her yard on early summer mornings when we visited. Such a sweet thing to see the chicks all following their mother!

[Kali]

46. Yeah they are kind of like

mini, wild chickens. My parents used to have one that stayed around their (natural desert) yard that only had one leg - he seemed to do fine.

Unfortunatley around here roadrunners love the babies.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. I didn't realize roadrunners ate baby birds...

Makes sense though. :(

[Kali]

52. Yeah - they are kind of cool birds themselves

but they can get kind of pushy - they steal my chicken eggs too :mad:

We seem pretty balanced for the last few years - when I was a kid there were never quail around here. We actually "have" three kinds - out in the grassland there are scaled quail and up in the rocks I have seen harlequin quail a few times - pretty birds for sure.

[kwassa]

21. Vultures

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. I'm not sure how long you've been in the area, but

a number of years ago, a group of yups near Leesburg were all freaked out by the presence of VULTURES on their nice, crisp, newly built, big, ugly homes. They wanted to hunt them, poison them, and anything else you could do to eliminate the "pests" from their sanitized little enclave. :grr:

I have a soft spot in my heart for the boogers...

[blindpig]

32. So, what kind of feeder are you using?

And more importantly, what kind of feed?:evilgrin:

[Kali]

47. That's how we know it's spring around SE AZ.

:P





(the Turkey Vultures return in April)

[Burma Jones]

27. None, why should I support Goddamn Lazy Birds?

Goddamn Liberals with your Goddamn handouts of tasty suet......:dunce:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. I have a brother who talks just like that...

Must be a Montgomery County thing... ;-)

[Burma Jones]

58. Only west of Rock Creek, Dahling......

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[blindpig]

31. I'm at work right now but the usual crowd consists of

Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Purple Finches, Chipping Sparrows, Gold Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows. If the weather turns to crap it can get much more interesting.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. Who shows up in stormy weather?

[blindpig]

74. A couple of surprises

and a lot of irregulars. Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Rufus-sided Towee, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Pine Warbler, Hermit Thrush. The thrushes just seem to be attracted to all of the other bird activity.

I've also seen Eastern Phoebe pecking at crumbs of dog kibbels.

[SofaKingLiberal]

33. A few

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. Ostriches remind me of

[scarlet_owl]

36. Juncos, cardinals, and sparrows.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. Haven't seen as many juncos around here

in recent years. We saw them all the time when I was a kid. I've noticed a couple this winter, but that's it.

[djeseru]

37. I'm at a new location...

...so only the mourning doves and house finches come by.

At my last residence, I had it all - blue-jays, cardinals, juncos, waxwings, red-wings, white-wings. I sure miss that place!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. What's changed?

Is it more urban?

I'm sure the Audubon Society has tips for attracting brids to your yard...

[XemaSab]

40. Nothing right now

But we typically get Oak Titmice, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches, White Crowned Sparrows, Golden Crowned Sparrows, Juncos, and Western Scrub Jays.

On edit: and we also get Mourning Doves and Flickers, but not so much at the actual feeders per se.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. It's so cool to here from the Western DUers...

The sun's been down here for a little over 2 hours. I filled the feeder this morning, and it's almost empty. When I moved the feeder to its current location back in November, it took 2-3 days for the birds to get through the supply.

I'd really love to get to California. My aunt lives in Santa Rosa; and I've never visited her. It'd be fun to see the birds that are so common there, yet so exotic to this pair of eyes.

[marzipanni]

59. As I washed dishes this a.m. I looked out the window to a treetop

a couple of blocks away, and perched on it was a rather large bird. It looked like a flicker so I quickly got the binoculars and confirmed that it was. I love flickers; one late afternoon in early spring I was throwing a ball for my dog at a secluded part of the park. Suddenly about a dozen large golden tan "glowing" birds landed on the grass and in some trees about 25 yards away. I was spellbound, I had never seen a group of flickers and I guess they were migrating (near Sacramento, California).

[Ladyhawk]

41. I wish I could have one at an apt. complex.

It would be fun...

Sigh.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

44. There are feeders that you can attach to your window

with suction cups. Or if you have a balcony you could set one up there.

[Ladyhawk]

86. The problem is that if it causes a mess, someone will complain.

Let's face it. Birds are messy. I could take a picture of my indoor bird to prove it...hehe. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

95. That's true...

At least you have an indoor friend!

[Ladyhawk]

96. Yes and he's very entertaining to watch. :)

Right now he's shredding a plastic cup. See? He's messy. :D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

98. A friend of mine has a parrot who calls "MOM!"

incessantly. Little stinker. :D

[Ladyhawk]

100. My parrot calls my name. :) Here's an mp3.

MP3 of Gabby Saying My Name

And a couple more:

MP3 of Gabby Burping

MP3 of Gabby Saying Hello

[buzzard]

107. How do get an mp3 file into your thread??

[Ladyhawk]

111. I host it on my web space and just link to it.

I have about 50 MB of room with my ISP. I host image, audio and video files there. I used to have a web site, but I got tired of maintaining it. I just link to the mp3 on my site from here.

[ucmike]

42. nothing. its dark right now. during the day however...

we have squirrels.

aside from them we have red finches, 2-3 different sparrows, juncos (less as the spring approaches, but they come around all winter), doves, tufted woodpeckers, sometimes the big red woodpeckers, cardinals, bluejays (occassionally), nuthatches.


and squirrels. they destroyed my last feeder, but this one is holding up better so i tolerate them. last week in the rain they were trying to climb the pole to get to the feeder. it was too wet for them to grip so they kept sliding down inches from the top. this went on all day till the rain stopped. i'm thinking about running some speaker wire out there to a car horn or something.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

45. And what's your location?

I've never seen a tufted woodpecker before. They aren't in my Peterson's guide.

I found a pic online, though... http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Yellow-tuftedWoodpecker(PD).jpg

[ucmike]

81. you're correct. i mashed two names together.

what i have is downy woodpeckers. occassionally we see the larger hairy woodpeckers, which look very similar, but they don't seem as comfortable at the feeder so they hit and run. my feeders out in the open, away from cats, so it seems that the larger birds (except the doves) are very cautious about it.

we get a much larger variety of birds when there's snow on the ground.

[Miss Marmelstein]

49. Road Runner...

We have a road runner that stops by every few days and I was shocked to find out they do not eat Acme Bird Seed. They are carnivores! My husband puts out raw hot-dogs for her and that keeps her coming back.

We named her Rhoda.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

50. I want to see one

in the wild!

[Miss Marmelstein]

51. Come on down....

they are always running across the road here. They look different than the cartoon characters.

[Redstone]

53. We have Cardinals, those bossy Blue Jays, and a ton of the

little grey guys who would be much mor troubht than they're worth to identify.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

54. Blue Jays make the neatest sound

like aliens or something. It's not their usual squawk...It's a different call. It almost sounds like a computer game sound effect.

[Redstone]

55. So you noticed that too. We also have crows who quack like a duck.

Really.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

56. I'd like to attract crows to my yard

I genuinely like them.

[Redstone]

57. They like garbage a lot. And not just compost stuff, they'll

go nuts over meat scraps.

And here's something else I'll bet you haven't heard: Crows hate hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. They'll raise an almighty ruckus when a predator comes onto your yard, then they'll gang together and chase him out.

So I don't mind a few crows. But I coudl do without the damn starlings.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

60. One year we had a nasty ice storm

that left me feeling sorry for the starlings that I usually chase from the feeders. I had some stale heels of bread that I tossed in front of the house. I stood there watching them for a minute, and the next thing I knew, a hawk swooped down and grabbed one of them. The starling didn't suffer at all...the hawk just snapped his neck and he was gone.

I'm afraid if I put meat scraps out we'll get rats; so maybe I'll pass on attracting crows...:)

[AlienGirl]

61. Crows love cat kibble

They also love French fries, but those aren't very good for them.

Tucker

[sarge43]

78. They adore Cheetos

Crows will eat just about anything they can wrestle down their throats.

[Ladyhawk]

63. I do, too. I like their big cousins the ravens, too.

We have a lot of them up in the high country. Lately, they've been coming down to lower elevations, too.

I raised a crow that had fallen out of the nest, once. Funny, smart birds. :)

[Ladyhawk]

64. Slightly OT: I am 1 1/2 CDs into The Life of Birds.

Dang! That is one helluva a documentary, isn't it? I absolutely loved the footage of the flightless parrot, the kakapo. Isn't that a strange bird?

XemaSab, I'm sure you're in here somewhere...someday I would love to go bird-watching with you. My native bird knowledge isn't that great and I'd love to learn. :) :) :) :)

hen I was growing up, I assumed the term "bird brain" meant birds were stupid. That is SO not true. Some are smarter than most mammals, including the parrots and the corvids. I think other families of birds are smarter than some think, too. And they are all so fascinating. I just paused the DVD in the middle of David Attenborough doing a rapid double-strike on a tree to piss off a territorial species of woodpecker in NZ...LOL! They're really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles or closed captions on this DVD. I'd like to see how the names of the birds are spelled. :( :( :( :( :(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

66. I didn't get to see all the episodes...

So glad to know it's on DVD! :yourock:

With regard to spelling, etc...Sometimes these documentaries have companion books. You might want to check online.

[Ladyhawk]

67. Excellent! I love to know the proper names and sometimes even

the proper scientific names. :) I'm weird thataway. :D

[XemaSab]

73. We should totally go out sometime!

I've been into county birding lately.

I've got 100 for 11 counties (Del Norte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Madera, Fresno, Marin, Mono, Imperial, and San Diego) and I need the other 47!!!! :D

[sarge43]

77. Winged Free Loaders

Outside: Jays, goldfinches, chickadees (zillions), juncos, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, mourning doves (quad-zillions), nuthatches, crows.

Inside: Blue and Gold macaw, Congo African grey, two cockatiels, two keets.

Birds R'Us. :woohoo:

[doc03]

65. This fall I was filling my feeder in the morning and by evening

maybe 1/4 of the feed would be gone then the next morning the feeder would be empty. I caught the thief when I came home one night, the damn deer were sticking their tongues in that little slot of the feeder and licking it clean.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

69. Hahaha!

I found a website tonight that had some info on flying squirrels. Apparently they like black oil sunflower seed, and often visit bird feeders at night.

Fortunately, my feeders are too high for the deer to get to...

[doc03]

71. I solved that problem I just fill the feeder about 1/4

full now. Now to get the deer out of the shrubbery. I covered the plants with a netting called deer netting, well they found they could get their heads under it and eat my plants anyway. Now I am trying some spray that smells like skunk piss and cost $30 a quart, I'm surprised they can collect skunk piss for that cheap. So far I think it's working. I'll probably walk outside run into a male skunk.

[Dave Reynolds]

70. Hmmm....looks like a

furry feral cat-bird, with the mouth feathers.

[leftofthedial]

72. night owls

[Left_Winger]

75. Cardinals, chickadees...

and the doves at the birdbath.

[Callalily]

76. OMG! None . . .

I forgot to buy bird seed. Aw, those poor little things.

[Politically_Wrong]

99. Aw...

Poor little birds...I'm sure they will forgive you whenever you buy them some more...but i'm sure you'll buy the real expensive kind because you feel guilty...;-)

[Callalily]

103. Oh yippee!

Finally I hear from the illusive Politically_Wrong! What have you been up to?
You in the mood for a little

[Politically_Wrong]

104. Well...

actually I am in the mood for some SOCOM...I have plans tonight but this weekend I do want to get on...I need to relieve some stress :evilgrin:

[Callalily]

108. I certainly can relate

to the stress issue
Would love to play with you but I can't commit to a time right now. Don't know what my schedule is for the weekend. Want to take out some time to go out and play too I've been working far too much!

[Politically_Wrong]

112. Sounds good...

If you can't play this weekend thats okay...my calender is open so whenever you can play, tell me! Take the break this weekend and go "play" you deserve it! :party:

[boobooday]

80. A giant piliated woodpecker!

The only thing that brings him around is suet, which makes him laugh just like Woody. :-)

[sarge43]

82. Wow, boo

They are very shy; it's rare to see one up close.

[boobooday]

85. We live deep in the forest

Oak, hickory, maple. There are a pair of piliateds that hang around. I love their voices! I'm in Bloomington, IN, and we see them quite a bit here.

We have about 6 different kinds of woodpeckers that I have counted. And one day, we had 30 wild turkeys in our yard!

We also have titmouse, chickadee, blue jays, and cardinals. And a couple of owls who go off at night. Hoooo!

[sarge43]

89. We're in rual central NH

Wild turkeys are another great success story. In the '50's their numbers country wide were down under ten thousand. Now there're approximately 2 million; half of whom glean our neighbor's field.

By the way, never "who" back to owls. If you do "who", you'll be plagued with minor bad luck like a flat tire.

[boobooday]

93. Oh no!

I've done that already! But I never screech back at the screech owls!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

97. I've seen them in my neighborhood, believe it or not...

We may have had a pair nesting in our silver maple at one time. It was hit in a storm, and has some hollow places in it. It's also quite old.
I'm pretty sure it was host to an owl a couple of summers ago. He kept waking me up at 4 am...

[Greyhound]

83. Goddamn Cactus Wrens!

Hate them, horrible birds that kill all of the other birds and ruin all of my citrus.

[Beware the Beast Man]

84. mostly sparrows.

I have yet to see a cardinal this year. we had a blue jay a few weeks ago, and he scared away the other birds.

[Megahurtz]

92. I have a Flycatcher chirping in my front yard

flying around eating flies right now LOL! Seriously!
:hide:

[bertha katzenengel]

105. titmouse, nuthatch, goldfinch, cardinal n/t

[greendog]

106. I don't have a feeder but...

...I saw one of these while I was out earlier today.

[sarge43]

109. Oooooo

If I may ask greendog, where do you live? Snowies will disperse south in the winter, but it's rare to see them outside of Canada.

[greendog]

110. NW Montana...

...I've seen 3 Snowies in the lower Flathead Valley. They seem to like the flat farmland just north of Flathead Lake. I see them sitting on fences and on the ground, and occasionally perched on utility poles.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

113. Not at a feeder but within sight of my boat, osprey, cranes, pelicans

white, green and great blue herons, wild parrots, cormorants and frigates. I live next to a Wild Bird sanctuary so we sometimes see some birds that are on the endangered species list as they like to hang around after they have been nursed back to health. But I don't see anything right at the moment because it is dark and raining. :)