Bird Watching: Night garden visitors....., 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
Hi Chris! I have my resident birds that come to my feeder every morning. They know that the food will be there at about 7:30 am every morning. But this morning, I didn't get out there until 8:30 am. I could hear them out there calling and knew they weren't happy campers. I have a pair of cardinals, a family of Bluejays (5 birds), several crows, 2 pigeons, and 2 woodpeckers. And an occasional visitor that I never know what they are. (I am still learning to ID the birds.) They literally wait in the trees surrounding my property or line up on the power line squawking or chirping until I get out there. And the squirrels and the mice wait out there too. The minute I go out into the yard everyone gets excited and it gets really noisy. And then there is the race to see who gets to the feeder first. It's crazy and funny to see all the action.

Rox - The squirrels spends a lot of time trying to chase the mice away. But if it is just one mouse, the squirrels will tolerate it. I usually have 4-5 squirrels and at least 2 mice (sometimes 4).

I am going to have to get a video of all the morning action. I can't describe it .... it's just one of those things you have to see to believe. LOL!

And all this for one feeder. HA!

Here is a photo of my post feeder. I usually just keep seed in the hanging open flat feeder, not as often for the top feeder. The crows and the bluejays love raw shelled peanuts. I think they believe that the bigger something is in the feeder the better. I use the nut and fruit mix that has already been removed from the shells. It's a no-waste mix. It smells like sweet cherries every time I open the bag. Yummy smelling!! And below the baffle is a squirrel feeder. On the ground is a bowl of water, and 2 dishes that I fill up with the same nut and fruit mix. The bowls are empty by the end of the day as they all come back periodically to eat. I am always looking out to see who is eating at the feeder.

Added to say: I took this photo during the hottest part of the day when all the critters were taking a break from eating. I have photos of my visitors at the feeder, but was lazy and found it easier to take a quick photo and post it rather than try to find a photo with visitor birds and rodents. :-)

This message was edited Jun 17, 2007 10:34 PM