DAILY PICS Vol. 293

My gosh we are almost to 300 Daily Pics threads! In case you would like to review the last the thread, we came from here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1077856/

March is only 2 days away.....YAY! This has been a very long winter. We have had a lot of snow and lots of gray days this year. Thank goodness we have not a lot of really bitter cold. I think everyone is really looking forward to spring and the sooner the better!

The female Red-bellied has been coming more often..and the male is not chasing her off. A sure sign that spring is on the way!

This message was edited Feb 27, 2010 8:41 PM

A meeting of Winter & Summer...

The American Gold Finch represents the summer to come and the American Tree Sparrow is the winter that will soon be leaving.

The bird that we all watch for in the fall that siganls winter is arriving soon...the Dark -eyed Junco.

and sometimes you get a surpise visitor such as a Dark-eyed Junco Oregon Form here in Indiana!

Very nice pics nanny! Thanks for starting the new thread!

Love the female Red-bellied and that cute Chipping Sparrow!

I assume this is probably a Western Scrub-Jay. I'm hoping they are making a come-back this year. Last year, they just about disappeared during the worst of the drought.

Nanny, Thanks for the new thread. Glad to see the tree Sparrow arriving in your area for spring. Nice shots of that Red-bellied Woodpecker. Hope to see those Oregon Junco someday.
Linda hope those Scrub Jay don't vanish again.It a beautiful bird to have visit.
Going back to last year's birds. The Evening Grosbeaks.

Again from last year, the Hoary Redpoll

The common Redpolls.

nanny_56 - nice start of the new thread. I've never seen the Oregon Form of the Dark-eyed Junco - neato.

LindaTX8 - nice capture of the Western Scrub-Jay. Hopefully, you'll be seeing a lot more of them. My son lives in Austin and when I visited him last Thanksgiving, Lake Austin was WAY DOWN. He says it has come back a long way. He's gonna send my some pics to compare to the ones I took.

burn_2007 - that Hoary Redpoll is a cool looking bird. Wouldn't mind seeing one, but down here in Ga, it's not going to happen.

Hack

Nice old pics Burn! I can't believe you didn't get any this year! Actually the Tree Sparrow spends the winter here and leaves in the spring. They will be leaving soon along with the Juncos.

The Tufted Titmouse came flying in so fast that it startled the Carolina Chickadee so much that it almost fell off the feeder!

I didn't snap any pics today, but here are the rest from yesterday - a very good day with the camera.
------------------------
Here's a male House Sparrow.

Hack

And here's a female House Sparrow.

Hack

Always have Mourning Doves.

Hack

My Pine Warbler dropped by.

Hack

Oh, yeah, Robins abound.

Hack

Still have many Red-winged Blackbirds, though males are predominant.

Hack

A Tufted Titmouse, hammering on a seed.

Hack

Wasn't too long before this White-throated Sparrow was hopping around on the ground.

Hack

This male Yellow-rumped Warbler has all over the place - here, he's at the suet feeder. This feeder gets a lot of traffic, no matter what kind of suet is in it. This time it was Peanut Delight.

Hack

And right after the male Yellow-rumped Warbler left, a female Yellow-rumped Warbler arrived.

That['s it for today. 23 birds photographed yesterday, yep, it was a good day. The others are on the previous thread. Today was overcast and I spent it re-filling feeders, trimming some branches for making better pics, making some more of my peanut butter suet and making some more "feeder logs".

And, I want to figure out a better way to melt the lard and peanut butter for my homemade suet. I'm thinking about setting the container of lard, and then the container of peanut butter, in a pan of boiling water. Anyone have any better ideas? It was messy when I scooped it out of the containers to melt. Now, I wonder if a lot of folks just pony up the dollars and buy the stuff, instead of making their own.

Hack

This message was edited Feb 27, 2010 9:11 PM

Very lovely pics Hack, Have you ever counted, how many species you have there?
Nanny thanks, If those Tree Sparrow spend the winter there, send them packing, cause I only see them in Spring here. And I just can't wait.

OK, Hack, give this whirl. First, why use lard at all? Plenty of oil just in the peanut butter. I use the stuff that's just plain old ground up nuts that separates when it stands a while. No additives. I heat it up on low heat (because I'm impatient) and then I add the cheapest whole oats I can find and corn meal. Stir it up until it becomes really stiff. The grains will absorb the oil so it won't drip all over the place. add the oats and corn meal by feel. If I'm feeling generous, I add raisins or other dried fruits. If I want to put it in a wire mesh feeder, I use an empty commercial plastic suet package as a mold, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer. Usually, though, I just pack it in a can and keep it covered. I smear it on tree trunks and it works great.

RBB

I've always used Lard too.

I didn't make any suet this year. LOL, I refuse to cook homemade suet for Starlings (we have large flocks here).

Congratulations Hack on the new birds!

Edited to say: I would think you would have to cut back on the cornmeal and oats if you didn't use lard.

I thought we had a discussion a while back about not using too much peanut butter because there was something in it that wasn't all that great for the birds. Wish the Search thing worked.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2010 6:16 AM

Hack & Pelletory, I suspect there are as many home-made suet recipes as there are people who take the time to concoct the stuff. I bet they all work, and our feathered friends (and the squirrels and the @!*$! racoons) are well fed. So, if it aint broke, don't fix it. I have to confess fhat I've taken to buying commercial suet cakes when the local Southern States Cooperative has them on sale by the case.

About the cayenne, it might work for squirrels, but nothing, I mean nothing will deter a hungry racoon!

I went looking for articles relating to feeding birds peanut butter. As with you, Pelle, I couldn't dig up anything in particular, but I found this to have some interesting information. http://www.oldworldaviaries.com/text/miscellaneous/toxicoses.html

That was a good article MargaretK. I wonder if a mineral block, like the brown ones you see in feed stores, would be a good thing to set out? Got to do some research on that.

Hack

Hope it's OK to interrupt the cooking class with a pic. :-) I moved the flower feeder closer to the house and the BB came right to it. I've been giving them a hand full of blueberries in the morning and they eat those as well as meal worms.

Mama BB.

Elphaba, great photos of the red-winged and warbler in the last thread.

Nanny, thanks for starting the new thread. Love that red-bellied!! That sparrow sure is colorful with the goldfinch. What a cute photo of the chickadee and the titmouse.

LindaTX8, great shot of the jay!

Burn, love that photo of all the grosbeaks! Cute redpolls too.

Hack great photos of your birds. The House Sparrows are sure fighting with my Tree Swallows over the birdhouses every day. Love that Pine Warbler-colorful. Glad you're making more logs, sounds like they're perfect for attracting the birds.

Margaret, thanks for the article.

Here's something I haven't seen for a long time. I was out photographing two young deer just outside the fence when a Scrub Jay flew down to a branch next to one of the deer. The jay then jumped on the deer's back and later moved up to the head where it picked off fleas or ticks. After the bird finished, it flew to the second deer's head and did the same thing. 200 photos later, I'm still kicking myself that I'd taken the teleconverter off the camera a few days ago!




This message was edited Feb 28, 2010 8:05 AM

We posted the same time Red-sorry. Cute BB on your dish.

Here's one that I like to think the deer is saying "ahhhhhh".

You are very fortunate to have shared that behavior, duc. The shot you have is good enuff for me!

Daddy BB.

He's gorgeous Red. Love the partial sun on him. More?

Goldfinch and House Finch.

Cute Red, I just went out for the morning walk, without the camera, and counted 10 House Finches in a tree next to the road. Guess I should learn by now to always bring the camera.

hey duc...really cool shots of the deer/scrub jay!! I enjoy photos that show behavoir. I have not had a lot of those lately!

Red...your BB's are so pretty. I saw a couple out and about when I wlaked the dog this morning. That is a nice sign that spring is on the way!

The American Gold Finch...House Finch booty!

This message was edited Feb 28, 2010 12:13 PM

And the White-breasted Nuthatch...

By the way, thank you all for the nice comments. :)

Great pics everyone!! I don't have any real "heralders" of spring yet...but it sure is nice to see everyone else's pics of them!!

My winter crew are starting to pair up and the flocks are dispersing. Here are the pair of mourning doves that is in the yard now:

I am excited here!!!!! The first Hairy Woodpecker I have seen since last spring/summer!

I went to check and my last photo of a Hairy was on 4-17-2009! It was a female also.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2010 2:58 PM