MID ATLANTIC BIRDS IN OUR GARDENS

I checked the eagle cam today several times and she is sitting so tight I would guess she is now starting to hatch those three eggs. She laid the last one Jan. 20th so she has over a month to sit and incubate. Most birds will not begin to sit "tight" until they are finished laying the entire clutch. After the last egg (don't ask me how they know when they are finished) is laid, they will eat, drink, poop and begin to sit tight. Unless the Male feeds them, they will not eat. Some hens will nearly starve if they do not have a mate that feeds them. In the case of eagles, I am not sure but I think the male will sit the eggs while she eats. Wild birds have different habits than caged birds. I had some hens that would not come out of the nest box until all eggs were hatched. They were thin and looked horrible, but they sat those eggs until they hatched. The incubation time for parrots is much less than the eagle. Nearly 10 days I would think. Depending on the species of parrot.

If you have not looked at these marvelous birds in action, you really should. Especially check the gallery and see there is snow in the nest when she laid the first egg. Amazing. I get such pleasure in watching these beauties. Thank you again for calling this eagle cam to our attention. Hugs. JB
P.S.
Don't forget to water and feed your birds tomorrow, it is going to snow again in the NJ area and they will be hungry and thirsty.

I still could not get the link to the hummers to work. It just sat there on a black screen, until the computer screen 'went to sleep'. I started it again and let it set 30 minutes while I got ready for work. Nada. I'm so disappointed.

We have an eagle nesting ground right here by where I live. The Arkansas River is dammed up and the nest on the sides of the river. Occasionally they open the dams and let water back out into the river bed, but there is always fresh water and fishes around.

JB--

Would snow not suffice as water? Do they eat snow if no water is available?

Sally--I usually mix some safflower Seeds in my seed mix as well. Sometimes even
cracked corn--just to extend the quantity. Someone, at some time will eat everything.

I need to set up my Finch feeder as well--kind of have forgotten about that.
I got a new one free at Ace....
I wish they sold Thistle seed in a 1-2lb bags. I'm not going to spend all that $$$
to buy the 8lb or 10lb bags. They always go bad--as I cannot use them up...
I have heard that Finches are very picky to have their seed fresh. True???

Threw some old Blueberries out today. Hope some feathered friends think it is a treat.

Gita

..Geez! it is cold in the house! May have to bite the bullet and turn up my thermostat
one notch...It is at 64* usually. Never go above 65*.

Gita

Me too on the temps. 67* when we are here and 65* when we are away and at night.

The other morning I checked the hummer cam and had a black screen and then I realized that it wasn't morning in Calif yet. LOL Haven't been back to try again. I have a ton of birds in the yard this morning again. Addition two large black crows flew in and everything left except the squirrels but now all the birds are back and waiting for the the crows to leave so they can come in must be a dozen cardinals out there I always have a lot of cardinals. They loos so pretty sitting on top of the Holly hedge in the snow waiting to come in. The crows are walking back and forth between the two feeders trying to lay claim to both feeders. We are getting some snow and it is just so beautiful out there.

Happy Snowy Tuesday! We had four inches of snow before I could even get out to clean off the deck so Barney could go do his thing.

I have a flock of Juncos this morning that are lovin it. The snow is coming down and there must be 20 of them just having a blast. Sparrows, cardinals, purple finches, all our regular winter birds eating away. The dove's are not here yet, and the grackles are here and there.

They were all eating when all of a sudden they fled the area, I thought maybe one of the barn cats took a walk, but I it was our resident hawk taking a look to see if he could find something to eat. They were back in no time, cardinals first and there has been no sign of him since.
I see all the questions have been answered and I agree with the answers so I will not take the time to comment on them.
Have a great day bird watching. That is about all we an do on a day like this. JB

I just checked on the Hummer cam at 11:00 our time. Mom was close to the nest, one baby poked it head up with mouth open. And the other stuck it's butt up out over the nest and let the poo shoot.
Mom came in fed them and sat back down, fussing a bit and then settled down.
The babies only have a hint of feathers so she probably has to warm them a bit before she takes off for more food.

Thanks Lady. I, too, forgot that the nest cams shut down at nite!

And, the amount of snow that must be melted to equal one good drink of water is 8 or more to 1 !

Just a few of the birds visiting this morning.

This guy is just feet from the sliding glass doors looking in.

Birds around here don't come out when it's snowing...very active the day before and when it finally stops

Bought 2 more feeders from Drs Foster and Smith, on sale and got free shipping

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+20781+21979&pcatid=21979
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+8773+22865&pcatid=22865

Nice! I like the second one....

We sell one at HD that is squirrel proof....It is the one
that the surrounding, outside, wire contraption drops down,
closing off all the feeding stations when a squirrel or a large
bird lands on it for dinner.

It is pretty too--dark green wire and a clear feeder tube.
$19.97

Gita

Jen thats a very nice suet feeder- I like how you would not have to get your fingers right on the greasy wires as you do with the cheapy ones.

I def needed a squirrel proof one. They have been known to carry off the whole thing!

LOL Jen.

Birds are all out now looking for my seed and water. . I had a goldfinch and a junco on opposite sides of the thistle feeder for the longest time. Do you think I got a good shot? No. My best effort was with the nuthatch. I am so tickled to have them come every day. Oops, photo to follow

This message was edited Jan 27, 2011 11:12 AM

Had to hunt it down! it saved in another folder when I cropped it.
I heard the bluejay but it doesn't visit unless I offer something else- maybe sunflower seeds of some kind. And where's the mockingbirds that were here last winter in the big snow? I have pictures of them around my seed.
OOH, now there's the downy, and here I am away from the camera.

Hoping to see lots of pics of birds after our snow last nite. Hope every one is ok.

Anyone do the Great American Bird Count?

Here's a link http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/whycount.html

JB I like your description of the eagle mom sitting so tight on the nest. Is that where the phrase "just sit tight" that my mom used came from? Growing up we did raise chickens and I do recall that some hens did sit so tight that it was hard for little me to gather the eggs.

Saw the eagle again yesterday perched atop tall dead tree and then flying to a tree near the nest. Perch tree and nest tree are about 200' apart.

A friend from New Zealand set out this link http://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/01/winners-of-the-worlds-rarest-birds-announced/

Jen, I like this squirrel proof feeder
http://www.rollerfeeder.com/rf2_cardinal_feeder_CS.htm

I like crows. Their caws woke me every morning as a kid as they flew from their roosts to feed in the fields. Also, they are the first bird I learned to make the call of and they would (graciously) caw back! Other bird calls I have in my repetoire include chicken/rooster, Bob White. dove and pidgeon.

So much for having water for the birds in the birdbath. This is what happened when I removed the heater so Rob could plow. By the time I got back to it the birdbath was frozen and full of snow. Today the little birds played in the melted snow and actually bathed in it.
I must get some water out there one way or the other.

This was the flock feeding about 3:30 today. They were on their third can of food. I spoil them big time. This was taken out my kitchen window.

The Roller Feeder http://www.rollerfeeder.com/rf2_cardinal_feeder_CS.htm is very likely the finest squirrel proof feeder out there. However a fair number of birds prefer a platform feeder. Some birds prefer the ground. The finches far prefer a sock feeder. If you had these three in a grouping with a bird bath warmed to prevent ice in winter you would have it all but close dense shrubs for them to scoot back and forth....to and from. I have a lot of mature laurel and holly. In the same area I have mature unpruned apple trees and some huge juniper planted nearly fourty years ago. They have lots of cover. They really like the feeding station to be relatively close to good cover.

Morning ,

Doc, that is a very interesting feeder. Fortunately we have no squirrels so I am not bothered with them.

Most of our feeders are the platform feeders and we use the tube feeders for the finch. I tried the sock feeders but they were not interested and I found the tube easier to keep clean. I have noticed the doves are ground feeders more so than the
smaller birds because the feeders we have a really too small for the larger birds, They are good for cardinals, etc. but I not only feed in feeders but I also feed on the ground.
Between the feed barn and the greenhouse where it is protected.It is also easy access for me in snow. This works well for the crows and doves too. There are two tube feeders and a platform feeder near this side of the house along with a now frozen bird bath. In the past two days they have eaten nearly 5 lbs of food. There is a lot of waste on the ground but the grackles and sparrows, juncos, all seem to love scratching and hunting for special treats.

More of this white stuff coming so you all better stock up on the birdseed. Have a good day. JB

Do you know if the birds eat cereals ?

I beleive that all flour based stuff we call food is probably not that good for birds. The ponds here warn people that bread is bad for ducks (Still they come with whole loaves)

Well, I have a box of Fiber One that tastes like cardboard and I hate to throw it away. I was wondering if the birds would eat it. I bet the crows would.

If cereal is made from grain, I don't know why it would be bad for them, unless it has rice in it.

Haven't you ever seen the sparrows eating the rice they used to throw at weddings? Of course, in the city, sparrows eat anything they can find.
They pick the grain out of the undigested horse poop too. Oh God, what am I saying. Sorry.

I saw my first bird of the day while out doing my paper route about 4:30 am. Thought it was a wierdly configured pile of oak leaves in the middle of the road in a wooded area. Looked like a brown soda can and then it moved its head...an owl but it didn't got out of the way of my car so I had to get out and shew it away.! So little..

I'm gonna say screech owl cause of size.?..definitely brown with white, or maybe a saw-whet? Probably had been out hunting all night and the cleared form snow seemed a good place to rest. Glad I saw him.

Yes, definitely saw-whet!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonidzerda/4003273528/

This message was edited Jan 29, 2011 12:37 PM

Too bad at times like that you do not have a camera. Did he seem like he was hurt or ill?
Seems strange it was in the road. Hmmmm. It is really dark at 4:30 a.m. too. That is interesting.

The birds are not out today like they were yesterday. The juncos are, and the small birds, but the doves, and larger birds were feeding early this morning but now are no where to be found. The weather is clouding up now again and snow is expected, so I thought they would be eating more. Yesterday they ate so much maybe they are not hungry. They have cleaned out the feeder once already. I am going to wait until they clean up the ground under the feeder now. The large grackles dumped the whole thing. They do mess things up. JB

People have quit using rice at weddings, because it kills the birds. They can't digest it and it bloats them until they die. That is why you see bubbles, etc now.

I'm glad I have large feeders, takes them a while to clean them out. One holds a full coffee can and the other almost 2. I put safflower seed in with my regular for a while, and the grackles/blackbirds/crows .... whatever they are, went away and found their feeding place somewhere else. Anything that feeds on the ground has to do it when my doggies aren't out running around, they chase them. They just fly off and when the doggies come in the house they go back to feeding....... that is.... IF the doggies don't eat what is on the ground. They like feed. Arf Arf TWEET. lol

BTW, rescued a little male Rat Terrier from PAWS a couple nights ago. If I can ever get him to hold still when I have my camera, I will get a pic. I keep forgetting to take it when we go outside.

I was going to say the same thing, Crit, about not throwing rice any more at weddings.
I have also heard that, instead of rice, they now throw bird seed.....

Now they have these bubble bottles--and they all blow small bubbles over the Bride and the Groom.
Kind of cute! Kind of "heavenly"......
All the things we all learn as generations progress......

I threw out some smithereens of egg shells today. I think some of it got eated--unless
the wind blew it away? Seeing a lot more birds now at my only feeder....
I just HAVE TO ge me some Finch food. Maybe then I can enjoy some finches at my feeders.

Thistle is SOOOO expensive. A bag of Finch seed is a bit more reasonable.

JB--I have NEVER seen an Owl in my life--except in some animal movies....
A man at work (who is a hunter) told me that an owl can pick the brains out of a Blackbird
sitting on a wire without waking any of the others. He said that is ALL they eat. The brains.
Sounder goofy to me! Can any of you verify this?

Ventured out for the first time in days today. I navigated the pile of snow at the end of my
driveway OK. The pile left by the salt trucks and the shovelers...

OK! No more to report on any birds..... Just the usual....
Maybe if I put out a suet cake I may see some Flickers. Never seen an actual Woodpecker here.
Remember--I live in a development---a populated kind of a place.

Gotta go to work tomorrow! Bummer.....
Gita

“A wise old owl sat on an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why aren't we like that wise old bird?”

— Edward Hersey Richards

JB little owl this am did not appear ill or injured. I'll watch that area as I pass tomorrow morning.

Owls eat a varied diet and a lot of rodents. Their flight is totally silent so they could not wake up a sleeping bird but as for brains only ??? What ever an owl eats that it can't digest is regurgitaed as a pellet that cna be examined to determine what it has been feeding on, bones, fur, claws, etc.

Judy---

You are just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO smart about everything.....
I like you for that!

G.

Here's something about human cereals begin fed to birds.
http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-diet-and-health/bird-nutrition/feeding-cereal-to-pet-birds.aspx
No surprises- sweetened ones are bad and healthy ones are OK in moderation

Hi Sally, funny you should find that link. When I bred parrots i used to give the young chicks cheerios to teach them how to forage. I would use a small paper plate and put the cheerios and some millet or small seeds on the bottom of their cage (I always used grates in my cages so they did not eat their droppings.) so they had a great time until they got smart and started to pull the plate apart and that was the end of that. Then they graduated to a cup or dish of cereal. Only the plain cheerios were what I used. Thank you for sharing that information. It is good for a reminder once in awhile. LOL

Listen to the saw whet owl here
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/sounds

My neighbor gets a Saw-whet owl every rutting season. It stays apparenty untill the rutt ends and we do not see or hear it untill the next season. We think but are not sure it is the male. They are very scarce in this area.