DAILY BIRD PICS VOL # 420

Eastern Blue Bird and Northern Flicker foraging in the backyard. Last pix for the evening.

Burd, you're getting good at shooting gulls. Lily, good captures. Glad you have lots of yardbirds.

Shot this coot yesterday. It had just been in a fight with another coot and was still riled up and fussing.

Nice shots Lily and Reddirt! Reddirt, I'll trade ya one million gull's for your Leusistic Red-tailed Hawk. lol

Sorry, Burd. We have plenty of gulls here in the winter time. I'll just keep Norma.

A Northern Bobwhite from a recent trip to the OKC Zoo. There is an enclosure in the Oklahoma Trails Exhibit where you can walk in and there are no barriers between you and the birds.

Love that Bobwhite red!!

I put together a mixture for our birds, it was 3 different kinds of cereals. plus a bag of tositoes. We put the mix on the platform on the tree, and a squirrel immediately took advantage of it. so we put some corn chex cereal slightly crushed into the tube feeder. We have several kinds of cereal that someone gave us and we did not like, so we are feeding it to the birds. I hope they like it, I also moved the bird bath a little further away from the house, the birds have found it and hopefully we will have some different birds soon, the sparrows have not even touched the tube feeder, and I know they like the corn but for some reason they have not touched it. Money is a little tight right now, so won't be able to buy suet cakes for awhile, how does spreading peanut butter on the Cottonwood tree out front sound? I wonder if any of the woodpeckers would get any before the squirrels do. Any suggestions on how to keep the squirrels from getting the peanut butter when it is on the tree?

Hi teddy, There is no way to keep the squirrels from getting the peanut butter when its smeared on the tree.

I don't know about the cereal but if the Tostito's have salt then it is not good for the birds at all.

Have you tried making your own suet?

I thought we had a thread for talking about feeding birds. Can someone remind me if we do? Thanks.

I'm a sucker for bobwhites, pelle. For most of my life quail hunting was my passion, but their numbers have dropped so I just can't feel right about hunting them any more. I enjoy seeing them, but they are difficult to see in the wild-- unless you have a bird dog.

Here is a Black-necked Stilt from the Oklahoma Trails Exhibit.

Burd, congrats on the lifer. I really enjoyed your photos.

Lily, nice shot of the sapsucker. You're really seeing some cute birds.

Nanny, bet it was exciting to see the cranes flying over.

Red, love that coot. It does look ruffled up. Beautiful bobwhite and that stilt is gorgeous. That zoo trail sounds wonderful.


We've had a pair of Bald Eagles flying past every day, here's one of them.

Found this Great Blue Heron on the lake a few days ago.

This Steller's Jay landed on top of a tall pine.

A Black Phoebe.

Reddirt, great job on the Black-necked Stilt!!
Duc, great shot of the Bald Eagle!!

My buddy is back.....Elvis.

one more for now...Elvis's love for House Sparrow's has not deterred one bit. lol
Watched him grab a House Sparrow and throw it off the feeder! I got a couple shots off of the scene but they came out too blurry.

I didn't know that they did that.

Wooohooo, I got myself a 'Butter Butt' this early morning. Haven't seen one since early spring migratory exodus. Also spotted a junco for the first time since. (no pix of the junco yet). Love the look of Elvis Burd, Duc I'm longing to see the western Phoebe again. I often hear our eastern ones more than seeing them.

It's a long shot, not one but two Juncos.

American Robins are rarely seen in this part of the garden. But here is one.

Mr. Blue Bird and his Misus.

Not much going on here in this neck of the woods.....or I ain't finding it anyways! lol

Can't tell how many shots I took trying get a decent one of the Carolina Chickadee the yesterday. This one with a Tufted Titmouse was the best I got.

Had a few House Finch show up too due to the cold weather!

The Downy Woodpeckers are busy now with the colder air moving in.

And Gold Finch everywhere!

Nice ones Nanny! Can't wait for the goldfinches to visit me.
Lily congrats on the yellow-rumped.
Duc, love those pics. I've always really liked Black Phoebes and that Bald Eagle shot is amazing.
Red, what a great opportunity. Those pics are wonderful.
Burd, glad Elvis is back!

Is there any kind of cereal that I could put on the platform that the woodpeckers like besides peanuts? If I put peanuts on the platform the squirrels would get them before the woodpeckers do. Is there any kind that the woodpeckers really like? I have Honey Clusters, rolled oats, corn chex,waffle corn crisps with maple flavoring. And I also have Frosted Flakes too. What should I put on the platform that they like?

Glad everyone is seeing birds. Great pics, especially that close-up of Elvis.

A Red-crested Pochard, also at the OKC zoo. These little dabblers are native to Asia and Europe.

This message was edited Nov 18, 2011 3:08 PM

Beautiful pics everyone. I am so enjoying this thread and the wonderful variety.

Teddy...here is a link regarding feeding cereal to birds http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/2011/09/29/out-of-bird-food-look-in-your-cereal-box/ . Looks like it is OK but do not feed
sugar coated. If the squirrels eat that too then if is something you have to live with. I know from what others on this forum have mentioned..it is a challenge to outsmart the squirrels. Best of luck.

[quote="pelletory"]Hi teddy, There is no way to keep the squirrels from getting the peanut butter when its smeared on the tree.

I don't know about the cereal but if the Tostito's have salt then it is not good for the birds at all.

Have you tried making your own suet?

I thought we had a thread for talking about feeding birds. Can someone remind me if we do? Thanks
There is lots of info in the second post of this sticky http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/805666/ .

Burd, I'm so very happy to hear Elvis is back. It's funny how we all seem to have one favorite bird that we watch to return each year. Your photos are beautiful of him. I had no idea they would be so mean to finches.

Lily, glad you're seeing the juncos, bbs and "butter butt".

Nanny, I love all your little birds too.

Red, love that pochard-they sure are pretty.

Rose, thanks for locating that link on cereals. I didn't know you could give it to birds.

My Brewer's Blackbirds pretty much stay around the house and wait for me to fill the peanut butter/peanuts log twice a day. With the price of both going up more than doubled, I may have to make it just once a day pretty soon.

This one perch has been fun to watch because there's usually one bird waiting next in line, in this case it's a less aggressive female blackbird.

Here's a mockingbird taking a dive for a berry.

Here's a rarity, a male and female white-crowned sparrows actually sharing the peanuts.

And the daily visitor, a ruby-crowned kinglet.

YAY...Rose is back!!

Pileated Woodpecker this morning....

Congratulations!

Geez..I've only been back for 5 minutes and am already jealous of the Kinglet and the Pileated!!

I was really fortunate a few weeks ago to photograph this gorgeous female Eastern Towhee. The only other time I've seen the female was when she was half hidden
in leaves. She didn't know I was sitting watching her in my camo!

Here she is again.

Aren't they so pretty! I about bust whenever one comes to the yard!! Wis you all could get the pileated as easy as we do.

Rose, Gorgeous pics of the Towhee! SOOO good to have you back!

Nanny, Love your Pileated!

Duc, Great shots and I love that rare shot of the female and male together!

okay nanny_56, what is your secret to getting the pileated woodpecker to come to your yard? I have a bird bath but have not seen them any where around it, could it be it is too small for them to drink out of? I know they can't eat out of the upside down feeder because it is not big enough, but I thought surely they would come to the bath, any suggestions?