MidAtlantic bird watching for spring

Gita, it does sound like a sparrow. Song sparrow and White Throated sparrow both are good possibilities.

Female House Finches lack the pinkish red color of males, so are dull and streaky and sparrow shaped. I guess you'd compare the size and shape and recognize them as female House finches.

JB, I just don't know what else to say...Complain away!!...I haven't gotten new niger or the new feeder I'd need to offer it, and have no goldinches.

It's funny about the finches. I bought a thistle sock and some thistle a year or so ago. It hung there unused -- it was on a hook attached to the house, so it hung very close to a window and we could peer at it as we had our coffee in the morning. I was sure the thistle rotted within a week -- I know thistle doesn't keep. Then one day this winter I spotted two finches on it. So I bought a regular thistle feeder (the problem with the thistle sock was that as the birds ate, thistle showered out of the sock) and more thistle from Audubon (the store is just a few miles from us). Now it is often filled with finches - but then it will go unused for days. The majority of the birds we get are finches -- and the goldfinches are just starting to turn gold now. They also feed on our other feeders which all have hulled sunflower seed (hulled because we were tired of cleaning up the shells, plus they are allelopathic (http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/What-Is-Allelopathy.htm). I have seen every perch (I think there are 24 in all) filled with finches all at one time.

Same with our heated birdbath. It went for a couple years untouched (which hurt my feelings -- honestly -- isn't that silly?). Then I added a few rocks to it as stepping stones and now it is occasionally used. It is a pain to clean though.... I need to move it further away from the bird feeders because some food falls into it

I spent the last week making suet cakes for the woodpeckers. I made 16 large cakes (I think they were 12 oz. each) for about a total cost of maybe $15 (it could have been less but the butcher I used this time charged for the fat -- last time I got it for free). If I bough the ingredients at a discount store it would have bought the priced down more (flour, cornmeal, peanut butter, sugar, and I threw in old raisins). The birds don't like the suet cakes I purchased much, but the woodpeckers are pretty happy with the cakes. They weren't hard to make but it took a bit of time. I'm going to start freezing old nuts rather than tossing them to add the next time I make the cakes.

I can post the recipe if anyone is interested. One caution: Rendering the beef fat will make your house smell strongly of beef fat -- I really recommend doing it on the grill outside if you can. Or you could use a slow cooker or an electric pan you can plug in outside. It took a couple hours to render the fat.

We froze the cakes; I don't plan to put out more than one at a time, and I won't put out any when it gets warmer, so I hope this will last a year or so.

I'm a little appalled at how much we are spending on bird food. We may take down all but one of our feeders over the summer....

THe birdbath my birds like best is the old concrete one my neighbor gave me. I think they like the rough surface that is very grippy for their feet. Life threatening to tilt and dump out! THe bowl must weight fifty pounds. It does NOT crack when it freezes.

happy you did still get a lot of suet for the money.

Woodpeckers are liking my purchased pure suet. I may have to break out yet another one before the weather really warms up.

I have a "purchased" plain suet hanging above the suet I made, and the woodpeckers ignore the purchased one. It has been up for a week or so.

That's odd, but very satisfying for you after the effort of making yours! Birds seem so unpredictable in their eating habits.

Sally--

I have not been able to find the upside-down suet feeder tapla made for me.
I had it! I know I put it somewhere--but i have searched high and low and have not found it..yet...

I bought a nice curved bracket ($8) and had my young back-yard neighbor go up a ladder
and put it up on the tree trunk--but I cannot find the feeder....How can something 12"x12" disappear?
I so wanted to hang it up with the suet cake you gave me..........

Well--it IS made of see-through Lucite--but still.....VERY frustrating...I remember putting it upside down
---somewhere.....tired of looking for it...
I KNOW one day i will just stumble on it--maybe in July????

Gita

Oh my how frustrating!

Gita: Did you take a photo of it before it disappeared? I'd love to try to make one!

No--I was inside and it was a good distance away. Seemed a bit skittish too.
I was trying to see it better with my small opera glasses--but I cannot seem to find
a correct setting on it for my eyes.
Some birds flee as soon as I get close to my big LR window. Especially Cardinals.

The goldfinches could not care less--too busy eating...
For me to get a picture--I would have to use a full zoom and shoot through the dirty window.
Not a good chance....
G.

LOL Gita, You sound so much like me. I swear I loose stuff all the time. It's here, I know I had it and then, bang can't find it anywhere. I am still looking for a present that Ric bought for Josh last year.

Hey you two, I am the old one here, I mean old......I use that as an excuse all the time. I had Mr Hawk for two days and birds are few and far between. The yellow and red winged black birds are here of course but no other. The crows had a fight with the hawk yesterday. That was interesting.

LOL JB, No that's not age related. I have been losing things for decades.

Me too, but now I have an excuse.

I find I do things so automatically that I put things away, then I look for them and hunt all over the house and find they are where they belong, but I never look there because I forget I put them away. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

Heehee

Trying to tell most men anything is just a waste of time.

OOOPS...sorry. I must be nice. My last husband was such a darling but he was such a hard head. Of course he was a Major in the USMC, maybe that expains it all. LOL Semper Fi.

haha!!!

Yup; had to get a new suet out today. Couldn't let them go into this storm without suet.


If you ARE going to tell a man something, make it snappy. The attention span is short!
Or, in the words of a cartoon, (One Big Happy), men are fast listeners. THey are done listening before women are done talking.

We had a nice walk by the river yesterday...

First Osprey of the season... enjoying a nice fish for dinner!

so cool!!!

My thistle feeder is 1/3 empty but I haven't noticed what birds have been on it, I was sick as a dog since last Wednesday, intestinal bug that I hear is all over our lovely state(wonder if it has something to do with the hurricane)
anyhoo, finally got out of the house today, filled other feeder with safflower and took a road trip to Valley Forge, PA and saw some bluebirds

Karen Beautiful photo.
Jen, How great I haven't seen any blue birds at my house yet.

Never gave the hurricane a thought but that stomach flu has been really bad here in NJ. People I know have had it for a week at a time. But it is not just here.

My Grandson is in Miami and he spent SpringBreak at the Univ. of Miami dorm, sick for a week with some virus....he missed a concert he waited months for. Had to sell his ticket. They did bloodwork, smears, everything and did not identify it other than a stomach virus. ????

Birds have emptied all feeders and I must go out in this mess and fill them. I hate hate hate this snow.

But...But......JB! Now you have birds!!! You were upset that you did not have any!

I do believe you are probably getting more snow that me here...I have not gone out yet--
but it is not coming down--like to stay. It is already slushy on the bottom. Just looked out my door.
But--it is still snowing...lightly.
G.

Up here it's some kind of an intestinal bacteria

Yes Gita....all big ugly black and grey but they have to eat so I live with that. I am such a sweet old lady.

Bacteria....UGH....not good. Maybe it was some result of the storm. I know I have not been mentally normal since. (GITA.....YOU BETTER NOT SAY WHAT YOU ARE THINKING).

JB--I won't! However--I LIKE your kind of "NOT NORMAL"!

I have never claimed to be totally "normal" either. With me--You have to just
take me as i am. But I will always give it to you straight--and I am honest and will not cheat you.

Off to have another glass of wine spritzer and start chopping up all the veggies for
making Shrimp Egg Rolls tomorrow. Today I have to fry up the catfish fillet I got at 50% off.
That, and the Asparagus I bought, will make lunches for me for the next two days.

Got ground pork in the meat learance bin (3/4lb. for 99 cents) and Egg-Roll wrappers were on sale as well.
Need i say more??? Never made them before--but that won't stop me.....
Just printed out 4 different recipes for them. Will choose my fave. and start chopping....

That's what always happens when i go shopping at my Safeway. Right next to the "Great Clips"....
where I got my hair cut....it was starting to fold up on my neck...NAHHHH!!

Gita

Yes indeed most of you have seen this but here we go Perregrine Falcon ( fully developed fedgling ) Eastern tumbler no less

I can never get enough of Falcons or Eagles. Thanks Ju for sharing them here. JB

By Cornell Lab of Ornithology

4 photos

Today's March Migration Madness matchup is Cedar Waxwing vs. Peregrine Falcon. The sleek waxwing represents Celebrate Urban Birds while the fast falcon is the face of our BirdSleuth project. Which one will win out in this contest of streamlining? Click through to cast your vote.

This is on Facebook and I could not copy the entire link. I thought it was interesting that this was up the same day as Ju posted his falcon. If you use FB look of the Cornell lab for the pictures. JB

My son's favorite bird, the Peregrine falcon

I just love Cedar Waxwing, hardly even see them here but one winter they came through by the hundreds and hung out in our big Juniper Bush for most of 2 days. They loved the berries, I was hoping that the next year they might return but I haven't seen them again since.
I don't think I could choose though Falcons and Hawks are so great.

One of my second cousins was a falconer and brought his Perrigrin to a family reunion. They are quite small as birds of prey go, but absolutely attentive to any and everything around them moving or still. Very awesome to be able to stand next to cousin as his bird flew to his gloved hand. I think I was eight or nine but I remember it clear as day.

My pic below is of one of the eagles I see almost daily. He (the larger of the nesting pair) was spreading out his wings to dry off some of the wet heavy snow fall yesterday. A favorite perch is the tall dead pine just right of center. At the tippy top you can just make out a dark blob that is him. I'm about 50 feet from tree and tree is about60 feet tall. Eggs ahould be hatched by now and soon should be able to glimpse some fledgling activity at the nest site. Really cool to hear them call to each other as one or the other of them circles the nest site.

Here is our baby hawk. Sitting on my dog fence in the rain.

At the end of the snowstorm yesterday I saw the first Robin's of the year , incredible Today is sunny and 5 degrees above the forecasted ,, The Robn's are never wrong !!! first sign of spring , and it's trying!!
HOPE!! HOPE!!!
Looking over to see the falcon waxwing ,, sparrow or Red tail JB ... ? Love all the pic's nice some of these birds are even still around ...

Red Tail, Ju at least that is what my SIL says they are. All I know he sure does raise heck with my birds that are bottom feeders and are not paying attention. LOL Swoop.... and not a feather left.

The Robins came here a few weeks ago then disappeared. If you read back on this thread you will see when it was. Blackbirds just arrived with more Robins. I will soon be complaining about the barn swallows. They are the poopinist birds I have ever seen.

YES !!! only they just so CUTE !! absolutely STARLING!!!!!!!!!!^_^

Not so good for the finish on cars either though>>>

That stuff just does not come off if it dries. UGH. Starling......oh wow...are you on the ball today. LOL. JB

Most of the trees I can see from my yard look like this. You should hear the din they are making. Guess I might as well stop filling the feeders as my other birds aren't getting any of the food. Only the birds at the feeders are the Starlings

Holly---

If you overlook that fact that all the black things in your trees are Starlings--it does
look a bit artistic...Like a modern art vision of trees.....Oh, well...

WHERE have all my gold Finches gone the last two days????
Haven't seen any at the tube feeder! Not overly many at the big feeder either.
Is there something about the weather that they are doing something else...somewhere else?

BUT--A mated pair of Starlings has, again, claimed the hole in the dead Cherry tree
as their own. It is like the PRIME nesting hole....big and cavernous....as all the stems of
this dying tree are totally hollow. The hole at the very center, just above the trunk, is IT!

I cut this tree back as far as I could 2 years ago--did not dare get rid of it yet--
more then one pair of birds nest int it.
I believe the birds that hatched in this "condo" are the ones coming back--
OR--do Starlings live for 6 years?

Pic #1 and #2 from 2011
#3--today...at full zoom through my window---a bit fuzzy...singing from the "tree top" to his lady...

GET THEM WORMS!!!