O poo - Sally I followed your link and the article was moved.
Can you summarize?
This morning I was happy to see my boyfriend (red bellied woodpecker) come and get some cat food kibble from his special covered feeder. :)
I also had fun watching a Carolina wren investigating the small bowl of dried mealworms on my back porch (the novelty!) and eating them section by section.
The squirrels are so cute, panicked - taking seed and making little piles under the leaves and patting them down for later.
I spent more time at the window than I should. Got some catching up to do!
Have a great bird watching day.
A.
Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Fall 2013
Well, I just saw the cat outside in the snow stalking the birds, so now I wonder if he is homeless... :-( Left a bowl full of kibble and a makeshift cat bed on the front porch (away from the bird seed in the backyard).
well maybe that will entice him/her away.
A few weeks ago there was another random dog running in our streets (very small, closed neighborhood bounded by major roadways) and a couple in a car following him. Everyone comes to me when there's an animal on the loose or in need so naturally I went out, but the dog was not interested in being caught. I had to secure the house to chase him, and he got a good distance away - so I hopped in the car and headed out with a large can of Friskies pate'.
There isn't a dog alive that can't be swayed by wet cat food. :D
Maybe you can make a plate out front that will be irresistible to the kitty.
In the meantime I am also blocking my bird feeding areas to keep the hawk from swooping down and taking my doves or whatever might be lingering.
Good luck.
nothing in the house but kibble, but I did put it in a dry spot on the porch--hopefully he'll like it, and if it keeps him away from the birds, all the better!
Sorry! Let's try this one
http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/anne-arundel-birders-aflutter-snowy-owls-descending-on-maryland/article_59cf1a61-529a-5d3c-be75-928ed8c1d6a7.html
Dogs and wet cat food, omg thats the truth.
The Carolina wren will visit my deck readily to see if I've swept any good crumbs out there. The other birds don't come that close unless there is seed.
How neat, I would love to see a Snowy in the wild. Plenty of birds at our feeders. Blue Jays, Cardinal, Juncos and several smaller woodpeckers lots of LBBs (Little Brown Birds). I think Tuffed Titmouse and Black Cap Chickadees. We get Hawks from time to time but not too often and we also occasionally have cat issues
Not a lot of action today but this eve we have a bunch of doves and juncos. I saw what looked like a bluebird at the feeder, but I know I must be wrong.
A Snowy has been sited within a couple of miles from Sally and I live between the two rivers mentioned in article and my paper route is all along one so I will definitely keep my eyes peeled.
Wonder what the eagles now on the nest will think?
I did a bad thing.
I let a pound of ground turkey turn brown in the fridge.
This morning I opened the package and put it out for my crow friends (did I mention we rehabbed a crow and released him in the yard a couple of years ago?).
I enjoyed watching them try to figure out what was in that tray - they have the funniest way of sneaking up to something, taking a poke at it and jumping away at the same time. Hee heee...
I'm sure I mentioned befriending the crows so they would keep the hawks away. My "fun" this morning. Guess I need to get out more. :D
A.
It's true Amanda. I watched five crows totally chase and harrass one of the adult eagles. When the eagle landed at the top of its tall old pine tree perch, the crows dive bomber it for about ten minutes before flying off.
Snowy Owls have been seen at a number of places within the last few weeks. One is currently (today) in Harford County and another at Assateague Island. They have also been seen earlier in Baltimore, Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware and close to Frederick, MD.
Here are two photos taken this Fall of Bald Eagles ........
linthicum; I am hardly seeing a bird anywhere ,
Those are Beautiful birds , in the pic .. I have not seen any Eagles in a long while now . We do have them here though .. Beautiful , !!! Awesome !!!
Here a little hoot owl that lives in a tree down the road every once in a while , rarely see one .. like years ...
Linthicum. Great shots of the bald eagle--you must have a good telephoto lens.
I have a question of sorts.
I am making a BIG batch of Cranberry sauce today.
My recipe includes a lot of apples in it. So--I pealed and cored about 10 of them.
Thinking that the peelings and the cores may appeal to some birds--I diced them small
and put them out in my yard on shallow plates.
I also had some of the reject Cranberries added to the diced apple's parts.
So far--I see no attraction to the fruit, but it IS mid-afternoon. maybe later??
I put 2 of the plates on the ground in different locations--and one of them on my
picnic table amid some evergreen cuttings.
Now the question: Where is the best place to put such offerings?
Before you offer fancy places--I have none. I can out them on the patio floor
(under cover)--I can put these on the ground--or I can put these on my picnic table--
also under roof of the patio.
What are my chances that any birds (which ones??) would come and eat the
apple trimmings??
Thanks, Gita
I'm not sure Gita, but we sometimes put fruit out, some of it gets gone over some not. The chickens usually love it.
I'm waiting for Jamie to send pics of a snowy owl he took at work so I can share them.
Gita, I came across an apple in the fridge yesterday that was clearly not as crisp as I like for fresh eating... and then I dropped it. Oops. So before it bruised and really went bad, I chopped it up and we tossed it out onto the snow on the (uncovered) back deck, near the busy bird feeders. Half an hour later, there were lots more birds down under the feeders -- mourning doves, sparrows, and juncos, mostly. Hard to say for sure what they were pecking at, but the doves were definitely going after some apple pieces.
Did you get any "customers" for your apple bonanza?
No, I did not see any today...but I put the pieces on shallow, plastic trays.
Maybe I should just toss them out like you did.
My main feeder hangs under my Patio roof. safe and sound--from predators
and the weather...Once the birds "discover it'--they all come to chow.
However--I do not see as many birds at my feeder as there should be this
time of year.....I have heard others say the same thing.
This AM there were 6 pairs of Doves foraging below the feeder.
I am glad they are out of sight from hawks there--or they would make an
easy meal for them.
Don't see you posting much, Jill. Have you gone over to ATP?
JB has been bribing me and twisting my arm to go over there.
I have ventured there a few times--it is colorful! But I do not
feel "at home"....Here--I know my way around.
I would like to post some pics on their database...when I get to it...
Happy Holidays for you all. Give Joyanna a big hug from me!
Gita
--JB's yellow CC--
--JB's "Orange Christmas" and "White Christmas"
--My fuchsia and white
--JB's "Peaches and Cream"
--My NEW favorite----I'll just call it "Pretty in Pink"..
Have to give one of these to Joyanna....Seed Swap...
Wednesday, Jamie sent us a picture via phone. He went out to one of the out buildings at work to pick up a piece of equipment and there was a Snowy Owl sitting on the steering wheel of one of the pieces. He got great pictures of it on his cell phone and is going to try and send it to us via E-mail hopefully we can post it. There are quite a few fields on the base. So that is a Snowy sighting in Mechanisburg, Pa.
linthicum- thanks for the pictures!
Holly- THat must have been awesome. It sounds like they prefer large grassy fields.
Jill--
This morning (9AM) all the apple pieces are gone from the plate on the ground.
The cranberries are still there--untouched.
Not sure who ate them all--as I got up late--and birds feed really early.
I will sprinkle the other plate on the ground. See what happens....
G.
IF we get snow, you can try looking for tracks. To see if a furry friend walked or hopped to it, or just feathered friends. At least some poor cold creature was comforted.
I finally got one of Jamie's pics! Here's the original and an enlargement.
WOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!
That's an amazing picture!
Beautiful!
We had bear this fall. To date we can only feed gingerly in the grass. That way the bear can not lick it all up. The past two weeks were cold. The bear has not been here recently. Maybe we can once again put up some feeders. New snow tonight. Hopefully no bear tracks will show up. They should be denned up very soon. Snow possibly all week. Whoop eeeeeeeeee!
We still have our birds but not on feeders close in where we can enjoy them most.
Hi, Doc--
A bear in my yard--or anywhere--would scare me to death!!
Have you taken any cuttings from the NBC to make more plants?
I have one more growing. It was started from the long shoots--so it took
forever to start growing out leaves. It still looks kind of weird....
Since 2010, I have been treated to beautiful blooms on my other
two Epis. This year--I gave them both away to Cylburn Arboretum.
I have back-ups growing. One of them is already huge enough to bloom next year.
Also gave my big Ric-Rac away. These all weighed about 25-30lbs by now
and I was worried about them falling down from my ceiling hooks.
I was also tired of lugging them around. In--and out; In--and Out...
I will start all over from younger plants....
1--Here is the huge Ric Rac
2--Both red Epis--this is where they always spent the summers...
3--Bloom on the red NOID one--this one is spectacular!
4--Blooms on the other red Epi--"Ackermanii"
5--This is the NBC I have. It is several years old now--as I started it from
a section of that tall shoot. It is now putting out its own tall shoot.
In your hands with your soils and care--it would be already a massive plant.
Doc--I wish you both a wonderful, blessed Holiday Season. Gita
Gita, I'm just posting less (here, at APT, Cubits, and even email) because my typing is limited right now, and I'm still getting the hang of Dragonspeak (which I'd be trying now, but we're watching White Christmas, and I have no doubt the soundtrack would confuse it!).
But I'm "lurking" here & elsewhere! :-)
WHAT is "Dragonspeak"??????????
Gonna guess.....you say the words--and they are typed automatically
by some program you have installed. Some Marvel of the electronics age.
Am i close???? G.
yep
The program is called Dragon Naturally Speaking. Using it trains the program and refines its accuracy as you go along, so I suppose I should be using it now so it keeps getting better & easier!
I like saying "wake up, Dragon." :-D
I have to learn more about the Snowy Owl phenomenon. Thanks for sharing the amazing photo!
Gita - your plants are also gorgeous. :)
Critter - I bought Dragon software about 10 years ago and it was amazing then! Now - there are a couple of apps that you can download for free with amazing speech recognition - notably the Google voice recognition is probably the best - the "google keep" notekeeping program is worth the download just for that feature. I use it for quick notes (speech to text) to self while I'm working.
A.
Forgot to mention that Mockingbirds and Thrashers take cut up apples when I offer them. They also love grapes.
We visited the Venice, FL rookery this afternoon. Got within 10 feet of a gator who seemed to be sleeping on the bank. I was on high alert!!!
There were some herons, snowy egrets, another bird that starts with the letter A(I'll look in the book tomorrow to find out how to spell it) and some others. Also saw an eagles nest down by the beach where we went to walk as the sun was setting. not a cloud in the sky today. Lovely day.
Anhinga, I'll bet... sort of a fresh-water cormorant.
Amanda, thanks for LMK about those apps!
Jan, Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. One of the things we really like in Fl. is that so many communities have such nice little parks where you can just walk (quite often on boardwalks) and see the wildlife.
Ditto, everywhere you go are little hidden treasures. We try to visit a few every time we are down there.The state schools have small horticultural all over too. We visited one that specialized in bananas and bamboo. I'm not sure but that may have been the one that had Xenogardening displays.
Florida's quite the place for fishermen too, with piers and parking under many bridges, and fishing piers in many parks. I complain about their fishing license cost, but they give more back than any other state I can think of.
Jan, If you get a chance visit Bok Tower Gardens, you will not be sorry. Watch out for the air plant display, I believe it's near the cafe.
This message was edited Dec 19, 2013 10:38 AM
Yes, anhinga it is!! We watched one have quite a time trying to flip a fish around to be able to swallow it. The snowy egret was very pretty with its fluffy feathers.
I'll check out where Bok Tower is.
Just checked about Bok Tower and that is out of the way for this trip, but maybe for a future one. Will keep it in mind.
We were going from the Tampa area to Jensen Beach when we stopped. Unfortunately some of our pics are locked up in the not yet repaired lap top.
We got an inch or so of snow this morning. The bird feeders are doing a great business. Boy do the Cardinals really stick out with a little snow on the branches. Big thrill in that there is a pair of Pilated Woodpeckers wout there at the suet blocks. I did try to get a picture but I doubt it is any good just a bit too far for my shaky hands
Very cool! Don't see the Pileated woodpeckers at my urban feeders, but I've seen them in the wild not far from here. :)
I enjoyed quiet time at the window today in particular watching my boyfriend, a red bellied woodpecker, visit for the afternoon feeding. I feed in the morning, as early as I can, it not always before 10 a.m. with all my indoor critters to attend. But make sure they get first priority outside when conditions warrant. The squirrels make a killing in the morning but the afternoon feeding (about 4 pm) is just song birds.
It's funny, I picked up some whole raw peanuts today, and the woodpecker kept coming and going, taking black oil sunflower seeds, not touching the peanuts. Guess they don't know what they are. Tomorrow I will break them open so they can see what's inside. I'm guessing the possum or someone else has taken them overnight. I'm out of suet, so I'd better step up my game.
Critters are also appreciating the "heated bird bath." I love knowing that I can offer something that they might not be able to find for miles: fresh water.
Happy birding. :)