Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Fall 2013

awwww

It is a cute little thing, pretty young, too. I have been seeing deer tracts around the bird feeder and knew they were coming in to eat so I put out a few ears of corn near the feeder. She didn't see the corn just spent about 10 minutes standing under the feeder cleaning up what ever was laying on the ground. I was surprised that she was all by herself I was expecting at least 2 or 3 from the tracks I have been seeing. We usually don't have deer issues in the summer so to me they are still cute.

Holly--

That is a VERY cute picture!
You could crop it a bit and make cards for next X-mas. G.

Nice idea Gita. I guess she came back with a few friends later as all the corn I put out was eaten. I generally don't like to lure them into the yard, but when they start eating out of my bird feeders I know they are hungry so I put food out for them. They have been coming in every few nights, that was the first one I saw during the day. They don't bother the plants much but did eat Ric's new Euonymus right down to the nubs before we realized they were coming in. Last time we had to feed them they went right back into the woods in the spring and didn't bother the yard at all.

I agree-- it would make a very nice Xmas card!

Sally: With regard to a much earlier post of yours, when I make suet cakes I put in honey or some other sweetener plus old dried fruit -- I think the birds like the sweetness. I hadn't heard that they liked plain raw beef fat. Might turn on individual birdie tastes.

By the way, at some point you or someone was asking about getting the special suet feeders that all woodpeckers to balance their tails on a board below the suet. We got a cheap suet feeder and attached an old board to the bottom of it -- that seems to work perfectly. I can get a photo of it if you like.

I had read a post someplace that said they had fed birds with 'raw suet' ? Not being sure what that meant, I tried the beef fat.

I hang my suet on the tree trunk. The upside down suet feeder I think deters blackbirds- none of the blackbirds have been seen on my suet cake. Never know what those birds are going to do.

I heard great horned owl(s) here last night, so wonderful. We hear them about once a year.
THis is cute- and notice the incredible variety of birdsong in the background!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MJiRy14kKg

Watch this second one for a cute baby barred owl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYd_HFOmnW4

Threw out that nasty raw beef trimmings and hung a second pure suet. I expect a lot of action when the snow flies.
If some starts getting pics, might be a good time to start a new thread- this one is kind of long.

Would you like a stately picture of a seagull in AK?

NOT our zone--Not our area.. NOT suitable for a new Thread....

but look anyway...!

Cool seagull!

I didn't realize the upside-down feeders would deter blackbirds. Blackbirds (are they starlings?) are all over my beautiful tasty hand-made suet. I need to find the upside down feeders!

I just went out in the falling snow to throw a lot of seed on the patio floor.
Also--diced up an old apple--not sure who would eat that?

Threw out a pile of shelled and un-shelled peanuts and put a new suet cake
in my only small suet feeder.
I could have put out some bread--but no one seems to eat it...

Happy--
There are four(?) birds that all fall in the lumped "Black Birds" category.
Starlings
Grackles
Red-winged Blackbirds
catbirds (with the brown heads).

any others????? G.

Bread is jukn food to ducks so I put my bread in compost. Bread always seems to draw blackbirds for me anyway.
Brown head cowbirds, and yes that's all I think I see-- Starlings are European, cowbird are nest predators, so its the Redwing blackbirds that keep me tolerating those flocks of blackbirds.

I'm pretty sure mine are starlings -- or more likely, a mix. I studied them with my bird book at hand, as long as I could before turning away in disgust. They have created a selfish riot.

Those flocks seem often mixed. Starlings are pigs- they're the speckled ones with yellow bills, short tails

got Cardinals, white throated sp, chickadees, downy WP, junco- I only put a small amount of seed out because the snow is drifting into the feeder and under the table, and covering it up.

The snow has covered aall the seed I spread out too.
Even though it is way under the patio roof.
The wind is to blame. A few Junkos (the birds I see the most here) are
scratching around in the snow and finding some seeds.

Snow is really coming down and sticking....
Her's the house across the street at 2:30PM.

The snow plows have made a couple runs up and down my street--
but the pavement is still covered with snow.

Snowing like crazy here and all the little birdies are hanging out at the feeders.
Here is a pic from a couple of days ago of the Pilated.

We've had so many little birds at the main feeder that it looks like the snow was compacted with a roller. I wonder how many little footprints it would take to do that? The sun flower seed feeder almost looks the same. The fatty suet is going gang busters also.I've seen more woodpeckers and flickers today than in the last week. With this extreme cold they need more energy to stay warm. I've even considered opening the back of the barn so some of the brave ones can find a windless place to roost, the only problem with that is, when they eat that much they go even more. LOL

haha! That's a LOT of tiny footprints!!

Well, if not the barn, you have the big evergreens around you, they must like that.

I watched Mrs. Downy WP at the suet. She got a pea sized hunk, then flew to a branch to work at it quite a while. I imagine that suet is near rock hard. I moved it to the sunny side later. Poor girl. I got worried she was choking on it.

You are right Sally the Juniper hedge gives a lot of protection and the Leland Cyprus does, too. Then there is the evergreen grouping out front. Our birds have plenty of protection and at lots of different heights.

and that's why they love you and spend so much time at your feeders!

We have a heated water dish for them, too.

I have very little protection. Just some short, bushy boxwood-type evergreens
behind my grill. There are 3 of them. They are very old--and pretty naked inside,
but the green canopy is there, as I trim them every year. The sparrows literally live in there...

On the other end of the patio are two VERY old, tall Burning bushes.
Of course--they are naked in the winter--as are both my trees. That is it!
When the Burning Bushes leaf out--there are, usually, a couple birds that nest in them.
There is a cat bird (the ones that scream at you) that nests there every year.

At least my big feeder is under roof and out of sight for hawks.
I filled it up today...as well as the Finch feeder. Haven't seen any Finches around at all,
not even in the summer... Someone is slowly pecking out the seeds, though.
G.

June, 2013
!--Here you can see the big Burning Bushes
2--Here are the Evergreens behind my grill on the opposite side.

Birds have been busy busy busy here, too! I filled all the feeders 2 nights ago, and I think all were half empty -- or more -- tonight. Starlings showed up this afternoon & wiped out the PB... I usually try to chase them off, but in tihs cold I didn't have the heart. The heated water dish was very popular today also.

I think there are 7 feeders out there now... would be 8, but I've run out of suet cakes (aka "bird cookies). Guess that will give us a snow day project!

I've got BOS & some shelled peanuts in a big feeder on the patio -- that's where I see woodpeckers & the like, although they've been scarce lately. Mpre BOS in a little spherical feeder favored by chickadees. BOS and Nyger in a feeder hanging close to the window by the beakfast table. More Nyger (which I still think of as thistle LOL) in a mesh feeder on the deck, along with a big feeder holding white millet & safflower (the squirrels do seem to be leaving this mix alone), my peanut butter feeder (cayenne in the PBso it's birds only), and a big, easily accessible ceramic feeder filled with squirrel feed, mostly cracked corn & black oil sunflower (BOS).

So, our usual customers... Obviously we're seeing squirrels, LOL. Lots of English sparrows but also a pair of white throated, a song sparrow, and I think I spotted a chipping sparrow yesterday. Also lots of juncos, house finches (the ones that look like they've been dunked headfirst in cranberry juice, goldfinches, and a pair of wrens that roosts in an old robins' nest on the front porch at night. 1 pair of cardinals, not sure if this summer's 2nd pair is still around... and occasionally we're undr seige be starlings or grackels.

What is "BOS" ??? Some kind of seed...but what?

I bought a huge jar of X-tra crunchy Peanut Butter--thinking I would make
your Suet recipe, But where can I get the fat? And--what kind?
Do you render regular beef fat trimmings? I have asked at Grocery stores, but
they say they don't really have any, as the meats come in already trimmed.

I do not know of any butcher shop...We do have a couple Asian type food
stores around here. I wonder if they trim their own meats?
I also don't think they would have a lot of beef--mostly chicken and pork. right?

I could buy Lard in the bowls.....is that pork lard or beef fat? me thinks pork...
Thanks, Gita

AHA!!!!! Black Oiler Sunflower seeds...I just had the AHA moment.....;o)

G.

HELP!!!!!

Somehow my cookies have been disabled...I cannot open any links...

Going to "tools" above does not help...it does not have the right things to click on.

Can I get to it somehow from "Start"--->Control pannel---->?/ Programs????

Tell me what to do.....thanks, Gita

If you cannot open links it sounds like "Pop ups Blocked"
try Tools, Allow Popups

Gita, I buy lard at the grocery store, usually in the meat case, sometimes near the butter. Brand is something like Esskay, in short white tubs (like cottage cheese). You could render your own, but this stuff is inexpensive & ready to go. Don't use Crisco or something similar -- it really has to be lard.

Here's the suet cake recipe I use:

Martha Sargent's No-melt Peanut Butter Suet

The ingredients:

One cup crunchy peanut butter
Two cups "quick cook" oats
Two cups cornmeal
One cup lard (no substitutes here)
One cup white flour
One-third cup sugar

[Whole peanuts and raisins may be added optionally.]

Melt lard and peanut butter over low heat, then stir in remaining
ingredients. Pour into square freezer containers about an inch-and-a-half
thick.

Chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes, then cut to size, separate
blocks with wax paper, and store in freezer.

Thanks, Jill---

I copied out the recipe from your article--but who knows where it got
put--among other "important" things...

I do not have anywhere near the places and things to stuff this in.
All I have are 2 of the 4-cake wire Suet holders and one single.

I could always nail the cakes to my tree trunks and put in a dowel for perching.

My yard is quite open--not woodsy, so that may be why I am not seeing
too many birds.
Gita

I use basically the same recipe, but I made suet (melted beef fat) instead of buying lard (pork fat). If you want to make suet, you can often get a butcher to give you beef fat for free. But if possible, render it outside, on your grill, because it has an intense greasy smell that you really won't want hanging in your kitchen. It takes much longer to render than you might expect, but is otherwise easy to do.

But I'm not sure I'm right that suet is beef, and lard is pork. The internet is all over the map on this question.

Just a couple other points:

1) We find birds like to have a place to hide. We have a smallish holly bush near are feeders, and there can be a million birds hiding in there at one time. So you might (if so inclined) consider adding some shrubs that the birds can hide in.

2) Watch out for an onslaught of black birds if you use a regular suet holder. That is what happened to us this year (but not last, for some reason). I'm considering getting an upside down suet feeder to discourage the blackbirds.

I'm sure one reason the feeder hanging in front of the window is so popular is because there's a tangle of dormant vine under/around it. The trees and shrubs around the deck are "close enough" to the various feeders to make the birds feel that they have only a quick dash to safety. The crepe myrtle by the deck is an especially good draw for the birds, providing not only shelter but also loads of seedpods... I think that's what brings the finches here in droves... and by the time the seedpods are mostly empty, they've found the bird feeders.

I had to go to Wallmart today because i was out of the little, plastic baggies for seeds....
Only place I know I can get them--for cheap ($1each) .

Of course--I also bought some groceries while there....they can have some neat stuff...
One thing I found was a 1lb.+ vacuum-wrapped package of irregular slices and trimmings
of Spiral sliced ham for $4-somrthing. What a deal!!

Got home--and I pigged out a bit. They were SO good. Great for soups or sandwiches.
I had mine with "Cornpoppers" crackers, dipped in "Hell-of-a-Good" horseradish dip
munching on the ham pieces along the way.
THAT is what I had for dinner--for those of you who actually COOK dinner...
Hope tomorrow--I can, actually, work on my seeds....

OH, NO! I forgot.....I took out a bag-full of frozen Chicken Thighs, thawed them out
and seasoned them for cooking tomorrow. Will make "Garlic and Lime Chicken".....
YOU NEED TO TRY THIS!!!!! It is quick and easy--and awesome!!!
The recipe uses boneless Chicken Breast. I like thighs--so it will take a bit longer.

You will be amazed at the great taste the Lime juice and spices add to this dish.

*********************************************
In case you have not seen this--here is the recipe;

GARLIC LIME CHICKEN--(VERY, VERY GOOD)
(Submitted by Marylyn__TX of DG.)

Ingredients:

1tsp. salt
1tsp Pepper
1/4tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/4tsp. Paprika
1tsp. Garlic powder
1/2tsp. Onion Powder
1/2tsp. Thyme

6 boneless. Skinless chicken breasts
2Tbs. butter
2Tbs. Olive Oil
1/2cup chicken broth
4Tbs. fresh lime juice (one lg. Lime).

To Do:

In a bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients.
Sprinkle mixture on both sides of the chicken breasts.

In a skillet, heat butter and oil together over medium high heat.
Sauté chicken until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes
on either side or no longer pink in the center.

Remove chicken to a plate and add Lime juice and chicken broth to the pan,
whisking up the browned bits if the bottom of the pan.
Keep simmering until sauce has reduced slightly.

Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat—and serve.

This is really good with rice (especially the packaged “Saffron, or Spanish, Rice”.
It is bright yellow, found in the rice aisle.
Also good with noodles (which I would cook in water with Ch. Broth added.)

Notes:

---If using boneless Chicken thighs, you will need to brown them
for a longer time--maybe 20 + minutes. Splay them open for more even cooking.

---Time-saver:
Mix up the spice mixture in a larger quantity ahead of time. Keep in a sealed
glass container. Using an old spice jar, with a sprinkler head, will make it easier to
sprinkle it on the chicken pieces.

Enjoy!!! Gita

Forgive me for posting this on the Bird-watching Thread,,,,

I started a post--about my bird feeders and birds--and that I bought a big bag of
Pennington Bird seed mix at Wallmart--and when i got home,I hung a second feeder
up with this seed in it..

Then--I clicked on something--and lost the entire post. and then, somehow,
segued into the recipe--because i also bought some chicken there,,,

This recipe IS a keeper!!! Gita.

The birds have been enjoying the feeder in the back of my yard but I can't see them well from the house. So I got a new window feeder but the birds have not discovered it yet! It's been several days. :-(

Any way to scatter some seed between the old feeder & your new one? They'll find it. Especially when the weather is cold, I think birds start checking out *everything*.

Poor birds here are reduced for searching for crumbs of seed on the deck They will get lunch before I do, I promise! (Yes, I've got my ankle strapped up but don't think it'll be a problem getting to the feeders... birds have "groomed" the deck snow like those machines they use on ski slopes, all those little birdie feet just like with Ric's feeder!)

Getting hungry here - first the suet cake recipes, then the lime chicken. GAH. Thanks ladies. :)

birds to be watched... chicken to be cooked... it's all good!

Okay, sunflower seed scattered along deck leading to new feeder. Once I'm bundled up, I'll scatter it back to the other feeder. Having two feeders should also make it harder for the neighborhood cat who likes to stalk my yard--he'll spend all his time running between the 2 feeders and hopefully never catch anything--LOL!