Usually I drag the old Christmas tree over by the feeders for extra cover for the little birds, but this year it hasn't made it there yet.LOL These little guys don't seem to care, a few are roosting in it where it currently is at.
I was just out to try and get a few pics of our woodpeckers. It's just too cold to stand still for very long, and the breeze just goes right through you. One of the Pileateds was back and I've seen downy, red headed, as well as flickers, they all seem to have an aversion to paparazzi. LOL
I really have to get a remote control for my new camera, that way it can freeze waiting on a tripod while I sit in the warm.
This message was edited Jan 25, 2014 3:15 PM
Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Fall 2013
Lime Chicken is made---portioned out--just want to make some kind of
sweet and sour concoction of veggies to go with it. Already made the Spanish Rice...
I want the veggies to be: lg, pcs. of red peppers, onion, some Ginger, and pineapple
chunks. Would green beans go with this too? My instinct is no. A bit of broccoli?
What else? Help me out....Otherwise--I am winging it!
Hung a suet cake on the trunk of my maple tree, below the one already hanging there..
There I was--outside--with my big electric drill and a suet cake in a plastic netting bag.
Drilled a hole for driving a perch into--just below the suets. The birds have been a bit
frustrated--with nowhere to land on.
The Black Birds have found my house! Bummer...talk about ravenous critters...
On the sad part--this morning, as I looked out the window, there was a dead Dove.
The other doves came and went to check it out...it was so sad--like a funeral...
Next time I looked out the window--there was a Hawk right next to the body--
stupid me--turned around to get my camera--but the dove was gone with its meal.
At least--I am glad some good came from this poor Dove dying--food for the hawk.
G.
As I was trying to get some pictures of the birds, especially the WPs, everyone disappeared, even the squirrels!
I turned to find this guy crashing the dinner party. I'm saying Cooper Hawk but will get it confirmed.
The hawk i saw was all brown patterned on it's back. Like a sparrow?
Also interesting-- that the birds chowing down on my suet are all Junkos....
Didn't think they were such great suet eaters......G.
Ric, I just love hawks, they are so regal looking. I see them every now and then here, whenever I hear one I have to check out all the windows looking for it.
Ric's hawk has been ID'ed as a Sharp Shin.
Cool Hawk! I think Coopers have strongly barred tails (on the underside, not on the back view)... we have one that visits occasionally but not so often that our feeders are "hawk buffet" LOL
Gita, I know Juncos are "supposed to" be mostly ground feeders. Ha! Methinks they're quite adaptable. The ones in our yard are eating anything in the feeders -- millet, thistle, sunflower, safflower, suet, PB. They'll cling to the suet feeder, but they aren't good clinging birds, so their wings will flutter. That makes the feeder swing -- often in a circle -- until their wings are beating madly so they can hang on, which of course makes the ride even wilder, but they manage!
I am really loosing it.......
Now I have taken to tossing carrots out to the bunnies. Yes this bunny has used the little tunnel under the juniper that grows in the patio beds to access the top brick level and instead of chasing it off I have tossed a few carrots out there for him. Poor little thing looked so hungry, I won't be saying that next spring when he does the same thing and is using my newly planted pots as a buffet.
I see Junco eating from both the feeders and the ground, too. I will say that there are more on the ground but there are a lot more birds on the ground in general more room for them down there.
A few pics I took of the Pilated this morning.
What a DUUUUUDE!
Although no pileateds here, we usually start seeing woodpeckers at teh feeders in fall, and I add peanuts to the sunflower feeder and put out suet cakes for them... This season, well, if they've come it's been while I wasn't looking... until today. A pretty Downy Woodpecker lady has been nibbling from one of our PB pinecones. She's also been pecking on the slats of the deck railing, which makes me wonder about carpenter ants or the like! LOL
Holly, I'd probably feed a bunny in this weather also. I don't even have the heart to shoo the starlings away from the peanut butter; they are so fluffed up against the cold! On the other hand, we had 3 starlings last week... and today there were 6... if more come, I may have to bring the PB inside for a few days until they go elsewhere again. Or I could get another jar of PB...
I put some brussels sprout leaves (trimmings) outside, and the morning doves were very appreciative. There may be a few left, and I know the possum will get them... I guess he's my (far less cute) version of Holly's bunny!
Pileated is amazing- great pictures
I watched a mockingbird shoo some little bird off the garden the other day. Far as I could tell, the mockingbird was 'defending' the asparagus bed, maybe with the many red berries still on the old stems.
I've had very few starlings or blackbirds this winter, but a group yesterday. Maybe they are on the move back north.
And there were a couple robins in the yard.... by now we all know they are here all winter. Its still heartwarming to see a dozen or more on those encouraging early spring days!
Jill--
Doves like Brussels Sprouts???????? I would never have thought of that...
And--I bought a tub of lard. Now--whether I will, actually make some suet--
is in question. I don't have places to tuck it in like you do---
I really want to try it....
OH~! OH! I just had a brainstorm! IF I make the suet--I could smear it
into all the nooks and crannies of the peeling bark of my big, old Maple.
Would that hurt the tree any??? I think my tree is beyond being hurt.
It is about 48 years ols--and the bark peels regularly. Worth a try.
On a sad note--found another dead Dove on my patio.
I put this one on my little table in plain sight. Maybe Mr. hawk can come and
get it for a meal--like the first one. Will see tomorrow.. Do you think they are
freezing to death??? What else would kill them?
I am not out there all that much....I know they get startled and fly to my sky-lights
and sometimes injure themselves...
You can also stuff the suet into a pinecone & hang it... get an old board or something else that you could "butter" with the mixture... there are lots of ways without putting it directly onto your tree. On the tree, it might be hard for some birds to reach, and it may also attract bugs to the bark of your tree.
Jill--
I will look around--maybe I can do something with a board that would
be "amended: with lots of little shelves and wedgies...
i DO have a lot of pine cones. If I hang it--where would the birds land to pick at it?
Just had an idea!!!! I could wedge the pine cones on top of the back of my raised bed...
There are spaces between all the back-boards. It is a Shadow-Box fence--alternating
boards...back--front..back...front. Plenty places to land on--BUT--totally exposed
to predator birds...
Dead Dove is still on the little table....maybe i should put it on the ground--
more natural looking.... Now I sound "silly"....
G.
Pair of Eagles on my newspaper route are coping with incubating eggs and a freezing over Bay so each food forray is longer and prey less available than in previous years.
Prayers please
Judy--
Tell them to come on over--I have a dead, frozen Dove on my patio floor...
Lots of good eating from a Dove...
G.
Our pinecones weren't huge, so I totally plastered them with PB, stuffing it firmly into the crevices and then "buttering" the whole thing with more PB. In this weather, it's all frozen, not sticky, so the birds land anywhere they can and peck away at it. Bigger birds will usually perch on top (I hang them point-downward), sometimes grabbing onto the string with one set of toes!
Thanks, Jill--sounds like a lot of fun.
Now--I just have to decide to do it. I tend to have "bright ideas" and then
never act on them. I should--I have all the ingredients.
Have a huge jar of PB--
have lard--
have Oats (do they have to be the "quick kind"--I think I have regular,,?)
Have Cornmeal...
have flour..
have oodles of crushed egg shells...
Need.........kick in the pants....:o)
edited to add--the dead Dove is gone! YES!!
Somewhere a Hawk is having a good breakfast..
This message was edited Jan 31, 2014 10:20 AM
I've never added crushed egg shells. If you do add them, look for a way to sterilize them first -- oven, probably.
I've used regular oats and even other grains.
I also add a lot of ground cayenne, to keep the squirrels out of it. I put it into the peanut butter that I use for the birds (separately from the PB suet recipe) also.
Here are the first 2 visitors to our PB pinecone, a Carolina Wren and a female Downy Woodpecker. They have no trouble reaching "the goods." :-)
I think there must be a 100 or so birds out there. They all cleared off about an hour ago and since then they keep coming back but not in as large of a group as was there earlier. I noticed they were clearing off real fast and then coming back slow and cautions. Then I saw the hawk sitting on the butterfly bush. Didn't get a pic of him but here are a few that have come back since his visit. He must really be gone now as there seems to be more and more of them.
Very nice! I have to get out the camera with the better telephoto (and, probably, charge its battery)... such pretty photo ops in the snow!
I had my back to the deck door when I heard a big thunk... turned to see our big red-tailed hawk recovering and flapping off to the mimosa. I'm not sure if she was after a mouse (they run along a snow-free strip near the door, looking for seeds) or after Eliot, who crept out from under the storage chest by the door looking quite shaken.
Holly--
There is not a more beautiful picture than a bright red Cardinal in a snowy tree....
Good job catching it.
Wish I could see a hawk close-by. They are beautiful. G.
I agree about the Cardinal, Gita. They sure do look pretty out there in the snow.
Holly, how do you get those great shots of birds in the snow? Through the window, or do you stand outside in the cold and wait for the birds to show up? Your focus is so excellent!
Great bird photos! Pileated woodpeckers are so cool. A pair live in the woods near me, but I haven't seen them at my suet feeder this year.
Gita, my guess is that the doves are hitting a window and breaking their necks. Maybe they see your beautiful plants inside and want to join them!
We lost a little junco that way last week... scooped it up almost immediately from the snowdrift it had fallen into, but it was already gone. Now our patio door is covered with paper snowflakes, to make it more visible to the birds!
We were so excited to see FOUR male cardinals at the feeders today. We have 1 pair year-round, and we've had 2 pairs much of the time the past year or two. But we've never seen more than that. Three of them were less brightly / solidly red, two especially so (much darker on their backs)... I wonder if they are juvenile males? Maybe last year's fledgelings are settling down close to home?
Muddy--
Besides my windows--it is more likely the doves, as they try to flee, are heading
for my 2 big skylights in my patio roof--thinking it is a way out...
I have seen them do this---Nothing i can do about these---they are too high.
G.
Our feeders are a mob scene again today. I'll need to fill them again today. I'll also try to post more pics. We had a Jay doing something odd, I finally figured out he was taking whole grains of corn from the deer feeder and bringing them to the cover of the patio to break them open and eat them.
Definitely cover, and maybe also getting out of the way so other blue jays could grab a bite to eat.
Sally--
Your wonderful, fancy suet cake from a year ago is still hanging in its upside-down,
Lucite feeder that hangs from from my Maple--untouched.
Who was it?? made for me.
Think I will take it down and freeze it again.
It is hanging completely open from a bare tree. No Woodpeckers would ever come to it...
G.
I just can't imagine why Gita. unless there just aren't any woodpeckers living near you these days. You do have a nice patch of woods down by that big park. Maybe they just stay there.
My two pure suets are both being munched on now.
I refilled my feeders with a mix of safflower, millet, and thistle. THey really love the one feeder that is made from a salvaged porch light fixture. Just a four inch dish in a frame, that they can fly in and out of. It gets emptied every day.
Sally--Thanks...will see you around 10:30AM?----or 10:45AM????
Re the suet---so many people here have said the WP like living in
wooded areas with a lot of deas trees. There's no dead trees here--
nothing to peck at...
My house is NOT in a wooded area....My back yard sits bare and
forlorn in the winter...No trees with leaves anywhere...
The "park" you are referring to is a half a mile up the road.
The closest "wooded" area to me is the High School grounds...
Well--even my two regular suet cakes sit untouched...once in a blue moon
I see a Downy--and, more often the Junkos, but they flit hit and run on the suet.
And--here i am thinking of making Jill's home made Suet cakes....
What for?
G.
Holly & Ric... your sharp-shinned hawk has come to visit us! He is perched in the mimosa tree in the center of the yard, and all the small birds are hiding. We're peeking at him over the back of the couch... doubt I could get close to the window with the camera without spooking him.
... And Jim just proved me correct by going to the window, and reporting that the hawk flew away .All the little birds came back immediately!
Gita, while I don't know why the birds aren't choosing Sally's fancy suet cake, I have seen them completely ignore the commercial cakes, which are often full of cheap seeds, and then chow down on a peanut butter suet cake. If you make a batch, and the birds just don't go for it, you can always give the cakes away as gifts with one of those inexpensive green wire suet feeders.
Desperately need a fresh thread.... this one takes so long to open now.
Please join us here...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1349890/