Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Spring 2014

The snow here was coming down in big, fat flakes--but none of it was sticking.
I suppose the ground is too warm by now.

I heard this Am that the weekend will be around 70*. Yeeee-Haw!!

good! G.

I hope they are right and that spring is finally here! So frustrating to have such nice weekends bringing visions of buds and green, only to be dashed again by freezing temps and snow... :-(

My wife took some good pics of the woodpecker that's been coming to our feeder. Also, the male came for the first time that we've seen.

nice!

Ooh, that really looks a downy -- that's a pretty short beak. Such pretty birds!

All this time I thought the orange-bellied birds in my yard were orioles, but I just found out they're actually robins.

Nice close-up photos your wife took of the Downies, Sequoia.

Yeah she did a good job. The previous ones I had taken with my Iphone so they weren't as nice.

That's a really large bird to be coming to my humble feeder. I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference between one of those grackles and an american crow.

When the sun hits the grackles--their feathers look iridescent bluish-purple.
Very pretty---the color that is....NOT the bird...They are big--but nowhere near as
big as a crow. I never see crows here....hear them sometimes.....

Developments don't always attract the more woodsy-type birds.

G.

I don't think I have ever had a crow at a bird feeder They just don't go for it, what I've seen anyway. They like trash and roadkill.

Crows come in my yard occasionally. I guess it depends on how much road kill there is.
They are very shy, which I find surprising given their size.
They're always welcome because they don't bully other birds (in spite of their reputation), they're not pigs, they chase away hawks when they appear, and I want to help them stay alive so they can remove road kill so I don't have to look at it.

We have been having Red Wing Black Birds at the feeders lately. Always fun to see them.

We will not be filling the feeders this morning, the entire hedge row and woods behind the house are full of black birds. The ground under the feeders is nearly black with them. We never used to attract flocks like this, but as more and more areas are developed the more we get. When they're moving about they make quite a racket.

I've had Red Wing blackbirds for about 2mos now - at first just a couple, but a lot now. And Muddy - I enjoy the Crows, too. It is funny that they actually seem shy. It's kind of like the 6'5", 300lb muscle dude, who you then find out is an animal & bird lover & a gardener! Who da thunk?! lol A couple weeks ago I was heading out to the store, so I put out some leftover stuff like bananas, raisin bran cereal, the last few slices of bread. Before I even got to the car my little backyard was full of seagulls, crows, grackles, starlings. The squirrels & smaller birds ran for cover. The leftovers were gone in minutes. If only we could recycle other stuff so easily.

My HOARDS of blackbirds seen gone--but not entirely.
There are still a handful of them that cone and feed. The DO empty the big tube feeder
faster than normal--and some of them DO devour the suet cake I hang in the critch
of my tree, as they can get to it so easily. The other two--I hang vertically on the trunk
of my bigger maple--just hanging from a nail in small produce nettings.

It was so cute! yesterday--2 Doves sitting on my YUK bed railing "making out"
They would preen together and then peck at each others beaks (Bird kissing....).

I took a picture--at full zoom through my bedroom window glass. Not a good one...but....

so cute, Gita!

Muddy, that is really scary about the huge grackles.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2014 10:33 AM

I posted this on another thread, but perhaps I could get some advice here. I have this huge, heavy feeder that I got years ago while I was living in Connecticut because very aggressive squirrels were actually chewing the plastic ones apart to get the seed.

The issue is that it's so heavy and so bulky there are very few places I can hang it--in fact, currently it's hanging on the metal pole of the old clothesline where I have my wisteria growing. I have been browsing on Amazon to see if I could find a pole with an arm sturdy enough to put the feeder in the lawn instead of over my garden bed (where the seeds drop and sprout, and the birds generally make a mess). Anyway, I'm not able to find anything that seems to have a sturdy enough arm to hang such a heavy feeder from (I think it must weigh a good 15 pounds). Any suggestions?

I have exactly what you need in my backyard, but I can't find a brand name on it.
It is very sturdy, and has a long hook that holds the feeder far enough away from the pole that a squirrel can't hang onto the pole and reach for the seed.

I think a bird store near me carries ones like it. I have to go buy stuff there today, so I'll see what the brand names are so you can google them.

A post like this is another option: http://www.duncraft.com/Dura-Trel-Feeder-Post
The squirrels might be able to reach up and grab seed, though.

Sweet photo, Gita! Maybe you'll have little doves in your yard soon.

I have some very soggy blue jays in my yard today, also too many grackles...less than 10, but that's 10 too many. I'm afraid that if I give them an inch, they'll bring their friends and broods and then I won't be able to get rid of them. The sound they make is like fingernails on a chalkboard to my ears, too.

cute picture Gita

Have browsed online some more regarding poles for this heavy feeder, and I had the sudden idea of *making* one using lumber from HD. A tall piece for the pole, and then another piece to go across the top like a T. This should be sturdy enough to hold the feeder.

Those of you who are good with handyman projects, what do you all think? Would something like this work?

The feeder in my parents' backyard uses the pole from the teeter totter on our old swingset, LOL. I think the only "trick" is to give it a good footing, maybe set it in concrete like a deck support.

Cat--

You could also buy an 8' closet pole. They are sturdy, round and would not be so
easy for a cat to climb as say--a 2x4.

If you use a 4x4--HD sells these concrete deck supports that 4x4 fits into--perfectly.
They are made just for this. They are also very heavy.
Maybe just digging it in a bit would be all you have to do.
Lets see if I can find it for you on Homedepot.com.
Here....

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-11-1-2-in-x-8-in-x-11-1-2-in-Concrete-Block-10550005/100350712

The deck support sounds perfect. And I cannot imagine a bird sitting on a feeder for the length of time for a cat to climb and grab it. You can do the 2 by 4, top it with a cap from the deck railing aisle, and put brackets on the side.

Thanks all. And that's a good idea about the concrete support!

The hole takes 4x4--not 2x4--but maybe they have different types..

4x4 might be a good choice given how heavy the feeder is. thanks, Gita.

It got cold again, 37 degrees when we came back from errands. I put some handfuls of seed out and the cardinals were there in minutes, I swear.

As I delivered newspapers this am between 3 and six it was warm and wet enough that thousands of earth worms were on the move, covering sidewalks and driveways and parking lots. Normally this would be a Robin RedBreast feast but I fear the deluges just washed the migrators too quickly into the storm drains.
There were also lots of frogs/toads out on the roads doing perhaps the same thing, dining on the tasty worms.. As the temps dropped towards dawn I had to be quite careful not to run over them as they seemed to cold to quickly hop out of the way. I suppose any of the raod kill frogs might be food or easy pickins for owls or a savy eagle (two nesting pairs on my route!) or maybe the red fox got an easy meal in this winter of harder than usual surviving

Had a bird dream last week. Was a passenger in a van of sorts traveling along a country highway when up ahead I spied some rather large bird forms in a field up ahead. As we passed them I identified them as adult Bald Eagles, eight or more each perched on a raised mound of some sort and eating it.

I insisted the driver (probably a fellow DG er as we were on a DG related trip) to pull over so we could get a better look and take a picture and they pulled off into a road leading to the barn and field beyond, They were eagles with syylized feathers and boxy like a Snowy Owl and each was perched on a mound of shiny black feathers which I took to be downed Black Vultures though I couldn't see any heads, just endless black feathers. There was definite 'purpose' in the eagles devouring the vultures (a group effort, not happenstance at all) and I'm still trying to suss out the meaning of this dream!

That's all for now.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2014 5:40 PM

That is quite a dream, Coleup! :-) May the Snowy Owl and the Eagle together triumph over the black vultures!! :-)

Last week we went on a nature walk and one of the wildlife experts talked about it being time for the frog migrations. They are going to ponds or vernal pools to lay their eggs. Apparently they only are in the pools for about a week, and then attempt the trip back to their usual habitat.

What a dream!
I heard the peepers again the other night. Hm, I never knew they moved like that. They certainly have the lion's share of vernal pools this year!!

Hmm, Coleup, maybe it's all our talk about evil black birds. I would love to have some eagles and owls munch on a mound of grackles from my yard!

I haven't heard any frogs around here yet, but I emptied out my little garden pond in case they show up (also because it smelled extremely foul). I have to re-dig the hole and re-sink it, and I want to do that before they lay eggs in it.

We had an owl near our house this winter. I never saw it but I would hear it do its call if I was outside after I got home from work near dusk or so.

i LOVE owl calls, they make you feel like you're in the woods. I heard the 'possibly barred owls' several times. I can only hope they were going after voles.

Or rabbits!

Don't you mean wabbits?

Hhahahaha!!!! You silly wabbit!!!!