Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Spring 2014, Cont'd

I think they each see their own reflection and think that it is a rival, so they're attacking. Poor things since the reflection isn't going to give up, either. I used to be awakened by that sound, and it was a cardinal doing the same thing to my round window. Another was doing the same thing to the rearview mirror on my car.

I've had them do that with the car mirror also.

Day 1 of the hummer feeder, and guess what? They're back!
I saw at least 2 males establishing territories.

Ric, it's interesting that you built nesting platforms for the robins and they ignored them. I bought robin nesting boxes that went on the top of poles, put baffles on the poles and put them in what I thought were good places. Apparently not. They built a nest in a rhododendron instead. Maybe I'll try putting them closer to the house; if nothing else, birds can use them for shelter when it rains.

New project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/projects/clo/yardmap

edited to amend link to yard map project...see catmints comments below

This message was edited May 2, 2014 7:26 AM

Judy, were you able to actually sign up and visit the site? It appears to be a science education study (which is fine in and of itself). The only way to access information on the website is to try to join as a member, but you cannot join without taking a lengthy survey. I did take the survey (which took about 15-20 minutes), but then was told I had been assigned to 'join on a delay'--which I assume means I've been assigned to the 'wait list control group' of the study--or possibly did not meet eligibility criteria for participating, so will be allowed to join when the actual study is over and the website is available to all. This is all fine in theory, but people should be told upfront what's going on before they spend a lot of time trying to access the website. :-(

This message was edited May 2, 2014 6:06 AM

No, I didn't sign up, too media rich for my old system and dial up to handle well. Read about it on another site. Have revised link above . That's a long survey! Sounds like you didn't get all that much yet out of your effort?

Bravo Ric Hello Hummers!

Not much yet but hopefully someday!:-)

I had a couple hummers today at my feeder too! Or it could have been the same one coming back a couple times. I love watching them. Made this not so great day better.

Even after several days, that male/female pair of crazy cardinals is still banging away at the windows. I also see them both going to the feeder out front. They seem to have a routine - deck and banging at the windows, then to a tree perch at the edge of the hillside shade garden, then to a shrub perch near the front steps, then to the feeder, and back the same way they came.

My cardinal pair is extra-exuberant, too, Aspenhill. Maybe it is something about cardinals?

We've had birds keep trying to come in to the plants in the living room once in a while. We had 1 female cardinal that was so insistent I was sure that she would hurt herself, we even taped paper over the inside of the glass. She just kept it up for a couple of days no idea why.

SSG The shiny cowbird is back again any sign of ones around you?

Ric Putting paper on the inside is good, but I find putting paper on the outside eliminates all reflection.
Wonder if your cardinal might have been an immature male ...they look so much like a female, and that would account for the territory aggression? They will hurt themselves, One broke a mirror I had set outside after a yard sale!

Lots of eagle activity at dawn today. Like they were working out which parent was out to fish first!
And again I heard two eaglets (or more?) chiming in.

Karen, what did that train spill do to any of your favorite birding spots along the James?

Some birds have been busy eating the Winter Moth cats hatching out and then entering the oak leaf buds. and eating them from the inside out! Thankyou birds. The cats float down on long strands (called 'ballooning') and I call them 'inch worms' They do significant damage to the tree canopy as well as all plants and shrubs below they land on.

http://www.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en-US&biw=&bih=&q=winter+moth+damage&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=6dVmU8H_J4nfsATg9oLIAQ&ved=0CCsQsAQ

Coleup, glad you have some birds on the prowl against those cats! Must be really cool to be able to observe eagles. Needless to say, we don't get them in suburban DC... :-(

The birds seemed very happy today at my feeder--they must like this new wildflower blend I put in! :-)

I'm afraid I haven't seen may birds around, but I hear the woodpecker everyday. I just wish I could see it!

Cat--
What wildflower blend was it? What was i it that they liked so much.
Can't say the birds eat a lot at my feeder--but off and on...

Thinking only the Doves really eat the millet...sometimes they get up on the feeder
--sideways--as they are so big and just peck away in the "trash" below the feeder holes
till they find something they like.

I see the usual mix of birds--nothing new. Saw a Nuthatch and a Downy yesterday....
Still NO Goldfinches....and I have 2 feeders up for months.....thistle and a Finch mix.
Hate to buy new--if they don't like what I have--OH, well!......

Should I dump those seeds (on the patio floor) and re-fill them with the same???
Should I put out a Thistle sock?

Are you all seeing Gold Finches? G.

No goldfinches here, although I think Muddy said she saw one at her house in Virginia?

Gita, the bag the seed was in is gone now, but now that you mention it, this bag was basically torn apart by squirrels and pecked through by birds, so there is a lot of seed where it was by the side of the fence. So I would say they thought it was very tasty--and I no longer have the bag and can't remember what it was! :-o However, I'm pretty sure it was one of the Wagner blends... It was a blue and white bag... Maybe it was their 'greatest variety' blend? That seems to come in a blue and white bag...

I have two cousins who have developed interests in wildlife photography (particularly birds) as they've gotten older. They post a lot of their beautiful photos on FB. This one from this morning I just *had* to share.

She has a website where she has posted some of her beautiful photos:
http://bescoles.zenfolio.com/

Enjoy! :-)

Cat, great picture of the hummers.

Yesterday, those crazy cardinals found a new perch on the passenger side mirror of my car. They were banging away at the car window too, and now there is bird poo all over the passenger door.

I've been seeing gold finches at my feeder for months. Years ago, I discovered that they kept eating the regular black oil sunflower seed and were totally disinterested in the thistle seed, so I don't bother getting it anymore. I recently filled a different feeder with a Wagner's blend, and they go for that too. This weekend, I saw a bluebird at the feeder with the blend. I've seen bluebirds a lot, but never at the feeder before.

I've been spotting hummers at the old fashioned bleeding hearts, so I cleaned up the feeder and put the nectar out. Within twenty minutes, they were there :)

Almost forgot to mention that I saw a pileated woodpecker yesterday. The sound they make while pecking is very distinctive compared to the other woodpeckers, and they have a really cool swooping/gliding motion when flying. Large suckers!!!

Very cool Aspen--sounds like you are attracting some pretty birds. And those cardinals of yours sound like a crazy pair! :-)

I'm thinking that my cousins and I got our shared love of nature from our grandmother. She always kept a beautiful garden at her home--it is a delightful memory from my childhood. Plus my other grandmother lived in a very rural setting and i loved spending time in the meadows with the flowers and pollinators. It's too bad that it took me so many years to start channeling these experiences into my own garden but I'm glad I have.

Judy, I don't live along the James. That is further south of us. We live along the Rappahannock River. What did in my birding was all the rain last week! The river crested Thursday at 22.7 feet above flood level... the highest is has ever been since I have lived here! We can officially consider the spawning run OVER! :(

We are still waiting for it all to go back down to normal levels, so we can walk down to our usual area and see how it changed everything.

We have hummers now. I was out on the balcony this morning watering some flowers, and had just put out fresh sugar water. The female came and got a sip with me standing there... my head not two feet from the feeder!

All of our other little bird friends must be nesting and feeding babies, because they are hitting the feeder hard! In another couple of weeks, they will bring the fledglings up! It's always fun to watch them feed the babies on our balcony, and show them how to get the food for themselves!

Karen

Catmint, what a picture! I've tried to take pics of hummers, but they're so fast!

thanks, SSG. She must have a super-good camera. :-o All I see when the hummers fly by is a blur, and I'm pretty sure my camera wouldn't even pick up the blur!

Karen, that's a good point about them hitting the feeder hard right now because they might have babies! It's always such a joy to see the babies.

Pissed off a nesting Robin tonight. I was cleaning old vines off of the Garden Arbor and this Robin flies out and sits on a nearby tree and chirps at me. I didn't see any nest up there above where I was working but when I turned to work on the other side there it was.
There was a hummer out front tonight as well, drinking from the tulips.

I swept off my whole patio tonight...all the chaf from the bird seeds in my feeder.

Gone--as of today! No more seed to mess up every inch of my patio floor...
With all this rain--there are enough worms all over the place....bugs too.

Hope you all don't think i am being cruel....Has to be done sometime.
There may be a couple other places i could hang it--out over my lawn--
but that would be like setting a table for all the squirrels.

I may throw some seed on the lawn for them....if I feel sorry enough.
G.

Gita, my bird feeder is currently on my lawn! I got tired of the seed on the deck, and also of it falling into my garden beds and sprouting weeds. So far I like it in the lawn.

well, I broke down yesterday and got a serviceberry! (A. canadensis Rainbow Pillar aka Glenn Form)

It has tiny immature berries on it and I'm already picturing plump juicy berries enticing all the birds! I'm also hoping it will offer them more protection. One of the ferals recently got the male purple finch I've been enjoying so much. (sigh) So, the robin pair is gone and now the male purple finch. The cardinal pair and mourning dove are still here, though.

I've never had cardinals that are as crazy as this pair that seems to have taken up residence. The banging at the windows goes on periodically no matter what time day or night. It has been going on now for at least a week. I wonder if they will ever stop - either settle down or leave? Crazy birds. Only other crazy bird I've encountered was a catbird - last summer there was one who often perched in a tree by the dock who continuously squawked at us whenever we were down there having dinner.

what a sociable pair they are! ;-) The continual window-banging sounds interesting!

Wow the ferals in your neighborhood are great hunters. That's really sad about the poor bird. :(

The other day I took video of the snake in my yard (didn't get a good shot of it, though) and while watching it back, I couldn't believe all the birds chirping in the background.

AspenHill: Would something like this help? http://www.amazon.com/Maple-Leaf-Window-Decal-Save-Birds/dp/B001OE3JMW/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1399485784&sr=1-1&keywords=decals+for+windows+to+stop+birds I have no personal experience with it....

Gita: My understanding is that thistle goes bad really quickly. We've bought several bags of it over the years, and while I can't say the finches have never touched it, it hasn't been a big draw. I'm with you on the mess that birdseed leaves behind. I would prefer not to put seed out over the summer, but my DH finds the joy he gets from watching the birds to be worth more to him than the pain of the patio mess they create....

Here's a fun page of bird call recordings. I'm not familiar with any of these birds, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/04/nyregion/birdweek-forecast.html

Cool. I played one and my snoozing cat instantly perked up and started looking at the window with great anticipation. :-)

Yes, I wish they had linked to a greater variety of birds.

ssg- that was a great page! you could even hit more than one and have them sing together. Yeah, those don't seem like common backyard birds much. The only ones I think I've ever heard in my yard were white throated sparrow, some warbler, possibly kinglet. The nighthawk was totally weird!

Oh I bet those birds were going nuts over the snake!!

CatMint, that hummer photo is stunning! I have got to get my hummer feeder out.
Those ferals are taking a brutal toll on the birds, aren't they? How sad. I wonder whether if you take your feeder down for awhile they'll stop coming to your yard.

Sally, I'm sure you're right that the birds were freaking out about the snake.
I hear the blue jays go nuts every other day when crows or hawks are trying to raid their nests. The jays put out a distress call and others fly in to help. I can sometimes help get the intruders to leave by clapping my hands.

When I go out in my yard and don't see or hear any birds, it's usually because a hawk is around. They know better than to make a peep!

thanks, Muddy. She has all kinds of gorgeous bird photos that she's taken on her website. I need to refill my hummer feeder, too. Looking forward to seeing them again this year!! And I will have new flowers to attract them with! :-)

yeah, I'm slowly becoming reconciled to the two ferals. They can no longer reach my feeder, but this last attack I observed was at the neighbor's feeder, just on the other side of the fence from mine. Poor Mr. Finch :-( For me, when the yard is quiet, I assume it's because the ferals have been around.

I'm beginning to get some regular blue jay customers at my feeder! All the positive things you've said about them, Muddy, have led me to watch them with interest. I've also started getting my first starlings--less happy about that. >:-(

I just wish I could get our birds to wear diapers. Our feeders are right by the table on the patio, where they like to perch -- and they make a huge mess of it. I thought I had negotiated with my spouse that we would only feed them in the winter, but he has reneged.

ewww, Happy--any chance of relocating the feeder? Although it must be fun to have the birdies come right up and perch there.

No chance on relocating the feeders because they are in just the right spot so that we can watch the birds when we sit at the kitchen table. So DH periodically scrubs the patio table and chairs.... and we sit on the far end of the patio table, the end that the birds eschew because it isn't close to the feeder! I thought it would be such a good compromise to not feed them over the summer, especially since the seed makes an oily mess on the patio (we use hulled sunflower seed, so we don't have a problem with hulls per se, but it still gets slimy). But no.