Pic of the Day – Vol. 16

I'm going to try and find some info for you.

Scroll down to Adaptations and read paragraph 3.
http://www.edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_54_18.html

I'll still keep looking.

Apparently night flyers and vultures can smell.

Heres more info:

http://school.discovery.com/studystarters/facts/birds_canbirdssmell.html

This message was edited Aug 13, 2007 2:06 PM

I finally have a picture to add, though it's not the best as it was taken through the window screen. It's hard to get pictures because these guys are so jumpy and fly off at the slightest movement. They are at this feeder most of the day, but especially about 10-11 am and late afternoon. The hummers insist on using this feeder, too, although they have their own. This morning the youngin' was with mom and ended up upside down on the perch - I think mom is trying to get rid of him.

kaperc - beautiful!

Oh how beautiful! Thanks kaperc!

Thanks. I should have said, for those that don't know, this is the male. He seems to always have the feeder to himself - I rarely see the female with him. They are all around a lot today and very active. The bully just chased the hummer off the feeder!

Here's the whole Oriole family

And here's a family squabble.

Very nice sybil!!

Haven't you got anything better to do than pester me?

Those character shots are the best!

Well these are terrible pics but I was so excited to see a very young Goldfinch with his Mommy today. He was having such a difficult time perching above her on the shepherds hook. He fell off numerous times.

He even knocked his Mom off a few times when she came up to feed him, it was cute to watch.

adorable

This whole thread is full of fabulous photos!! I'm a few days behind on viewing all my threads so there's no way I can comment on all of them, but I will just say I have enjoyed each and every one!

I have never seen a cardinal drink from my bird bath...until today.

Wake me when it's over.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Great photos!

Very nice photos!

Tiger, Love the Nuthatch!

You're not a Wood Pecker!..........Neither are you!

They do like to squabble over food.

Sybil, I dug out my Oriole feeder, to hang just in case. The bottom was cracked so I had to repair it, so cross fingers. This one is all glass and metal except for the bottom and I really like the way it looks.

Is the sugar/water mix the same as for hummers, 1 part sugar to 4 parts water?

BTW.. I start with cold water (8 cups) and sugar (2 cups), stirred well, microwaved for 5 minutes, stirred, and then microwaved another 5 minutes, and stirred well, then into the big freezer in the garage to cool fast. If I'm doing lesser amounts I reduce the microwave times.

gg=alice

gg- I don't know if I would microwave. Not a scientist but I don't know what happens to solids and liquids when zapped. Maybe it doesn't make any difference.

The info I have on sugar to water: Orioles want 1 part sugar to 3 parts water.

Around here, they get what I give! They all get the 4 to 1 ratio the hummers get.
I boil the sugar in the water, cool the pan in a sink of cold water. It cools quickly.

I supplement with grape jelly in the dish feeders. The birds look healthy to me so I think they're fine.

Show me a picture of your feeder please!

And here is my prize for the day...

Great pic. There are Pilelated Woodpeckers in this area ( i've seen two) but I haven't got any pics yet.

Wonderful photo Sybil! Thanks for sharing.

I only saw one of the one time when I was in the woods hunting with hubby. I tried so hard to get a photo (I was in a blind with my camera all morning long) but it didn't turn out that good at all.

Janet

GG & Sybil, When mixing Hummingbird food if your going to heat the water do that first THEN add the sugar. When you do it the other way it changes the composition.

GG & Sybil- Orioles are a weaker solution than Hummingbirds, more towards 6- 1 but you can just add extra water to the Hummer food for the Orioles.

This message was edited Aug 14, 2007 3:50 PM

Beautiful pic of the Pileated sybil!!! You are so lucky he comes to the feeder!

Tigerlily: I love the Red-breasted Nuthatch, we don't have that one here, that I know of.
Adlebetcat: I love your caption (the woodpecker argument). :)
Sybil: Yes, well done on the Pileated. We have them here but they stay up in the pines.
Deb

You didn't have to take it personal.

Thanks pelletory. No wonder those Orioles are so fiesty! I didn't know about the sugar and water boiling together. I'll stop that now!

Here's my second favorite pic of the day...

He's beautiful!

Thanks everyone for info.

I just put some water in my Oriole feeder to see if I got it fixed to hold water. It doesn't. I'm going to have to find a suitable feeder that has a bottom that fits the bottle before I can use it, preferably green like the color of the metal that also has two metal oranges on it. I can't remember where I got this feeder. The squirrels ate one of the orange plastic flowers that go around the feeder holes. I was going to paint one on but no need now.

I ordered a fruit hanger last night, too.

I want to dispel a myth here. Having a degree in Physics (many moons ago) I just can't resist.

"Microwaves don't affect the molecular structure of the food (or vitamins, my addition), except through the thermal effects we associate with normal cooking (e.g., denaturing of proteins with heat and caramelizing of sugars). " - Louis A. Bloomfield, Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia and author of How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary

and

"The only molecular rearrangements that occur are those that are caused by warming the food toward the boiling temperature of water. In fact, there is less chemistry done during microwave cooking than is done in a normal oven." - Louis A. Bloomfield, Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia and author of How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary

Simply put the microwaves knock the water molecules around producing heat in the water that cooks the food.

Interesting information about microwaves and microwave cooking:

http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/microwave_ovens.html

and short bio of author:

http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/biography.html

I think the main reason to not heat sugar water in the microwave is danger from burns. There is, also, a phenomena called super-heating of water, especially in smooth glass containers, where water becomes superheated very fast and "explodes" out of a container when slightly disturbed, because air bubbles haven't' been released during the heating process.

I have been heating sugar water in the microwave for years and I watched it very carefully when I first started doing it not allowing it to come to a "boil", doing careful timing. In my Pyrex 8 cup container (but holds more), with 2 cups of sugar, in the microwave I use, with two 5 minute sessions, with stirring between each session, the solution does not boil but comes close to sugar water boiling temperature. When it is finished I normally let it sit for 30 minutes to longer (if I forget it) before carefully removing.

We do most of our cooking in the three microwaves we have; two in the kitchen and a bigger one in the pantry. In fact DH and I purchased the first Amana microwave oven that was reasonably priced and available to the public. We hardly ever break out a sauce pan.

Doing the hummer sugar water in the microwave is just way more convenient for me. I cook, "serve", and store in the same container.

In some of my reading today about hummers there was a suggestion to reduce the sugar concentration in very hot weather as they need more fluids. So today's batch is 1 to 5 instead of 1 to 4.

When I get the Oriole feeder "fixed" they will get the same as the hummers. When I did have it up the hummers fed from it to along with other birds and the "tree rats".

gg=alice

Yes, I always used to heat my water in the microwave.

Thats good to know about the microwaves. Thanks Alice!

I was happy to see a Carolina Wren today.

Nice pic of the Carolina Wren, pelletory! I also have had one in my yard for a few days! :)

Great pics again today, everyone - love the captions, too!

Here's one of my two for the day: Blackcapped chickadee . . . cute little fella.

And this sweet one . . . (very young goldfinch?)

gg- Now I know! LOL.