Robins???

Thanks Vic. Send more. I don't want the birdseed to go moldy.

There may be two tomorrow.

ROFL!
Victor, are you in charge of the feeder schedule?

Sofonisba - I think they are all my MY feeders! At one point this morning I counted 32 mourning doves.
I participated in the bird count last year and was number 1 in the mourning dove count.

Nancy

Cool Nancy! I have mentioned on other threads that I have hundreds of mourning doves who spend the night in my Norway spruces. It's quite a sight when they return each evening.

Hi Victor! I know I know, I fell off the face of the earth, but I'm back!

I had tons of doves here only a month or two ago. There must be a hawk or something hoovering around here. It's eerily quiet.

Not many here either, Harper. Mostly the Blue Jays.

Becky and I are studying birds in Science this year. I call the notebook "Birds in My Backyard". I made a list of 32 local birds and have a separate page for each bird, with a coloring picture, and a color picture to glue in. Then she looks up and fills in all the info for each, like habitat, characteristics, food sources, etc. It's fun!

So, I found out that Robins don't usually migrate! They hang out in the woods and swamps. They eat mostly berries in the winter. I see them in my yard off and on all winter. Sometimes I leave chopped up apple for them.

Victor, you could be seeing goldfinches. Although the males don't have their bright yellow during the winter, but maybe in your zone their color is starting to come back.

Brilliant subject matter Sue! Wish I was taught about birds as a kid. Come to think of it, they didn't teach me about bees, either.

Thanks for the commeraderie Arlene.

Very interesting - the only time I ever notice robins are in the spring. I will have to watch closely now!

Bluebirds often winter over, too. We have some that live down our driveway.

I've had a few robins starting around New Years. One male who
always comes to the Winterberry and eats the berries is a long-
time winter visitor, maybe 4-5 years now. They seem to come
after the worst weather/ snowstorms. Saw bluebirds during the
January thaw and have seen them in fields on mild winter days
catching hardy insects, in past years. I de-iced my birdbath as
soon as I saw the robins and ran a heater to it and they all left!
Ingrates!

We set the heater up in the granite bird bath when it freezes in the Fall. Our neighbors spend all the money on bird seed, we just pay for the electricity for the de-icer...birds eat at their place then drink at ours. Regular neighborhood chain.

DH has a ritual in the morning of either throwing peanuts to the jays or grinding butternuts for the wee ones. He does this despite having a busy AM getting kids ready for school. The birds wait for the handout.

I just started feeding birds this winter. I get quite a few birds: Common Redpolls, Goldfinches, Titmice, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Mourning Doves, Juncos, and a pair of Cardinals. Sometimes a jay flies through, but I don't see them too often. I have lots of squirrels also and I finally put up an Advanced Pole System with a baffle from Wild Birds Unlimited. I had to add a 12 inch extension to the pole but it is working so far to keep the squirrels out of the feeders!! Eleanor

I also got a heated birdbath to attract the birds. It hasn't frozen yet!! Eleanor

It warmed up to 40 so I starting seeing the birds out again, we have juncos, finches, sparrows, blue jays, doves, cardinals at our feeders. The crows will stop by after visiting the farm a couple houses down from us, my son loves chasing them away-he says he doesn't like the big black birds. I open the slider and he yells at them "blah, blah blah" real fast it's histerical.

I have been seeing robins now and then also.... and grabbed another shot of the woodpecker yesterday.. a bit fuzzy through the window

Allison, did you make that feeder pole, or purchase it? It's very nice! I have a pole like Eleanor's, but with three hooks.

Who has any good solutions for keeping the seed shells off the ground?

I found out I need to keep under the feeders more clean. I attracted a flock of ducks to my yard. There must have been at least a dozen. I just scrape up the seeds and hulls and put them in a garbage bag. They do make trays to catch them or you could even make one. Need to be careful that it is not used by squirrels to get closer to the feeders so they can jump up to them. Also it sould not collect water - maybe use screening in a frame of some sort. You can check some of the web sites or catalogues for ideas if you want to make one: Duncraft or Wild Birds Unlimited are two I know of. Eleanor

Thanks, Eleanor. I've been just raking/scraping, also, but it does get messy. Especially with bare dirt under it. I do like to let the juncos and mourning doves feed on the ground, though. I'll have to put a flat something down there for them, I guess.

Sue it's just a post we picked up at home depot with 4 hangers attached.... didn't cost much at all... I hang flowers from it during summer

I read somewhere that they used an old pizza pan to catch the seeds under their feeder. A kids old saucer sled would work too.

I like that saucer idea!

Growing up in NJ in the 50's & 60's, robins always seemed to disappear(go South?) in the winter. I've been here in NH for 14 years and see robins year 'round. Sitting in trees during a snowstorm & the like. They must be hardier. The winters can be just as nasty as ever. And no, I'm not an advocate of global warming.

I like the saucer idea too! thanks Jen! Eleanor

Speaking of global warming . . . there was some show on last night about Greenland melting and Antarctica, also. At first I was alarmed, but dh reminded me that when Noah had his flood, God promised never to flood the entire earth again (thus the rainbow, a symbol of his promise).

So I'm trusting there will be plenty of space for us gardeners when the polar caps melt, even if it's on top of a mountain! (All the non-gardeners can be abducted by aliens!)

You should head over to the Bird Watching Forum and ask some of these bird questions. There are some tremendously knowledgeable people posting. It is a very active forum. And lots of Northeast representatives.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/birdwatching/all/

We have a large group of Robins that are always here in the winter They hang out together and gobble berries. But this is what is interesting, they are not our summer robins, those headed south for the winter. These are the Robins from up north that find us balmy enough to winter over here. Many are undocumented immigrants from Quebec and the Maritimes. I love having them here, is that too political? I heard this recently on our local NPR station. So this year I am going to watch and see if I can tell when our homies come back and these interlopers leave. Patti

Patti - here's an interesting link to an amazing woman we met in Nova Scotia who has such a love of birds: http://www.gulfofmaine.org/times/winter2001/majka_and_christie.html

Correction: New Brunswick, not Nova Scotia. Same vacation but a different province.

This message was edited Feb 3, 2008 11:45 AM

What a wonderful, wonderful story!

Mary is a most amazing woman.

Must be a magical spot watched over by a magical lady. Need more of those. Thanks Pirl, Patti

Great link, Pirl. Thanks.

Very nice story Pirl!

Last of the snow is melting, rain and a little light fog. The bare ground brought out some old friends. Not a great pic but they are looking for soft ground to get some bugs for lunch.

This guy seemed okay with having a close-up. Here's looking at you kid. Bon appetite!

I think I just saw an Eastern Bluebird!!!! This would be my first, ever. It was sitting on my fence post and I thought it was a Robin because of the rusty-red chest, but then it turned and flew to my winterberry bush. That's when I saw the entire back and wings were blue and the belly was white! Woo Hoo!!!!!

I sent him.

Victor, I want one too, send one to Nantucket, please. Patti

Maybe it will he can help you dig your holes!