Backyard Birding

[Punching Bag]

There is an owl in 3.4 acre lot next door behind house. Some nights when light is right I can see it staring at my direction. Just the eyes.

[K-9]

21 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

Blue Jays and crows are obnoxious, IMO.

 

I never have mockingbirds.  My parents have them and I love whistling and having them mock me.  My mom?  Not so much.  She's definitely had enough of them and gets pissed at me when I get them going.

Blue Jays and crows are in the same family, so I’m not surprised. Smart birds, though.

[WhoTom]

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

 

My excitement level over watching the nuthatches makes my son look at me funny.

[WhoTom]

56 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

My excitement level over watching the nuthatches makes my son look at me funny.

 

My day isn't complete until my son looks at me funny.

 

[CookieG]

On 5/14/2020 at 1:11 PM, Limeaid said:

There is an owl in 3.4 acre lot next door behind house. Some nights when light is right I can see it staring at my direction. Just the eyes.

 

I DO have one of those plastic owls with the head spins around in the wind. Damn squirrels kept getting into the cushions of my wife's swing.  Whether it works or not, idk..but it hasn't happened again in the 3 years he's been out there.  So the scarecrow effect might work.

 

Of course, sometimes when I'm back there, I'll hear a voice that says:

 

-That's a very nice way to go;

-And that way is a pleasant way too;

-But then, some people do go both ways.

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

As I'm checking on the bbq tonight I see a black bird with a huge wingspan flying towards my yard, flew over head and then the house and went on its way. Had a reddish head/beak and my immediate thought was turkey vulture because I had seen them years ago down in Virginia. Not sure what it was, wifey says hawk but we usually get red-tailed hawks which are much lighter in color. Regardless the type of bird, it was a cool 30 second fly by.

[SoTier]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:18 PM, Ned Flanders said:

Just ordered another 40 lbs. from Amazon...with just one feeder, these damn birds are going through 40 lbs. every two weeks.  They're eating more than my kids, I hope they begin to forage naturally since things are starting to look green again.

 

Feeding birds in late winter/early spring really helps them because by then most natural food sources are depleted and migrating birds are flying through.  Many more -- and frequently many different species --- birds at feeders. 

 

On 5/14/2020 at 11:15 AM, Limeaid said:

 

Black squirrels are rare, 1:10000.  Rarer then ScottL praising the Bills without it being a backhand insult.

 

Actually, black squirrels aren't that rare, at least in some areas.  They are a color variation of gray squirrels, and black generally being dominant over other colors in most mammal species, they can even become the only color in some small areas.  The "problem" with black squirrels -- as with white ones, too -- is that they are more vulnerable to predators because they aren't as well camouflaged  as grays.

 

[Punching Bag]

I have seen Baltimore orioles in area so I started to put oranges out but not have seen any go by our feeder.  Right now been hanging it off our bird feeder to help our dog keep squirrels away but thinking maybe for orioles I need a different feeder but no idea what kind.

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, Limeaid said:

I have seen Baltimore orioles in area so I started to put oranges out but not have seen any go by our feeder.  Right now been hanging it off our bird feeder to help our dog keep squirrels away but thinking maybe for orioles I need a different feeder but no idea what kind.

 

I have a feeder that looks like a house with a copper roof.  Roof lifts, seed fills the "house."  On each side of the house, there are cages meant to hold suet cakes.  My suet cakes last about an hour because of a-hole squirrels.  I may throw some orange slices in there to see what happens.

[Irv]

19 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I have a feeder that looks like a house with a copper roof.  Roof lifts, seed fills the "house."  On each side of the house, there are cages meant to hold suet cakes.  My suet cakes last about an hour because of a-hole squirrels.  I may throw some orange slices in there to see what happens.

I have a feeder specifically for Orioles.  It is an orange house with a cup to hold jelly. On either side there are posts to hold orange slices. Orioles are hitting it hard now.  I am in Upstate NY. 

[Gugny]

18 minutes ago, Irv said:

I have a feeder specifically for Orioles.  It is an orange house with a cup to hold jelly. On either side there are posts to hold orange slices. Orioles are hitting it hard now.  I am in Upstate NY. 

 

Bought oranges yesterday.  Gonna put them in when I get home later.

 

Seems like the nuthatches had their babies.  I don't want to lure too many different birds, as the nuthatches can be a bit territorial.  I've got cardinals nesting nearby and they seem to get along well with them.

[SoTier]

33 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Bought oranges yesterday.  Gonna put them in when I get home later.

 

Seems like the nuthatches had their babies.  I don't want to lure too many different birds, as the nuthatches can be a bit territorial.  I've got cardinals nesting nearby and they seem to get along well with them.

 

A bit "territorial"?  Ounce for ounce, nuthatches are bigger bullies than bluejays!  They're better behaved these days when they occasionally visit my feeders but when I still had my old ash tree along the driveway (it was suffering from ash die-back and had to be removed), they included both the tree and the feeder station within their "turf" and would fearlessly run off other birds, even some larger than themselves.

Edited May 18, 2020 by SoTier

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

A bit "territorial"?  Ounce for ounce, nuthatches are bigger bullies than bluejays!  They're better behaved these days when they occasionally visit my feeders but when I still had my old ash tree along the driveway (it was suffering from ash die-back and had to be removed), they included both the tree and the feeder station within their "turf" and would fearlessly run off other birds, even some larger than themselves.

 

My nuthatches are not bullies!!!!!  They just think they own the entire tree that their house is affixed to.  ?

 

Last year, one of them got into a stare down with a squirrel.  Wings went up and out and it was on.  Looked like the Karate Kid crane kick.

 

[BritBill]

On 5/14/2020 at 6:22 PM, Captain_Quint said:

I've had an owl in my backyard for years, and its huge. Bigger than the hawks around here. You walk out back some nights and it's like a parachute coming at you if it flies away. Most of the time it just sits and stares at you.

 

I think you're suffering from Irritable Owl Syndrome. 

[That's No Moon]

Went to Susquehanna State Park in Maryland the other day and saw a bunch of herons and a couple bald eagles. Not quite my backyard, but close enough. I used to have a feeder in the yard but the deer got ridiculous and would just destroy it to get whatever I put inside 

[Nanker]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:22 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Robin Family always sets up in our pine tree this time of year.  Also, put out the oranges  and the orioles come  by this time of year:

(I have  to compress  these pictures down drastically to get under the 200KB site limit)

 

 

Orioles love grape jelly and orange slices. Had a few in my yard on Sunday, along with green hummingbirds and a turkey. 

[PromoTheRobot]

We put out various feeders and suet every year. We get a nice variety of birds in our yard. Woodpeckers, hummers, finches, cardinals, etc.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

First time in my life I saw a scarlet tanager this weekend while at a state park in the area. Seems like they stay in the canopy of the forest mostly, so it was kind of cool to see it.

 

I had no idea what it was when I saw it, thought it looked like a red instead of yellow canary finch.

Edited May 20, 2020 by 4BillsintheBurgh

[Gugny]

11 hours ago, Nanker said:

Orioles love grape jelly and orange slices. Had a few in my yard on Sunday, along with green hummingbirds and a turkey. 

 

Put orange slices out yesterday.  Hoping a) the squirrels don't steal them and b) they lure some orioles to my yard.

[WhoTom]

My friend made a cool video of a robin feeding its young.

 

 

[Jauronimo]

My neighborhood has a decent amount of foot traffic and ***** neighbors so I actually prefer front yard birding.

[WhoTom]

My friend attached a Go Pro to his feeder:

 

 

[T&C]

40 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

My friend attached a Go Pro to his feeder:

 

 

This must have been when it was cold/cool outside... that kind of suet turns into a greasy mess here in Florida. The only kind I use is the no melt peanut/corn suet and it works just fine in the heat. I keep two of those feeders going at once besides the platform one (needs replacing) and the regular feeder.

 

In the vid it mentioned the northern Cardinals but I just cannot see or tell the difference between the ones here so I don't know if that is a general term or there really is a difference. They are here all year long...

[WhoTom]

2 hours ago, T&C said:

This must have been when it was cold/cool outside... that kind of suet turns into a greasy mess here in Florida. The only kind I use is the no melt peanut/corn suet and it works just fine in the heat. I keep two of those feeders going at once besides the platform one (needs replacing) and the regular feeder.

 

In the vid it mentioned the northern Cardinals but I just cannot see or tell the difference between the ones here so I don't know if that is a general term or there really is a difference. They are here all year long...

 

We're in northern Illinois, so the suet hasn't melted yet.

 

I'm also unaware of any distinction between a northern cardinal and any others. We just call them cardinals. And they stay here year-round too.

 

 

[T&C]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

We're in northern Illinois, so the suet hasn't melted yet.

 

I'm also unaware of any distinction between a northern cardinal and any others. We just call them cardinals. And they stay here year-round too.

 

 

Whenever it does get hot I'd highly recommend this one. Walmart sells them for around $1.25 apiece, don't even have to put them in the fridge to harden up and they are a hit here.

 

[Gugny]

Those sticky suet cakes are a pain in the ass to handle.  Thanks for posting, T&C.

[T&C]

21 minutes ago, Gugny said:

Those sticky suet cakes are a pain in the ass to handle.  Thanks for posting, T&C.

They really are... they are formulated for colder states or states that get cold. Have no ***** idea why they are selling them in Florida... maybe farmers use them to grease the axles on their equipment.  I did break rank and bought one a few weeks ago just to see again and not even the red headed woodpeckers would touch that pile of greasy mush. Before I threw it out I did wipe down the shepards hooks though... love you mr. squirrel lol.

[Gugny]

Just now, T&C said:

They really are... they are formulated for colder states or states that get cold. Have no ***** idea why they are selling them in Florida... maybe farmers use them to grease the axles on their equipment.  I did break rank and bought one a few weeks ago just to see again and not even the red headed woodpeckers would touch that pile of greasy mush. Before I threw it out I did wipe down the shepards hooks though... love you mr. squirrel lol.

 

I gave up on suet cakes because of squirrels.  And every 5-6 years, I randomly throw out my back doing NOTHING strenuous.  Always a fluke.  Last time (knock on wood) was a few years ago.  What was I doing?  I was rubbing vaseline on my shepard's hook (that's not code) because of those evil mother *****.

[ExiledInIllinois]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

 

I gave up on suet cakes because of squirrels.  And every 5-6 years, I randomly throw out my back doing NOTHING strenuous.  Always a fluke.  Last time (knock on wood) was a few years ago.  What was I doing?  I was rubbing vaseline on my shepard's hook (that's not code) because of those evil mother *****.

Put the suet cakes  in a cage and hang them where they can't  get to  them... like under an eave.

[T&C]

19 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Put the suet cakes  in a cage and hang them where they can't  get to  them... like under an eave.

That is odd... never have seen a squirrel attempt a suet feeder ever... they can't get in there due to the cage. You must have bucktoothed squirrels up your way.

[Just Joshin']

My wife has many houses and feeders in the backyard.  But today had the treat of a bald eagle in the back field munching a woodchuck.  Very nice.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Just Joshin'

[ExiledInIllinois]

13 hours ago, T&C said:

That is odd... never have seen a squirrel attempt a suet feeder ever... they can't get in there due to the cage. You must have bucktoothed squirrels up your way.

The cages will go in pine tree too... They don't  touch  them there.  Don't  leave them in open.

 

Anyway... Suet is just in winter.  Coldest  part of year.   Our bucktooth squirrels are in torpor.  They don't  risk  running  around  and getting plucked by a hawk sans no ground cover to help.

 

It's  a tough ? world ? out there!

12 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

 

Our squirrels break all the rules. They break feeders constantly trying to get bigger holes.  We found a bird feeder they cannot easily get access to seed but they hang on it trying to stick paw in and knock seed to ground.  The top was originally fastened with clamps but squirrels damaged them so my wife drilled some holes in it and added a pair of nut/washers to keep top on.  Squirrels tried to chew through wood on bottom but either it is too tough or is made of a material which they do not want to taste regularly for there are some bite marks but not enough to penetrate seed chamber.

 

We have woodpeckers which eat the suet so we tried to feed them.  We hung up suet cake and squirrels would pull pieces out via nails poking holes into suet cake repeatedly.  We put suet cake under high eave and squirrels damaged eave to get a good paw hold.   We found a place which only squirrels could get suet cake and I mixed ex-lax with suet and they ate it once and never returned but if i switched suet cakes they would return.   We put suet cakes out occasionally now in winter but only when our dog is around to chase them away and put it away at night.  We tried putting it in hard plastic bucket at night with locking lid and they chewed a hole into bucket.  We even tried trapping them according to suggestion from store using peanut butter and caught a cardinal not a squirrel.

 

For regular birds we tried mixing red pepper with bird seed and they would not eat for a while although occasionally would dig into bird feeder and dump all of the seed on ground looking for something with less red pepper and on wet days would wash seed out in puddles.  Finally they just got used to taste.  We filled one bird feeder just with safflower seeds which they supposedly did not like and they left it alone until other bird feeder was empty and then went after bird feeder with safflower seeds. 

 

Originally we had a pair of squirrels, a male and female naturally. The male is aggressive and will chase birds away; the female is passive and only eats from the ground.  There has been quite a bit of construction and another pair of squirrels moved in.  They stay in a different tree close to our yard across fence and occasionally there are squabbles between squirrels but no blood sports yet.

 

Wow!  LoL... Nice... I wanna party  ? with your squirrels! ? 

[4_kidd_4]

Spotted some orioles and rose breasted grosbeak around the yard recently.  Newcomers for us!

[WhoTom]

Need a squirrel-proof bird-feeder? Find a rocket scientist. (This guy was a NASA engineer. You might remember the glitter-bomb prank he pulled on doorstep  package thieves.)

 

 

[shrader]

I had a guy out at the house today doing a termite inspection and a mockingbird attacked him.  Now on top of being a-holes, I also think they're racist.

[SoTier]

On 5/20/2020 at 12:14 AM, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

First time in my life I saw a scarlet tanager this weekend while at a state park in the area. Seems like they stay in the canopy of the forest mostly, so it was kind of cool to see it.

 

I had no idea what it was when I saw it, thought it looked like a red instead of yellow canary finch.

 

I saw two once thirty plus years ago at my late father's.  They apparently came out of the woods to feast on the ripe grapes in his vineyard near the house.

[RaoulDuke79]

I know I've been sleeping with the windows open for the last few nights and those birds start chirping around 4am.

[Greybeard]

On 5/26/2020 at 12:34 PM, WhoTom said:

Need a squirrel-proof bird-feeder? Find a rocket scientist. (This guy was a NASA engineer. You might remember the glitter-bomb prank he pulled on doorstep  package thieves.)

 

 

      In the early 90's, they had a TV documentary made in England that had roughly the same thing.  It was called Daylight Robbery.  There was also a second one called Daylight Robbery 2.  They are both on Youtube now.

    IIRC, they also had one that did it with birds.  Smaller puzzles but no less amusing.

[T&C]

2 hours ago, Greybeard said:

      In the early 90's, they had a TV documentary made in England that had roughly the same thing.  It was called Daylight Robbery.  There was also a second one called Daylight Robbery 2.  They are both on Youtube now.

    IIRC, they also had one that did it with birds.  Smaller puzzles but no less amusing.

I think this one was posted above sir... unless something changed.