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Backyard Birding


SoTier

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Did anyone participate in the Cornell bird census back in May?  I had about a dozen different types of birds that I reported in, here about 6 miles west of Buffalo.

Last trip to the feed mill, I grabbed the wrong case of suet from the shelf.  I got the peanut butter based one instead of the 'woodpecker favourite', and the blackbirds have been making good work of it.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/24/2021 at 9:55 AM, Irv said:

Chowing down on the pepper suet cake.

 

IMG_0819.jpg

 

 

This is a different woodpecker than you had in the previous pic. You can see that this one has no black face stripes, has more white dots on the shoulders, and is larger. It is a red-bellied woodpecker (I know, some of these names do not make sense; red-bellied woodpeckers only very rarely show orange or red belly feathers, and if they do, it is very low on the belly (which is hidden here by the wood board).

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Bird related, per my other post.  The explanation about birds and hot things:

 

https://www.straightdope.com/21342997/are-birds-immune-to-hot-pepper-enabling-them-to-eat-vast-amounts-and-spread-the-seeds

On 6/24/2021 at 9:55 AM, Irv said:

Chowing down on the pepper suet cake.

 

IMG_0819.jpg

 

Look closely

 

IMG_0814.jpg

Interesting.   You stick a piece of wood between the suet cages to attract the woodpeckers?

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19 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Not sure where I heard this... But birds I believe don't have mucus membranes?  So they are immune to the effects of capsaicin.  Why they can eat peppers and propagate the plant like the ghost peppers... Anybody hear this?

I think I mentioned it way back in the thread but yeah, that's why cayenne pepper mixed in with bird seed keeps the squirrels at bay. "Idly wonders if asian carp have mucus membranes".

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7 hours ago, T&C said:

I think I mentioned it way back in the thread but yeah, that's why cayenne pepper mixed in with bird seed keeps the squirrels at bay. "Idly wonders if asian carp have mucus membranes".

 

No entirely.  If they are hungry enough (or too lazy to go elsewhere) they dig what they want out and like raccoons wash it.

I even tried putting seed in water with hot pepper sauce and then drying it before I put in bird feeder.

 

Want to find teacher for my wife to learn to use shotgun and fill it with ice pellets.  She tried an air gun but they learned to ignore it.

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15 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

No entirely.  If they are hungry enough (or too lazy to go elsewhere) they dig what they want out and like raccoons wash it.

I even tried putting seed in water with hot pepper sauce and then drying it before I put in bird feeder.

 

Want to find teacher for my wife to learn to use shotgun and fill it with ice pellets.  She tried an air gun but they learned to ignore it.

It works here but I only use it on sunflower seeds. Dump enough for the feeder in a 1 gallon ziplock bag with a little vegetable oil, dump in a bunch of cayenne, shake it up to coat... and then fill feeder. Squirrels won't mess with that feeder anymore.

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  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, Irv said:

I saw this guy today through my screen.  

Oriole.jpg

 

4 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

How can we be sure you saw him through the screen??

 

After a few years of watching a McDermott-coached defense, even the fans can see through a screen now.

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Irv said:

I saw this guy today through my screen.  

Oriole.jpg

 

If you want a serious response, it is a Baltimore oriole. Most orioles they have stunning orange/black or yellow/black plumage.

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18 hours ago, DrW said:

 

If you want a serious response, it is a Baltimore oriole. Most orioles they have stunning orange/black or yellow/black plumage.

 

Thanks.  If you look back a couple of pages I have an awesome shot of an Oriole from last year's quarantine.   Got a few more shots today while bored.  And before you ask, yes I do need to get a life.  

 

 

BW.thumb.jpg.a681533d92011d464b2a06aae81aa8a4.jpg

 

Another

BB.jpg

Edited by Irv
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  • 2 weeks later...

This guy has been haging out by moms house for a few days. Huge. They are usually by the power field next street over, but this one has come down by the trees on either side of my moms. We were hanging by pool today and he decided to chill with us for about 30 minutes. 

Screenshot_20210809-212107_Messages.jpg

Edited by dhg
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On 8/1/2021 at 1:54 PM, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

 

On 8/1/2021 at 1:56 PM, RaoulDuke79 said:

Same here. Haven't filled the feeders in a few weeks.

 

It's getting better.

 

Nice work, gents.

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  • 1 month later...

 

My wife has been very busy with work and has come home exhausted every day so has not had time to work on mixing wild bird food with our daughter.

Bird food mix was out so I told my daughter we will just mix it ourselves.

We went to garage where we bought some food for winter and I mixed some "Lyric Fruit & Nut High Energy Wild Bird Food" with the remaining mullet and the birds have gone crazy.  All 12 spots on bird feeder has been full for multiple hours at a time.  It looks like the kind of food you buy as snack in store.  There also is nothing left on ground too expect the millet shells.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is one of my favourite times of the year for bird watching as this is when the Bar-Tailed Godwits fly their extraordinary migration flights from Alaska, all the way to New Zealand.  12,000kms non-stop!

Flight-path-of-E720151001-11231-pbldsp.j

 

Just last month, they tracked one poor bird that had to turn around midway through it's flight due to strong headwinds.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451910/strong-winds-force-godwit-migrating-from-alaska-to-new-zealand-to-turn-around

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We had at least eighteen different birds visit our back yard, from Red tail hawks to chickadees to three different woodpeckers jays, cardinals, etc etc, always cool to see them all, even had a pair of Mallard ducks every spring for several years, too cool, 

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  • 2 months later...

With the cooler weather, Florida, I hung a finch niger seed sock a week ago. They won't touch it but will eat the no melt peanut suet cake literally 8" away. I got it on a whim at Home Depot for $.80 , they are resetting I guess. In the last two months downy woodpeckers have settled in and eat quite frequently. They might be small but like their bigger counterparts they take no ***** whatsoever. 

 

I bought another feeder, it looks pretty cool... loaded with all the good stuff, but the only ones who will eat from it are the titmice... I think the perches are too small for the cardinals. So I'm going to buy a different one for that hook with either a small platform or larger perches. Got to keep the cardinals happy.

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Got a few more today.  Birds were really active.  The Dove was through my screen.  The Finch was through the window/no screen.  All taken from my cell phone.  Yes I am working from home and still need to get a life!!!

dove.jpg

finch.jpg

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1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

We have a Carolina Wren that keeps flying/hopping through the dog door. Three times now. I don't blame it one bit. It's been brutal out. I think it wants to move in for winter.

 

We raised a baby blue jay in our kitchen.  A little bit of a mess but were used to raising birds.

 

If you put down some peanut butter and sunflower seeds in an small area and not wander about.

 

 

 

If you had a dome over your house with entrance for it the Carolina Wren it would not have to come inside.

react_haha.png

 

 

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