Backyard Birding III

[SoTier]

This is my original post in my original topic on Backyard Birding started in 2020.   It's aged well.

 

A great hobby to start during this pandemic is "backyard birding" which is learning to identify the birds in and around your house and/or neighborhood.  It's a great way to get yourself, your kids, your parents and/or grandparents interested in nature and science.  It's inexpensive.  It's not complicated.  You don't even need a yard ... a neighborhood park or a cemetery or even a grassy median (like on Bidwell Parkway in Buffalo) will work.  A window overlooking your neighbor's yard might even work.

 

To get started, you need a guide to birds.  I like the Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Birds which I have been using since the 1980s.  It's pocket size, comes with a plastic like cover, and has photos, maps, and info about each bird in it.  Field Guide to Birds.  It's less than $16.

 

If you have a yard, you can buy a bird bath and set it up in a sunny spot that you can see from one or more windows or from a deck or porch.  Even a cheap plastic one will work fine.  In addition to seeing more birds, you may actually save some by providing water in dry spells.  Remember to clean your bird bath regularly as when the birds use it, it will get messy.

 

You can bring more  birds into your yard -- and see more birds -- using bird feeders of various types -- and cost.  Especially in the spring, migrating birds are towards the end of their travels and need ready sources of food.  I feed primarily black oil sunflower seed plus suet cakes but I also feed a fruit/nut mix and peanuts.  Don't buy those bird feed mixes sold in grocery stores as they have cheap filler seeds that birds won't eat and scatter all over the ground.  Tractor Supply has a nice selection of feeders and bird seed.  If you want some guidance, try the Wild Birds Unlimited on McKinley near the mall in Blasdell.  There's also a WBU in Amherst ... on Transit I think.

 

I have my tubular sunflower feeders out year around but that's not possible if you live in bear country.  Raccoons can also be problems, especially in the summers when young ones go exploring.   Many people have luck attracting hummingbirds with feeders or by hanging gaudy fuchsia pots on their porches.  I haven't, probably because as a gardener, my hummers go for the hostas, bee balm, and trumpet vines planted in the yard.   I also plant sunflowers -- generally by cleaning up the seeds/hulls from around the feeder poles and depositing that in a sunny spot along my side fence -- which attracts clouds of goldfinches when the sunflowers ripen. 

 

The great thing about backyard birding is that it's something you can do for the entire rest of your life, even when you are very old and not very mobile.  My late step-mother, who suffered from emphysema, loved sitting on her back porch watching the hummers coming to her fuchsia plants or sitting at her kitchen table watching the chickadees and cardinals coming to her seed feeders.

[SoTier]

One of the reasons that I started this third iteration of "Backyard Birding" is because I discovered a new birding "guide" last year: the Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab for your phone.   It enables you to identify birds by their songs and calls, which can really expand the birds you can identify even if you are walking in a woodsy area where it's almost impossible to see birds.   

 

For example, I was walking in a part of the Jamestown Community College's campus called "The Hundred Acre Lot" and heard an unusual bird call (not a "song").  This area is heavily forested, and rather swampy in the area where i was walking.  Using Merlin, I was able to identify the bird as a Wood Duck, a cavity nesting duck that is seldom seen unless you come across a nest sight.

 

The Merlin app enables you to save the bird calls, so you can make a list of the birds you've encountered along with the date and time and the call.  Moreover, you can find out more information about the birds you've seen or identified by call within the app.  

 

The Merlin app is free to download, although Cornell Lab will ask you join and/or donate.

[SinceThe70s]

Rabbits have been very active the past few weeks and I saw one building a nest the other day. Have also seen a hawk a few times. For anyone who remembers The Far Side: Trouble brewing!

[Augie]

My wife recently got an BIG feeder from a retail place in Greenville, SC that does nothing but birds. She also got a hanger that can clamp on the railing of our deck, but it didn’t quite fit. I found it in the bushes below on the second day. 

 

Our next door neighbor has a full shop in his basement. My recently retired wife ran into Mike in the street, and within 30 minutes we had a pressure treated perch for the feeder we (she, who am I kidding?) can prime and paint. 

 

I’m just hoping it doesn’t lead to rodents. 

[SoTier]

On 4/29/2025 at 8:04 PM, Augie said:

My wife recently got an BIG feeder from a retail place in Greenville, SC that does nothing but birds. She also got a hanger that can clamp on the railing of our deck, but it didn’t quite fit. I found it in the bushes below on the second day. 

 

Our next door neighbor has a full shop in his basement. My recently retired wife ran into Mike in the street, and within 30 minutes we had a pressure treated perch for the feeder we (she, who am I kidding?) can prime and paint. 

 

I’m just hoping it doesn’t lead to rodents. 

 

Using hulled sunflower seeds will significantly reduce waste ... which should reduce the rodent population.  Also, don't store your bird seed in your house or even in an attached garage if you can avoid it.   The only time I ever had a mouse in my house that wasn't brought in half dead by one of my cats was the winter that I stored my bird seed on my enclosed back porch.  I moved the seed barrel back to my detached garage, a trap under the sink got the mouse, and no more rodents in the house since, although my current cat occasionally brings in a not-quite-dead chipmunk from the overgrown yard across the street. If you don't have a detached garage or a garden shed to store seed, keeping seed in metal containers (hungry mice, chipmunks and squirrels can gnaw through plastic) and sweeping up any seed that falls on floor should limit the rodents, too.

[muppy]

I live between 2 canyons here in San Diego  and I see cool birds often. Im inland approx 7 miles from the coast. There you see pelicans sea gulls etc etc etc

 

Hawks like to perch on my neighbors tip top of his roof. Good view from that spot to swoop in.

 

we have a lot of doves who coo, black crows who likes to eat leftovers of my dogs food. I don't mind I'd rather birds eat it than rodents.

 

which is a major battle here. without pest control measures where I live we would be inundated.

 

after wild fires you should see what surrounding buildings look like. SO MANY RODENTS eeeeuuuu

 

I digress.

 

we have hummingbirds all year who love my bushes and plumeria

 

feeding birds here is nowhere near as common as back east. 

 

I haven't seen a Robin in years

 

cool thread 🙂

 

Edited yesterday at 02:52 PM by muppy

[Augie]

1 minute ago, US Egg said:

 

I only want pretty birds.

Goldfinch-yellow tube feeder w/thistle

Cardinals-red roofed feeder w/safflower

Orioles & Hummingbirds-feeder for oranges & grape jelly

Bluebird houses, but they battle with swallows over them which is fun to watch.

 

It’s all I do. Sunflower seeds and millet draw everything, including critters.

 

We used to have painted buntings when we lived on Goldfinch Lane. Beautiful birds! 

[US Egg]

I only want pretty birds.

Goldfinch-yellow tube feeder w/thistle

Cardinals-red roofed feeder w/safflower

Orioles & Hummingbirds-feeder for oranges & grape jelly

Bluebird houses, but they battle with swallows over them which is fun to watch.

 

It’s all I do. Sunflower seeds and millet draw everything, including critters.

[US Egg]

15 minutes ago, Augie said:

We used to have painted buntings when we lived on Goldfinch Lane. Beautiful birds! 

Oops! Caught me in a repaste. But no goldfinch on Goldfinch Lane? We get Indigo Buntings, bluer than Bluebirds.

 

But, dang! Never saw a Painted one. They look surreal. 

[Augie]

1 hour ago, US Egg said:

Oops! Caught me in a repaste. But no goldfinch on Goldfinch Lane? We get Indigo Buntings, bluer than Bluebirds.

 

But, dang! Never saw a Painted one. They look surreal. 

 

I was wondering how I quoted you before you posted! 🤣

 

That was our first house many years ago, a year after our wedding.  Oddly, one wedding gift we got from very close friends of my in-laws was a beautiful framed painting of…..painted buntings. It was beautiful and prominently displayed, then we moved into the new house (right on the marsh/tidal creeks with a view of the sound) and the real things started visiting our deck. Very cool! 

[Wacka]

Lived in SF area for almost 20 years. Strange seeing robins appear in the fall. Sure is spring here. My landlord told me the other day that they have a nest right iutside their front door  with several blue robin eggs in it.  In CA we had blue herons  that would say on top of the chimneys  or in the pond in the Apts I lived in. Saw white egrets many times  in creeks or drainsge ditches.  Much more common were hawks or turkey vultures circling above the hills.  You could tell where there was road kill as the turkey vultures showed up immediately if something was hit.

 

I just heard that there is a bad eagle nest down the street  next to Cayuga Creek in Cheektowaga. Maybe that's why we don't have a vermin problem even though the creek is less than 200 ft away.

 

I saw  a ring necked pheasant once on the guardrail of the 190  by the Smith Street exit (by Larkinville). Back in the early 60s, used to have hundreds of pheasant tracks in the snow in the yard. They disappeared once they began developing the massive French Road neighborhood in Cheektowaga (just 3-4 mies away).

[BuffaloBill]

On 4/29/2025 at 8:04 PM, Augie said:

 

I’m just hoping it doesn’t lead to rodents. 

Be careful - we were overrun with mice when my wife put feeder out in CT.  

[Augie]

30 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

Be careful - we were overrun with mice when my wife put feeder out in CT.  

 

Yeah, that’s my biggest fear. We’re enjoying it now, even more than I expected, but keeping a close eye out for signs of trouble. The problem is, they are very sneaky little critters and it’s hard to shut it down early. 

[Gugny]

I have a two story birdhouse affixed to a large oak tree. Over the years, I’ve had white breasted nuthatches as tenants, although it’s been a few years. 
 

Sometime during late winter/early spring, a woodpecker pecked each of the holes into holes double the size.
 

The birdhouse is now garbage, which really bums me out.
 

Would love to have nuthatches come back when I put a new house up. They’re pleasant to watch and have great personalities. 
 

I also want to try to attract orioles this year. 
 

Looking forward to summer and variety of birds that come with it. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

12 minutes ago, Gugny said:

I also want to try to attract orioles this year. 

Maybe try some flashing around the nuthatch size hole.

 

Also... Orioles are on the move north now, should be any day now.  Right around May 10th or so they arrive here.

 

Oranges 🍊,  halves on a spike in a tree... Also, grape 🍇 jelly in little bird feeder cups... That will attract them.

 

Blue=Breeding

Red=Wintering

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by ExiledInIllinois

[US Egg]

Turkey vultures swooping over the house, like 15 ft. above, and landing back in the woods a couple hundred ft. back.
 

It’s always a good sign. Something’s dead.

[Augie]

2 hours ago, Gugny said:

I have a two story birdhouse affixed to a large oak tree. Over the years, I’ve had white breasted nuthatches as tenants, although it’s been a few years. 
 

Sometime during late winter/early spring, a woodpecker pecked each of the holes into holes double the size.
 

The birdhouse is now garbage, which really bums me out.
 

Would love to have nuthatches come back when I put a new house up. They’re pleasant to watch and have great personalities. 
 

I also want to try to attract orioles this year. 
 

Looking forward to summer and variety of birds that come with it. 

 

We had friends down the road from our first house who had a woodpecker issue. The damn thing pecked thru the siding and was living in their attic. They covered up the hole with some metal, and he pecked another hole right next to it. It was a big red headed pileated woodpecker, and he intended to stay.

 

We were downstairs cooking out one night and talking about the problem, and they asked “do you want to go upstairs and see Woody?” It was at that point in re-telling the story that our close friend turned to her college age daughter without missing a beat and said “for the record, the answer to the question is ALWAYS no.”  Perfect timing. 

 

We did go up and see him looking very comfortable as King of the Attic. Big ol’ bird!