What's at your birdfeeder?

“we were out camping this past weekend and got to enjoy the WoodPeckers. They are still very cool. I got a kick out of the noise they made when you got to close to there tree.

They then would fly off and go peck on another tree until you left the area, then they fly back to the orig tree.
Still very cool birds!”

“Neighborhood cats are hanging out underneath it.

At the feeder: Cassin's Finch, Yellow Headed Blackbird, Mountain Chickadee, Junco, White Capped Sparrow, Robin.

It's still early, I expect more to show up in the next several weeks.”

“Bet those cats are salivating, too!”

“gordon, a bird-hugger?”

“Baltimore Oriole arrived. Same date as last year. My wife sees him during hte day. I haven't seen him yet, but can hear him singing.

Rosebreasted gross beak was hanging around all day sunday.

o/w just the usual suspects.”

“I live near Baltimore........seen one Oriole...ever


You guys ever seen a Scarlet Tanager?”

“Tom --

As a kid (N.E. Massachusetts) I remember tanagers on warm summer evenings . . still light as I went to bed with the screen windows . . .


and the sound of my father's electric "fogger" . . .filled with god knows what chemical insecticide as he marched around in the boggy areas down back . . .and the smell wafting through the screens.


Yup. I remember a couple of years early on when we had tanagers . . .not many after that.



The great thing is . . . we saw one in the state forest near us (central CT)4 years ago . . .and last year

last year we had 3 males in our pear tree . . .all vying for the attention of one female. I sure hope they come back for a visit


A couple of years running we have had an indigo bunting come through.


We have year round resident blue birds.”

“In the courtyard of the building I work in there are two fountains. One of them is currently being used by a pair of Mallards. Everyone in the building gets a kick out of it when they go out to lunch and see the ducks walking around and playing in the fountains.”

“I've seen four scarlet tanagers in the past five years or so. First one was on North manitou Island, then two at Manistee River pathway/NCT, nother up near Hartwick pines. All pretty far north. Nothing that pretty wants to live this close to Detroit, lol.”

“Right now, grackles, starlings and cowbirds are pretty much running everything else off. I have managed to eliminate a few squirrels, however, (evil chuckle)...”

“eliminating squirrels is a wonderful pasttime here in sc”

“eliminating squirrels is a wonderful pastime anywhere! (teeheehee)”

“I'll never forget the time when I was a child that my neighbor put her parakeet's cage in the shade under a small tree in her back yard while she worked in the flower gardens. The tree FILLED UP with wild parakeets. There were hundreds of them all over it, on every branch. I have no idea where they came from. They stuck around for a while in the evening after she took her bird into the house. I've never seen anything like it since.”

“My neighbor's cat eliminated a chipmunk the other day. Does that count?”

“I have thrashers in my backyard. They're cool. My personal favorite is the black vulture. Those birds are clowns.”

“skullcap

In this part of Chicago we have LOTS of wild parakeets. Their nest are a big problem for the electric company--they build their huge nests around the transformers.

Otherwise my wife's dog is at the bottom of the bird feeder--it has "doggie alzheimer's.”

“No feeder, but lots of nests about.

I found cat fur and downish feathers in the barbwire catproofing around the bluebird nest - an 8x8 creosote fence cornerpost.

That was after work yesterday afternoon, so I reckon it happended yeaterday or Sunday pm.

I counted both mom and dad bluies shortly after discovering the cat's fur, so they're okay.

I can't wait to sick Belle and Giz on that damned cat. I know who it is by the fur on the barbs. It was on the porch one night recently when we arrived home - prolly stalking a nest on column of said porch. He made his getaway before I could release the hounds from the truck.

I don't own a gun, but I wouldn't hesitate to let an arrow fly toward his fuzzy arse...

The cat must die.”

“I have saved chipmunks from neighbor's cats with a slingshot.”

“Yeah stump, I grew up in southern lower michigan about 300 miles from Chicago. LOL, maybe that's where they came from.”

“Where in southern MI? We get over to southwest MI from time-to-time.”

“Had held off on filling the feeders because of all the grackles in the neighborhood, but didn't want to miss the other birds, so I finally put out the seed. Have had a pair of goldfinches and a male rosebreasted grosebeak, and some chipping sparrows. The grackles have visited a couple times, but haven't swarmed the feeders yet. Also, three cottontails are regulars in the yard.

Mourning doves have been around for a long time. One has built a nest in a hanging flower basket at the back corner of our garage -- 2 eggs already, as my wife discovered when the dang thing flushed next to her head as she walked to the compost pile. We have to take a more circuitous route now.

A dove paid the price earlier this spring -- I looked out one morning and a male cooper's hawk was just finishing a dove breakfast under one of the big pines.

Yesterday morning, on the drive to work, it was very windy. As I crossed the bridge over the Wisconsin RIver, two ospreys were swooping and sailing low over the bridge, trying to work against the wind as best they could. Passed about 30 feet over my truck.”

“Purple finches, male and female rosebreasted grosbeaks, goldfinches, mourning doves, red squirrels. I saw a partridge the other day running across the road and into the woods.”

“damn blackbirds.

About fifty are now hanging around. They are so aggressive they are chasing all the other birds away.

pekka:, yeah, that's cool. A couple times a year I see a bald eagle swoop over the lake and nab breakfast. Seeing the fish wriggling in those claws never ceases to thrill me.”

“I have a Flicker? Nest in a tree house I built for the x-girlfreinds kids. It even has eggs in it....”

“Bluejays, cardinals, red-headed woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, finches, tufted titmouse, a red-tailed hawk and a sharp-shinned "sharpie" hawk. The hawks like to hunt the squirrels, which is a good thing.”

“Gordon, we now have so many eagle sightings, that I don't always remark on them, but the increase in ospreys is worth noting. This pair may be nesting right near town, as I have seen one fishing over the river right downtown, between the mall and the paper mill. Speaks well of the Wisconsin River's health.

My daughter up in Marquette, who lives up on the bluff overlooking the harbor, told me last night that she came out her front door yesterday and a drake and hen mallard were strolling down the sidewalk. The nearest water would be about 3 long blocks away down on Lake Superior, so why they stopped for a stroll...”

“Indigo buntings in the tree tops this weekend, and again this morning.”

“2 pilated woodpecker chicks and their mama. They're big and noisy! The funnt part was when the little bitty titmouse ran them all off!”

“That fooking cat got both bluebirds and their three babys. It got the brown thrashers, too.

The cat will die... soon.”

“Pretty yellow birds, and some pigeons. I keep sending the cat and dog after the pigeons.”

“Sarabelle, watch gojo's back. This cat sounds particularly nasty. Good luck on the hunt, gojo.”

“I had my house built about 10 years ago and for the first few years around April/May at about
7-8am in the morning, like clock work for a week straight each year, I would here this LOUD A$$ "tat tat tat tat tat tat tat"
wicked fast then it would stop for a second, and then "tat tat tat tat tat tat tat" again, so I was loudly tromping around the house trying to figure out what the hell it was ??? I could never figure it out and it would only last split second and then GONE...so one year I finally wised up and started to tip Toe towards the sound...Well it was louder when I approched the door in the kitchen that lead to the garage. So I would slowly opened the door to the garage and "tat tat tat tat tat tat" real loud.. Then I knew I was getting close... well between the "tats' I heard a "ruffle ruffle ruffle" sound... and it was coming from outside the back wall of the garage...Well I tried to sneak outside and must made too much noise, 'cause I did not hear the "tat tat tat" again....So the next day I had my battle plan ready and I waitied for that O' so familar sound again, When it finally came back, "tat tat tat tat tat" I snuck out the front door real quite like and along the side of the house, not making any sound in my bare feet none the less...Well I got to the back of the garage wall and waited for aminute or two.....then "tat tat tat tat tat tat" I jumped out around the corner and WHAM a Bird flew out of the gutter... He wa hauling A$$ so I did not get a good look at that Terrorist !!! ..So I started to inquire on what the hell it was that had been jerking my chain for years. My neighbor who is a huge BIRD lady (not in stature)...told me it was Woody the Wood pecker. What woodpeckers do is they find metal objects, flag poles, gutters..etc.. etc.. to peck on for optimum loudness...this is their way for season mating calls.....I smiled and said "woody had me going for a long long time" Kinda reminds me of Tom Hanks in Castaway, on his first nights on the island, when the CocoNutz would fall down he was running around yelling "who's there"...haha .....Sorry if too long of a story and I just put all of you to sleep.....just a good Bird expirience for me :-)
Good night all..
Signing off Captianslog Star Date 05/13/2003 1600”

“Heh heh heh...did you know robins belong to the species Turdus?”

“How did you stumble across that bit of info?”

“Maybe they learned it from college”

“or a bird book...maybe the nature channel?”

“Sibley's bird guide.”

“I'm a bird watcher...watching birds go by!”

“There was a breeding pair of Eastern Bluebirds at the neighbors bird feeder this morning. A squirrel got the (not-so) bright idea that he would raid the feeder. Those two birds whooped his hiney! I had no idea bluebirds could be so aggressive.

Squirrel: Note to self. Never go after the seed while the blue ones are around!!! Ever!

LOL! It was fun to watch.”

“We have starlings (which we hate) swallows, bobwhite, wrens,mocking birds, robins, meadowlarks, cardinals, titmice, nuthatches, bluejays, sparrows, finches (gold and purple), towhees, tangers, cowbirds, woodpeckers, crows, warblers, ceder waxwings, chickadees, martins”

“OH the blue birds are mean they chase my dog and cat and peck them in the back... I saw one chasing a squirrel across the street one day...then he pecked him in the back...now is that a blue bird? blue jay? or blue hellion?
lol
rox”

“Blue Jays are pretty aggressive. THat might be what it was. Barn swallows are very territorial too.”

“Do female blue jays have read breast?”

“No. THat's a bluebird.”

“While grilling yesterday, Amy and I watched a cat climb a tree in the neigbhor's yard and nock a couple of small birds out of a Towhee nest. When the cat tried to get them on the ground the mother bird launched a pretty viscous dive-bombing attack. It was pretty cool to watch. She actually drove the cat off a couple times, but the cat won in the end.”

“You-uns have alot of funny, interesting posts on the topic of birds. I hadn't read the thread til today. It has shamed me into action. I am going NOW to the store to buy birdseed to fill up my feeders. I will do penance by also cleaning and refilling the bird bath. I have been neglectful. 4 feeders out there standing empty and no water in either of my bird baths. shame on me. I'll make amends today I promise.”

“ok all birdfeeders cleaned and filled. One repaired. All bird baths cleaned and filled.


One hour later my conscience is eased and the birds are happily eating.

bluebirds, cardinals, finches, sparrows, doves, mockingbirds, and a carolina wren!”

“Glad to hear you're back in business. I had a couple of cardinals talking about the slums you were running over there”

“I repent! I repent. I will be loyal and true from now on out. LOL
You're too much, Man.
I need to get busy tomorrow if it doesnt rain...... and plant some pretty things that birds like. They like it when the little blonde haired gal is digging in the dirt and planting flowers for them. When I lived in Va. out on our farm..... I planted to attract birds and butterflies. Here in TN I've been so busy staying in the woods out on the trail I have fallen down on the job. I miss it.”

“NOt rain!!! I am beginning to thinks I need to catch 2 birds to put in my ark!

Try to catch those mean little blue birds...

I watch them yesterday play together in the front yard in the rain,, just as happy can be, till they saw me looking.
rox”