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Do you feed the birds?


mead107

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Yes we do.  We have Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Gold finches, but they're not gold in winter.  Occasional Blue bird and Indigo Buntings.  They are good, cheap entertainment, and 2 of the 3 cats watch from inside.

I know, 3 cats???  They're my wife's, and all "unplanned."  We also have Golden Retriever #6, going back to '72.

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3 hours ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Yes we do.  We have Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Gold finches, but they're not gold in winter.  Occasional Blue bird and Indigo Buntings.  They are good, cheap entertainment, and 2 of the 3 cats watch from inside.

I know, 3 cats???  They're my wife's, and all "unplanned."  We also have Golden Retriever #6, going back to '72.

I see you those 3 cats, no Golden but 2 guinea pigs... I am like living w/Dr. Doolittles... Then the birds.  I guess I am insane in the membrane.  See you guys were right all along.

 

Crap... I never want to see pine bedding again.  I think I am Tractor Supply'd out!!!  Of course modern guinea pigs need: "to live in at least pairs" and have the biggest cage on the planet now to "frolic and play a happy life"... Well so says my daughter... Holy moly, the enclosure takes up 1/4 of a room! <_<

3 hours ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

We also have a bird bath next to the feeder ....  damn does that get nasty of you leave to too long. 

I flip the bird bath for winter.  Sorry Birds, no heater, "pool closed" for winter... Fend for your own bathing needs! :D I am going conservative jerk-wad on their butts.  Winter feed hand outs when the going gets cold and tough... But come summer the bath comes out and they have to work for their food! :D

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1 hour ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

I flip the bird bath for winter.  Sorry Birds, no heater, "pool closed" for winter... Fend for your own bathing needs! :D I am going conservative jerk-wad on their butts.  Winter feed hand outs when the going gets cold and tough... But come summer the bath comes out and they have to work for their food! :D

We have a small stained glass bowl that holds just over a gallon of water.  I stored it in the garage last month.  who knows what the snow plow driver would do to it (if and when he does the back alley) 

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On 12/10/2017 at 5:56 AM, Shamrock said:

Feed, I think I support the bird life of the area. We have Ringed parrots, King parrot, Cockatoos, galahs, occasional Kookaburra’s, Grey Butcher bird and we have 3 magpies that appear at breakfast, will sing for breakfast scraps too. Also the possum gets fruit scraps at nite. The Tawny Frogmouths don’t need feeding but sit in our tree. Our old dogs keep the cats away and I think the birds have figured the dogs are old.

 

On 12/10/2017 at 6:12 AM, ExiledInIllinois said:

We have wild monk parakeets here... But it's 20° F out, they are hunkering down in their cocoons in the oak trees.  They like the pods from the locust trees... Noisy, nasty little squawkers, always fighting w/each other.

 

220px-MonkParakeetsSantaPonsa.jpg


Absolutely lovely birds. Wish it was warm enough (or more precisely so cold in winter) so birds would nest here.  Maybe Global Warming will fix.

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8 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 


Absolutely lovely birds. Wish it was warm enough (or more precisely so cold in winter) so birds would nest here.  Maybe Global Warming will fix.

Not sure where you are, but these monk parakeets are in the wild here in Chicago.  It get colder here than WNY in winter.

 

Yet, they have to realeased by humans:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_parakeet

 

"In Chicago, the origin of the monk parakeets is unknown, but they may be escaped birds from O'Hare airport or unwanted pets. The species first appeared in the 1960s and is continuing to thrive despite unusual bad winters that occurred in the 1980s and in 2014. The birds are welcomed in the city especially by bird watchers and were involved in a 2012 ornithological study. The population is estimated to be at 1,000 birds, with healthy colonies located in several of the city's parks. Austin, Texas, also has a thriving monk parakeet population."

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On 12/9/2017 at 5:17 PM, JR in Pittsburgh said:

I have a real aversion to birds— mostly pigeons and geese. They disgust me. Nice, colorful birds are okay but can

keep their distance.

 

I have an aunt who is completely terrified of birds.  She will have a full on panic attack if one lands near her.  My grandfather used to tease her at family gatherings by chasing her around the house with a peacock feather.  Ahhhh....family.

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On 12/11/2017 at 5:38 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Not sure where you are, but these monk parakeets are in the wild here in Chicago.  It get colder here than WNY in winter.

 

In Northern Virginia and I have never saw one and I have gone bird watching in nature preserves.   It is possible to own a monk parakeet with banding and registration in Virginia but never hosted one, just parakeets, cockatiels, lovebirds and a macaw.  My wife raised a baby Blue Jay to point where it could hunt on its own (she taught it to hunt) and it joined another bird as mate or flock mate.  It was quite tame and she would take it out for a flight. Mail woman was surprised when it landed on her and she told her that is just Jay Jay.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been getting flocks of black birds who figured out my wife is on vacation and throws out bread in morning.  Only come very early AM.

 

Squirrels got a surprised when I told my wife to add pepper to bird food. Squirrels was going crazy first time they tried feeding at bird feeder. 

Now we can put bird food in the "squirrel proof" bird feeder.

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Good luck on getting arrested for exposure.

 

 

One of the squirrels adapted to the pepper apparently and I found it inside the bird feeder today (it has a type of cage around it) and I was almost close enough to hit it today.  Took down that bird feeder today which means less leftover for squirrels. Squirrels are smart enough to find ways to adapt but not smart enough to realize of they sit in/on bird feeder the feeder goes away.

 

Black birds again this morning again. They will be very disappointed next week when my wife goes to work and stops leaving breakfast leftovers out for them.

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