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Do you feed the birds?


mead107

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On December 5, 2017 at 6:37 PM, mead107 said:

I just put our feeder out last week.  Birds are just coming around.    3 feeders on one pole. 

Fun watching the squirrels try and get to the feeders. I will switch one to sunflower seeds in a couple weeks. 

I definitely enjoy feeding birds.

 

I find the more aggressive ones greatly enjoy the taste of trouser snake.

 

 

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I keep several feeders full of black oil sunflower seed, safflower, and a sock with nyger seed.  It’s so cold, and watching them try to break the shells, that I went out and got some  songbird feed without shells and a new tube feeder. Goldfinches have taken over the tube feeder.  Downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and titmouses all in abundance.  Haven’t seen a cardinal yet this winter. Even put some corn out for the squirrel. Hate those buggers but it’s tough seeing them struggle in the cold. Amazing anything survives in this weather.  0 right now and 20 below wind chill in SYR.  

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I have never used a gun before (technically I used one but not as intended on mugger after I took it away from him) and I'd like to be able to shoot the damn squirrels deciding to hang on bird feeder they cannot get into just trying to stick paw inside.  I got within 5 feet of it once and if I had a stick I could have hit it.  My wife tried to chase them away using an air gun but evidently it does not do anything but annoy them.

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17 hours ago, mead107 said:

Lot of empty seed shells on the deck. 

 

       The last time I went to CountryMax to get seed,  I saw they had a bag of Sunflower Meaties.  The bag looked like it had large unshelled sunflower pieces and some Black Oil Sunflower seeds.  I had never tried these before as I usually buy Sunflower hearts, which are unshelled small pieces, and Black Oil Sunflower seeds separately.  So  I tried a 30 lb bag for $39.  Turns out there were a bit more Black Oil seeds in the mix than I thought, and the birds, mostly Gold Finches, always eat the unshelled pieces first.  The bottom of the feeder ends up totally black, filled with all the left over shelled Black Oil seeds.  They eventually get to the shelled seeds and I had forgotten one of the reasons I switched to use less of the shelled seeds.  One huge black mess under the feeder.

    The hearts cost about the same, 40 lbs for $53, as the mix so in the end they are a better value.  No shell mess and the finches really love the hearts.  There are times I have about 25 finches at the feeders at the same time.

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Had a finch fly into the sliding glass door and knock itself out this morning. Could see it still breathing laying on its back.  30 minutes later it was on it's feet.  Half hour later it flew away. 

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1 hour ago, mead107 said:

Had a finch fly into the sliding glass door and knock itself out this morning. Could see it still breathing laying on its back.  30 minutes later it was on it's feet.  Half hour later it flew away. 

          What was his name, McCoy?

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Since moving to the new house, it's been strange. We put out a feeder - but no birds. That's odd, because we live in an area that was a forest and there still is a lot of trees all around us. We just haven't seen many birds this winter. A few came by into the yard, but none went to the feeder.

Then about a week ago, during the Jan thaw a flock of mixed species descended upon the yard. About six bluebirds, Juncos, sparrows, Titmouse, and a few others hung out for a day. 

 

WRT Goldfinches - the males don't change color until spring. And, they like thistle seed. Those are best put into a special feeder.

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