Backyard Birding

[Saxum]

There is an owl in 3.4 acre lot next door behind house. Some nights when light is right I can see it staring at my direction. Just the eyes.

[K-9]

21 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

Blue Jays and crows are obnoxious, IMO.

 

I never have mockingbirds.  My parents have them and I love whistling and having them mock me.  My mom?  Not so much.  She's definitely had enough of them and gets pissed at me when I get them going.

Blue Jays and crows are in the same family, so I’m not surprised. Smart birds, though.

[WhoTom]

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

 

My excitement level over watching the nuthatches makes my son look at me funny.

[WhoTom]

56 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

My excitement level over watching the nuthatches makes my son look at me funny.

 

My day isn't complete until my son looks at me funny.

 

[CookieG]

On 5/14/2020 at 1:11 PM, Limeaid said:

There is an owl in 3.4 acre lot next door behind house. Some nights when light is right I can see it staring at my direction. Just the eyes.

 

I DO have one of those plastic owls with the head spins around in the wind. Damn squirrels kept getting into the cushions of my wife's swing.  Whether it works or not, idk..but it hasn't happened again in the 3 years he's been out there.  So the scarecrow effect might work.

 

Of course, sometimes when I'm back there, I'll hear a voice that says:

 

-That's a very nice way to go;

-And that way is a pleasant way too;

-But then, some people do go both ways.

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

As I'm checking on the bbq tonight I see a black bird with a huge wingspan flying towards my yard, flew over head and then the house and went on its way. Had a reddish head/beak and my immediate thought was turkey vulture because I had seen them years ago down in Virginia. Not sure what it was, wifey says hawk but we usually get red-tailed hawks which are much lighter in color. Regardless the type of bird, it was a cool 30 second fly by.

[SoTier]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:18 PM, Ned Flanders said:

Just ordered another 40 lbs. from Amazon...with just one feeder, these damn birds are going through 40 lbs. every two weeks.  They're eating more than my kids, I hope they begin to forage naturally since things are starting to look green again.

 

Feeding birds in late winter/early spring really helps them because by then most natural food sources are depleted and migrating birds are flying through.  Many more -- and frequently many different species --- birds at feeders. 

 

On 5/14/2020 at 11:15 AM, Limeaid said:

 

Black squirrels are rare, 1:10000.  Rarer then ScottL praising the Bills without it being a backhand insult.

 

Actually, black squirrels aren't that rare, at least in some areas.  They are a color variation of gray squirrels, and black generally being dominant over other colors in most mammal species, they can even become the only color in some small areas.  The "problem" with black squirrels -- as with white ones, too -- is that they are more vulnerable to predators because they aren't as well camouflaged  as grays.

 

[Saxum]

I have seen Baltimore orioles in area so I started to put oranges out but not have seen any go by our feeder.  Right now been hanging it off our bird feeder to help our dog keep squirrels away but thinking maybe for orioles I need a different feeder but no idea what kind.

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, Limeaid said:

I have seen Baltimore orioles in area so I started to put oranges out but not have seen any go by our feeder.  Right now been hanging it off our bird feeder to help our dog keep squirrels away but thinking maybe for orioles I need a different feeder but no idea what kind.

 

I have a feeder that looks like a house with a copper roof.  Roof lifts, seed fills the "house."  On each side of the house, there are cages meant to hold suet cakes.  My suet cakes last about an hour because of a-hole squirrels.  I may throw some orange slices in there to see what happens.

[Irv]

19 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I have a feeder that looks like a house with a copper roof.  Roof lifts, seed fills the "house."  On each side of the house, there are cages meant to hold suet cakes.  My suet cakes last about an hour because of a-hole squirrels.  I may throw some orange slices in there to see what happens.

I have a feeder specifically for Orioles.  It is an orange house with a cup to hold jelly. On either side there are posts to hold orange slices. Orioles are hitting it hard now.  I am in Upstate NY. 

[Gugny]

18 minutes ago, Irv said:

I have a feeder specifically for Orioles.  It is an orange house with a cup to hold jelly. On either side there are posts to hold orange slices. Orioles are hitting it hard now.  I am in Upstate NY. 

 

Bought oranges yesterday.  Gonna put them in when I get home later.

 

Seems like the nuthatches had their babies.  I don't want to lure too many different birds, as the nuthatches can be a bit territorial.  I've got cardinals nesting nearby and they seem to get along well with them.

[SoTier]

33 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Bought oranges yesterday.  Gonna put them in when I get home later.

 

Seems like the nuthatches had their babies.  I don't want to lure too many different birds, as the nuthatches can be a bit territorial.  I've got cardinals nesting nearby and they seem to get along well with them.

 

A bit "territorial"?  Ounce for ounce, nuthatches are bigger bullies than bluejays!  They're better behaved these days when they occasionally visit my feeders but when I still had my old ash tree along the driveway (it was suffering from ash die-back and had to be removed), they included both the tree and the feeder station within their "turf" and would fearlessly run off other birds, even some larger than themselves.

Edited May 18, 2020 by SoTier

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

A bit "territorial"?  Ounce for ounce, nuthatches are bigger bullies than bluejays!  They're better behaved these days when they occasionally visit my feeders but when I still had my old ash tree along the driveway (it was suffering from ash die-back and had to be removed), they included both the tree and the feeder station within their "turf" and would fearlessly run off other birds, even some larger than themselves.

 

My nuthatches are not bullies!!!!!  They just think they own the entire tree that their house is affixed to.  ?

 

Last year, one of them got into a stare down with a squirrel.  Wings went up and out and it was on.  Looked like the Karate Kid crane kick.

 

[BritBill]

On 5/14/2020 at 6:22 PM, Captain_Quint said:

I've had an owl in my backyard for years, and its huge. Bigger than the hawks around here. You walk out back some nights and it's like a parachute coming at you if it flies away. Most of the time it just sits and stares at you.

 

I think you're suffering from Irritable Owl Syndrome. 

[That's No Moon]

Went to Susquehanna State Park in Maryland the other day and saw a bunch of herons and a couple bald eagles. Not quite my backyard, but close enough. I used to have a feeder in the yard but the deer got ridiculous and would just destroy it to get whatever I put inside 

[Nanker]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:22 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Robin Family always sets up in our pine tree this time of year.  Also, put out the oranges  and the orioles come  by this time of year:

(I have  to compress  these pictures down drastically to get under the 200KB site limit)

 

 

Orioles love grape jelly and orange slices. Had a few in my yard on Sunday, along with green hummingbirds and a turkey. 

[PromoTheRobot]

We put out various feeders and suet every year. We get a nice variety of birds in our yard. Woodpeckers, hummers, finches, cardinals, etc.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

First time in my life I saw a scarlet tanager this weekend while at a state park in the area. Seems like they stay in the canopy of the forest mostly, so it was kind of cool to see it.

 

I had no idea what it was when I saw it, thought it looked like a red instead of yellow canary finch.

Edited May 20, 2020 by 4BillsintheBurgh

[Gugny]

11 hours ago, Nanker said:

Orioles love grape jelly and orange slices. Had a few in my yard on Sunday, along with green hummingbirds and a turkey. 

 

Put orange slices out yesterday.  Hoping a) the squirrels don't steal them and b) they lure some orioles to my yard.