Backyard Birding

[Greybeard]

18 hours ago, T&C said:

Avoid any bird seed that has a ton of this in it... its just a filler that technically Is edible but nothing here will eat it, even the doves. They are around the size of a BB.

          I have 3 feeders I fill.  Two get black oil sunflower seeds and sunflower hearts.  The third gets some mix I bought to cheap out.  The cheap mix has Milo, Stripped Sunflower seeds and some other filler.  I have to fill the two with sunflower hearts every four days.  I have seen as many as 13 Gold Finches on the sunflower feeder.  In two weeks, I have only seen two birds on the cheap seed feeder and it is still basically filled to the top.  Another week or two and I guess I will have to dump it.

       I have said this before, the Cardinals, Finches, Woodpeckers and Blue Jays love the hearts.  If you want these birds, hearts are the way to go.  The cheapest sunflower hearts I have found are 40 lb bags for $50.

 

      The Ontario bird feeder cam is back online for the winter.   When things get cold the arboreal birds they attract are really colorful.

     https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ontario-feederwatch/

[Saxum]

I checked my ingredients in bird food bag and #2 ingredient is milo.  It is being eaten by some creatures on ground after it is dug out of feeder by birds looking for other food.  I told my wife we are not buying this bird food anymore which is not difficult since we rarely shop at that grocery chain since most of stores closed.  It used to be one of our key buys at that store when they have buy $50 (before taxes and after coupons) get $10 off.

 

Best bird food we have found was at a farm in Ontario near African Lion Safari.  They had bins of each seed and would fill bags right there in any mixture you wanted.  We left after a day in Canada with trunk full of bags of bird feed and was worried customs would give us trouble but they didn't.  This health issue is causing me to miss a lot of trips to Canada and we do not travel anymore unless it is a day trip like when we went to Virginia Safari Park.

[EmotionallyUnstable]

This is still a thing? 

[Greybeard]

12 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

This is still a thing? 

       You expect it not to be because ....

[Saxum]

What are your sources for bulk backyard bird food?

 

We used to buy bags of bird food from farm in Canada (not available now) with backup being local supermarket but too much of the seed is devoted to birds we are not trying to attract.  We do supplement with bread (I know empty calories but birds need a lot), pie crusts (better since birds need the fat) and occasionally fruit (not many takers).  Not really interested in Amazon - most of the products there are higher priced and a lot seem to be convivence to pay more.  We have tried local hardware stores but not much there although some birds manage to live on diet from spilled seed there.  There are a couple of specialty stores but they specialty prices.  Currently looking at farm supply stores but not many in Washington DC area other than Tractor Supply Company in Maryland.

 

 

 

 

[T&C]

22 hours ago, Limeaid said:

What are your sources for bulk backyard bird food?

 

We used to buy bags of bird food from farm in Canada (not available now) with backup being local supermarket but too much of the seed is devoted to birds we are not trying to attract.  We do supplement with bread (I know empty calories but birds need a lot), pie crusts (better since birds need the fat) and occasionally fruit (not many takers).  Not really interested in Amazon - most of the products there are higher priced and a lot seem to be convivence to pay more.  We have tried local hardware stores but not much there although some birds manage to live on diet from spilled seed there.  There are a couple of specialty stores but they specialty prices.  Currently looking at farm supply stores but not many in Washington DC area other than Tractor Supply Company in Maryland.

 

 

 

 

I've found that the walmarts with a garden center have the very best prices on the good stuff. For instance, this one comes in at just under $6.00

 

 

For the smaller birds... finches, thrushes, etc I just buy a box or bag of this from their pet department. And, there is no milo to be found. Its for canaries and such but what really is the difference anyways. This is under $2.00 for the box or under $4.00 for the bag... a much better deal than the stuff in the wild bird food section.

 

 

 

[Irv]

Had this ***** show up today. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Irv

[Saxum]

Went to Home Depot for some hardware and we parked by garden center so on way out I looked at prices of bird food.

 

They had  20 pound bags at $8 of seed on clearance. No milo, millet or other fillers.  Great buy so I bought 10.

[T&C]

33 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

Went to Home Depot for some hardware and we parked by garden center so on way out I looked at prices of bird food.

 

They had  20 pound bags at $8 of seed on clearance. No milo, millet or other fillers.  Great buy so I bought 10.

Millet is pretty popular with the birds, even my cardinals will eat it. I'm pretty sure that milo is the only ***** filler normally used.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

Went to Home Depot for some hardware and we parked by garden center so on way out I looked at prices of bird food.

 

They had  20 pound bags at $8 of seed on clearance. No milo, millet or other fillers.  Great buy so I bought 10.

Good sir, might I suggest you keep a sharp eye out for the rodent population with a 180# stockpile of seed in the garage or shed.

[US Egg]

North of the border rats grow exponentially larger in the winter than their southern counterparts.

[Saxum]

3 hours ago, T&C said:

Millet is pretty popular with the birds, even my cardinals will eat it. I'm pretty sure that milo is the only ***** filler normally used.

 

In case of millet is a price/pound filler.  We ordered Natures Nuts 00036 40 Lbs Premium Black Oil Sunflower from Walmart & 40 LB Cracked Corn Bulk and 100 Lbs Bulk White Millet from Country Max.  Will combine them with the Fruit & Nut Mix to make our own mix.

[T&C]

31 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

In case of millet is a price/pound filler.  We ordered Natures Nuts 00036 40 Lbs Premium Black Oil Sunflower from Walmart & 40 LB Cracked Corn Bulk and 100 Lbs Bulk White Millet from Country Max.  Will combine them with the Fruit & Nut Mix to make our own mix.

You are 100% busier than I am... they'll eat what they get lol.

[qwksilver]

I live on a lake that connects to canals of South Florida. Anyways here are my 2 good Bird stories:

 

1) Its about 7:30 am and I go out to get the big green trash can. When I grab the handle and move it I notice, on the other side of the can, the largest brown duck I've ever seen. I startle it and it turns its head and his beak is white and hooked. And it 3 flaps of its wings it was above the trees. FYI it was a bald eagle. I was shocked.

 

2) I saw an Osprey grab a fish out of the lake. It then landed on my white fence and ate its catch. All the guts ran down the fence. My dogs loved that area for 2 weeks or so...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greybeard]

    I came across this video that you might find interesting if you are into birds.  It is supposed to be a good year for the boreal birds coming south, some even into the Carolina's.  I found the first half more interesting than the second but it was still informative.

 

 

[Irv]

Have these guys sitting on my wood pile.  I think these are Mourning Doves. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Irv

[Irv]

Finally got a pic of one of these guys today.  Yes, I'm still working from home and needing to get a life. 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Irv

[T&C]

6 hours ago, Irv said:

Finally got a pic of one of these guys today.  Yes, I'm still working from home and needing to get a life. 

I have plenty of the red head version that you had shown earlier but the pileated only come around my place in the summer it seems. 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

23 hours ago, Irv said:

Finally got a pic of one of these guys today.  Yes, I'm still working from home and needing to get a life. 

 

 

Um....  Do we really need to see pictures of your *****? 

[Irv]

Not too sure what kind of bird this one is.  Was hanging around today.