Backyard Birding

[DrW]

3 hours ago, T&C said:

This one shows up on my feed once in awhile... west Texas feeders:   https://www.facebook.com/watch/36857797726/1366548490378820/

 

Beautiful. I get jealous when I see this variety on their facebook site. These feeders are located in Fort Davis, where it hilly with lots of trees in the valleys. We are about 6 hours away in Lubbock, where it is essentially flat with very few native trees. Compared to Rochester where we lived before, what I miss most are the warblers. Here you get yellow-rumped and orange-crowned warblers. In Rochester a trip to the Island Cottage Woods during spring migration could bring you 10 warbler species within a couple of hours. 

As to your suggestion of mealworm feeders, my wife would see this as a reason for divorce, even the dried ones.

[T&C]

21 hours ago, DrW said:

 

Beautiful. I get jealous when I see this variety on their facebook site. These feeders are located in Fort Davis, where it hilly with lots of trees in the valleys. We are about 6 hours away in Lubbock, where it is essentially flat with very few native trees. Compared to Rochester where we lived before, what I miss most are the warblers. Here you get yellow-rumped and orange-crowned warblers. In Rochester a trip to the Island Cottage Woods during spring migration could bring you 10 warbler species within a couple of hours. 

As to your suggestion of mealworm feeders, my wife would see this as a reason for divorce, even the dried ones.

Not sure at all what this means... freeze dried mealworms in a bird feeder? Birds like you described that you have now love them, great source of protein. What is wrong with that?!

[SoTier]

Not in my "backyard" but as I was driving to the family camp in Gowanda on Tuesday, I flushed a bald eagle from the side of the road where it was likely breakfasting on a road killed critter.  It was a back road, and obviously that eagle wasn't expecting to be disturbed.  If he/she had flushed left towards the road instead away from it, I might have hit him/her.  It's the closest I've ever been to a non-captive bald eagle,  probably less than 50 feet, since it was just off the road and just in front of my bumper.  I would have been crushed if I had actually hit him/her.

[ExiledInIllinois]

@ work today: "It takes a Village" 😏 

 

[Saxum]

We got no baby Mourning Doves.  Both birds were feeding other day and now they are gone; nest is empty.  Perhaps a racoon or snake got the eggs. 

[T&C]

3 hours ago, Limeaid said:

We got no baby Mourning Doves.  Both birds were feeding other day and now they are gone; nest is empty.  Perhaps a racoon or snake got the eggs. 

I have plenty of them here... there is a pair outside right now under the feeders getting what dropped... but I have never had them try to nest in a place like you have. Its all nature I guess, someone lost and someone ate.

[Saxum]

2 hours ago, T&C said:

I have plenty of them here... there is a pair outside right now under the feeders getting what dropped... but I have never had them try to nest in a place like you have. Its all nature I guess, someone lost and someone ate.

 

We have always only seen one pair of them.  Never any extra and usually pair together.  Not seen them last 2 days and they were regulars.

[CookieG]

On 4/27/2022 at 1:38 PM, Limeaid said:

 

Yes we have some wild walnuts and chestnuts in yard and have seen them picking at them but we were NOT trying to catch a cardinal.  I'd love a food only squirrel trap (squirrels are called long tailed rats in Chinese) ate.

Why fighting or trying to outsmart squirrels is a losing battle:

 

My power went out three times this week.  Three power outages, three dead squirrels. 

 

My nephew sent me the video today after the latest squirrel suicide.  Most might have seen it already, since it has 90 million views, but it is incredible to watch.

 

Luckily, there is enough bird life in my back yard that I don't need bird feeders. 

 

[T&C]

Nice article on our backyard birds, I learned a few things.

 

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/weather/2022/05/23/birds-react-differently-to-extreme-temperatures

[Irv]

Got a shot of this guy last week.  

[SoTier]

On 6/6/2022 at 11:33 AM, Irv said:

Got a shot of this guy last week.  

 

Love pileated woodpeckers!!! 

[Big Turk]

See Cardinals, Blue Jays and Yellow Finches routinely around my house.  Once saw one of these cool little guys in the tree outside the window also a few years ago, but never saw him again.

 

https://abcbirds.org/bird/black-and-white-warbler/

 

Obviously the normal sparrows, robins, crows and red wing blackbirds also.

 

Have seen a few cool birds on my travels hiking throughout the area...lots of Blue Herons and White Egrets along with various Woodpeckers.  Have also seen Bald Eagles a few times, and a Little Blue Heron a few weeks ago.

 

Saw my first bluebird(which is weird since it's the state bird of NY) about 5 years ago at Mendon Ponds, but have seen them many times since, mostly at Knox Farms where I have also seen owls a bunch also(only place I've ever seen them).  

 

Coolest bird I have seen at Knox Farms tho was a tree swallow with it's really beautiful colors 

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tree_Swallow/photo-gallery/305568151

Edited June 10, 2022 by Big Turk

[Irv]

Had a lot of luck with this to attract the woodpeckers.  They sell it at Home Depot.  

 

 

Bird on Bird Violence Today.  

 

  

Edited June 10, 2022 by Irv

[Irv]

And this one.  

[T&C]

8 minutes ago, Irv said:

And this one.  

Nice... I have them, the downy woodpeckers (2 on the suet feeder right now, same one as you have), and the pileated. Have actually seen the pileated on the feeder once, looked like king kong on a building. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

4 hours ago, Irv said:

Had a lot of luck with this to attract the woodpeckers.  They sell it at Home Depot.  

 

 

Bird on Bird Violence Today.  

 

  

Red bellied woodpeckers love that suet, as do starlings.  I finally cut back to sunflower seeds only since a full cake goes in a single day, and it's 99% starlings. 🤨  I also have one robin that would rather eat off the suet than hunt worms.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[T&C]

50 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Red bellied woodpeckers love that suet, as do starling.  I finally cut back to sunflower seeds only since a full cake goes in a single day, and it's 99% starlings. 🤨  I also have one robin that would rather eat off the suet than hunt wirms.

The starlings are a pain in the ass for sure... european starlings to be exact. It's actually legal to kill them here as they are an invasive species but I'm not into that. I use the beef tallow based cakes... the woodpeckers love those greasy cakes of nuts and seeds but the starlings don't like it too much. I can't use the no-melt cakes anymore because, like you said, gone in 1 day. I also now have 2 bird feeders that are too small for anything above a cardinals size to comfortably land and eat so that helped with the starling thing too.

[Irv]

The Starlings have become a nuisance.  I did get a cool video of an adult feeding an immature Starling on the suet cage.  It seems like the Red Headed Woodpecker is top dog on the suet cage as they run the others off - Pileated not withstanding.  The cake does last about a day and you guys are correct.  Starlings are the monster eaters.  A lot of Starling on Starling violence.  

 

And, yes.  I still need to get a life.  

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Irv

[ExiledInIllinois]

4 minutes ago, Irv said:

The Starlings have become a nuisance.  I did get a cool video of an adult feeding an immature Starling on the suet cage.  It seems like the Red Headed Woodpecker is top dog on the suet cage as they run the others off - Pileated not withstanding.  The cake does last about a day and you guys are correct.  Starlings are the monster eaters.  A lot of Starling on Starling violence.  

 

And, yes.  I still need to get a life.  

 

 

You need to do a background check on those young starlings!  😏 

[SoTier]

I have catbirds coming to one of my suet feeders that I located close to my tall arborvitae screen.  The starlings either don't like the location or they haven't found it since it's on a combo feeder and faces the trees.   They do clean up the other suet feeders in short order.