Backyard Birding

[WhoTom]

My friend made a cool video of a robin feeding its young.

 

 

[Jauronimo]

My neighborhood has a decent amount of foot traffic and ***** neighbors so I actually prefer front yard birding.

[WhoTom]

My friend attached a Go Pro to his feeder:

 

 

[T&C]

40 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

My friend attached a Go Pro to his feeder:

 

 

This must have been when it was cold/cool outside... that kind of suet turns into a greasy mess here in Florida. The only kind I use is the no melt peanut/corn suet and it works just fine in the heat. I keep two of those feeders going at once besides the platform one (needs replacing) and the regular feeder.

 

In the vid it mentioned the northern Cardinals but I just cannot see or tell the difference between the ones here so I don't know if that is a general term or there really is a difference. They are here all year long...

[WhoTom]

2 hours ago, T&C said:

This must have been when it was cold/cool outside... that kind of suet turns into a greasy mess here in Florida. The only kind I use is the no melt peanut/corn suet and it works just fine in the heat. I keep two of those feeders going at once besides the platform one (needs replacing) and the regular feeder.

 

In the vid it mentioned the northern Cardinals but I just cannot see or tell the difference between the ones here so I don't know if that is a general term or there really is a difference. They are here all year long...

 

We're in northern Illinois, so the suet hasn't melted yet.

 

I'm also unaware of any distinction between a northern cardinal and any others. We just call them cardinals. And they stay here year-round too.

 

 

[T&C]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

We're in northern Illinois, so the suet hasn't melted yet.

 

I'm also unaware of any distinction between a northern cardinal and any others. We just call them cardinals. And they stay here year-round too.

 

 

Whenever it does get hot I'd highly recommend this one. Walmart sells them for around $1.25 apiece, don't even have to put them in the fridge to harden up and they are a hit here.

 

[Gugny]

Those sticky suet cakes are a pain in the ass to handle.  Thanks for posting, T&C.

[T&C]

21 minutes ago, Gugny said:

Those sticky suet cakes are a pain in the ass to handle.  Thanks for posting, T&C.

They really are... they are formulated for colder states or states that get cold. Have no ***** idea why they are selling them in Florida... maybe farmers use them to grease the axles on their equipment.  I did break rank and bought one a few weeks ago just to see again and not even the red headed woodpeckers would touch that pile of greasy mush. Before I threw it out I did wipe down the shepards hooks though... love you mr. squirrel lol.

[Gugny]

Just now, T&C said:

They really are... they are formulated for colder states or states that get cold. Have no ***** idea why they are selling them in Florida... maybe farmers use them to grease the axles on their equipment.  I did break rank and bought one a few weeks ago just to see again and not even the red headed woodpeckers would touch that pile of greasy mush. Before I threw it out I did wipe down the shepards hooks though... love you mr. squirrel lol.

 

I gave up on suet cakes because of squirrels.  And every 5-6 years, I randomly throw out my back doing NOTHING strenuous.  Always a fluke.  Last time (knock on wood) was a few years ago.  What was I doing?  I was rubbing vaseline on my shepard's hook (that's not code) because of those evil mother *****.

[ExiledInIllinois]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

 

I gave up on suet cakes because of squirrels.  And every 5-6 years, I randomly throw out my back doing NOTHING strenuous.  Always a fluke.  Last time (knock on wood) was a few years ago.  What was I doing?  I was rubbing vaseline on my shepard's hook (that's not code) because of those evil mother *****.

Put the suet cakes  in a cage and hang them where they can't  get to  them... like under an eave.

[T&C]

19 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Put the suet cakes  in a cage and hang them where they can't  get to  them... like under an eave.

That is odd... never have seen a squirrel attempt a suet feeder ever... they can't get in there due to the cage. You must have bucktoothed squirrels up your way.

[Just Joshin']

My wife has many houses and feeders in the backyard.  But today had the treat of a bald eagle in the back field munching a woodchuck.  Very nice.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Just Joshin'

[ExiledInIllinois]

13 hours ago, T&C said:

That is odd... never have seen a squirrel attempt a suet feeder ever... they can't get in there due to the cage. You must have bucktoothed squirrels up your way.

The cages will go in pine tree too... They don't  touch  them there.  Don't  leave them in open.

 

Anyway... Suet is just in winter.  Coldest  part of year.   Our bucktooth squirrels are in torpor.  They don't  risk  running  around  and getting plucked by a hawk sans no ground cover to help.

 

It's  a tough ? world ? out there!

12 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

 

Our squirrels break all the rules. They break feeders constantly trying to get bigger holes.  We found a bird feeder they cannot easily get access to seed but they hang on it trying to stick paw in and knock seed to ground.  The top was originally fastened with clamps but squirrels damaged them so my wife drilled some holes in it and added a pair of nut/washers to keep top on.  Squirrels tried to chew through wood on bottom but either it is too tough or is made of a material which they do not want to taste regularly for there are some bite marks but not enough to penetrate seed chamber.

 

We have woodpeckers which eat the suet so we tried to feed them.  We hung up suet cake and squirrels would pull pieces out via nails poking holes into suet cake repeatedly.  We put suet cake under high eave and squirrels damaged eave to get a good paw hold.   We found a place which only squirrels could get suet cake and I mixed ex-lax with suet and they ate it once and never returned but if i switched suet cakes they would return.   We put suet cakes out occasionally now in winter but only when our dog is around to chase them away and put it away at night.  We tried putting it in hard plastic bucket at night with locking lid and they chewed a hole into bucket.  We even tried trapping them according to suggestion from store using peanut butter and caught a cardinal not a squirrel.

 

For regular birds we tried mixing red pepper with bird seed and they would not eat for a while although occasionally would dig into bird feeder and dump all of the seed on ground looking for something with less red pepper and on wet days would wash seed out in puddles.  Finally they just got used to taste.  We filled one bird feeder just with safflower seeds which they supposedly did not like and they left it alone until other bird feeder was empty and then went after bird feeder with safflower seeds. 

 

Originally we had a pair of squirrels, a male and female naturally. The male is aggressive and will chase birds away; the female is passive and only eats from the ground.  There has been quite a bit of construction and another pair of squirrels moved in.  They stay in a different tree close to our yard across fence and occasionally there are squabbles between squirrels but no blood sports yet.

 

Wow!  LoL... Nice... I wanna party  ? with your squirrels! ? 

[4_kidd_4]

Spotted some orioles and rose breasted grosbeak around the yard recently.  Newcomers for us!

[WhoTom]

Need a squirrel-proof bird-feeder? Find a rocket scientist. (This guy was a NASA engineer. You might remember the glitter-bomb prank he pulled on doorstep  package thieves.)

 

 

[shrader]

I had a guy out at the house today doing a termite inspection and a mockingbird attacked him.  Now on top of being a-holes, I also think they're racist.

[SoTier]

On 5/20/2020 at 12:14 AM, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

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.

 

I saw two once thirty plus years ago at my late father's.  They apparently came out of the woods to feast on the ripe grapes in his vineyard near the house.

[RaoulDuke79]

I know I've been sleeping with the windows open for the last few nights and those birds start chirping around 4am.

[Greybeard]

On 5/26/2020 at 12:34 PM, WhoTom said:

Need a squirrel-proof bird-feeder? Find a rocket scientist. (This guy was a NASA engineer. You might remember the glitter-bomb prank he pulled on doorstep  package thieves.)

 

 

      In the early 90's, they had a TV documentary made in England that had roughly the same thing.  It was called Daylight Robbery.  There was also a second one called Daylight Robbery 2.  They are both on Youtube now.

    IIRC, they also had one that did it with birds.  Smaller puzzles but no less amusing.

[T&C]

2 hours ago, Greybeard said:

      In the early 90's, they had a TV documentary made in England that had roughly the same thing.  It was called Daylight Robbery.  There was also a second one called Daylight Robbery 2.  They are both on Youtube now.

    IIRC, they also had one that did it with birds.  Smaller puzzles but no less amusing.

I think this one was posted above sir... unless something changed.