Back yard Birds

[Pepipony]

I have kept feeder's' up for years, usually in the summer I would only have Chickadees and Sparrows. This year I ditched the all in one seed and use only BOSS. I cant believe all the varied birds that I now have! Cardinals, Chickadees, Blue Jays, Purple Finches, Sparrows, Red Winged Black Birds, Cow Birds, Titmice , Nuthatches, Pygmy Nuthatches, Mourning Doves, Inca Doves and a VERY gripey ol Woodpecker. ( dont know the type, dominecker like backside and a red strip over his head) He takes and stuffs a few seeds in his beak, flies to the Oak, stuffs the seeds in the bark, then go back and open them :lol: Too darn cute to watch LOL he spends a whole lot of time here. Too bad the Gold Finches only stay a few months, bet they are beautiful in the summer.

Wish I had put only BOSS before, its nice having them around all year

: What do you have flying around?

 

[chandab]

Since we have barn cats that like to come up the house and the house cat goes out most days; we only have brave birds or maybe they are stupid. :lol:

We mostly get common sparrows, but I do get some goldfinches, black-capped sparrows, black-eyed juncos, robins, swallows and some nuisance birds (starlings, blackbirds and a few others).

I put out mixed wildbird food for all and thistle for the finches.

 

[Bluerocket]

We don't feed the birds in the yard -- it would be just cat food in the making -- we have 10 cats and most come/go from the house in the nice weather.

We do however feed the birds in our barn over the winter -- I have a bird feeder hanging from the trusses -- and fill it a couple of times during a week -- keeps the birds from raiding the feed buckets and pooping in them -- don't know why - but it worked.

I stopped feeding them when spring arrived -- and nesting began in earnest as i did not want to support the barn cat's feeding habits -- (barn cat is also one of the 10 house cats - but she prefers to live in the barn a good bit of the time).

I wish I could feed the birds -- we do have a lot of beautiful ones on our place -- among others we have --- baltimore oriole, cardinal, a few humming birds, Blue Jay - some woodpeckers and one other really cool bird (he sits on the fence and watches me) whose name escapes me -- black back - white band on tail and beige belly.

JJay

 

[Relic]

l threw my last years BOSS out onto one side of the garden on the manure pile and now we have those big black ugly crows hanging around picking around in there. Sometimes the whole bush on that side seems to be full of them unnerving for me l'm not a bird lover and crows are way down on my list along with those poop dropping seaguls. But l really like those little humming birds that come around mid summer they actually hummmm so cute.

 

[nootka]

We have lots of them, too. We feed several in a few different areas.

Our main "bird" is a Raven. He was born in the woods surrounding our home (rather, hatched). We "knew" his parents and they loved to visit our scrap pile. Every day, here comes mr. raven for the good stuff. I've watched him hide things here and there on his way back to his nest. Could be a she? This one is distinctive, however, with the white patch on the chest, and seems to harass my gelding, Mouse.

Aside from the Raven, we've got Stellar jays, Oregon Juncos, purple finches, Grosbeaks, American Goldfinches, Western Tanagers (what a breathtaking bird!), the ever-present Robins and a family of Starlings running around the pasture after their mother, begging for worms. Hummingbirds and a few different types of Woodpeckers. I need to get out my bird book and find out the names of some.

We've also got a Bald Eagle nest nearby and so I see them circling the property though thankfully they don't come down to feed! *LOL*

Liz M.

 

[Pepipony]

We have other birds around that dont come to the feeders, a Flycatcher that I rarely see, Bluebirds, Scissor tails and a mockingbird that one time came and 'asked' me to save its baby. At night I keep the corner light outside on, hate looking out into the dark LOL Anyhow, this Mockingbird came up to a branch right next to the window and started screaming bloody murder. So I went out the door and she came to the tree in front of me and proceeded to do the "Timmy fell down the well" Lassie routine LOL Flit from one tree to the other. So I followed her and there was her baby on the ground. She let me pick it up and put it in the nest. She stayed only an arms length away and didnt try to kill me LOL That was THE neatest thing!

I only have one cat, only way he'd catch a bird is if it flopped down in front of him LOL. We have some sparrows roosting in the barn, but lucky for them they chose a good, out of the way spot. Did just find a nest someone was trying to build in my tack bag LOL Hated having to remove it! Ever find the nests where they used horsehair?

 

[Sterling]

Crows, crows and more CROWS!!!! :new_shocked: Like whats up with that this year?????? Goodness I've had enough trouble with them in my water buckets using them for a pic-nic disposal. I've given up on the Hummingbirds...they just stopped coming altogether....don't know what happened!!

Now that I got the hang of getting rid of the ants...well the Hummingbirds went away too. OK, on the bright side we have Blue Jays, Robins, Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds and this cute little wren/finch/swallow bird of some sort that has taken up nest mking in the barn. Don't know what she is tho.

 

[Pepipony]

Sterling, are you in a drought? I am, think thats why I rarely see a hummer, once a day if I am lucky. There just arent any wild flowers to speak of around here. Crows, now that you mention it, I havent seen the bunch that normally hangs here. Found one dead a few weeks back, now nothing. It cracked me up to watch my chickens chasing the crows around LOL They did a great job getting grubs though

 

[Miniv]

I'm missing the hummingbirds......They haven't come yet this year.

In the meantime, we are enjoying Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows (I call them "Garage" Swallows because they prefer our garage every year over the barn!) , sparrows, juncos, red-wing blackbirds, finches, blue jays, and.........and then there are the STARLINGS.......and the MAGPIES.

You know how Magpies are so noisey??? (Beautiful but NOISEY!) What makes matters worse is that now it's as if we have one living in our kitchen! My silly parrot has learned their call!

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MA

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

I don't like the birds right now because they are eating apart my whole garden tomatoes and everything!!!!!

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[rabbitsfizz]

If there is ONE it is a Crow, if there is more than one, they are ROOKS!!!

You have Rooks- nearby will be a Rookery- they are the noisiest, and in my book most annoying birds out!!

OK...I have Mallards- and if they are not careful I shall have Crispy Duck on the Barbie- they keep swimming in my horse trough and fouling it up.

I have Rooks, I do have a Crow.

I have Magpies.

I have Herons, Swans and Canada Geese.

And Coots.

And bl**dy Mallards.

I have Robins, Wrens, Chaffinches, Nuthatches and Pied Wagtails.

And Mallards.

I have a Green Spotted Woodpecker (Yaffle) that I shall strangle with my bare hands if it goes on yaffling around my paddock, it drives me MAD.

I have Jackdaws- a whole extended family of them, squabbling over the horse cack and falling over one another.

And of course, this year I have House Martins- again squabbling like a barnful of Budgies- little black and white Budgies!!

I have Collared Doves and Wood Pigeon (which do make a nice pie!!)

My Chaffinches and Robins are almost hand tame- Mrs Chaffinch follows me around and chirps at me till I put down a handful of grain. Later on she will bring her family and show them where to get food!!

Did I mention the bl**dy Mallards??

Crispy Duck, anyone???

 

[Pepipony]

LOL Rabbitts We have a woodpecker who LOVES to go to town on the metal gate!! Cracks me up and he does it religously! Figured he would ahve learned but Noooooooooo sucker gets out there and datdatdat for the longest time LOL

 

[Margo_C-T]

Great topic! I grew up on a game bird farm(yes, they were raised for release for hunting, but I didn't know that at the time...

!)--I am passing fond of birds, now. Am not great on all of the names, but those hanging around here include: flycatchers(we call them "kingbirds", great little birds!), barn swallows(a barnful-they've been coming to nest for about all of the 26 years I've lived here...), several species of sparrows and finches, mockingbirds and thrashers,towhees(who like to come into the barn and scratch like chickens along the edge of the stacked hay!). I am also blessed with some scaled('blue')quail(I really love quail; they are probably my favorite(and NO, I don't eat them...!). I no longer have a cat, so I put out a quail block, in addition to the standard bird seed I put out(can't use sunflower seed here, as the raucous jays immediately appear out of nowhere(I am not in the timber, so they normally aren't nearby), and run off all the other birds....). Last year and this, I've had some wonderful doves show up--both the little mourning doves(which

were still being hunted right here when we moved out here, and are only now 'showing back up'...)-and some I looked up that are 'rock pigeons'-who look like a larger version of the mourning doves, and are just gorgeous!.

Unfortunately, I also have several BIG ravens-one in particular, this year, who is always around. I admire their intellect, but am not happy with their murderous and nasty habits....I have had to place a water bucket, and shallow water pan, out by the arena, to help keep them from fouling my horses' waters with either their poop, OR their meals-which often consist of baby cottontails(I have found parts of, and entire, baby rabbits in the water, along with other distasteful items-last time I emptied my large oval trough, there was a piece of LUNCH MEAT on the bottom of it-had to have been dropped in by the you-know-who!!!)I have also caught them stealing baby kingbirds right out of their nests, which really upsets me. I threaten them with the pellet gun on occasion, but they are so smart, I swear they KNOW it's a threat, and fly off before I can get close enough for an effective shot(I am a good shot, because I used to shoot a BB gun as a kid-not at animals, though--never that--I just liked to target shoot, and got pretty good at it.)

Recently, I've seen a turkey vulture or two! Used to see them when I lived further south, but haven't seen them around here until this year?? We've generally had a few hummers, but haven't seen a single one this year-the drought, maybe? There's surely nothing blooming....

OT, but I also have a veritable HERD of cottontails who live here. In some ways, I guess I have to thank the ravens for some degree of rabbit population control...and last week, there was a HUGE jackrabbit just at the front corner of my acreage-though they are around, they generally stay on the other side of the highway from me(don't know why that is, it just always has been that way-when I used to ride over there, before all the subdivisions, I saw them often-but only on THAT side of the highway???????) On this side, it's cottontails.....ODD!!

 

[Pepipony]

Cottontails, have them around, but not here :no: Neighbors dogs kill them. I have put up hotwire to keep them out of my pastures, but the bunnies havent returned.

I love watching 'my' birds, when I has quite ill and 'bedbound' they really helped my days. Love watching the parents bring up the babies , just too dang cute!

: Its funny to watch the babies try and land on the feeder LOL have seen a few come in for a landing, go too low and hit it with their heads, only to pop right back up and try again.

I go through about 200-300#s of seed a month over winter. Mostly from grackles and starlings. TG they giove me a break over summer LOL

 

[Sterling]

Pepi--Noooooo....far from a drought!! We've been getting thunder showers everyday since May like 2 or 3 times a day and then overnight as well. It's good for the grass tho. The horses are loving it too. I just don't know what happened to the little Hummers. Guess they did'nt like their tiki-bar.

:lol: Now the crows, well thats another subject! Just this morning I found a wing bone sitting on my cedar fence rail. I did away with the dog water bowl outside cuz they were starting to get into that and leave a mess behind that as well. I'm keeping my water buckets only halfway full now and checking them regularly, making it difficult for them to dip their nuggets into the water.

: I don't know exactly what they are..could even be ravens...all I know is that they're big...bigger than my Old English banty chickens, slow moving and determined. Little Manny used to go out and chase them when they'd stop to visit his corral...but now he just ignores them since the grass is getting lush.

 

[JumpinJackFarm]

Hi all...sorry for being so ignorant...but what is a "Boss" ?

: Pepi you sound like you have quite the brood of friends :worshippy: I usually have the prettiest Blue Jays in Washington State..chickadees..snow birds..towhees and my family of crows.

: I love my crows...I feed & take care of them and they in return, chase off all other raptors that want a piece of my Koi or my Hen's & friends...I depend on my crows. They eat better than my feeder friends. I would love to draw more birds..I feed my "feeder birds" a basic seed mix and various blends of suet blocks...but what is a "Boss" again ?

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[Pepipony]

BOSS is Black Oil Sunflower Seed :bgrin Learned that nik from this site LOL Dont worry, took me forever to figure it out LOL You would be suprised the diversity that it will bring over the seed mix

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

We raise Parakeets and pigeons - have a partridge at the moment too - wild birds, we have red-shouldered Hawks, a couple kinds of owls, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and we even saw a kingfisher stop by our pond, along with a great blue heron and some white iris(?) - we have pigeons, crows, ravens, sparrows, starlings occaisional seagulls overhead and several kinds of tiny little finches. Hummingbirds and my favorite - Black Phoebes!

 

[Ojai Minis]

I love this topic. We have been enjoying the birds so much this year. Seems to be more than ever. EXCEPT the hummingbirds? I have put up a feeder and I think there is only one. We usually don't have a feeder as we have planted hummingbird/butterfly plants. (Dont' ask me the names

) . We have Orioles, Scrubjays, mockingbirds, morning doves, ring neck pigeons. red wing blackbirds (first time I have seen these around our neighborhood, though they hang out at the lake a mile away). The tiny sweet little finches, a few different types of sparrows, crows or ravens, not sure what they are except that they are noisy, starlings. But my FAVORITE are the Blue birds. We have a family of 3 that come every year and raise their babies. They are gorgeous!!! Oh, and we have Coopers hawks, red tail hawks, red shoulder hawks, an occasional Blue heron flys by. Egrets too. But my blue birds are like my kids. I love watching them. They are so beautiful.

Liz V.

 

[Pepipony]

I'm bummed that we dont have many hummers this year, from the posts seems like a lot of people are seeing fewer. Wonder why? As far as predatory birds we have Red Tailed, Sharp Shinned and Chicken Hawks, American Kestrals ( havent seen them yet this year either) , Merlins and another kestral that I can think of the name of LOL

We had , only once, a Baltimore Oriole come up, so I ran out some Oranges, but he never came back. Couldnt believe how bright he was! Also have had a Bunting , dont know the type, wasnt Painted, but looked like that just not enough colors.

Before a major Hurricane we have had Seagulls show up. Pretty amazing considering we are about 200 miles inland!

One year I came upon a gigantic thermal, absolutely huge and in it were hundreds of birds. Zultures, Hawks and a huge flock of Canadian Geese. Truly amazing! SO wish I had my camera with me! It was neat how they were all spaced out at different levels.