Any Hope for West Texas??? (1 Viewer)

I live in Plainview, just south of Amarillo, Texas and I'm finally posting out of desperation. Our area of Texas seems to be just a little too far west for the East Texas birds, and just a little too far east for the birds in New Mexico. In other words, according to maps I've seen of bird territories, I'm kinda in the middle of nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I've got TONS of birds in my backyard, but they're house sparrows, mourning dove, starlings, and grackles..and an occasional house finch here and there. I'm sick and tired of hundreds of house sparrows eating 50 lbs. of seed a week! At least the mourning dove come along and pick up the seeds the sparrows throw on the ground.

So today I changed my plan. Took down one of the two hopper feeders and replaced it with a Nyjer seed feeder. Also replaced the mixed seed in the other hopper with black oil sunflowers. I then put up a hummingbird feeder (a long shot, but I'm still gonna try it), and a board with two orange halves on it (another long shot). I also stuck up a suet feeder with peanut suet (probably another long shot but I swear I've heard a woodpecker pecking away in the neighborhood).

I have a pond with a shallow area for birds to have access as well. So is there any hope that I'll see anything else??? Goldfinches, hummingbirds, orioles, grosbeaks, tanagers, warblers, etc?

Sorry if I rambled... just really desperate for a change in my backyard.

I feel your pain!

We constantly get Am. Goldfinches to our thistle feeder, and rarely anything else to that feeder. I've run out of thistle, and being that thistle is very expensive, i'm not sure when we're going to get a new bag anytime soon. Anyway, here's a rundown of the foods:

black oil sunflower: should be the primary ingredient in any mixed bird food. this seed attracts cardinals, grosbeaks, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and finches

black stripe sunflower: not readily eaten as black oil variety. this is eaten by northern cardinals, but is more difficult for birds like chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches to open.

peanut kernels: increases the number of visits from jays, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, and northern cardinals

white proso millet: preferred by ground-feeding birds, this attracts red-winged blackbirds, as well as most sparrows, doves, juncos, towhees, and buntings.

Whole peanuts: due to large size, whole peanuts must be offered in open feeders. Jays have been know to fly in from all directions upon hearing the sound of whole peanuts hitting the bottom of the feeder. this food also attracts crows, magpies, titmice, and woodpeckers

Safflower: what makes this food great is not what it attracts, but what it doesn't. Safflower is unattractive to squirrels, grackles, and european starlings.

Thistle (Nyjer, niger): another seed to be offered on it's own. this expensive seed is eaten by American Goldfinches, redpolls, and pine siskins. In my experience, I've also had a grackle eat some, as well as house finches and purple finches.

Corn: used primarily as a filler. use instead to feed squirrels, not birds.

Mixed grain products: very unattractive to most of the birds you're trying to attract.

What are you trying to attract specifically?

Someone is bound to know what is liked. I, myself, have been pondering the attracting of turkey vultures. I was thinking of taking leftover meat from the fridge, and toss it on the lawn, hoping that the vultures see it and come in for it.

Not sure if that meat thing will work though.

Thanks for the reply. I don't really know what else to do. Most of the birds you mentioned I don't even think we have where I live. I put up the Nyjer tube, orange halves, hummingbird feeder, and suet just as very LOOOOONG shots of possibly attracting something that was migrating and got a little bit out of the normal flyway.

What am I trying to attract? Anything but the birds I mentioned in the original post...only thing is... don't think there's much else in this area.

On the contrary, there's plenty in your area, at least according to my Sibley Western and Eastern field guides...

You've got scaled quail, white-winged dove, inca dove, kingfishers, black-chinned hummingbirds, maybe a rufous hummingbird, nortern flicker, ladder-backed woodpecker, verdin, red-breasted nuthatch, summer tanager (bees and wasps are favorite foods; you can set up a insect feeder for birds, but the bugs have to be dead, which is a problem...), painted buntings (beautiful bird, i guarantee you!), and dozens more.

I'm not sure how many feeders you actually have up. Because the way I see it, if some birds think that all the others are have taken all the good spots, they won't come to the feeders. For example, if a certain fast-food restaurant in your area had a line of people at the ordering counter, would you try to get a bite there? I thought so. so you should try using two feeders to offer the same food. If you have three different types of food, you could put up six feeders, two with each type of food. You understand?

That way, you'll appeal to the vast numbers of birds that have eaten there, as well as have plenty of open "seats" available for birds you are trying to attract.

In my experience, once we put up the thistle feeder, my list grew again. Mainly due to clearing up some seats on the main feeder (which was once occupied by up to a dozen American Goldfinches, thus there was no room left on the main feeder). So try that as well. The goldfinches gobble up the thistle like crazy, leaving the other feeder open to woodpeckers, grackles (one of the grackles had lost an eye somehow), cowbirds, doves, house finches, purple finches, pine siskins, and various other birds (The purple finch, grackle, cowbird, and a few others were never seen before I put up the thistle feeder).

OK?

Glad to be of assistance to a fellow American!

Several years ago I spent some time in Lubbock and I remember that Dark-eyed Juncos and House Finches were both quite common around even the most ordinary yards. I would have thought it should be possible to attract in a few of those. Goldfinches were also fairly common in the area during the winter.

Really gthang? I don't have the Sibley guides...are you looking in the right area of Texas?

Fifebirder...WOW someone who knows where Lubbock is! LOL I'm about 45 minutes north of there. I've got the occasional house finch, haven't seen a goldfinch ever up here, but still trying the thistle seed anyway. Never seen a junco either, but if they're in Lubbock hopefully I can see some up here some day too.

yeah! if you want a complete list of birds and otherlife in your area, go to enature.com and enter your email address and zipcode into the right boxes, and a list of the wildlife in your area will pop-up! I found out through this site that there are over 250 birds that call my area home!

I went to the site, but the area it shows for my home goes all the way down to the coast...which is about 16 hours from where I'm from. For instance, it shows Wood ducks, which I KNOW we don't have up here.

Talked to the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Amarillo. Basically bummed me out. Said the house sparrows, dove, and house finches are probably all that I'll see. Said that we have a few goldfinches from Jan-May, and that my house finches will probably just eat the black oil sunflower from my other feeder...so my Nyjer feeder is probably going to go to waste. *sigh*

Said we have birds migrating through here in the spring and fall, but most are insect feeders, so basically my only chance of seeing them is if they stop at my pond, which is doubtful since the duck pond is only a few blocks away.

Doesn't sound good.....

JLJ2018 said:

I went to the site, but the area it shows for my home goes all the way down to the coast...which is about 16 hours from where I'm from. For instance, it shows Wood ducks, which I KNOW we don't have up here.

Talked to the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Amarillo. Basically bummed me out. Said the house sparrows, dove, and house finches are probably all that I'll see. Said that we have a few goldfinches from Jan-May, and that my house finches will probably just eat the black oil sunflower from my other feeder...so my Nyjer feeder is probably going to go to waste. *sigh*

Said we have birds migrating through here in the spring and fall, but most are insect feeders, so basically my only chance of seeing them is if they stop at my pond, which is doubtful since the duck pond is only a few blocks away.

Doesn't sound good.....

Click to expand...

The information the WBU gave you is correct but is not specific. It could apply to most areas in the US, specially urban areas. Even if one lives in a geographical area with a great diversity of birds the number of different species one can see in the backyard is going to be much smaller than the number one can see by actively looking for birds in suitable habitat. Of course what kind of backyard you have is going to be the decisive factor!

You need more information about your local area, specifically what other people that feed birds there are seeing and doing to attract birds. Texas has a great birding discussion list, you can get more information about it at http://www.texbirds.org

The above site also has lots of links about birds in Texas and about birding organizations in Texas. I found the following there:

Texas Panhandle Audubon Society
Location: Amarillo
Area Covered: Texas Panhandle (26 counties)
Contact Person: Pam Allison [ [email protected] ]
P. O. Box 30939
Amarillo, Texas 79120
806/656-0036 Fax: 806/655-0875
Newsletter: The Horned Lark’s Prairie, published quarterly
Meeting Time: occasional meetings, announcements in newspaper or call
Meeting Place: Amarillo Public Library Central
Field Trips: to be scheduled in fall and spring of each year
Local Hotline: Kenneth @ 806/373-9580
Membership: 400
Christmas Bird Counts: Buffalo Lake CBC, Amarillo CBC (includes Palo Duro Canyon) and Quitaque (includes Caprock Canyon State Park)
Top Three Area Birding Sites: Palo Duro Canyon, Buffalo Lake NWR, Lake Marvin NRA

Maybe you could contact them and see what they can tell you.

Dalcio

Wow thanks! I did tons of yahoo searches on texas birds and just came up with books, book reviews, the texas parks and wildlife page, etc. That's a big help!

I e-mailed the Amarillo club a week or so ago, but haven't heard anything back yet. Hopefully they're just out of town and will get back with me soon. Had e-mail correspondence with the Lubbock club president, which is where I got the idea to put the orange halves out, but I've never seen an oriole or tanager in the area. Hopefully one will eventually find its way to my backyard.

Thanks again for the link!

Hi JLJ. Having grown up in Lubbock, I can certainly sympathize with your situation. The plains of west Texas can seem like the most empty, sparse place on earth sometimes.

Fact is, I didn't become interested in birding until well after I have left Texas behind (there's probably a good reason for that).

I do want to suggest one spot near you that may give some birding excitement if you want to venture out of the yard. The Nov/Dec 2003 issue of Wild Bird magazine had an article on lesser-known birding hotspots that included Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which is probably no more than an hour drive north of Plainview. Nearly 250 species have been catalogued there, "including Mississippi Kites, Burrowing Owls, and Cactus, Rock, Canyon, House, Winter, Bewick's and Marsh Wrens." I'm sure there are dozens more birds in addition to these that you might see with a leisurely day hike there.

I have been to this area several times, and can assure you the scenery is beautiful, and by itself well worth a trip. I would love to go back sometime to go birding.

Dan

Yep, been to Palo Duro a few times....but having a 14 month old doesn't give me much time to go out on day trips (I'm a photography nut as well, so I'm forced to find things to shoot around the house). That's why I'm so interested in attracting birds to my backyard...and am now so frustrated because of the lack of backyard bird species around here.

We have birds

I live in Lubbock and we have a swallow's mud nest right under our front eaves of our house in front of our door. This is the 4th year that the swallows have come back to use it We love watching them!! We have several bird feeders, including 2 suet feeders. We have a variety of birds including blue jays & we saw our first American Goldfinch just last week. I can't tell you how excited I was over that one. I think when you least expect to see them is when they show up.

Hi TnT,

And welcome to Bird Forum. I spent some time in Lubbock several years ago (see above) and know what an excellent area it is for birds. Hope you enjoy the forum!

Well, since I wrote that original post a while back, I've put up tons of feeders and have gotten heavily into it. Went on my first birding/hiking trip today to Caprock Canyon State Park. Did a four hour 7 mile hike up and down and through the canyon.

You won't believe what I saw...... a painted bunting!!!! Took some pics of it. And also saw a huge blue bird. Don't know what it is yet, haven't looked it up. It's not like the blue jays here. It was the size of like a giant grackle and was royal blue. Snapped pics of it as well. Incredible trip.

Congratulations on finding some new birds. The Painted Buntings are fantastic! When you are trying to ID your large blue bird, you might check out the Common Grackle (Purple Race) or even the Great-tailed Grackle. In both, the males can have quite a "purple" sheen. Let us know.

No, it's definitely not a grackle. Very, very, very familiar with those. Had time to check my field guide...and decided it must be a Western Scrub Jay. Never even knew they existed but wow was it a surprise. Almost as surprised when I saw the bunting.

Nice one to add to your list. I've never seen the Western Scrub Jay but about 10 days ago on a trip to SE Arizona we saw a close relative, the Mexican Jay. They are beautiful birds.

Lots of Birds in the Plainview area

JLJ2018 said:

Really gthang? I don't have the Sibley guides...are you looking in the right area of Texas?

Click to expand...

I am sure he is. A couple of things I would suggest:

First, feeders in an urban setting are an invitation to just the type of birds you are talking about. In the Plainview area, as in most of Texas, the idea of landscaping is to remove anything that looks like a bush or shrub and even most of the trees and plant St Augustine (or similar) grasses. This is not ideal bird habitat and is again an invitation to things like House Sparrows and Great-tailed Grackles. Check out the book "Texas Wildscapes; Gardening for Wildlife" by Noreen Damude and Kelly Bender. You would be amazed what is possible if you build the right habitat.