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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Very busy at the bird feeder today! (5 Viewers)

RMa said:
Garden list now up to 91 with 3 common cranes today! Rushed home from work - pesky job getting in the way of birding
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Brilliant, can you let us know if they are still about and visable, I believe they maybe best seen now from the welsh side of the estuary? if they are still around?
 
Had my first ever jay in the garden today. I know we have plenty in the surrounding area in particular the Silkin Way but never seen one in the garden until today. Also had a good view as it perched for ten minutes in the neighbours plum tree.
 
Quite frequently get a visit from a Jay, but they're not popular with other birds owing to their liking for eggs and small birds. This one oddly seems content with breadcrumbs.

I have Dunnocks here all year round. Delightful little birds that don't bother any others, and spend most of their time eating something too small for me to see from my back path.

I put most of my feeders in the hedge where it's difficult for the Starlings to launch a mass attack. It's quite comical watching the one that has got to the fatball screaming abuse at the others (and mostly failing to feed in the process).
 
grobble said:
I put most of my feeders in the hedge where it's difficult for the Starlings to launch a mass attack. It's quite comical watching the one that has got to the fatball screaming abuse at the others (and mostly failing to feed in the process).
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always tickles me this behaviour. Last 2 winters I have had a Fieldfare who vigerously defends the apples on the lawn. It takes guard of the whole lawn against allcomers who dared to to get anywhere near.... but while doing this often failed the eat at all :-O it spends most of the time charging at birds.

Brilliant to watch, I wonder if he\she returns this year
 
It's taken 5 days this week for a Siskin to finally show up. Hope they're not dropping off for the season, I need those little green jewels around.
 
GlesgaBirds said:
Anyone know of a squirrel proof peanut feeder that could still be used by Woodpeckers ?
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An alternative to a special feeder is to add chilli powder to the feed. Birds are completely unaffected by Capsaicin, but the squirrels, being mammals, get the burning sensation we get from chillies :eek!:

Put the peanuts in a bowl and add a teaspoonful of chilli powder and mix up well - a bowl with a lid is great for this. Pop the peanuts back into the feeder and after one fiery bite the squirrel should be deterred for quite a while.

This one got a taste for sunflower hearts in late April -
2012-04-26 squirrel2.jpg

One taste of chilli powder and we didn't see a squirrel again until early August, when I used another tsp of chilli powder and so far we're two months squirrel free this time.


PS - Use gloves when handling chilli powder!
 
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A flock of tiny, wet, shrilly-peeping blue-grey birds were ALL over the feeder and the courtyard, today. I couldn't get a good picture of them, as they were hopping and flapping like mad, and it was very rainy, foggy, and overcast, but I did manage to snap one on the roof--I was hoping someone might be able to identify it. (It's probably something embarrassingly common and obvious, but I've never seen one before.)

I also had a HUMMINGBIRD round this morning (!!!!!). I don't have a hummingbird feeder out, unfortunately, so it just peeped in the window briefly and flew off. But now that I know there are hummingbirds, I may have to put something out for them.

From being a rare sighting, northern flickers have become almost daily visitors, and I had several of those popping by. A massive crow also sat by the feeder for a while, but didn't eat from it.
 

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Socar MYLES said:
I couldn't get a good picture of them, as they were hopping and flapping like mad, and it was very rainy, foggy, and overcast.
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Lol sounds like the UK weather ;)

Well done with the flicker and good luck with the Hummer.

Just finished work 02.30am, got myself a beer and have been stood in the garden trying to figure out the star constelations... it is a clear night with some of the stars shining very brightly, I am sure I can see Orion.... I need to gen up on this I think
 
catbasket said:
An alternative to a special feeder is to add chilli powder to the feed. Birds are completely unaffected by Capsaicin, but the squirrels, being mammals, get the burning sensation we get from chillies :eek!:

Put the peanuts in a bowl and add a teaspoonful of chilli powder and mix up well - a bowl with a lid is great for this. Pop the peanuts back into the feeder and after one fiery bite the squirrel should be deterred for quite a while.

This one got a taste for sunflower hearts in late April -
View attachment 409109

One taste of chilli powder and we didn't see a squirrel again until early August, when I used another tsp of chilli powder and so far we're two months squirrel free this time.


PS - Use gloves when handling chilli powder!
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Tried various chilli mixes with various squirrels, they seem to like their spicy food !!!!

Am gonna try again with the new house this weekend, but not hopeful 8-P
 
Cannot state clearly enough how bad chilli powder is to get in the eyes. Or how difficult it is to remove whilst eyes are watering like you at your mommas funeral.

That aside, any one got any ideas how to stop birds detonating against my front windows? I know they cannot see them, but everything I try to make them avoid impact isn't working. Bird offal and brain is nasty smeared across the pane.
 
Bananafishbones said:
Lol sounds like the UK weather ;)
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That's EXACTLY what it's like. I thought I'd left this rubbish behind, in Scotland, but it appears to have followed me across the pond.

Nothing too unusual at the feeder, today, though I did see a MASSIVE CROW eating up all my suet. Normally, crows will land on my balcony to shelter from the weather, but leave the feeder alone. This is the first time I saw one help itself to a snack.
 

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First night after a heavy frost, so the yard was very busy today.

Visitors included house Sparrows, Juvenile White Crowned Sparrows, American Gold Finches, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, a Common Grackle, Black Capped Chickadees, a Chipmunk and a baby rabbit.

Not a bad day at all.

B :)
 

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