Today at the feeder (1 Viewer)

[misterj]

this morning here in northern Kentucky was one of those special winter wonderland scenes. I got up at o-dark-thirty to make sure my wife got herself off to work safely, we had a nice snow maker go through the area yesterday and last night, which deposited about 7 inches of snow on us so it was outside before dawn to get her car cleaned off and make sure the driveway was cleared. After she left I made a pot of coffee and returned to our nice warm bed to watch the news and relax. I don't know why, but I sat up and took a look out the window and just sat there and stared. The evergreens, the grass, and other plantings were all covered with snow, and with the moon still up everything just sparkled. A few minutes later it started getting lighter and the morning call at my feeders began to unfold, first came the cardinals, about 20 or 30 of them, mostly females, unusual for my backyard. I currently run 12 feeders on three separate poles. I use 3 inch pvc pipe for main pole and different pvc fittings with 1 1/2 pvc pipe for the hangers. My resident herd of fat red bushytails can't climb the pvc, too slippery. No squirrel problem here, besides they have their own feeders. After a few minutes of the usual squabbling amongst the males, its an everyday thing with them trying to figure out who is the "bull of the woods" everybody found a spot and breakfast was served. About ten minutes later the juncos and the house finches showed up, followed by the goldfinches. It amazes me on how much nijer seed those little hoglets can consume. Another few minutes and the woodies, sapsuckers, some flickers, quite a few chickadees, and mourning doves all showed up, in numbers I haven't seen in my yard in quite a while. I now have most all my tube, nijer, hopper, and suet feeders under heavy attack, good thing I filled them before the snow started.

It's amazing what some cold temps and a fair amount of snow, for this area, will do to raise the activity around your feeders.

btw my first post in this forum, been here alot but never signed up until after I retired from the "stress factory". I've had my feeder stations up for about 5 yrs now. I currently run 4 droll yankee b7 tubes,4 droll yankee cj nijer tubes. 4 mandarin sky cafes, and various suet feeders on aircraft cable between three large trees. Keeps me busy.......

lj

 

[SixxStar]

Hi MisterJ, welcome to the forum! I would be extremely giddy if I had that many cardinals show up at one time, the most I've had at once is 6. I was home from work today, so I was able to spend some time watching the yard. Congrats on your retirement too!

 

[misterj]

Thank you sixxstar......I think the unusual weather brought out the numbers,we'll see what happens in the next couple of days

 

[snowyowl]

It sounds like the kind of morning when life just feels so good. Welcome to the thread.
I run 10 feeders at the moment but it does vary a bit. My busiest one is the platform feeder where I put cracked corn. The Blue Jays, Mourning Doves and Juncos all love the corn and I like it because it's cheap.. I sometimes have as many as 20 jays and 25 doves on or around the feeders at the same time. It gets quite crowded and lively. The various other feeder are busy as well, two are for sunflower seed and a re squirrwl proof. My least busy one is the one where I put a fairly expensive mix of finch seeds and sunflower chips. Ir's another squirrel proof one. It's the one that the Tree Sparrows etc tend to go so that makes it worth while keeping filled.
I've got two niger feeders up and they are used steadily by the A. Goldfinches.
the Pine Siskins would also go for them but I haven't had a Siskin yet this winter (or a Purple finch, or a Crossbill or a Grosbeak). Strange year!

 

[luke]

the snow has brought in a few unexpected visitors to the garden this morning, a nuthatch arrived back after a 2 week absence and i had the first ever chaffinch in the garden aswell, which was later joined by another. Great what a bit of snow does!

 

[misterj]

First the good news....yesterday afternoon I had visits from a couple of tufted tits, numerous nuthatches,2 large northern flickers, and two carolina wrens. I've had infrequent visits from all over the years except for the wrens. These little guys are first time visitors unless I've just missed them. I walked right up to the feeder station and they all but ignored me as they kept chowing down on one of my millet/boss tubes.

The reason I was out there is the bad news....The starlings returned....As usual it was a scene of total chaos out there. I couldn't have done a better job of draining my hoppers and suet feeders with my shop-vac. I'm glad they only come around a couple times a year, it would become quite expensive. One alarming point is that they appeared to have a system 3 or 4 would get on my sky cafes and eat for a couple of seconds and then start shoving the seed off the edge with their beaks to the rest of the gang on the ground.....Oh well, at least the flock wasn't as big as in past visits, I'd guess at 50 to 60 birds.

lj

 

[desgreene]

the snow has brought in a few unexpected visitors to the garden this morning, a nuthatched arrived back after a 2 week absence and i had the first ever chaffinch in the garden aswell, which was later joined by another. Great what a bit of snow does!

Same here. Not much snow yet, but the cold snap has brought loads more into the garden. Even had a male Blackcap hanging round over the last two days.

The Mistle Thrushes have started to come into the garden for fruit now also. Up to yesterday they were keeping further away.

Des.

 

[luke]

the chaffinch have come back this morning, but its still snowing here very heavily, theres about 7-8 inches of snow in the garden now.

 

[misterj]

Dan...A belated Thank You for the welcome, I apologize

How far is PEI away from the mainland, the reason I'm asking is are your birds somewhat permanent residents or do they transit back and forth...just curious

And lastly...I put out a mix of boss,cracked corn,and white millet on my ground feeder
and have noticed that the mourning doves pretty much stay with the millet and leave everything else for the rest of the diners that show up..ie juncos,finches,sparrows, etc
and the blue jays when they show up, which is not often, go for my hanging platforms
with the shelled corn and in the shell peanuts. They very seldom go to the ground station...Your right though...strange year....and the difference in habits between the same birds

 

[luke]

i was just reading on my local bird club website and there seems to be a few people with a number of brambling visiting their gardens. great stuff this snow.

 

[prairiemerlin]

Oddly, I've had very few birds at my feeders the last week or so, even tho its been very cold. The squirrels have been wreaking havoc - they ripped open one of my thistle socks, knocked my window feeder to the ground, and gobbled up every seed and crumb of suet in sight. Sigh.

--Neil G.

 

[cavan wood]

I had a nice surprise this morning. A flock of 11 cedar waxwings dropped by for a few minutes. They do that once or twice a winter, but I don't really understand why. They don't eat anything that I offer, so they must just be checking out what the other birds are up to.

I also had my first house sparrow of the season. I don't mind them when they only show up now and then in small numbers, but I'm happy not to be inundated by them.

Also, judging from the tracks, it looks like a fox walked through the yard and checked out the feeder area.

Scott

 

[snowyowl]

Dan...A belated Thank You for the welcome, I apologize

How far is PEI away from the mainland, the reason I'm asking is are your birds somewhat permanent residents or do they transit back and forth...just curious

And lastly...I put out a mix of boss,cracked corn,and white millet on my ground feeder
and have noticed that the mourning doves pretty much stay with the millet and leave everything else for the rest of the diners that show up..ie juncos,finches,sparrows, etc
and the blue jays when they show up, which is not often, go for my hanging platforms
with the shelled corn and in the shell peanuts. They very seldom go to the ground station...Your right though...strange year....and the difference in habits between the same birds

We're only about 14 km from the mainland and in fact are linked by bridge (it used to be the longest in the World, now it's the longest one over ice covered water).

 

[jules]

called in at a neighbours place to see they have a robin and a chaffinch going onto nut feeder,,,,,,,,,,,hungry or just cheeky,,,,,,,,,,,,lol,,,,,,,,will have to call again with camera,,,,,,,,,,,,,lol

 

[Macswede]

The Hawfinch was back again today and for once I was there to see her.

Graham

 

[ron adams]

i am a new member

hi my name is ron i am new its still very cold here in indiana so i havent been out much what are some of your favorite birdes to watch

 

[ron adams]

Hi i am a new member

hi my name is ron i am new i joined today i live in indiana it is still cold here so i havent been out mutch what is your favorite bird

 

[cavan wood]

hi my name is ron i am new i joined today i live in indiana it is still cold here so i havent been out mutch what is your favorite bird

Welcome to bird forum Ron. I just came in from a 20 km ski and the back yard was quite full of birds.

There were chicadees, 20 house finches 8-10 goldfinches, a couple of w-b nuthatches and downy woodpeckers, a dozen mourning doves, a few juncos, a blue jay and they all flew off in a blur of feathers as a cooper's hawk swept into the yard. I think the flurry of feathers confused it, because it hesitated mid-air and then just landed in a aspen tree for a few seconds before flying off into the woods.

My favorite.....probably the purple finches and redpolls that haven't been around much this winter, and the cardinals that were here earlier today.

Scott

 

[snowyowl]

Nice picture of the hawfinch, graham!
Welcome, Ron.

 

[Macswede]

Nice picture of the hawfinch, graham!
Welcome, Ron.

Thanks snowyowll. They're striking birds.
Graham