Today at the feeder (1 Viewer)

[Dark eyed Junco]

Great morning for birds today.

Cedar waxwings in the pear trees all morning about 30-40
Carolina wren suet and peanut feeder
tufted titmouse (peanuts in the shell)
Blue Jays
Downy woodpecker
red bellied woodpecker
carolina chickadee
dark eyed junco
song sparrow
House finch
house sparrow
Goldfinch
American Robin 30+
Cardinal
Starlings (pear tree only, thankfully)
mourning dove

Coopers and sharp shin are usually here several times a day
So far no sign of them
I guess that's why the party has been going on all morning

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :clap:

 

[Larry Lade]

Last night's snow brought lots of activity at the feeders this morning. I hadn't seen my cardinals for many weeks, but I've seen two pair this morning! :t: All the usual are there, of course: Blackcapped Chickadess; House Finch; Titmice; downy, hairy, and redbellied woodpeckers; dark-eyed juncos; and scads of American Goldfinch and Blue Jays. And then the one that I can't identify. (See Bird Identification forum.)

It's a happy, happy Thanksgiving.

Very strange weather patterns here in Missouri. Yesterday brought a lot of snow north (and south!) of Saint Joseph. They received a foot of snow in Kansas City (50 miles south of Saint Joseph. We did not even get "one flake" of snow here in Saint Joseph. It just seemed to snow all around us. It was a little cool here, but I spent the morning doing yard work, collecting leaves and mowing the grass!

So far this morning at the feeders we have had:
American Crow
American Robin
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
European Starling
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Sparrow
House Finch
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Wodpecker
Northern Cardinal

Still hoping for something at little more exotic!

Just after I sent this I looked outside the there was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the yard! (So I edited to this post.)

 

[snowyowl]

A Cardinal has been reported about 20 miles from here and I can't get away to have a look.
Nuts!!!!!! :C

 

[Tammie]

I had 5 common redpolls show up at the feeders today! Life is good...... winter will officially begin now.
Supposed to hit -19C tonight with -23C winchills...... a little nippy I would think!

 

[prairiemerlin]

Tammie, I'm glad to hear that you have redpolls. Unfortunately, I've gotten them only one time at my feeders.

Today I saw a House Sparrow dust bathing. Even though House Sparrows are trash birds it was still really neat to watch.

 

[suebee]

Today I have three Mourning Doves under my feeders in addition to the usual birds. And yesterday, how could I forget my nuthatches! I have both red- and white-breasted in abundance. The Jays are feeding right now and have scared most of the others away. But I did see my cardinals early this morning. It's so nice to have a few days off to watch the feeders!

My mystery bird of yesterday turns out to be a juvenile Northern Shrike. A first for me, obviously.

 

[Larry Lade]

Hi Sue,

Glad to hear you got the ID of your "mystery bird". I am still hoping a Northern Shrike gets down to my area here in Missouri.

 

[dampflippers]

Grrrrrrr, spotted Mr Heron flying away this morning (probably from our pond!) I had noticed it was a bit chrurned up and cloudy yesterday. I don't mind him there as long as he poses for the binocs for a while!

 

[samuel walker]

Headbangers Arrive

Since the cooldown,I have added a suet feeder to the station.New garden birds include redbreasted nuthatch,hairy woodpecker and now a redbellied WP.The holder is a hinged basket type that I have twice found opened and robbed.The chipmunks are tucked away for the winter leaving the fox squirrel as the thief.A breadbag twistie now keeps the cake locked up.
Sam

 

[Tammie]

Since the cooldown,I have added a suet feeder to the station.New garden birds include redbreasted nuthatch,hairy woodpecker and now a redbellied WP.The holder is a hinged basket type that I have twice found opened and robbed.The chipmunks are tucked away for the winter leaving the fox squirrel as the thief.A breadbag twistie now keeps the cake locked up.
Sam

Sam, a twist tie is exactly what I was going to recommend. I've been using them on my suet feeders for years!
BTW, I love your avatar!

 

[snowyowl]

The feeders are busy even though I still haven't seen some of my usual species.
1. Blue Jays - lots
2. Mourning Doves - 17
3. A. Goldfinches - 20+
4. DE Juncos - hard to say but lots
5. Downy Woodpecker - male and female
6. B-c. Chickadees - lots
7. House Sparrows
8. American Crow - 3
9. Song sparrow - 1
10. Northern Flicker - 1 yesterday near the feeders but not at them.
11. I can always see the Rock Pigeons on the barn roof but they never come to the feeders. They live in the barn and do their own thing.
12 E. Starlings usually around the barn but occasionally visit the feeders.
13. while I was typing this a C. Raven landed on the platform feeder.
14. Mainly because I don't want to stop on 13, A Sharp-shinned Hawk that is coming to dine almost daily.

I doubt if I'll get many other species until the snow flies.

 

[prairiemerlin]

I've been having a lot of bird activity at my feeders the past few days. I've been delighted to see two very cute Red-breasted Nuthatches enjoying my "Peanut butter and seed sandwiches". Here's what I have been seeing the last few days:

Mourning Dove - 12
Dark-eyed Junco - 20
Northern Cardinal - 4
Downy Woodpecker - 3
American Goldfinch - 36
White-breasted Nuthatch - 4
Brown Creeper - 1
House Sparrow - 10
House Finch - 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Blue Jay - 2-3
Black-capped Chickadee - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1

The Red-breasted Nuthatches are so fun to watch! One was puffing up to almost twice its size to intimidate a goldfinch that was hogging one of the feeders.

 

[amasara]

Since the cooldown,I have added a suet feeder to the station.New garden birds include redbreasted nuthatch,hairy woodpecker and now a redbellied WP.The holder is a hinged basket type that I have twice found opened and robbed.The chipmunks are tucked away for the winter leaving the fox squirrel as the thief.A breadbag twistie now keeps the cake locked up.
Sam

Nice photo of a red belly - I found a suet log in a catalog - you cram long logs of suet mix into holes drilled in a real log - all the wps love it!

 

[snowyowl]

Yesterday 6 Purple Finches showed up and today there's a Common Grackle.

 

[Tammie]

I've got one common grackle hanging around too. All by itself. Very strange at this time of year! Poor thing must be freezing in the -25C temperatures we're getting!

 

[dacol]

New visitor to backyard for this season: Brown Thrasher.
Third time since I have been living at this house, 2 Falls, 1 Spring.


Dalcio

 

[Katy Penland]

Aren't they the prettiest birds? I've only had one in the yard in 3 years, and that was October 2003. Sure love to see one again.

We got our 105th species for the yard on the 1st: A Downy Woodpecker. I was really surprised since they're not common here at all, but the smaller size and tiny bill compared to the two resident Hairys was self-evident. And another surprise, although not new to the yard, but an overwintering Chipping Sparrow this morning. Wonder if it's the same individual who hung around the winter of 2002-3.

My bank account's joy was short-lived, though, with the advent of over 200 Pine Siskins this morning. We've had almost 100 the past couple days but today was just unreal. I should be happy since we had fewer than a half-dozen all last winter at any one time, but man that is a whole lot of squabbling feathers. I still haven't hung the other two feeders yet so scattered seed on the ground. That tickled the juncos no end, and today once the sun came out and I'd swept the snow off a section of the seedbed, we ended up with most of the siskins on the ground along with about 2 dozen House Finches, a handful of Cassin's finches, about 3 dozen dark-eyed juncos (all variants except white-winged), and even more Steller's Jays than usual: 10! We're supposed to get 3-6" more snow tonight and tomorrow.

 

[Katy Penland]

The Red-breasted Nuthatches are so fun to watch! One was puffing up to almost twice its size to intimidate a goldfinch that was hogging one of the feeders.

I get such a kick out of the nuthatches, titmice and chickadees. They're all such little scrappers. Here's what our White-breasted male did to try to dislodge a Pygmy nuthatch this past fall. Didn't work. He bobbed and weaved back and forth like some kind of snake-charmer, wings spread like this, but the Pygmy just ignored him.

 

[Larry Lade]

Katy, that is a great shot of the "dueling nuthatches"! All the little birds are really amazing! I am rather awestruck that all these little jobs can not only endure, but seem to relish their environment when the tempertures plumet to subzero. The chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, titmice and others just go about their business and seem to suffer no ill effects from the bitter cold. Being a human, I sometimes feel sorry for them as they are out and about in the "for us" unclement weather. They have adapted to cope with extremes and seem to get along quite nicely. They are a joy to watch and marvel at!

When I first put out bird feeder (quite a few years ago) we would get upwards of 40 Pine Siskins coming to the niger seed feeder. Now we occasionally get one or two, but never in the numbers that we first did. I know they are "irruptive" here in Missouri and vary in numbers from year to year, but I think it is curious that we do not get as many as we once did. 200 siskins in one's yard is a little "mind boggling". That must truly be a sight! I believe one contributing factor for having all the siskins in our yard that one year is that I only had niger seed provided. So all the other birds which do not eat niger were not around to disturb the siskins. At present I offer black oil sunflower seed, niger seeds, peanuts and suet. I get more variety of birds but not the big flocks of siskins.

Good Birding to All,

 

[Michael W]

I've filled a cantaloupe/potato bag with sunflower seeds and placed it in some bushes near the main feeders. I have a blind set up, and I watch and photograph the activity there. Today, there were:

~50 California Quail
~25 Dark-eyed (Oregon, + 1 possible Slate-colored) Juncos
6 Black-capped Chickadees
3 Mountain Chickadees
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
10-20 Pygmy Nuthatches (also at the main feeders)
1 Song Sparrow
50 Pine Siskins (We've had 100+ at the feeders many times. Last year, we never got more than 10. I think there's a big irruption in the West or something)
5 House Finches
5 Black-billed Magpies (at the main feeders for nuts)

Also this morning, a Cooper's Hawk appeared (there's one of them or a Sharpie, or both, almost every day. Sometimes even a Goshawk shows up).

The Pine Siskins perch all over the bag feeder, and when a Pygmy Nuthatch arrives, the siskins will sometimes flap at the nuthatch. The nuthatch ignores them, even if they peck it, and sometimes the nuthatch even pecks at the siskins! It's interesting to watch!

Michael