Birds Everywhere!!!!

[Hawg]

All of a sudden, the last week or so, I can hardly keep up filling the feeders! Redpolls by the hundreds and goldfinches so thick I fill the niger seed feeder every day. I thought Purple finches went away in the winter but I have something that looks just like them too. I also have some little finch type birds that some have either pinkish red backs under the wings or some are orangeish. Any idea what they might be? Those along with all the cardinals, nuthatches, and assorted others have me wondering what I'm going to spend my money on, their groceries or mine. I've got 4 times more birds than I had all last summer but I'm not complaining, they are a hoot to watch fight over the perches. 

[nofishfisherman]

I've seen a huge uptick in birds around my place as well.  I have let the feeder go empty now because the deer get to them before the birds do but still lots of birds in the yard. 

[eyeguy 54]

lots of pine siskins have been moving thru here. 

[Hawg]

Eyeguy, do you have a picture of a winter goldfinch and a pine siskin? I'm not 100% sure I know the difference. Any idea what the birds are I posted about with the colored backs? Those are on the safflower seed heavy, not on the niger at all. I wish I had a lens to take a picture to show you.

[eyeguy 54]

pine siskins. look a lot like winter goldies just smaller

[eyeguy 54]

not my pic but here is a winter goldie. pretty drab

[Hawg]

Thank you, looks like I have a ton of them and not the goldies, I'm kind of disappointed. There's quite a bit of difference, I must have been fooled by the yellow on the siskins. It's been a while since I had either. I'm still looking for my bird books to identify the others. It seems the older I get the better I get at hiding stuff from myself! Thanks again, Mark

Edited January 22, 2019 by Hawg

[chaffmj]

Hawg go to this site. It will help you id them.

 https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

 

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by chaffmj

[leech~~]

Yep mine are back as well other then the Cardinals and Blue Jay's yet.  

[JBMasterAngler]

Yeah, the last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful at my feeders. Then all of sudden today I was bombarded with multiple species! 

 

I had 2 hen pheasants pecking around, then later the rooster showed up. There were robins everywhere. The blue jays are back to eating up the peanuts within minutes of me putting them out. I’ve actually been saving money the last couple weeks on sunflower chips, because the goldfinches disappeared. But today I had redpolls out there for the first time of the season. So I’ll have to start working some overtime to afford the food they go through! Have a lot more woodpeckers this winter than last year as well.

[eyeguy 54]

maybe borrow a camera hawg? its a fun hobby

[eyeguy 54]

pretty rare we get redpolls, cool when they come thru

[eyeguy 54]

@Hawg   maybe a house finch you saw?  front and back view of 2 males.  just flew in

[Hawg]

That's probably them, thank you. 

[Hawg]

Finally found my bird books! Purple finches winter south so they are probably house finches, BUT, both Audubon and Peterson's books don't show Minn. as the house finch range.?.?  

[eyeguy 54]

house finches hang around here all winter and would be rare to see a purple. purples pop thru spring and fall and sometimes a few hang around in the spring for a while. love seeing them. i dodnt think there is a good map for the house finch, they are probably all over the us by now

[Hawg]

I agree they aren't purples, definitely house finches.Thanks again.

[eyeguy 54]

you betcha, 1 woodpecker and 2 nuthatches is all today. brrrrrrrr

[smurfy]

On 1/21/2019 at 6:07 PM, eyeguy 54 said:

not my pic but here is a winter goldie. pretty drab

We got a pile of these around today!

[Grainbelt]

I saw around 25 robins yesterday while shoveling. Way up in the big cottonwood. They had a different sounding sing to them which caught my ear and made me look up. Is spring almost here?

[eyeguy 54]

interesting,  twilight zone??

[Hawg]

Still going thru 2 whole full size tube feeders of safflower seed and 1 nigger seed every day!

[eyeguy 54]

send a few here.

[leech~~]

40 minutes ago, Hawg said:

Still going thru 2 whole full size tube feeders of safflower seed and 1 nigger seed every day!

 

How many Deer tracks do you have around your feeders or else the squirrels are getting at it! 

[delcecchi]

2 hours ago, Hawg said:

Still going thru 2 whole full size tube feeders of safflower seed and 1 ni*ger seed every day!

Careful with your spelling there, dude.  You never know who is reading....

Maybe that is why the packages seem to now all say Nyjer seed instead of niger.