Birdies from this week (photos)

[Tom Wilson]

Here's a few from this week. I've been overrun with Goldfinches, but that's OK, I sure do love the little suckers, and they sure are beautiful in the winter. The bird bath has been a local hotspot, and there is typically a waiting line. Still no Redpolls, but I'm swamped with both Purple and House Finches, Goldfinches, and Doves. I have multiple sets of both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and I have two pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers. Chipping, Song, and House Sparrows, Blue Jays, and one pair of Cardinals. Juncos and Nuthatches are numerous as well. Here's a couple pics from this week.

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

Tom, I always like those "natural" looking photos and the Goldfinch ones are beautiful! Okay, they are all very good.... as usual!

[Tom Wilson]

Thanks, Buzz

[The_Duckslayer]

Tom... once again all great photos! I like #3 the best, the lil guy looks like he is sitting there trying to keep his feet warm. THANKS FOR SHARING././Jimbo

[Dotch]

Great shots Tom! Particularly loved the photos of the goldfinches on the velvetleaf. Wonder if they picked any of the seeds out of the pods? Never seen one eat them but they'd be right up their alley.

[Tom Wilson]

After I placed those out--they ate practically every seed out of them. I have a couple photos somewhere of a male actually digging them out and eating them. I'll try to find them.

[Dotch]

Interesting what birds find good to eat. Velvetleaf as I recall from some charts somewhere in this messy office are fairly high in nutritional value. The seed coats are very hard however and the seeds can last in the soil for over 70 years, according to one ongoing study at the U. A few years back, I let a large patch of waterhemp (pigweed family, not cannabis) go to seed in my tree planting. Wonderful snowfence, wildlife habitat, etc. Went snowshoeing through there and was curious to see what was going on. In addition to harboring oodles of rabbits that sawed off oodles of the small trees, the juncos were thick. They loved the tiny, hard black seeds that looked like pepper on the snow after they were shed. This fall, the gizzards and crops on the ducks and geese we shot were loaded with the seeds of barnyardgrass and smartweed. Moral of the story: Farmers may find a use for weeds yet!

[jonny_redhorse]

all great photos Tom!....great clarity!.......just plain enjoyable to look at!.....I don't have any feeders out yet(yes I know,I should have had them out a long time ago)just picked up a few "suet blocks" from Wal-mart(with the metal cages) gotta hang em today...actually ,I've never used suet before and wondering if they'll be used or not......all of the bird pics I've taken so far have been under"natural" conditions (no houses or feeders or anything in the background) which I really prefer but hey......beggers aren't choosers and I'm missing out I'm sure....lol!....any hints on how and where to position those suet blocks would help...shortcuts or whatever....jonny

[Steve Foss]

Johnny:

Tree trunks are best for suet holders. I just nail or screw in the cage and it's ready to go. We only have one small tree right next to the house here, though there are lots of trees and woods bordering the yard, so I dug in a 4x4 post and mounted another feeder on one side and the suet cage on the other.

As for pics of birds on the feeders, most birds don't fly right in and land on the feeder immediately. They tend to land in a nearby tree or shrub first, and as you watch, you'll learn where they likely will perch before hitting the food trough, and can take your pictures with no feeder in them.

You also can melt down that suet in a pan on the stove and pour it down the trunk of a tree. The birds will come for it but it will look more natural in pics, and sometimes the suet doesn't show up at all on the pics. Rather than storebought suet for that, I prefer buying up cheap, cheap, cheap packaged fat from the meat department and heating it myself. Comes out nearly clear that way and there aren't all those seeds embedded to ruin that "natural" picture.

Good news with the suet, even though it's late in the year to be starting it, is that chickadees and nuthatches should find it pretty quickly, and then that activity will probably attract some woodpeckers, which seem to be a little slower to catch on. Guess all that head hammering slows down the brain function, or something.

[Dotch]

Your spousal unit must be more tolerant of the melted suet smell in the house than mine Steve! I had to quit doing it because of the whining. Most locker plants have lots of the stuff and will sell you 15 - 20 lbs. for what you'd pay for a few of the little blocks jonny. Also, not to take issue with stcatfish, but my suet feeders are hanging. Have no problem attracting blue jays, red- bellies, downies, hairies, nuthatches, chickadees, etc. The feeders are just a little easier to deal with for me that way and hung with wire, there are no wounds on the tree that can invite disease and insects. Where you guys are at in the north woods, that's not such a big deal. You can always find another tree. Lose one here and it qualifies as deforestation!

Here in the south, starlings can also get to be a pain so some will suspend the suet feeders on the underside of a board to keep them away. The others are capable of hanging upside down and feeding.

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks Steve and Dotch for the info!..we'll try both ways.....hangin and solid...have 3 blocks to put out.....plus a couple oranges to cut in half to see what will be attracted to em......this is all new territory for moi... ..jonny

[jonny_redhorse]

Well.......being Christmas Day....figured I'd put out the suet feeders(and one regular feeder)...so...I hung em quick..(I think I'll mount em solid because the wind spins em )... no sooner I got in the house(probably 3 minutes) and I looked outside and there were birds on the feeders already!......holy moly!......that was fast! ....must be a good omen.lol!...i expected a week or so before the birds would find the feeders...unbelieveable..... ...anyway...here's a few pics on this grey christmas day of those birds....so far there were redpolls(blew those pics....lol!)....nut hatches...chickadees and (I think) hairy woodpeckers....jonny

[Dotch]

Great pics jonny! I see the suet feeder the downy is on is similar to a couple of mine. What I did to keep them from spinning was to take my pliers and attach the chain on each side of the feeder so it hangs like a purse from the wire hook attached to the tree limbs. Remember, if a problem can't be fixed with a pair of pliers and a piece of baling wire, it probably can't be fixed! When it gets to be mid April here, the insects come to life and many of the birds will be eating them & feeding them to their young. Suet can get rancid sometimes and draws starlings other times here so I take the feeders down, clean them up and hang my oriole and hummingbird feeders from the same hooks. The birds still have access to the sunflower, safflower and thistle seed year round if they want it. Congratulations on attracting your first birds for their photo op! One warning tho: like your photography habit, it can turn into a lifelong addiction. My 80-something father-in-law who lives near the Root River was busting his buttons when several cardinals and a dozen wild turkeys made their daily visit outside his window Christmas Eve day amongst the menagerie of others. My 80-something mother is the same way with her herd of goldfinches. I blame her for starting my interest in feeding the birds when I was a kid. Best thing is it makes one easy to shop for on Christmas, birthdays, etc...

[jonny_redhorse]

thanks Dotch!.......I put out a couple more feeders on a couple more trees(yup,I got the bug now.......lol!)...birds "hit" em almost immediately...i see you noticed the woodpecker in my pic was a "downy"...thanks for the "id"....(not up on my "wood pecker' id's)..i managed a couple more mediocre photos (geesh those birds are quick)....start up time on my camera is slow for those "quick" shots......thanks again.......jonny

[WifeKidsandDog]

Nice shots, Jonny.

I love the chickadee, looks like the wind has mussed him up.

Cheryl P.

[buzzsaw]

I have many large Oak trees on my property and on my neighbors property and in the fall me and my son filled three of those orange Home Depot buckets full of acorns and I recently started putting them outside and the squirrels are in heaven!! It keeps them away from the bird food for the most part so thats a bonus! You must freeze the acorns right away after harvesting them or they will get these little worms (like maggots) that bore out of the acorn and get all over the place. I also had some apple slices that were sitting around on the counter and I tossed them out on the platform feeder and the squirrels were chowing them down as well!! I don't think I've ever seen a squirrel eat an apple???? Wierd!

[The_Duckslayer]

Quote:

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I also had some apple slices that were sitting around on the counter and I tossed them out on the platform feeder and the squirrels were chowing them down as well!! I don't think I've ever seen a squirrel eat an apple???? Wierd!

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That is because you have oak trees and not apple trees. Nothing like spying a nice apple up top and doing all kinds of stuff to get it down only to find that the side you could not see was knawed on by a squirrel! I did not pick up the acorns this fall from the oak's in our yard. Now I have litterally hundreds of holes in the back yard with an acorn in it. Left on it's own I could porbably have a forrest in a couple of years. Have a good one and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Dotch]

Happy Bird Day Buzz! I've had issues with the squirrels gnawing my apples right off the trees. Bummed me out when they kept eating all the Haralsons, my pie apples. How else am I supposed to get fattened up for the winter?

[buzzsaw]

Thanks Dotch, better get a cat to keep them off your apple trees!

[jonny_redhorse]

I just had to get a pic of a bird on a sunny day!.....just happened to be this chickadee this morning...........been so much gray skies that I'm just happy to see the blue sky again.... ....jonny

[jonny_redhorse]

A lone nuthatch.........this one's been at my feeders all winter....jonny

[The_Duckslayer]

Johnny... nice picture! Like the crispness of not only the bird but the bark as well. Thanks for sharing././Jimbo

[jonny_redhorse]

"Ole Ruff".....sitting under a balsam.....jonny