Birdwatching

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 8:54 am

Well, I have seen 2 new birds at my sunflower feeder this week!

White crowned sparrow:

https://www.google.com/search?q=white+crowned+sparrow&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=K_kGVmY7jy3FuM%3A

And Ruby breasted grosbeaks:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ruby+breasted+grosbeak&client=safari&hl=en-us&biw=1024&bih=671&prmd=sinv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicqP76s7bMAhUEaz4KHdCKDNkQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=r0CSmeG0yGUVCM%3A

So pretty! No hummingbirds yet that I have witnessed.

**trolleydriver** 4/30/2016, 9:02 am

SR ... Those a very nice visitors to your feeder. We have a couple of feeders but so far the visitors are mainly chickadees, some kind of sparrow, and a couple of days ago I saw what looked like a Downy Woodpecker.

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 9:11 am

TD, I have my "regulars", which are sparrows, other LBJs (Little Brown Jobs), cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, common grackles, downy woodpeckers and red breasted woodpeckers. And the ubiquitous starlings.....

But these were totally new to me! Fun!

Also, a sharp shinned hawk sometimes drops by, especially in winter, to keep everyone on their toes!

How long have you been feeding them?

**trolleydriver** 4/30/2016, 9:18 am

I forgot that we get a couple of cardinals and goldfinches. I also found a dead goldfinch next to one of my SFG boxes. Wondering if a cat got it.

My neighbor's swimming pool was visited a few times this week by several mallard ducks. With all the lakes and rivers around here you would think they could find a better place to hang out

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 9:56 am

I drive past a bird sanctuary on my way to/from work, and the waterfowl are migrating, making for some good glimpses from the car!

**sanderson** 4/30/2016, 2:51 pm

I can't say that I see a wonderful variety of birds like some of you do. The geese and ducks fly over head as they move between ponding basins. I love when they fly at night, honking to each other. You can't see them but you can follow their flight by the honking. A feeder for the hummingbirds, of which I have only seen one so far this April. A few finches in the back neighbor's trees. A blue jay or two. And the mocking birds. I feed them organic food - Japanese beetles on roses and horned worms on tomatoes! Wink

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 6:14 pm

These are a few of my favorite things:

"JBeetles on roses, and horned worms on 'maters....seedlings in peat pots and gardens on tables....vegetables growing in Fall and in Spring....These are a few of my favorite things!"

Had to go there...sorry Birdwatching 3170584802

CapeCoddess 4/30/2016, 6:33 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:These are a few of my favorite things:

"JBeetles on roses, and horned worms on 'maters....seedlings in peat pots and gardens on tables....vegetables growing in Fall and in Spring....These are a few of my favorite things!"

Had to go there...sorry

**trolleydriver** 4/30/2016, 6:46 pm

Well done SR ... Is that from the musical "The Sound of SFG"?

Smile

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 6:52 pm

Yep! Sanderson started it...

**jimmy cee** 4/30/2016, 10:52 pm

My wife and I were sitting on our porch today, a cool snappy day with birds coming and going. We have a couple feeders just beyond the rail, when today while we were just sitting quietly a red breasted grosbeak lit on our sunflower feeder just feet away. We both froze and watched as this skittish beautiful bird fed itself. Always concentrating on the world around him, a wonderful sight..
Last year we had a few stayed around and even had young ones. Then they left as quickly as they came.
This is a female, much duller than the gorgeous male. Birdwatching Misc2_10

**Scorpio Rising** 4/30/2016, 10:59 pm

Saw my first female today! Looked identical to your girl! I have 3 males, and today was the first I had seen the fe! So cool!

**Scorpio Rising** 5/15/2016, 11:31 am

Baltimore Oriole on my hummingbird feeder yesterday evening!

**Scorpio Rising** 5/15/2016, 11:34 am

https://i.servimg.com/u/f86/19/25/77/83/image19.jpg

**Scorpio Rising** 5/15/2016, 11:36 am

https://i.servimg.com/u/f86/19/25/77/83/image21.jpg

Not the best pics...he was very gregarious!

**Scorpio Rising** 5/21/2016, 4:10 pm

The year-round feeding decision has resulted in many undesirable, messy and bullying black birds (starlings, grackles mostly) to dominate my sunflower feeder, keeping my little songbirds at bay. Evil or Very Mad

This has made me take drastic measures. I tried to let the feeder sit empty for a couple days, but the bad guys won't move on. So I did some research, and substituted safflower seeds for sunflower seeds in my feeder. They are really small and are kinda falling out, but the blackbirds don't like them!

And my songbirds seem just fine with them, we will see. And supposedly cardinals like them too. I have some of those. I have a couple bluejays, and they can be bullies, but mine don't hang around much.

**trolleydriver** 5/21/2016, 4:22 pm

Yesterday when I was standing close to my SFG boxes and I turned around, there were two downy woodpeckers going up and down on the branches of a bush (more like a small tree) right next to me. I could almost reach out and touch them. They were not afraid at all of me being that close to them.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id

**Scorpio Rising** 5/21/2016, 5:13 pm

I love my woodpeckers! They are so cute and acrobatic! And gymnastic the way they hang and climb! Funny you mention them, I was concerned about the food switch that the woodpeckers wouldn't like the safflower seeds, but she took several and ate them remotely.

**Kelejan** 5/21/2016, 6:05 pm

We have pilated wood-peckers. One can easily tell the difference between the males and females as the crest on one curls upwards and the other's crest curls the opposite way. At the moment I cannot think which one is which.

They do make a lot of noise. Very Happy

**trolleydriver** 5/21/2016, 10:38 pm

Kelejan wrote:We have pilated wood-peckers. One can easily tell the difference between the males and females as the crest on one curls upwards and the other's crest curls the opposite way. At the moment I cannot think which one is which.

They do make a lot of noise.

we have pileated woodpeckers in our neighbourhood as well. They remind me of Woody Woodpecker.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pileated_Woodpecker/id

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s637-5A9Gro

**Scorpio Rising** 5/21/2016, 11:06 pm

Beautiful animal! I see they avoid northwest Ohio.....hmmmm.....

We have red bellied woodpeckers which don't have a red belly at all.

https://www.google.com/search?q=red+breasted+woodpecker&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=vJPadkTDeoVZoM%3A

**Scorpio Rising** 10/29/2017, 4:47 pm

Neglected thread! Just got a little sad, because one of my formerly gorgeously yellow goldfinches is super hungry, and hanging onto my sunflower seed feeder. But he/she is now protected by her dull brown fall coloration, and in winter, she will be even paler. Goldfinches are the only birds (in N. America) that molt multiple times per year.

You can tell how close or far from summer you are by how bright they are! She is hiding on the the other side of the feeder from me....

http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-goldfinch

**Scorpio Rising** 7/3/2018, 7:14 pm

GAMECHANGER::::

Ant moat on hummingbird feeder! Ants, gone! Hummingbirds, appreciative. cheers

countrynaturals 7/3/2018, 7:56 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:GAMECHANGER::::

Ant moat on hummingbird feeder! Ants, gone! Hummingbirds, appreciative.

If your feeders don't have them, you can buy them cheap on eBay, handmade from little stainless cups. (At least you could a few years ago. Embarassed

)

**Scorpio Rising** 7/3/2018, 9:00 pm

countrynaturals wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:GAMECHANGER::::

Ant moat on hummingbird feeder! Ants, gone! Hummingbirds, appreciative.
If your feeders don't have them, you can buy them cheap on eBay, handmade from little stainless cups. (At least you could a few years ago. )

Yeah, my feeder (which I love because it clearly locks closed when sealed) has a “token” moat, it is literally like 1/2 inch deep and an inch and a half diameter....not helpful ever.

This new thing is a tulip shaped, full blown moat. The ants can come down the hook, not die, little platform, and get back, which is good. I dont like dead anything, and there were no dead or swimming ants after work!

This was $8.99 Amazon prime. Love it!

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