A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 BIRD WATCHING???

BIRD WATCHING ANYONE???

Hi,

Bird watching,YES.I do a little .One morning in the spring I sat having breakfast on the deck and counted 49 speices of birds in the garden.Not bad for an hour

Limey

Limey,
Holey smokes, that's alot of different birds!!
Wow!!!
My father and mother loved to have birds, they always made sure the feeder was full of seeds, and they got suet and all the goodies they love.
I think it is so much fun to have them.
(my neighbors have 3 cats, and as much as I love cats, these cats are let out doors and I swear they never eat, although, whether fed or not I know it's instinct in cats to go after birds and such, but I just can't stand feeding the birds to have a cat stalk them and eat 'em.)

I have done a bit of research into some ways to keep them out, I'm thinking of an idea all my own to keep them out, but with kids and always needing new shoes, and jeans and such, I'm a gonna have to wait a bit on it........

We had a baby blue jay that seemed to adopt my yard a few years in a row, and came close all the time, I haven't seen it this year, but who knows what may of happened to him. But he was so cute, and we liked to watch him....

We also have a bush in our yard, that at a certain time of year when the berries on it just start to turn a certain color, the robins strip that bush clean with in 5~9 days!! Just striped clean!! And that is a scream to watch how they come dashing in, shovel a few in their gullet, fly off, some try to eat them there, some fly away with them in their beak. The boys like to watch them.

I also have a cherry "pit" tree, that gets stripped even faster than than the other one..... They just scramble around in there, grab parts of the cherry and it's eaten, except for the pit, that's why I joke, it's a cherry "pit" tree!!

I also grow flowers that the seeds the birds like, like Coneflower, Queen Anne's Lace, zinnia's, sunflowers (*we were going to save some heads for winter this year and those birds stripped them so fast this year it was unbelievabable), & Elderberries.

I let some of my property, much to the dismay of my former neighbors and my husband go wild, for some additional wild seeds and nesting area....
They have to go somewhere's and if everything is so clean and tidy they won't come and live around you!!!
Besides, it's easier not mowing it!!!!

And we have alot of pine trees for nesting in...

I do have to know what kind you have seen?
Do you feed them?
Or any birdhouses???

Weezie

no bird houses,but had a tit mouse have baies in a trash can in my shed with a pair of pruners in it,i actually went& bought some pruners so as not to disturb,she ate some seed drying out in there so do that indoors now(yes i have assorted containers drying out on dresser in bedroom.hubby reminds me all the time they are there.he really wishes i'd clean it off completely.....he has GOT to be nuts)have woodpeckers,finches,red birds bluejays eastern bluejays martins,mockingbirds.I need to know what birdbook to have for MY SETX area.i have a "national audubon society feild guide to birds eastern region" i got birds that ain't in ths book
I got a bird i hear out in woods at night & cannot locate so need somewhere to go where can hear BIRD SOUNDS.i got an endagered specias red headed woodpecker.he is loud,you KNOW when he is in yard.i know now who woodywoodpecker was done after,,,this bird.he's big but have yet to get a photo of him.hes flighty.got bird feeders out but they emptey pretty fast in winter.they don't go much in summer.oranges& apples do.the birds will eat them i put those out in the spring.got hawks got golden eagles.in fall/winter they roost up in tree down at bottom of hill.if know what they would eat(but did see a rabbit diappear from road one day,,,he was dead,so he didn't run off) could probably coax them down for a photo and sit in woods and wait on them.i know there hunting times..LOLI've got some nuthatches everywhere in yard right now.i have never seen this many at once.sparrows wax wings warblers are here alot in june july,they'll fly at you when feeder is empty.orioles,they eat most the fruit but blue jay will too but he runs everyone off& crows.they steele corn cobs out of my compost

I love bird watching - have been doing it for many years in all parts of the country - first NY, then Alaska, then Nevada, now back in NY! I hang a few suet feeders by my windows and have a long tube feeder hanging over my deck by my kitchen sliding doors.

I like all birds EXCEPT for the noisy grackles and crows. :p I CANNOT STAND THE NOISE THEY MAKE - it goes right to my nerves!!! One summer day I awoke to a racket of crows in the trees at the base of our backyard. Took a look and there must have been about 100 of them cheering on a "[BLEEP]" fight between 2 crows on the ground! Never saw or heard such a thing in my life - HORRIBLE!

On the bright side, I get 3 different kinds of woodpeckers - downy, red bellied, and northern flickers; many titmice, nuthatches, juncos, bluejays, goldfinches, cardinals,mockingbirds, assorted sparrows, wrens, hawks, hummingbirds in spring and summer - my favorites , and last summer I was happy so see a rare grosbeek and baltimore oriole.

My cats join me in my joy of birdwatching - for them it is "live TV"! They growl and chirp back at the birds and swish their bottoms and tails faster than you can blink - it's the most exercise they get all day - LOL Lynne

Hi Folks,
njoynit The bird you hear in the woods at night might be a tree FROG. They make some great noises.
Are birds seen'from my garden'the same as'in my garden'?( I think so)I live very close to a lake, so i see a lot of ducks and gulls through my scope and bins We have a few resident hawks,red tails, sharpies, ospreys.differant kinds of woodpeckers downy hairy pileated flickers.Only one kind of hummer a ruby throated that goes from feeder to flower all the time. Nests found in the yard this year are tree swallows mourning doves chick a dee house wren robins chipping sparrow grackles orioles goldfinch and sitting on a big pole is a 12 hole purple martin nest.The neighbour next door has blue birds i'm still waiting for them to come over the fence to my nest boxes.spring brings migrating nuthatches flycatchers vireos warblers L B J/sparrows (little brown jobies)do you know how many there are?.
Yes we do feed the bird but only in the winter with niger seeds for the finches peanut butter and lard for the woodpeckers peanuts for jays and black sunflower seeds for the rest I think split corn attracts too many squirrels and doves
Limey

BIED WATCHING? No, not exactly..
My housemate and gardening partner, JG, has this thing with bluejays.

Here at home, in our little garden, or on vacation,, JG seems to make fast friends with the local bird life. We have unsalted peanuts from the pet store that we keep in a little canister in the kitchen. Every time JG goes out the back door, a handfull of peanuts go, too. Our resident bluejay will land on her hand and select the largest nut, fly to a neighboring yard, and bury it. Check out our photo site and see one of her friends shot during our vacation this year... http://community.webshots.com/album/98729331lbCwNn

Wow, jc2weho! The only time I've been able to feed wildbirds, was about 25 years ago while cross country skiing at Lake Tahoe. We were having lunch, and the chickadees flew down to our hands to help themselves to bites of the bread on our sandwhiches! What a great experience that was

Lynne

Yes...there's something really touching about a wild bird taking food that you offer. The only drawback to attracting bluejays to our garden is that they like to steal our multi-colored marble top-dressing from our pots. We also have a fat little squirrel who takes our yellow marbles...no other color. He must have 100 of them by now. Poor thing, when he goes to dine this winter, he might wind up toothless! JG made up for it by buying "Critter Food" at the pet store and we have it up on the hillside in a gravity cat food feeder. Hoping he'll get SOME nutrients when it turnes cold

Bill!!!! <img border="0" alt="[tongue]" title="" src="graemlins/tongue.gif" />

Hey... there are your blue marbles....want them back now Hollywood????ROFL
Would those birds actually be stupid enough to swallow them....it could cause bowel obstruction and they could die!

There they are! Send that bird over here....My marbles are back!!!!!

Jillie will simply kill me, but I cound't help myself! I have published some shots of Jillie feeding the blue birdies in Cambria, CA. This is where she learned that the blue birdies would take peanuts from her hand. She also got me to feed them, but at home I just put the peanuts on an outdoor table. There are two shots of our Hollywood Hills Ollie, this bird will only dive off our neighbors roof when Jillie throws peanuts on the ground.

Look In Jillie and the Blue Birdies

jc2weho

How neat!!
Those birds are in your hands!!
How awesome to have a birdie
trust you that much to come in
to your hand!!!


A big purple bush in the background
caught my eye, what is it????
It's like right in the middle in the back!

Weezie

Hi Weezie,

Not too sure what that purple plant is. We rent this beautiful 1929 house in the woods when we go up to Cambria. The whole property is beautifully landscaped. See if this shot helps anyone identify it.



jc2weho

Well!

Thought that pic would have been full size here! Go to our webshots page to see the large one. Sorry!

Purple plant is last shot in Jill and the Blue Birdies

jc2weho

We don't have any shots of "Blue" yet (my granddaughter named him). He's the brave one here at the house that will land on my hand, my head, my shoulder...wherever I place a peanut. Ollie is his shy groupie that follows him wherever he goes, hoping for leftovers. Blue will chase him away if her gets too close to the peanut bounty (that's why he stays on the neighbor's roof, waiting for me to toss one while Blue's busy burying). We'll post Blue this weekend.

Here's "Blue" almost being too quick for the camera. He's not quite as relaxed and trusting as the Blujay in Cambria, but, we're working on him...

Check out "Blue"

Great pictures, Jillie!
I love all the colors in your yard - including the birds!!!

Thanks, plants!

Wow Jillie that is fantastic....been checking into digital cameras and some have a setting where you can do a rapid fire of 3. Have you tried that or is that what you are doing already! I know they are fast!

Feeding them right out of your hand must give you a major rush of adrenaline!

Cat, Hollywood just ordered a new digital (a self-Christmas gift!) that will do rapid-fire shots. Then, we'll be able to catch that quick little booger. I gotta tell you, those birds ARE thrilling....My heart pounds like mad when Blue comes in for a peanut. He watches our back door every morning and as soon as I go out to do a morning garden walk he's flapping around my hands looking for his snack. My face starts to hurt from grinning.

Wow!!
That is so neat...
I would imagine the thrill of it!!!
That'll keep your soul in good shape!!!
And laughing and smiling are very therapeutic!!!
Right>?>?

Weezie

Those are great pictures!!!

Sheeeeeeeesh!!! :rolleyes:

Mr. & Mrs. Downy Woodpecker are in the white birch tree just outside my window chirping up a storm today!!! They are all ruffled up because of the cold, and I have lots of suet cakes and seeds out there for them and their friends - wish I could let them inside to warm up for a spell!