Really OT. Anyone else feeds birds and are interested in the various type?

[WVUBRU]

of birds. My wife and I both came from families that were always feeding birds in the backyard and for the 20+ years of our marriage, we have as well. In addition, ever since childhood I have been interested in birds of prey specifically.

If anyone is interested in backyard birds, I have an interesting conversation/question to ask. But to keep from being too strange, I will wait to see if someone else is interested.

 

[moe]

I've got a feeder about 8 feet away from a large window where two cats stare and salivate but they can't figure out why, when I let them out that the birds go away. They have caught a couple though, cats will do that but I think the bird populations will recover. I'm just a casual bird watcher but what is your question?

 

[WVUBRU]

As you should know, the Easter Bluebird is probably the most coveted bird to watch from a bird watcher's perspective. Absolutely beautiful, beautiful cadence, great to attract to nest on your property and a massive eater of insects that will improve one's yard and gardens. Bluebirds typically only eat insects and in the winter, will occassionally eat berries. Typically, they will never visit a feeder as the don't like seeds and they typically won't come close to a house. They like perching on branches or poles or phone wires or anything they can see insects down on the ground. For the past month, we have had a young male bluebird visiting our feeder. He will sit there forever and it appears he is picking through the seeds looking for insects or larve. I have never witnessed this behavior in the many years I've been watching birds feed. Have you?

 

[mneilmont]

Don't know if it was restricted to blue or not, but when we lived in WV, wife would stock large feeders in the winter time. Some birds would scratch out more feed than I cared to supply/waste. She confirmed that it was bluebird without telling her of your experience.

She would also hang the seed balls - about 1' diameter. They would be destroyed about as fast as she(me) would hang them.

 

[moe]

The black sunflower seeds I put out have little stems and junk in it and certain birds will just sit there and pick out the non-edible parts and discard them while other birds will fly in, get a couple of seeds and take off. Not sure why the difference but some birds are decisive (and more wary of the cats?) and others are quite picky and will sit there longer it seems.

 

[Popeer]

Re: Birds and critters in general

We have three feeders in the front and two in the back, which we fill with a mix of foods -- basic birdseed plus sunflower hearts, in a couple, black oil sunflower seeds and peanut halves in another, and plain sunflower seeds in another. And you name it, we've had it -- mourning doves, wrens and sparrows of every description, chickadees, nuthatch, tufted titmouse, junco, downy woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, cowbirds, starlings, crows, squirrels, and the occasional chipmunk.

I keep storage tubs full of the mixtures in the basement, and I've discovered tiny moths in the basic birdseed mix, so it could be that your birdseed has moth larvae in it and that's what the bluebird is after.



This post was edited on 2/24 3:19 PM by Popeer

 

[bornaneer]

Interestingly, we just were listening to a bird guy who...

stated that bird feeders needed to be cleaned out and sanitized on regular basis. He said a lot of diseases were transmitted to birds if this was not done. I did not catch how often it was needed. He said to wash with hot soapy water and then soak in a 5 gallon bucket with a disinfectant and water for several hours. We have a Purple Martin house that houses many birds, (no Purple Martins) , and we have never cleaned it out. It is always full of birds. We do not have any feeders, we just throw stuff out to them on a regular basis.

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: LOL. I hear ya.

Original bluebird behavior question is below but since you mention woodpeckers which is also one of my favoirites, have you had the pleasure of seeing a pileated woodpecker? I don't know where you live but they are truly forest animals. I've only had the pleasure of spotting one on two seperate occassions in the North Georgia Mountains. Simply amazing birds and very rare to see.
This post was edited on 2/24 3:20 PM by WVUBRU

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: Interestingly, we just were listening to a bird guy who...

I don't believe most feeders will need cleaned. If you have feeders that allow birds to get into and if you have birdhouses, yes they need to be cleaned. Birds do carry a lot of bad bacteria and will transmit diseases. Never pick up a dead bird with your bare hands is one of the golden rules of nature.

 

[Popeer]

Re: LOL. I hear ya.

We live in Northern Virginia about 10 miles south of DC, and even though we have a lot of woods around our townhouse neighborhood I haven't seen or heard a pileated woodpecker here. But who knows, with turkeys walking down the street nothing would surprise me.

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: LOL. I hear ya.

Turkeys are not all that rare. I see them often in metro ATL and very often see them on golf courses. Beautiful birds but I'm on the side of the belief they are dumb animals. That is a huge argument in the bird world. Some people think they are brilliant.

If you ever go camping or are in the state parks or forest, study up on the pileated woodpecker so you know what you are looking for. I would have to check myself on their habitat but Virginia may be too far North. A Pileated Woodpecker is about 4 times the size of a Red-Headed Woodpecker with a huge wingspan. If you search the internet hard enough, there is a certain type of Woodpecker that is extinct and some people in Arkansas claim they have witnessed the extinct variety (I forget the exact type of Woodpecker it is called). Most likely they are seeing a Pileated Woodpecker which is also very rare to witness.

I know I am a nerd but I find this type of stuff fascinating and always a sucker to read articles on nature when I see them pop up on CNN or Yahoo homepage.

 

[bornaneer]

Do you have problems with squirrels? ....

The last feeder we had out was a large open platform type with a roof. Even though we had it mounted on a high pole the squirrels would always find some ingenious way to get to the food. Also here, if you are interested, is a link to a eagle nest camera near Shepherdstown WV that we watch

http://outdoorchannel.com/eaglecam

 

[rog1187]

Re: LOL. I hear ya.

Not sure if turkeys are smart or dumb, but they can be difficult to get into range when hunting...one thing is for sure when they're on a hen, there isn't much you can do to get them away and to you. I had two Toms with a hen about 100 yards from me last year...they put on quite a show for a little over an hour until they followed the hen down the hill and out of range.

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: Do you have problems with squirrels? ....


Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Yes, anyone that has a backyard feeder will have issues with squirrels. Best feeders on the market that will 100% guarantee no squirrels are the Droll Yankee feeders in the link above. The Dipper, Flipper, Tipper and the funnest one is the Wipper. I had the Whipper for years until it broke and a squirel will only try once trying to get food out of this contraption. Hilarious to watch a squrel get flung. I currently have a Dipper and a Tipper and squirels will learn not to even try.

If you don't want to spend money on these very expensive feeders, the best thing to do is connect a fine wire between two trees or poles or something. Then hang feeders off of that. Squirels can't walk on the wire but you must keep it high off the ground and away from something that the squirels will jump to the feeder.

Best feeders

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: Correction. It is the Flipper that is hilarious, not the Whipper.**

eom

 

[JLW71073]

I used to feed the birds for years and then I ended up with a squirrel problem and they kept tearing up my feeders so I gave up.

I've decided I will get back into the hobby starting this Spring. I'm really looking for to it. My father-in-law has a bunch of feeders at their house in Ohio. He gets so many birds and so many different types of birds that it's fascinating to watching them just on the back deck.

He's a finish carpenter and has built these peanut feeders for the larger birds that eat that type of food. He sells them through his craft business.

 

[eerfan58]

Ivory billed woodpecker is the one thats very likely extinct.


I've seen pileated in both WV and Va, though only a couple of times.

As for your bluebird question, I get them all the time in my bird bath.

 

[Snow Sled Baby]

my wife buys 70 lbs of birdseed every two weeks

and I can count 6 feeding stations in a 150x150 yard......does that qualify?

 

[Snow Sled Baby]

Lyle my border collie takes care of the squirrels and cats


the birds are used to him now

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: Ivory billed woodpecker is the one thats very likely extinct.


Cool pic. Yes, my wife's grandmother also get them in her bath as well. If it wasn't for the darn mosquitos, I too would have a bath.

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: my wife buys 70 lbs of birdseed every two weeks

LOL.

Check out walmart right now. Down here, they have 40lb bags of black sunflower seeds from Pennington for $16 which is an incredible deal. I stocked up.

 

[Original Mountaineer1]

Re: Lyle my border collie takes care of the squirrels and cats

I have a dog that is part border collie. She ran down a baby rabbit once.......she sniffed it and ran back to me. Odd behavior. She loves all animals

 

[Snow Sled Baby]

you mentioned a pilated (sp) woodpecker....is that the same


as what they call an Indian Hen?........and how have your hummingbird sightings been the last couple of years....we used to have dozens...some even living here and we only saw 3 all last year

 

[Snow Sled Baby]

Re: Lyle my border collie takes care of the squirrels and cats


Lyle hates other dogs and cats...he thinks he's what we are....when we first got him (he's 12 now) he would herd us...used to nip....hurt like hell!......but I think they'd have to be right up there with beagles as the smartest dog

 

[WVUBRU]

Re: you mentioned a pilated (sp) woodpecker....is that the same

never heard of an Indian Hen so I don't kow. Humingbirds migration is predictable but where they are going to feed, very unpredictable. Last year, I had a good year. But sometimes, my neighbor will report how many he has and I may get one and then it will be vice versa. I think certain types and the age of the bird will like different type of feeders and different food that you put in it.

My recipe is simple. 4 parts of water to 1 part sugar. Bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Turn off heat and let it cool down a little. Clean the feeder well (Hummingbirds won't visit a dirty feeder) and switch out your food every week. Twice a week is even better.

 

[moe]

Re: Do you have problems with squirrels? ....

I bought a squirrel proof feeder at Lowes last year for a very reasonable cost, bet I didn't pay $30 for it, holds about 3 quarts of sunflower seeds, works great.
This post was edited on 2/24 5:17 PM by moe

 

[Motown Mounty_rivals]

I don't... but I do have a gay neighbor who does**

q

 

[moe]

Re: Lyle my border collie takes care of the squirrels and cats

I like beagles but they're apparently not too intelligent which I'd heard before, ranked here as #72 out of 79.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intelligence_of_Dogs