The snow is so piled up that when I went out to refill the feeders, I surprised a little red squirrel who was munching on something on the ground. He sped into his tunnel at the base of the right side of the birdy area and reappeared at top of the far left corner of the birdy area. He picked up a peanut and was munching on that. I piled some corn pellets at the entrances to his tunnels.
Also I had just refilled the chalet feeder and came back out to see a tiny sparrow pecking away at the chalet feed (a fruit/seed chickadee mix). He didn’t seem fazed by me being there; he kept pecking away. I stink at bird IDs, but I am assuming it was a tree sparrow because it had a yellow beak and red/brown spot on his forehead.
We’ve seen bunny and deer tracks in the yard but not right by the feeders, and my father saw a big hoofprint he thinks had to be bigger than a deer! Moose?!
Well, I did have a red tailed hawk eviscerating a house sparrow on my backyard porch a few days ago. We get a fair number of house sparrows, house finches, chickadees, downy and hairy woodpeckers, mourning doves, and cardinals, among others.
A cooper’s hawk–usually I just see the remains of the victims, not the hawk itself. There are also a pair of ladderback woodpeckers hanging around and I saw a flicker woodpecker down the street. The variety of birds has dropped off in the past few years.
In Kentucky we had two rough winters in '77 and '78. In '77 we had snipe living on the creek (yes, they are real) and we’d break up the ice so the birds could feed. In '78 the snow drove northern birds to our area and at the feeder we saw pine siskins, which we’d never seen before.
The heavy snows of '78 melted and caused plants to grow, which provided food for brown rats, which also availed themselves of the birdfeeders.
In the heavily wooded area of our backyard, we have a pair of Piliated Woodpeckers. They are huge birds, and very impressive looking. I had a Northern Flicker on my suet feeder last week. It was a beautiful bird, and I had never seen a real one before.
Two times in the past month I’ve gone out to the three season porch, to see two Carolina Wrens trying to find a way back out. They are such cute, little birds.
We get the typical birds* for this woody part of New Hampshire - tit mice, chickadees, a few types of woodpeckers, nut hatches, dark-eyed juncos (my favorite birds), cardinals, blue jays, occasionally a goldfinch or rose-breasted grosbeak etc. Pretty much any bird that loves black oil sunflower seeds. We get both kinds of humming birds that live in NH at those feeders too.
But when I was in the nearest city a year or so ago I saw something at a feeder I’ve never seen before: a pigeon! I had no idea they ate seeds.
*I wonder why we never get sparrows at our feeders, though. Sparrows eat seeds, and they’re native to NH. Never seen a single one, though. Almost never finches of any type either
It was -8 here in Ohio this morning. At dawn there were 6 grey squirrels lined up to take their turn on the bird feeder (although with 6 squirrels there isn’t much seed left for the birds!) I sprinkle some cracked seeds on the ground and that draws in the sparrows, junkos and finches.
And as a welcome sign of spring, one of the goldfinches had his mating colors on. A bright spot of gold amid all the brown!
We don’t have bird feeders, but have plenty of birds and bird-like critters, nonetheless. Lots of sparrows, common grackles, starlings, bluejays, cardinals (saw two last week!), red-bellied woodpeckers, at least one red tailed hawk (we’ve either seen the same one a bunch of times or several different ones on separate occasions), mourning doves, seagulls and wild turkeys. Canada geese occasionally fly over, but have never landed in my yard or trees. Spotted a goldfinch a couple years ago. I’ve never seen a pigeon in the vicinity of my house. Also, bats - lots of bats in the summer (I know a bat isn’t a bird, BTW).
I love the Goldfinches. They come to my feeders in droves and are happy to camp out and gorge themselves. They are supposed to love nyjer seed, but they seem to leave that feeder alone and instead go for the hulled sunflower seed I have in the other 3 feeders. As do the Chickadees, House Finches, Nuthatches, Titmice, Purple Finches, Carolina Wrens, Cardinals, Song Sparrows, and Redpolls. The Dark Eyed Juncos and Mourning Doves happily eat what falls to the ground.
My favorites are the Redpolls. they have a yellow bill, red cap, and a black goatee.
Dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves (my favorite because they’re so placid), blue jays and crows are the everyday ones. Usually the jays eat off the ground but lately they’ve been going at the feeders. I wonder if it’s because the snow is so deep around the birdy area that they would feel hemmed in/trapped?? Anyway, what they spill gets snarfed up by the doves.
Mourning dove, Whitewing dove, Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Robins and Cardinals, a few tit mice and Carolina Wrens. They all have their space and place and fuss loudly whenever it’s violated. Most are local, except the dove.
Sometimes the wrens will nest in my hanging baskets, especially when it’s cold, and when I go to water them and the little buggers explode out, well… I almost water myself.
I haven’t had good luck with hummingbirds. I put out the red feeder and it just splashes and attracts ants to the porch. The only time I actually saw a hummingbird was this drenched one sheltering under the porch during Hurricane Irene!
He picked up a peanut and was munching on that. I piled some corn pellets at the entrances to his tunnels.