It has been a great spring/summer so far at my bird feeders. I currently have a seed feeder with a songbird mix, a feeder with black sunflower seed, several thistle feeders/socks, a few suet blocks, and a platform with peanuts. Oh, and a hummingbird feeder.
I get the common birds daily. Goldfinches, numerous sparrows and finch species, cardinals, blue jays, grackles galore, robins, brown headed cowbirds, chickadees, wrens, nuthatches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, flickers, etc are seen everyday.
Two new additions have been out there recently. I saw Baltimore orioles last week. Very cool, since my gf (who lives 3 miles away) does not have orioles. They appear to have taken up residence in a big tulip tree in the woods behind my house. I have hung a nectar feeder for them and have picked up a feeder to offer orange halves.
Then, this weekend I saw a bird that was new to me. It was chowing down on the suet and at first I thought it was another woodpecker, but then I took a closer look. It was a rose breasted grosbeak, and it continued to feed all through the weekend. Pretty cool.
Yes! Last week, our daughter saw a Purple Finch at our feeders. Well, a few of them…not just one. That’s the latest newcomer to our place! I didn’t see them until Saturday. Very pretty little birds!
Nothing new at the feeders this year so far, but we have a pretty extensive house list. Currently nesting in boxes we have Bluebirds, house wrens and chickadees. I need to check to see if the Red Breasted Nuthatches have staked out a box.
The hummers aren’t here yet, but I have tons of Cardinal Flower and Scarlet Runner Beans ready to go into bloom, so I expect they will be here shortly!
Thanks, vetbridge! Yes. They were definitely Purple Finches.
I wonder why we only see the males at the feeders? I’m sure there were females there, also, but I didn’t pay much attention. I was too busy watching the males, as they are so beautiful! They just stand out more, I suppose. The females are rather drab in comparison, which is why I probably ignored them.
I really need to stop doing that.
We haven’t had any “new” birds this year so far at our feeders.
I did see a different bird one day in the tree…I think it might have been a female oriole but I am not sure as it didn’t hang around too long and I haven’t seen it return.
I just checked my my birding book and I had marked seeing a rose breasted grosbeak on “04-28-03”!!! Come back little birdie!!!
We do see purple finches and house finches regularly at our thistle seed feeder. Many times they are right along side the goldfinches.
This year we have a robin’s nest in a low-hanging tree branch so we are keeping tabs on them daily. Can’t wait for the little ones to hatch!!!
I saw a bird on a tree limb the other day, and I don’t know what it was. It was red, like a cardinal, but had a different beak, no crest and seemed smaller. I couldn’t see the tail. It’s wings were red. Who knows - maybe it was just a young male cardinal and I was mistaken about the beak. Does anyone have a clue?
Here in the Seattle area, we’re being encouraged to take our feeders down for the summer because of a salmonella outbreak. The less birdies getting sick, the better.
Tikki - That’s it, I’m almost positive! Thanks so much!
Vetbridge - I’m bookmarking that site. BTW - this year I bought dog Advantage for my cats and I’m dosing it down. It’s so much less expensive than Feline Advantage. On e-bay I bought enough flea product (Extra-large Frontline Plus dosed down for the dogs, because of ticks, and Advantage for the cats) that I did 4 large dogs and 4 cats for 4 months for $115 including shipping.
Rose-breasted grosbeak, eh? Those are cool! My friends up the hill have them but I haven’t seen any by my feeder. I’ve actually taken my feeders down because…well, because I used up the food I had and figured they can make it on their own till the fall. I may put out a birdbath when it gets hotter.
Our property (50 acres) is kinda’ becoming an impromptu wildlife preserve…
we have a family of deer (5 deer) that are so unafraid of people that we can practically walk up and pet them, i can pull into the driveway after work, get out of the car, close the door with a solid thunk, and the deer just look up with an expression of “oh, it’s you” and go back to eating
we have the requisite Cardinals, Chickadees, Bluejays, red-winged Blackbirds, and suchlike, the Chickadees are especially fearless, i was within arms-reach of a feeder and they were landing and eating out of it
we have a small family of wild turkeys on the land, and our latest visitor, a male Ringnecked Pheasant, he’s also rather brave, and self assured, he’ll walk within a good 20 feet or so of you and either trumpet his presence, or make that wierd scrapy-metal sounding call, he’s one loud bird, if you’ve never heard a pheasant call before, it’s very loud and unexpected, one call is a standard caw/shriek sort of thing, the other one literally sounds like two pieces of metal scraping together…
I had a pair of indigo buntings but they were only here for about a week and I haven’t seen them now for a couple of weeks. Just passing through, perhaps.
