I was sitting in my chair watching TV and the bird feeder. Yesterday, I saw the Red Bellied Woodpecker on the suet feeder. This morning a pair of Gold Finches on a feeder. They were in there winter colors. I am amazed at the picture quality of my Samsung phone from 15 ft thru the sliding door.
We get several of the gold finch variety here. If you ever want to witness pure mayhem and mob mentality, try some thistle. Load up the feeders and back away!
I also have the shots, but mine are through a fine screen, and it always queers the details. Last time I took out the screen it got scrunched, so Mamma nixes that move. So we just look and appreciate them.
That redbelly woodpecker looks like a small version of the 4 we have. She feeds em a steady diet of suet, so they are bulked up, Winter weight is impressive, as are their coats. Our Cardinals are all looking good right now too.
Sorry Birdie, we can't all be blessed with toilet trained birds... I'm sitting in my chair between birdshit that was cleaned up 2 days ago just to be re-deposited on queue. Wouldn't mind if it was out in the open, but it's under enclosed cover... Seems like birds in my area like to shit in privacy and comfort, out of the elements. I'd run out of film if I snapped every dropping.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
LBD, there are dog/cat shaming websites where people post a picture of the offender with a placard stating their "crime". Funny stuff, perhaps you could start one with a lineup of your local hooligans? Peer pressure is a powerful thing 😢
Heck Duckie, we have a covered back porch, and none of our flock poops on our furniture. I think you need to feed them better, make em friends, cause right now I'd say they don't like you too much. Poop divin your belongings is a sure sign of angry birds.
We have a lot of hummingbirds in the summer and early fall. Always fun to see them.
My favorite bird sightings were while kayaking in Oregon while on vacation. Several times we saw a bald eagle around this part of the creek. Guess it was a favorite fishing spot! Was amazing
my dad retired to southern oregon and i remember in the spring summer he had two feeders and i counted 23 hummers at one time feeding. his wife would make a quart of juice every morning. it was amazing to watch them fight for a spot on the feeders. they can get real nasty with each other.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
I was taking a pic of something else today, and looked to see if there were any birds out eating the food my Wife just brought to them? First thing there was a Bully Bird, my name for a Blue Jay. I love them, but they show up, and Lord over the feedlot like it's all theirs, thus Bully Birds.
They are way too big to eat out of the feeder, so they have to pluck it off the ground where the smaller birds shook some out when they climb inside.
He's got some fine feathering on, most are pretty showy by now, and the Males carry that into Spring to woo the Females.
As I was watching a Brother dropped in. It's funny, when it's nice out, one will not tolerate another eating his food, but at 4 degrees and with a 20 MPH wind, ahhhh, it's good.
The one was nervous. I'm standing right in the closest window, and the sun is glaring at the lens that time of day, so I imagine a lot of flashing light can be seen outside, kinda scares them off when I point the lens at them.
I had been seeing a pair of Downey Woodpeckers, but having a hard time getting a good pic. They were hanging on the SE side of the tree. That wind is dead out of the NW, so they are using it as a wind block. You can see the Female on the side of the tree, just a bit. Once in a while she would turn her head toward me, and I could see her beak, but mostly it was a, that bump is bigger now than it was before kind of thing, and that I know they do this to stay warmer.
She is on the tree with her back right up against it. He was too, but was moving more, I think he was hungry.
Finally he moved to the feeder, but on that tree you can see they are there, but there isn't much chance of a good pic from that window. When he moved to the big cake feeder I got a few shots of him. He starts away, then moves closer, and closer, but that Fing Grackle on the cake kept him away. I bet he was thinking Grrrrrrrrrrr ackle....
Finally the Grackle left, and he fed, might still be feeding. This too is funny. The Downies won't approach feed that the bigger grackles are using, BUT the Grackles will not come back to feed until the Downy is done eating. I and my Wife believe it's because the Downies, bigger Cousins the Red Bellies, just whip up on the Grackles every time they show up to eat. Now the RB's won't bother the much smaller wrens, and chickadees if they want some of the cake, but a Grackle, and it's on like Donkey Kong. I guess they dislike them like we do. :-)
On a sad note for the Grackles, we spotted our resident Coopers Hawk, and he was munching on yet another Grackle. He eats off the feeders all the time, sometimes I believe he only get's a few suicidal mice all Winter, the majority of his feed is Grackles. Seems all the others go poof when he comes around, likely just smart enough NOT to get eaten by a Hawk, at least smarter than the Grackles. Didn't that used to be a TV show, Jeff Foxworthy I believe.
I've only seen one Cardinal today, must be feed closer to the roost. Still no poop on the furniture out back, and a lot of the smaller birds are roosting there during the day, most of the time it's out of the wind, covered overhead, and would offer a bit of water close by, and those that like it, the Thistle is out back. All of them are just BROWN right now, pretty drab to look at. The Jays, Woodpeckers, and Cardinals are the ones we see that are all lit up right now. Saw a few Wood Ducks on our creek yesterday, and the Drakes were lit up VERY well. They jumped and flew back toward me when I starting crunching on the ice in the truck, and even in flight you could clearly see them being beautiful.
