Glad your goldfinches made it back. I haven't seen mine for a couple weeks, I thought I heard the sound of one the other day. I'll be off tomorrow, will see what stirs in the morning. I filled my feeders yesterday to make sure everyone got a snack to keep warm.

Gary

Thanks for this info, Marcia and for sharing your knowledge with us on this blustery day!

I get so much out of your posts and today I feel a little smarter than I did yesterday.

Love ya,
Susie

I have had great luck with goldfinches at this house, Gary. Probably better than anywhere I've ever lived, except Pennsylvania, where you can enjoy the "wild canaries" (as they call them up there) all summer long.

Perhaps yours have started heading north? Of course, if they left yesterday, they sure picked a bad night to be traveling. It was 26 here at 5:45am this morning. (Only 49 in my bedroom! Haha!)

Marcia

Thanks for the beuatiful shots!

Awww, Susie! Aren't you sweet! I'm SO glad that you have enjoyed my ramblings. I just love to share the interesting things that others have shared with me. Especially about wildlife of all sorts.

You take care down there, and STAY WARM! (It's still about 35 here!)

Marcia

You're welcome, GP. I wish I could say the big pretty ones were mine. Dang but I need a new camera!!! I want to take pictures like Beth and Maureen!! *turning slightly green with camera envy, here*

Marcia

Marcia
Is good to hear about the birds this chilly morning. It warms up the day. Thanks for sharing.
Willy

And it's still only 35? ! Boy, I'm glad we moved south when we left Sanford, as much as I hated to leave!

It was 39 each time I checked at 2:30am and 4:30am and now it's 48. But still too windy to have fun checking out the garden, although the walk to the post office earlier wasn't too bad. Thanks to Mr. Sun.

I hear all these lovely birds singing, but can't get to see them up in the foliage. What kind of bird seed do you get? Ours gets completely devoured by black birds and mockingbirds.

Susie

Susie, I like to use a variety of seeds when I have all my feeders out. Right now, I only have my tray up, and I tend to use a good songbird mix with plenty of sunflower seeds, peanuts, and sometimes fruit like dried cherries. That seems to attract a lot of birds. I often set out feeders with just safflower seeds, too. Squirrels don't like it, and cardinals & titmice LOVE it. (Avoid mixtures with a high percentage of MILO. In my experience, pretty much nothing eats it, so you have big piles of these BB sized seeds left over.)

When I get a lot of blackbirds hogging the tray, I put out smaller feeders for the other birds that they blackbirds can't perch on. The more feeders I have out, the more birds I get. If rats show up, I sic the dogs on 'em. They go away.

Yeah, it's pretty darn cold up here today. Luckily, I don't mind, though I really wish it would quit actually FREEZING and killing things. 48 sounds pretty good to me. My ideal temps are 40's at night and 60's in the daytime. I wouldn't care if it never got warmer than that.

BTW, mockingbirds aren't really seed eaters and will usually only come to feeders that have fruit mixtures, or that might have some insects in the seed. This is not to say none of yours have been indulging in a different diet. Summer tanagers aren't seed eaters, either, and yet, I have had one at my feeder for several days, eating peanuts right and left. Along with a warbler who is supposed to be an insect eater, too. Go figger!

Marcia

It's cold here. It was in the teens when I took Pinocchio
out this morning. He started barking at me to take him back in,poor little fellow.
I broke the ice on one of the bird bath but in no time it froze again,hard. The brook and pond are not frozen,so the wild life have water to drink.
Marcia, I think I'll go out again and look for birds.
Thanks for your know-legeable information. I'm glad your brain is not frozen. Mine is.
Felix

Thanks Marcia for the songbird/milo tip. (*Writin' it down for the next trip to "town".)

Since mockingbirds don't eat seed, I have def misidentified some other culprits and gave poor mockingbirds a bad rap! But I don't know my birds (except robins and cardinals and green singing finches and Quakers) so I will be more on the lookout and try to learn their names.

So keep putting your photos and wisdom out there for us, okay?

Susie
....the wind has died down and thermometer says 56 degrees, so time to get out the spray paint for some wrought iron tables I found in the trash. . . I loved your blue things in your garden pics, so I'm doing things in cobalt, too. . .

Susie

Great pictures Marcia. My neighbor had a bird feeder which we enjoyed but eventually rats started showing up in broad daylight to get seeds which fell to the ground, so he took it out. I'd like to start another one but I'm afraid my neighbor would be most unhappy once the rats show up again....Anyway, seeing your pictures inspired me to download these pictures and finally look at them. They're not very good because my poor little digital only has a 3X zoom, but I though I'd post them as I was thrilled a few Sundays ago when I woke up to this.

Tom, I hear ya about the 3X zoom. It's just not enough for wildlife. My next one will have at LEAST a 5x. How wonderful to have otters outside your house!! They are so beautiful and fun to watch. I love them!! And there's not a rat born that would keep me from putting up a feeder. I generally sic the dogs on them, and they quit coming around. But if I didn't have dogs, I'd go to Plan B. You can keep them out of the feeders the same way you do squirrels, with baffles, etc. And a catch tray under the feeder, but on top of the baffle, keeps spilled seed off the ground. (That's what usually attracts them anyway.)
My life would be so impoverished without my birdfeeders and visitors. I couldn't stand it.

SusieQ, I really was not ruling out a mockingbird at your feeder. Stranger things have happened. GENERALLY, they only eat insects and fruit, but as I say...the birds don't always read the bird books, and sometimes choose to do something unexpected. I never thought I'd see a summer tanager eating seed, either, but he's been here several days in a row now.

Mockingbirds are handsome grey birds with white along the outside edges of the tail. About the size of robins, but looking a bit less chunky and having longer tails, they are common enough in backyards to have been chosen as our state bird. Here's a picture that might help you decide if your feeder is being visited by one.

Hope this helps!

Marcia

You can keep them (rats) out of the feeders the same way you do squirrels, with baffles, etc. And a catch tray under the feeder, but on top of the baffle, keeps spilled seed off the ground. (That's what usually attracts them anyway.)

I'm sold, I'll set something up ;-)

Good for you, Tom! You know, whether folks want to admit it or not, there isn't a yard in Florida that doesn't get a nighttime visit from rats now and then. They are there, period.

For me, they are only a problem if they become too bold in the daytime, but as I say, my little dachshund, Potter, is death on rats. I once saw him catch one in midair as it tried to leap to a fence, and one shake of his head was all it took. Instantly dead rat. It didn't take those rodents long to learn to stay away from the feeder area, and Potter makes daily (and nightly) patrols anywhere he thinks one might have been. He's not having it!

I'm sure you can set up a system that will let you enjoy your birds and not be pestered by an overwhelming number of rats. Can't promise you'll never see ONE now and then, but you might do that even without the feeder. And if you set it up right, they don't have to be a major problem.

Good luck!!!

Marcia

Tom and Cath, I refrained for years from putting up bird feeders, but then finally put them really close to the house. Now we have a family of cardinals that visit regularly and don't get upset if we're in our "cage" - the screened porch. Visitors are enthusiastic about how wonderful it is. So am I.

There is one bird visitor that I haven't been able to identify. He has a brilliant solid orange breast and brown/grey or brown topfeathers. He's shy, too. I love watching and providing for our fine feathered friends.

Marcia,

Wonderful stuff. I just put another collar, with a bell, on the cat this week. He loses them periodically, but I consider them as essential as food for the little beast because he once brought in a bird he'd caught, and it was a goldfinch. I've never seen one in the yard, and with him around, plus the dogs, I don't blame them for not coming by. I haven't done feeders for that reason _ I don't want to lure birds into vulnerable positions with my beasts lurking around.

Though I got a hummingbird feeder for Christmas that I'm trying to find the right spot for.

Any suggestions? I'm assuming full sun would be a bad idea, and I'm hoping for somewhere near a window. Plus somewhere that the kitty can't access, for those rare times when he's ditched his collar and I haven't put another on him yet (we actually buy them in bulk at this point, like toilet paper, so I'm never without one, and never find another goldfinch under the dining table.)

Susannah

Hi, Marilyn! Glad you are enjoying your cardinals. Keep a close eye out, though...this time of year, you could have a wider selection of visitors to entertain you.

Susannah, I can't help you on the cat situation (not that you actually asked for help). I don't allow my cats outside. Never have. The average life expectancy of an outdoor cat in this country is 2 years, compared to 15+ for indoor cats. So mine are housecats. Birds react to movement more rapidly than they do to noise, so there are varying opinions among experts on the effectiveness of belling cats. However, if it seems to be working for you, that's great. I never argue with success. But I would be much more concerned with what harmful thing my cats might get into if they were allowed outside. I can't bring myself to take that chance.

Full sun is a bad idea for hummingbird feeders for two reasons...one, they tend to heat up and leak (drip, drip, drip) in the sun. And two, the sugar water ferments faster and has to be replaced more often. If you have a plant in full sun that casts some shade, that is doable. Generally, the suggested way to proceed with a new hummer feeder is to place it among or close to blooming plants that attract hummers. They will discover it there when they are feeding at the plants (like salvias, coral honeysuckle, petunias, etc). Then, you start moving it a bit at a time, closer and closer to the house or window where you would like to have it for optimum viewing. The hummers will follow it.

All feeders need to be close enough to cover (shrubs, trees, etc) for birds to have a safe place to head when trouble shows up, but far enough away from cover that predators can't lie in wait for them. So, that part's a balancing act.

Often, there is a lot of trial and error involved in getting your feeders set just the way you want them, but it's SO worth it. I'm happy to see so many people that want to entice birds into their gardens.

Good luck!!

Marcia