Great pictures Konrad! The other day I noticed a couple of robins here. I wonder what that could mean, that the birds are eating up all the berries early? Hard winter here? Or if they're filling up before heading south, maybe a hard winter down south? I guess by about April, we'll know one way or another!LOL

I found it very strange this fall. I commented to my husband several times that the robins should have been long gone. And they seemed to be flocking up, which I had never seen before. I thought maybe my memory was deceiving me.

I can't remember where i heard this, but there is a race of northern robins that comes down later in the fall each year before they leave for the south. (Actually, people often say that robins don't migrate, but i find that hard to believe). Our regular robins are usually gone by the middle of August, but these northern ones come in September and usually stay for a couple of weeks. They do seem to be hanging on a lot later this year, even through the snow.

Of course, i just heard or read this somewhere and could be completely off-base about this. Maybe Pudge knows - she's an experienced birder.

LOL, a big birdfeeder in your yard does not an experienced birder make. All it gets you is 'crazy bird lady lives down that street' comments.

We still have robins around, a flock of about 2 dozen and the snow and cold hasn't sent them packing just yet. A big gang of Bohemian Waxwings just moved into town - some competition for the fruit trees.

There have been robins overwinter in Regina but I've never seen any spend the winter here.

I've read something similar, Marcia, about these 'northern' robins. The way I understand it, all robins are migratory. But the ones we are seeing now are slightly bigger, richer in colour, and have landed up here from much further north. Depending on food supply, they will continue to move south. It seems like it's really late in the year for them to be here, but I don't really think it is just yet.

Anyone really interested can check out birdingonthe.net - choose 'Regional/Specialty' then scroll down to the Canadian provinces. Birdwatchers post their sightings daily from various points in the province.

Nice photos, Konrad.

Did I hear correctly that we're getting an El nino this year? That means milder winter right? But now that I'm thinking about this, birds respond to hours of daylight for migrations don't they and not temperatures? Haven't seen any robins up here for a while now. Lots of finches and snow buntings.
Toots

Going to check out that site, Pudge. Sounds neat. Do you go on the GW birder forum? Keep meaning to check it out, just haven't got around to it.

I also noticed large numbers of robins eating the mountain ash berries this fall. It will also be slim pickings on the nannyberry, the preferred food for the bohemian waxwings in my yard. The robins also spent a lot of time in the bird bath before it froze solid. They were lined up taking turns!

Pudge, I checked out the site you recommended and also spent some time on the GW birding forum. I was thinking it would be nice to have a Canadian version of the bird forum on GW. I find GW an easy site to manoeuvre in.

Thank you all!....and for your observation!!

Well....the Robins are gone in my neighbour hood!....the mountain ash berries too!
I guess we will see, what the rest of the winter brings!

Pudge
Have not seen any Bohemian Waxwings yet.
Konrad

There's still a large group of robins here. I noticed a whole bunch of them under & around a crab apple tree the other day. All the fruiting trees produced really heavy this year so no doubt the good food supply is the reason they're still about.

My chokecherries, however, did not fruit much at all for some reason. Watching the birds chow down on them usually guarantees me some entertainment (and purple bird-poop on the driveway).

Toots, you're right that the amount of daylight hours is their signal to begin migration, and they've got to get to where their food food source is. I was just thinking how it's funny that robins eat worms all summer long and then turn into fruit eaters in the fall. Then I quickly remembered how they chomped up my strawberries in the summmer so I guess yeah, they do like fruit in the summer, too.

The Sandhill Cranes have been passing over this last week, and up until a few days ago there were still thousands and thousands of geese (Canada/Snow) about 3 miles east of town near the lagoon and an uncombined crop. I didn't hear them yesterday so perhaps they've gone now.

At the big birdfeeder, to entertain me I normally have a few dozen Dark Eyed Juncos and 25 Pine Siskin, lots of Black-capped Chickadees, (I'm wondering if I'll see the Boreal chickadees again this year) and a few Harris's and White Throated Sparrows. Flying in to visit & feed several times a day are 4 Hairy & at least 2 Downy Woodpeckers and Bluejays (there have been up to 6 in the yard at once). I had a few White Breasted Nuthatch and a Common Redpoll visiting for a while, but it appears they've moved on, or else I won't see them again until the snow starts to fly again. Ravens and Magpies fly over occasionally but normally don't hang out in the yard. A Northern Shrike also comes a-calling, but his main purpose is to hunt for his breakfast (shrikes kill small birds) so I'm not too excited to see him too often. The Bohemian Waxwings will roost in my front yard trees but without any chokecherries this year, I don't have anything for them to munch on in my yard. Plenty enough around the neighborhood, though.

I had a lot of robins around last week too. My favourite birds to watch are woodpeckers; there are downy and hairy ones around my yard all the time with all the old trees. So I bought a woodpecker feeder and hung it up on the weekend. Never been much of a birder but I love woodpeckers and the waxwings when they are around too.

Anyone know if woodpeckers migrate?

We usually see woodpeckers off and on throughout the winter. What's your woodpecker feeder like, Gil? What do they have in it, suet?

I thought I had seen them around in the winter too. The feeder is a little wire cage with a bar of nuts and stuff in it. I hope woodpeckers eat that, the package said they do but packages are stupid sometimes. We used to put out suet but it always got eaten by crows & bluejays. Maybe I will get a suet one too. Give the poor little things heart attacks. LOL

LOL

I bought some of those seed bells and hung them on some of the different shepherd's hook thingies in the yard, four of them so far. The chickadees and juncoes really like them. For the jays, i put out peanuts every few days. They eat them like pigs!

Meant to mention - we still had robins here yesterday, but i didn't notice any today. Hopefully they get smart pretty soon and head south!

Gil, I tried those bars last year and nothing touched them. I have Flickers and Sapsuckers nesting right in the yard and it could be that its just them that don't like it, though, because they probably keep the other species from hanging around. I never had chickadees coming then, so I wonder if they would have like them better, too. I have them now though. They are so cheery.
Our neighbor puts out a leg bone of whatever and the downy woodpeckers and chickadees love it.

We see woodpeckers through the winter. I think the flickers leave though.

Pudge, I never realized Robins were fruit eaters. Learn something new everyday. The cranes passed through here a few weeks ago. Aren't they something to watch? Such big birds but they're so graceful in the air. We usually see more than what I saw this year. Not sure if I just missed them or what. I think they fly really high sometimes. Usually I hear them before I see them.

We've had Blue Jays hanging around the last 3 years. Neighbors (same ones) even had a Steller's Jay all last winter. I think we must be on the northern edge because all we used to get were Whiskey Jacks. Milder winters maybe causing that. Hope it brings more bird species! I need to grow some choke cherries too it sounds like!

Toots :^)

Well the questionable feeder had a bunch of chickadees on it last night - so it's not a complete failure ;0) But I think I will move it further from the house into the tree the woodpeckers like. I think they are more shy. That tree is hollow in 3 different places, maybe they will nest in it come spring.

Toots, did you say a LEG BONE? Really?

Our silly woodpeckers have been trying to hang off the chickadees sunflower seed feeders. We've been in this house 19 years, had woodpeckers the entire time (inc. all winter) and have never seen them trying to get the sunflower seeds before. I think it's some young, confused ones. We had a Stellar's jay for a few days 2 weeks ago--just a little far north for them. And a yellow-shafter flicker, which shouldn't be here at all.

Last year I tried some of those packaged suet cakes in wire baskets and the birds ignored them so I landed up throwing them away in the spring. This year I still had 2 packages left in the fridge - they didn't smell rancid so I thought I'd try something different to use them - I put one in a terra cotta saucer, and put that saucer on one of those flat wicker plate holders, then thru the wicker tied on 6 strands of twine that are tied to a ring at the top (I used a key ring) and hung it up. For good measure I added a sprinkling of sunflower hearts to the dish. The birds are feeding from it - a Hairy Woodpecker settles right in and has a feed - here's a pic from this morning.

Lots of birds like peanut butter. I buy cheap brand Chunky and smear some right on the trunk of a tree or stuff it in a log feeder. I'm making my own suet with peanut butter and the birds are liking that. If the birds aren't going to the nut feeders, I'd try smearing some peanut butter on it.

The Flickers also leave from here, and the Woodpeckers stick around. We don't get the Whiskey Jacks (Gray Jays) or Stellar Jays here, I wish we did.

Blue Jays will come to feeders for dry dog kibble, too (in case you run out of peanuts which seems to happen here in no time flat). I'd never heard of a leg bone of something - I can see all the stray cats in my neighborhood enjoying that, too.

I know what Toots means by the leg bone - living here in Redneckville as i do! Dh will often tie some body part to a tree branch and the chickadees peck away at it all winter. If i didn't cut it down in the spring it would probably stay there forever...

Dog kibble - good idea. I knew the whisky jacks would go for it, but didn't think about the blue jays. Cheaper than peanuts! LOL

You guys rock!
It's good to know that there are many bird lovers in the far north!!

pudge
Wow....you have a Immense verities of birds!

I wanted to give them peanut butter too but I'm worried there is too much salt in it.
My mom always said you can't give the birds bread because of the salt!
Now I buy unsalted unshelled peanuts for larger birds, or shelled for the little guys like Nuthatch and Chickadees.
They don't need the salt, they need fat and protein...best to avoid salt.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Wood Pecker & Chickadees loves sunflower seeds...

Allot of birds do this incl. Waxwings & Sparrows
It is essential for them to do this, only during mating and raising young ones, to have healthy babies!
It also ensures good fertility, [fertile eggs]
They need allot of protein....It sure is amazing, how they can do this sudden switching over from berries to
meat!

Robin

House Sparrow

Konrad

Great pictures, Konrad!

Wow! Those pics are just awsome, Konrad. I'm also glad to see bird lovers on here. I just think they're so interesting and diverse. It seems, like gardening, there's always something more to learn about them.

We've had a family of hawk owls grow up close by this summer and now there's two visiting the yard most everyday making quite a fuss. I think they must be the young ones. They're so tame.

Oh gosh! Thank you Marcia! I guess the legbone thing sounded kind of sinister! Did I scare you Gil? I did just mean any old bone from the butcher shop like you'd get for your dog. When you don't have neighbors close by I guess we can get away with those "hillbillyisms"! The birds really do love it.
LOL! Marcia, those bones hanging in the trees would be great for Halloween, you know. (kidding...)

Pudge, I thought whiskey Jacks were everywhere! Who knew. Do they hang around just in the north then or maybe around the Rockies? Are you north or south Sask?
Way to be creative with the bird feeder.

Maybe we need to get a Canadian bird watching forum started...or keep a thread going on them?
Toots

Toots, About the whiskey jacks, I think it makes a difference in your immediate environment. My sister lives just 15 minutes away from me, yet she gets a totally different group of birds than I do. I don't think she's ever had a waxwing in her yard yet has a steady stream of both gray Jays, and bluejays. She regularly sees the pileated woodpecker also. The difference is she's surrounded by forest and I live in town. Even people just a few blocks away from me feed bluejays all winter, but they don't come here. There's no forest nearby me.

That's it, North53. Where i am, we're surrounded by bush as well, so we have the jays and woodpeckers here all the time. The whiskey jacks go further into the bush for the warmer months but are usually back by the fall. Years ago, dh used to be able to feed them right out of his hands, and i think somewhere we have a picture of our youngest son with a whiskey jack perched on his finger grabbing a piece of bread. They're greedy beggars - one of their "common" names is "camp robber"!

Toots, we're just south of Gray Jays range, so they never venture this far south although I've read some reports that there have been a few sightings this fall out of their range. The only time I ever saw them was when we camped in LaRonge (northern Sask). We were pretty careful about leaving anything out, though (bear country) so they never got a chance to steal anything from us.

The Blue Jays winter here, as well as nest here, so I see them all year long. Such beautiful birds.

We've been watching the antics of a red squirrel the last few days. I've never, ever had to worry about squirrels at the feeders, (gophers yeah, but not squirrels) and I'm not going to worry too much about this one lone fella either. He's treating the big arbor as his own personal play area, though, scampering all over it and trying to get to the food (succeeding quite well, too). Something else for the dog to bark at and the stray cats to chase around. I hope that Northern Shrike doesn't get him.

As others have said, Konrad - great pictures. That one of the Nuthatch is stunning.

Great photos Konrad!

I too spoil my birds over winter, not only do they enjoy the diversity plants/ fruit/ seeds in my garden, but I buy them huge bags of mixed, niger, black oil, stripe sunflower seed, bulk peanuts and make them all kinds of suet recipes.

Today I mixed up some yummy beef tallow that our local butcher gives to me free, all-natural peanut butter (President's Choice Just Peanuts  no sugar or salt added), dried cranberry, raisins, chopped up peanuts, sunflower seeds, flax seed and poppy seed.

Now if I were a bird IÂd feel like I was at an all you can eat buffet ;)

When making your own suet, please donÂt use peanut butter that contains hydrogenated oil, this kind of fat is not natural, not good for birds or for us ;)

Happy Bird Watching Everyone!
Sharon

Konrad- I live in Michigan near Ann Arbor where the University of Michigan is and this past summer they have been encougraging people to get rid of robins because they did a dna on a mosquito, supposedly a carrier of west nile disease and it had robins blood in it. All I know is the robins moved out of this area shortly thereafter. They were back a week ago but didn't come to my house but were in the tall tree way out back. I am so angry with what is going on. The robins have always been my friends and I don't like what is being done to them. Now they're trying to pass a law to shoot doves. For target practice. Some times I wish I didn't even live in this country. So many stupid things are being done here.Now I'll get off my soapbox.

I can't believe that they're actually wanting people to shoot birds because of west nile virus. I'm in total shock!

I sure hope they have smarter people working on a vaccine against west nile.

It's mostly crows and jays that get West Nile around here. Nobody says to shoot the birds though, it's the mosquitoes fault. The City uses it against the anti-mosquito-spraying pressure group to be able to force fogging - and there really haven't been many mosquitoes around for the past couple of years.

Wow a leg bone, ok I believe you I just never thought of Chickadees as bloodthirsty deer carcasse eaters, LOL! That would be funny to watch.

We don't get whiskey jacks either, but if you go east or north out into the bush you see them. They're so cute how they're always checking out if you have any food to steal. And they look so soft and fluffy.

Thank you all!
Doris
This is hard to believe!...Hopefully you will get your Robins back soon!...If you have a news paper clip, can
you please post!

As for leg bones....good idea! haven't done it for years, should do it again, any bone with some fat on it
will work, they don't take huge amounts, rather small bones and change for a fresh one once in a while.
Not sure anymore....beef or pork, I guess it doesn't matter, think pork fat birds like it more than beef?

Pudge
Talking about red squirrel,....I'm seeing them for the second year now! They are fun to watch!
They also like apples, one I think raided my Norkent apples in the bucket and placed some on top of spruce tree for later snacks...

That's hilarious, Konrad! We often see mushrooms hanging in trees from the squirrels putting them there to cure. At least I assume that's what they're doing or else they'd probably burry them.

We don't have spruce right close by the house, mostly poplar and a few pine, so they don't take up residence near the house. Although occasionally this year they've run forays to the wild saskatoon patch right by the house and the dogs go nuts! It took me awhile to figure out why they were venturing across the open space, then I went to pluck a handful of saskatoons over the bank one day and here they were all just mangled, but still hanging on the branch. I'd have thought they would pluck them. Not sure if they were actually eating the fruit or maybe they were making somekind of fruit leather?! I never did check them again...should go see whats left.

One showed up a couple days ago and all three dogs freaked the poor thing out and it almost lost its balnace and fell...then I think it kind of went into shock just sitting on the tree branch. The dogs did their usual stake out then got bored after awhile. Next thing I know there's a big commotion out there and here's the darn cat in the tree hanging from the branch! The squirrel fell but made it to the next tree before the dogs could catch him. Who new a cat would team up with the dogs like that. Was pretty funny to watch.

Ya, come to think of it, you don't really see the whiskey Jacks in towns, yet you see them in campgrounds and other areas where they can raid...close to the bush, like you guys say.

Toots :^)

Konrad: I am sorry now that I didn't keep the newspaper clippings. The robins were not the first to be victims of this malicious threat. First it was the blackbirds, then the blue jays and I just thought how dumb can you get. But when they blamed the robins I became furious. Our birds are not stupid they are very wise. They know their lives are in danger of mans foolishness. But now we are having an election in America next Tuesday and one of the proposals is should we legalize Mourning dove hunting. Another bird that lives here in my yard and I would like to know who would want to kill one of them? Thats why the birds are acting so strange. I would like to protect them more than I do. I get very upset over all of the craziness here.

We feed whole peanuts to 'our' Blue Jays, they get quite demanding if the tray is empty. Occasionally one of the many black squirrels in the neighborhood comes along and takes a few peanuts. They bury the peanuts in the leaves on the lawn, then the Blue Jays come along and steal them. Quite the system! LOL

It was my understanding that natures law was sorting out West Nile. Thought I read somewhere that birds were actually building up a natural resistance to it and it wasn't spreading like wildfire anymore. Could be wrong - off to Google now...

Great post on birds. I am an avid birdwatcher and have many different styles of feeders to accomodate the various birds. This summer I had Orchard Orioles and Baltimore Orioles eating grape jelly from my feeder. What fascinating birds. Another neat bird that I've had for the past several years is the Catbird. They are very shy birds that really do sound like a cat. If you are interested in attracting birds the most important thing is water. I have a large pond and that really attracts some unusual birds.

Konrad great photos. How do you get such clear close-up shots?

Lady lotus, I'm in NE BC and we actually had 2 different sitings of baltimore orioles this summer by 2 different neighbors. Unfortuneately I never had the opportunity to see them :^(
I believe they hung around for awhile. Anyone know if this is unusual or has also spotted them this year where they usually don't? I hadn't heard of them being around here normally.

Toots

PS When I was feeding cows yesterday one of the resident Hawk owls swooped down onto the spot where I had just lifted a bale out of the snow! Right in front of the tractor. It was so cool. He never caught anything, but I bet he's been spying on me and the mice there for a awhile!

Great thread and fantastic pictures Konrad! I am a real novice when it comes to birdwatching but I do enjoy it. I vote for keeping this thread going because I'm learning alot here.

I have definately noticed that there are very few berries left on my Mountain Ash tree. Usually I love to go out there and snap pictures of the bright red berries in the middle of winter..... but they have pretty much all been eaten already.

Ang

After the freezing rain on Tuesday, followed by a bit of snow, more birds showed up. About 10 Pine Grosbeaks this morning are chowing down on the gazillions of seeds on the green ash trees in the front yard (go grosbeaks!). One of them is very red and quite striking in this now rather dull landscape. A group of Housefinches have arrived, and the Common Redpolls are back. The Woodpeckers, Blue Jays and Chickadees are always around, too.

I was trying to research just how detrimental salt in peanut butter is to birds. I've often read about various birds hanging out at salt licks and eating road salt, but I couldn't find anything that really says its bad for them.

Konrad, that photo of the squirrel in the tree with the apple is just beautiful! Do you print/frame/mount any of your photos? My DH also takes some really lovely photos, and he's started mounting them on MDF wood, using Mod Podge (it's like a glue and sealer). We have a kind of a photo gallery in the hallway now, and have given away a lot as gifts. You take some great photos, they're certainly worth showing off on a wall.

Pudge, I was wondering about salt too. When I was a kid my parents used to save bacon fat in a container and put it out for the birds like suet - I was thinking the salt must have been terrible in that. But the birds loved it and kept coming back. They only stopped doing it because they are health food psychos now and if bacon isn't bad for the birds, well it is for Dad. LOL.

I agree Konrad, your pictures are wonderful, I would hang them up too.

Oh, I'm so jealous of your grosbeaks and redpolls, Pudge! I think my neighbor is feeding too well, because the grosbeaks are always hanging around there and I'm lucky if they pop by for a brief visit. I did get some Evening Grosbeaks in for a good feed this spring and again this fall. That was a thrill to spot them, as I hadn't seen them before.
I haven't seen a redpoll for about 3 years now. I find them so cute. The last time I saw a flock of them was early in the spring/late winter. Do they stay around all winter? Someone told me once that they cycle...and I don't remember why...was it their migration pattern maybe? I'd be interested to know if someone had any thoughts on that.

I also had my first White Breasted Nuthatch yesterday! Another cutie and fun to watch...very vocal. He was still here this evening.

RE: salt and birds...I'm thinking they probably require certain amounts naturally and find it somewhere, but with bird feeder fast-food that contains salt, they might eat alot of it because its easy to get and therefore get too much salt. Sound familiar? ie. potato chips!

Gil, I wonder if the nuthatches would like your suet bars?

Toots

Well, this turned out to be a great site and answered my questions about redpolls.

Here is a link that might be useful: All About Birds-Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Toots, interesting site. Yes, I have had a couple of nuthatches at the feeder all along. Unfortunately they and the chickadees cleaned out that feeder bar in about 4 days flat, and I can't find a refill for it without buying the whole cage thing again. :I haven't seen a redpoll for years, we used to see flocks of them when I was a kid.

Gil, I was reading about nuthatches on that site and it was saying they flock up with other birds...often chickadees...basically so the other birds look out for predators for them. I've got just one Nuthatch and a whack of chickadees, so maybe he's doing that. I love learning those little facts and that site seemed to have lots of that kind of info.
Funny you can't find refills for the bars. When I bought mine I got them in seperate packs from the Real Canadian Wholesale Store.

Pudge, Well I created a crude (very crude!) replica of your tiered feeder. I had three small old enamel wash basins (product of a Farm Sale) just waiting for a project! I put seed in one dish and some old apples in the other, will add some suet when I can get some. I thought it will be great to see which birds like what food if it was seperate, my other feeder had just one open buffet. They haven't eaten from it yet but I think the nuthatch was doing some fly by inspections this evening! Great idea, hope you don't mind me using it.

Toots:^)

Thank you all!....very informative!

Toots...that's interesting with the Saskatoon's!

>>When I was feeding cows yesterday one of the resident Hawk owls swooped down onto the spot where I had just lifted a bale

Wow...that's just wonderful!...I bet, this could be a one in a life time experience!

ladylotus
>>Orchard Orioles and Baltimore Orioles
I have seen one Oriole this year but didn't know that there was also orchard oriole.
Have never seen a Catbird.

>>How do you get such clear close-up shots?

The ones on the sunflowers....when birds eat sunflowers it seems they don't care much else!
Well...second, you need a good telephoto lens to zoom in, but really, you need to be very close to make clear pictures.
On some of the birds I was about 12 to 16 feet away.

pudge
I'm jealous with all those exotic birds you are seeing!

>> Do you print/frame/mount any of your photos

Haven't done any but I was thinking about it for a long time already, also I need more hours in the day..LOL
Thanks for the idea!
Konrad

Some blackbird shots from spring...

Female

Male

Yellow headed