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Cleanup Crew at Work

16 years ago

I generally have to fill my hopper feeder at least twice a day, sometimes three times, and in the course of the day a considerable amount of that seed is dropped on the ground.

During the day the Junco's, Sparrows and Bluejays all feed on that seed on the ground, but each morning in the dim light just before sun up the Cleanup Crew comes in to clean up the remaining seed on the ground.

Most mornings the cleanup crew is just the Doves, but a couple times a week the Doves are joined by the squirrel and on some ocassions they are all joined by wild turkeys or crows.

I have no problem with the squirrel because he has never once even attempted to get on the feeder and he certainly does not look undernourished. Perhaps that is because we have five butternut trees and two black walnut trees in the yard and last fall when we raked up the nuts I put them all in a pile at the back of the yard.

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Comments (4)

beegood_gw
16 years ago
I love the doves. Last summer I had them for the first time ever. Had never even seen them before. Sure hope they come back. That is one big fat squirrel. Must be getting lots of food somewhere.
lazypup
Original Author
16 years ago
According to my bird books, Morning Doves are the most prolific bird in the state of Ohio and based upon my personal observation I would definitely concur with that statement.

Doves are the first birds to arrive in the morning, often arriving 20 to 30 minutes before sunup and they continue to stay in the area until well after sundown. In fact, I have observed as many as 45 Doves roosting overnight in the Maple tree where my main feeder is hung.
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paulsiu
16 years ago
My cleanup crew consists of Junco during the early day. For a while, I had a lot of Mourning Dove, but I slowly get less and less of them. A flock of 3-4 giant pigeons do show up once a day, but they stick around only for 5 min or so before moving on.

At night, the rabbits come out to consume the rest, much to my displeasure of my gardening neighbor who wish the coyote would visit more often.

I wish I had something to eat sunflower husk, too :-)

Paul
sailfish
16 years ago
We used to feed the Mourning Doves in the Winter. We had a flock that was about three hundred before the raptors decided they needed the doves more than we did. When they flew in at sun up you could set your watch by them They seemed to be accurate to within a minuit. Later in the day they would come back to roost in the afternoon. The same precision was noted on their evening departure also. I kept an eye on their arrival and departure times and noticed that that the times shifted with sunrise and sunset times posted in the newspaper. At first I didn't mind the hawks feeding. But after a while the Sharpies and Coopers Hawks learned they could drive them into the side of the house and it became too much.

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