Starling hordes
tindersawtelle
9 years ago
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larryq22
9 years agojfwhitecloud
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Project FeederWatch 2008
Comments (43)I agree, this thread is getting long. Not so much in the number of responses, more the number of pictures. I'll start a new thread but first... Claire, I have noticed that my House Finch numbers are also way down. I had one day last week that I did not see a single HF. That is very strange. My Goldfinch numbers have also been down but not as much as the HF. I think part of the suet issue in my yard could be the feeders. The birds love the one that is attached directly to the tree. I could put anything in it and the birds would love it. I think they like it because it is easy for them to get to. They can hold on to the feeder or the tree. The larger birds like, Red-bellied, Flicker, Harry can all get a good grip and, it does not move. The other suet feeder that I have is smaller, cage style, the size of a single cake of mixed suet and is free hanging from a chain. I see smaller birds like Red Breasted Nuthatch and Chickadees at it but nothing larger. OK...now I'll start a new thread... sooey...See MoreSparrow Discord 'round Th' Birdfeeder
Comments (14)jillmcm: ...We have a very nice woods bordering the east side of our yard that we cleared to ground level, about 15 or so feet back, 8 years ago (accept for the trees and larger saplings and burdock ~ which I enjoy and respect too much to cut back). We leveled the area because the previous owners had used it as a dumping site for waste construction material, & it became a haven for poison ivy and the like. In fighting that nasty plant back off the ground and trees, we all went through a bad time with poison ivy. Worth it. There is now a flourishing old giant umbrella shaped maple [my favorite] & a beautiful holly tree in the back yard, that we transplanted in a prominent place after digging it out of nearly being smothered by poison ivy, as a reminder of that painful/itchy season of endeavor. We, then, just let nature reseed itself in any indigenous way it would, ...while tossing a seed or two in from time to time. Now itÂs thick, beautiful & willful of more space, ...& we are prepared to enhance it with fruiting vines and such...once we get a good list of the MOST effective plants. IÂm thinking wineberry, blackberry, blueberry, sunflowers, buckwheat, Jack-in-the-pulpit, bluebells, goldenrod & some kind of aster ...for starters. There are some cleome, lavender, alyssum, echinacea, coneflower and morning glories there already; I seeded them, ...but probably NONE are indigenous [chuckle] plants. ~You said, "Also, adding a water feature, even something as simple as a glazed saucer with water dripping into it from a suspended milk jug with a pinhole (what I have three of), will bring even more birds in."~ Our water feature is a large concrete bird bath with hanging plants suspended above & to the side; their long branches dangling into the water along the sides of the basin. Sufficient?...or should I install some sort of moving-water device? ~You said, "The only time we've had a mocker in our yard was during a hot spell when they came to drink and bathe."~ Not sure why that notion has gone over my head, ...unless you are speaking of the Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos...or the likes of the Blue Mockingbird spoken of in the following poem: http://www.lukecole.com/Birds/Smew.htm Sorry for the wordiness of this post, ...but you have inspired my imagination....See MoreDo house finches flock with house sparrows?
Comments (6)Do not be too quick to dismiss the lowly sparrow. I grew up on a dairy farm in N.E.Ohio and I have always had a passing interest in bird watching, however like most people I erroneously thought a sparrow is a sparrow, is a sparrow and lumped them into one of two broad categories, song sparrows and house sparrows, all of which were often considered at best a minor nuisance. Last June I officially retired and took up nature photography as a retirement hobby. Over the summer I spent most of my time hiking the woods, meadows and swampy areas, but when the summer birds migrated last fall I then set up feeders and turned my attention to the birds that i could attract. I typically set my camera on a tripod zeroed in on a feeder or a ground feeding location, then I sit motionless with a remote shutter release in my pocket and snap pictures of the birds as they come in. In the course of taking 2 or 300 pictures a day, it goes without saying that I get a lot of shots that contain sparrows as well as the more desirable birds. Later while editing the photos I began to notice that many of the sparrows had what i thought were strange or unusual markings. In early October my Mother presented me with a book called "Birds of Ohio" by McCormac & Kennedy, published by the Lone Pine Press (ISBN 13:978-1-55105-392-9)). From this book I discovered that their are over twenty different species of Sparrows common to Ohio, two of which have red heads such as you describe. I then got another book called "The Sparrows of the united States and Canada published by Princeton University Press (ISBN 13:978-0-125-9897-1) in which they list over 62 species of Sparrows native to the U.S. & Canada. In addition, i learned that the House Sparrow is not native to North America and is officially not listed as a Sparrow, but rather they are listed as "Old World Sparrows" which includes another 37 species that have been introduced to North America, primarily from Europe. From my personal experience I would challenge everyone, rather than seek ways to discourage the lowly Sparrow, take a closer look and you might be amazed at what you see, and if the Sparrows are consuming all the seed in your feeders, do as I have done, put up more feeders because all of God's creatures gotta eat. Currently I am going through 5 30lb bags of wild bird seed a month, not to mention another two bushels of corn that i put in chicken feeders out in the meadow for the wild turkeys but then when i consider how many hours I spend watching those birds, it is really rather cheap entertainment....See MoreNeed advice on BB gun for pest non-native birds
Comments (4)Thank goodness. The problem isn't so much with taking the lives of the birds. The problem is what happens with any bb's or pellets that miss their mark. You could do alot of damage, and even injure someone, especially if you're aiming higher than level....See Moregeraldz7northtx
9 years agogeraldz7northtx
9 years agosurya55_gw
9 years agomwein
9 years agoggopal
9 years agomwein
9 years agodwmike
9 years agoPyewacket
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agodandyrandylou
8 years agodogmom5
8 years ago
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