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almost made a mistake this morning
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Author:  pickleloaf [ Tue May 11, 2010 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  almost made a mistake this morning
when i went outside to take out the garbage, i noticed that our bird feeder had a bunch of shit in it

by shit i mean it looked as though it was growing shrubbery inside

i figured the old seeds had sprouted or something gross like that, so i lifted it off the pole, opened it up, and started to turn it over to dump it out

then i noticed movement and realized all the shit in there was a chickadee nest. plus there was a very pissed off chickadee in the tree over my head. i guess they were babies inside, but i also saw a couple eggs rolled around. i put it back on the pole and left it alone... nothing fell out aside from some crumbs/dust when i initially picked up the container

the baby birds looked to have feathers already, so hopefully they are OK after being invaded by a big dumb giant

will the parent(s) still take care of it now that i handled it? i don't know if that's a wive's tale or not

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Author:  atease [ Tue May 11, 2010 8:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
if you touched the eggs themselves, the mother might not go back to them. the other babies would probably be fine, but I have seen robins abandon their nests after the eggs were touched.

we have a lot of birds in our yard and I have been a birdwatcher for years. birds are weird when it comes to things like this.
Author:  pickleloaf [ Tue May 11, 2010 8:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
i didnt touch anything inside. only had my hands on the feeder itself

i assume the eggs i saw just never hatched since those babies are so big
Author:  silent killer [ Tue May 11, 2010 9:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
My understanding is that they abandon if the eggs/babies have been touched also. So you should be ok.
Author:  pickleloaf [ Tue May 11, 2010 9:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
i was surprised a bird could fit in that opening. my thumb pretty much fills that hole

it was weird - i thought the other morning i saw a bird go inside the feeder as i was standing at the back door looking out, but just thought no way i must have just thought it looked that way and the bird just flew away
Author:  sancx33 [ Tue May 11, 2010 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
So nice to stay at such nice environment. All I see around my home is cars n dust. Let me visit your house next time :D ......
Author:  atease [ Tue May 11, 2010 10:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
pickleloaf wrote:
i was surprised a bird could fit in that opening. my thumb pretty much fills that hole

it was weird - i thought the other morning i saw a bird go inside the feeder as i was standing at the back door looking out, but just thought no way i must have just thought it looked that way and the bird just flew away


birds are really flexible little creatures. they can make nests in very tiny places!
Author:  meanmistert [ Tue May 11, 2010 11:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
We have a small wildlife preserve about a mile or so away from the house, so we are lucky to regularly have:
blue jays (back yard), cardinals(?) front yard, hawks, and more recently: a pair of big-ass owls. :shock:

However, our favorites are the squirrels. Most people try to keep them out of their bird feeders; we only have a squirrel feeder, & the birds get the leftovers. Their antics/ crazy rodent heirarchy are hilarious to watch!

And you gotta have love for the various lizards... aka "porch kaiju." :mrgreen:
Author:  pickleloaf [ Tue May 11, 2010 11:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
i did see an owl swooping around a few nights ago but it was off in the distance

depending on the food i put out, i get a variety of birds. when these chickadees move out i will fill the feeder back up

we dont get a load of blue jays because they dont really like the seeds as much as other birds, but one crazy afternoon i had like a blue jay party outside. 5 or 6 of them all over the ground around the feeder. i've never seen that many at once

most of what we get are sparrows, chickadees and cardinals on the feeder. very rarely i'll see goldfinches, but i think they live farther north and just pass through

i have it set so the top closes when mourning doves get on it. those pigs eat all the food too fast so they can just eat on the ground.
Author:  blakewest [ Sun May 30, 2010 9:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
We've had some recent bird action at our house. I went to prune a tall bush near our mailbox, and this mockingbird started to dive-bomb my head. So I started looking hard though the branches and found a nest nearly at eye level. I left the bush alone and came back later to snap some pictures. The eggs are beautiful, and they hatched just a few days later.

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Author:  Lalo [ Sun May 30, 2010 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: almost made a mistake this morning
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