Like Peacocks. Smelly and noisy. But damn pretty.

Saw a Cooper's Hawk on my walk to the gym this afternoon fly down and perch on a telephone pole at 21st and St. Albans. It just sat there bobbing its head up and down looking around. Very cool, what are the odds!?? I stayed around to watch for awhile. I guess there really is more than just pigeons and sparrows in the shitty. Wish I had my phone to snap a pic but it looked like this one:

I've been bird watching since I was a wee kiddie. And yes, I do feed the birds in the garden annually. I usually start in the dead of winter, and even in the Bay Area, it can get below freezing at night in the winter. I started feeding because I'd see dead song birds in the morning--they were having a hard time finding enough food, especially during the long drought years. One thing to mention... if you are feeding birds and they are depending on you as a food source, stopping suddenly in the dead of winter may prove to be the demise of some of those birds who become dependent on you. Also, keep at hand, a fresh water source (esp. in areas that freeze, an open fresh water source is handy for them, so they don't have to go searching and buring calories hunting for H2O, while they are feeding). Make sure the feeder and water basin are kept clean, to avoid infecting birds with fungus, bacteria, etc... Droppings should be swept up and the area kept tidy.

Ok, I live in CA, so it doesn't snow here. I also live right across the street from a semi-wild park (there are coyotes, gray foxes, and even a sighting or two of bobcat!) There are tons of birds here (all sorts of raptors, juncos, finches, sparrows, flickers, wood-peckers, scrub and stellar jays, towhees, robins, nut hatches, doves, etc...). I don't bother with bird feeders, because there are so many birds that visit the garden! On average I go through 60-80 lbs. of wild bird seed every month! Yes, it's pricey, but my kitties enjoy their "cat television"

I have a large area that is just a cement ground, in one part of the garden. I spread out in a LARGE area, equal parts of black oil sunflower seed (make sure it's the black oil type, not the grayish/white variety, which is too hard for the smaller finches to crack open) with "finch seed mix" (white & red millet, nyjer seed, flax seed). Winter climates might want to add a suet cake, as the fat is really good for snowy areas for cold birdies. Make sure the seed you buy isn't "dusty" (poor quality) and doesn't smell funky (indicative of mold or something else yucky). Good seed sources should be pretty clean and free of twigs and gravelly bits too. Birds in my area don't eat cracked corn, so I stay away from that, because it attracts rats!

I put out 1/2 - 3/4 full of a large paint bucket (more on really cold days), and it's usually all gone 1-2 days. At any one time, the very least is 50 birds on the ground, and I think at max it was 150! It's really fun to see so many of them! I sweep the cement ground thoroughly with a stiff broom every 2 days-huge piles of sunflower seed hulls! (gets up all the droppings too, which might make the birds sick, if you don't clean up the area before re-seeding), and dump all the waste in the green composting bin for weekly collection. I also have a lot of hot hot sun in the morning, so the UVs will sterilize the cement ground, after everything has been swept up. Water basin is cleaned everyday and refilled. All mixed seed is stored in a double-bagged heavy duty plastic lawn bag, which is placed in a giant seal-able plastic bin (keeps out moisture and won't attract pests in your basement). I also put the seed in the middle of the cement area, and keep all weeds and grasses trimmed, so the birds aren't taken surprise by neighbor's/feral cats. They seem to keep out of harms way from patrolling hawks and kestrels as well, since our garden is kept trim and tidy (easy for birds to see oncoming predators). Once in a long while, a will see a pile of poof feathers (so far, it's been only twice this season).

A majority of songbirds here, start nesting February - May (some as late as August). I generally taper off very slowly, the amount of bird seed I put out, beginning late March/early April, and by the end of April, I stop entirely. I want the parents to focus on teaching the little ones how to search for their normal wild food sources (and it eases up on the wallet, until Nov/Dec! Nice to see so many bird enthusiasts here!

P.S. The hummingbirds always buzz me when I run the water hose (thirsty or curious?). So while they are buzzing about, I set the nozzle on a fine spray, and they dip in for a drink . They will come up to the deck and hunt for little spiders to slurp up too (they hover about the spider web areas). And yes, those greedy scrub and stellar jays will chase off all of the other birds, swallow the sunflower seeds whole, then hoard them in their beaks (in a nice little row!), and then go off and eat or bury them. The crows annoy me by leaving bones on the roof

I'm really happy this thread took off. Never realized SB had so many bird watchers! Good tips Grace.

Oh and Brickbat actually that is not surprising you saw that Coopers Hawk in Philly. Predatory birds actually can really thrive in cities because of all the available food sources (as you said Pigeons & Sparrows, and I'd add rodents) Plus Philly has a lot of park area if I recall. I remember when living there going deep into the woods of Fairmount Park late at night and not feeling like it was the city at all anymore. It's similar to NYC and central park in that way. I would routinely see hawks swoop down capturing pigeons while walking by the Metropolitan (in fact they had a nesting pair when I lived there).

Well the squirrels have found the feed zone, and just today I got some birds. I've been broadcasting sunflowers seeds to keep the squirrels away from the feeder (even though it's supposedly squirrel proof I figured them attempting would scare birds away). So today I look out and I saw some juncos checking it out but opting for the ground instead. Then just now Bluejays came (which obviously would be too big for the feeder), and along with them a Chickadee- who was the first bird to attempt the feeder. I'm thinking maybe there is a weight adjustment I might need to look into and maybe that's why no birds will go on. The squirrels have checked it but didn't bother trying. Also a hawk flew overhead but some crows chased it away.

I guess it was just too damn cold for the birds to come out and find it earlier last month. I mean everyday was in the single digits or below zero. Now it's in the balmy 40's.

Hey Chris, at least your feathered friends are starting to find you. If you use a feeder, it's good to know that certain types of birds are naturally ground foragers and others feel comfortable at certain heights...

"Why are different feeders placed at different levels?
Many birds will feed at more than one level, but some species have preferences.
-Ground level: mourning doves, sparrows, towhees, and juncos.
-Table level: cardinals, finches, and jays.
-Hanging feeders: titmice, goldfinches, and chickadees.
-Tree trunks: woodpeckers, nuthatches, and wrens."

Lots of people have good luck with platform feeders, as you can place them at varying levels and it offers more surface area for birds to eat on. The trick is placing it out of reach of the squirrels (personally I like squirrels ).

For more info on where/how to hang feeders, check out:
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/re ... birds.html

http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders ... cement.htm

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citsci/tak ... placement/

*Don't forget to read the parts about avoiding bird collisions on your window. Window collisions are often fatal to small birds, and when the trees and skies are reflected off the window surface, it easily confuses the birds.

P.S. This year, I had to install a grate guard over our roof-top chimney flame arrestor. The birds would perch under the flame arrestor cone, and when they tried to take off, they bonked their heads on the cone, and come tumbling down the chimney. FORTUNATELY, I was home when these incidents happened! Within a month, there were 3 incidents where I'd wake up to the sound of hectic fluttering, being echoed in the chimney. Uh Oh! I'd lock the cats out of the kitchen, open the fire place flue, the bird would come flying into the kitchen and head for the window. I'd catch the bird (black bird, towhee, sparrow) with a towel without touching the bird with my hands, and before I released it, made sure it wasn't dazed (if it happened to bump into the window slightly), and then let it go outside. Not sure why after +45 years of living here, that the birds decided to perch on the flame arrestor. If I wasn't around, then by the time I returned from work, it might have died from exhaustion in attempting to fly up and down all day, no water, and no food. So if the birds end up falling down your chimney, you might have to install a fire-proof grate guard.

P.P.S. For the fun of it, you might try spreading out some seeds on the ground, to see how quickly and just how many birds will stop to feed. It's just amazing to see sooooo many birds swooping and landing on the ground in the morning, when I first put out new seed and water. I can tell that the song birds are tending to babies, because they don't hang out all day in our yard, but are off hunting for insects to feed the babies. Still tapering down the amount of seed I put out now, and by the end of April, the parents will be teaching the youngins to forage on their own.

Hi Grace, I knew all that ^^^ already but thanks for the tips anyhow, good solid advice. I originally spread seed on the ground for a dual purpose of sacrifice to the squirrels and I knew some birds feed on the ground. Came home today and to my surprise a pair of Cardinals (my favorite) had found the feeder. They didn't even move as opened the garage door and drove into the garage!

My feeder is about 30 ft from the house so no worries about collisions. I was thinking of nailing a suet feeder to the tree for woodpeckers but school has me pretty busy and it's messy.

^^^Okee Dokee! You should try the suet cake, you'll probably get quite a few woodpeckers visiting. So, when you have a break from your crazy schedule, don't forget to post a few pics of your setup and the birdees!

So I'm doing HW watching the birds and damn it if one bright squirrel didn't figure out that he could hang upside down on a near by branch, swing a little, then grasp and draw the weighed feeder towards him to get to the seed inside. As opposed to the direct method which closes the feeder.

Not to be outsmarted by a rodent I quickly broke that up with my tree pruning tools and a quick relocation. The squirrel will literally now have to float and defy all laws of physics to get to that feeder. If he does that he can have the damn seed.

hopefully they didn't take any notes from that flying weasel lol

Spotted a new bird on our suet feeder. After a lot of book-browsing through close-but-not-a-match birds, I finally ID'd it... The ruby-crowned kinglet! Tiny, silly little bird.

We also have a dark-eyed junco that comes to our feeding area that is completely missing a foot. He has his leg, his knee-joint, but the foot is gone. He is one fiesty little bugger! Very aggressive. Guess he has to be to survive. He flies great too, just wobbles a bit when perching.
We've called him Stumpy.

http://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/bald-eagle-live-cam
Been checking in on this eagle nest the last couple days. The mom was feeding the babies some fish earlier. Pretty awesome.
Now shes just sitting on them haha

Speaking of bird watching... Quit Staring At Me, AppleJack!

Not a pro birdwatcher but in the high desert area I recently moved to, the birds have charmed the pants off me. (J/K ... I wear pants daily.)

Bluebirds, Jays, Finches, Quail, American Robins, Hawks, Magpies, Eagles, the ubiquitous Mourning Doves ... I've really taken to them and make sure they're fed and have fresh water in my back yard. They've come to expect it and let me know if the water runs too low.

Birds do rock.

I enjoy watching from time to time... still can't get over this

WTF^ is there a video of that somewhere?

Well after a slow start my feeder has become a hub of activity! I'm having to fill it every day now as opposed to every other week. I assume mating season has a lot to do with it. It's fun watching the goldfinches molt and getting that vibrant yellow plumage going. I thought I saw a Cedar Waxwing last week and got all excited but it turned out to be a big finch.

Also got my zinna seedlings germinated and I'm growing them in a home greenhouse (it's pretty awesome as you can roll it from room to room to get more sun).

If you get an itching for bird watching while restricted to your computer, you can always check out Hulu's The Daily Feed :
http://www.hulu.com/watch/772228

Granted, it'd probably be better for you to set up feeder cameras of your own, because although these shots are nice, it jumps back and forth between birds, loosing that focused zen quality you get when viewing one scene. The music doesn't help, but at least there's a mute button for that.

I think it's a show meant for cats though. Really.

Still, it's a good bird fix in the quick, and changes daily,

I love this retouch... had to post it. Sorry I'll stay away now.

im really enjoying the live cams, thanks
i saw the eagle feeding the other day which was really interesting

i didnt realize there were other cams as well until now
i guess i missed the owls, damn

applejack

no problem! they feed fairly often actually.
ive been checking in at work.
yesterday I saw the dad arrive and hangfor awhile, as well as the mom de-feathering a duck it had caught, which was pretty interesting.. didn't know they ate ducks..

I've closed down the normal feeder for the summer ( house finches were eating me out of house and home!) but with the myriad of day lillies (I've counted 25 varieties and counting) and gladiolus in full bloom we have a few Ruby Throated Hummingbirds on a regular schedule. I've timed them and they appear to be coming by every 25 minutes or so. Looks to be a female, maybe also an immature male, only saw a male once a week or two ago when I was finished cutting the grass and had no camera doh!

Anyhow here a link of some shots I took this morning:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lixx/sets ... 5717381938

Flickr is absolutely wack now! There is no link to HTML anymore, even though they claim if you click on the pic a shared menu with HTML will appear. Nope, pics are totally public and I've tried it on a very updated Firefox as well. Nothing happens, so I can't find the link to HTML code. Anyhow otherwise I would have posted a pic or two. She's really fast and I'm using a point and shoot camera at a distance of about 20 feet or so. So even zooming in you don't get clarity. Cool thing is she lands often. There is a hummingbird in each pic, and for the one near the birdbath look under it.

Lixx, to share from flickr you now have to click on the picture, then go to the download this image icon at the bottom right. don't click on the image you want, instead click 'view all sizes'. This takes you to another page, click the size you want, then right click on the image and select 'copy image location'. Copy and paste that over here with the image brackets.

Couldn't be simpler

Thanks mono, but (and I assume you were being a little sarcastic there) Flickr really screwed the pooch on the new layout. While your instructions were painless, how would the average person know to do all that instead of looking for the links that use to be there? Wow unbelievable Yahoo!

nice lixx

i took a picture of this little guy last month



i set up a feeder but they didnt want anything to do with it. all it did was attract wasps.
now its way too hot, so no more flowers and i havent seen him around anymore. lame

Nice pic itsa. You live on the west coast? You guys are lucky, you get all the cool hummingbirds. I think we only have 1 or 2 varieties over here in the east. Apparently they start migrating back to Mexico and South America rather early (by early/ mid August). Maybe you'll have better luck with the hummingbird feeder at that time as most summer flowers would have bloomed by then?