Bird feeder thread

I had a lot of birds early on but the last few weeks very little traffic. Anyone else ?

 

Normal amount here. Hungry little one. More woodpeckers on the Suet. Need to top them off before the storm. I have those large plastic domes over them. It shields them from the storms. I really enjoy watching them .

 

Our normal crowd with a few new faces today although they came in later due to the cold.........................

 

Not much for birds here, basically chickadees and magpies are about all you see on a regular basis. Cedar wax wings come around when it's warmer. Going to make a deer tallow/bird seed mix later for the chickadees with this cold weather. They absolutely love that stuff, and will pudge up on it.

 

I have been seeing chickadees, a little fellow that always lands upside down on the feeder. What seems strange to me is it has a very pointed beak. Also cardinals and bluejays. We have had issues with chipmunks but not recently.

 

Affectionately nick named an @$$ up bird! Look up nuthatch, kinda sounds like one.

 

We have brown tree creepers and nuthatches here. The creepers go up the tree right side up and the nuthatches go down the tree upside down.
If the creepers come to the sunflower seed or suet I haven't seen them but the nuthatches certainly do.
We get quite a few different kinds of woodpeckers and a flicker that is a messy pig.

 

In the summer I will see redheaded woodpeckers along with gold finches, and the black and white woodpecker posted earlier. I have also seen Baltimore Orioles as they pass through. We also seem to have a bear that will take out my feeder starting in the spring. The first time it is taken out I don't refill for a couple of weeks and normally that takes care of it.

 

We feed Black Oil Seeds, ground peanuts and the wife makes a suet cake comprised of oatmeal, corn meal, lard, peanut butter, sunflower seeds and raisins. As well, I have corn on the ground. This gourmet feed attracts Chickadees, Red and White Breasted Nut Hatches, all three sizes of Wood Peckers, Doves, Gold Finches (very sparse), Blue Jays (also very sparse) and up to 14 Turkey's.

 

Here at home I have a thistle feeder and a black oil sunflower feeder, along with what I scatter out on the ground.

I also like to hang up a deer rib cage, spine and pelvis wired up about 10' in a tree. The chickadees and woodpeckers strip it clean. Right now we have nuthatch, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals and wood peckers coming in regularly. We had juncos and purple finches up until a week or two ago.

Up at our cabin at the old Hovland homestead I do the same and get a wide variety of birds and animals including chickadees (boreal and blackcapped), pine grosbeaks, evening grosbeaks, whiskey jacks, ruffed grouse, pine siskins, finches, along with fox, deer and pine martin.

 

The feeder has been loaded since the beginning of the storm. Black oil sunflower seeds on the ground for the juncos. We have had no birds. They may be hunkered down conserving energy somewhere.

 

I like watching the birds even more than hoarding. Much less work and more aligned to the easy livin' plan.

I should be splitting, hauling, and stacking right now. But it's cold, and the fire and bird feeders are much more appealing.

 

Nesting Falcon.

 

We are getting birds all day long now, even during the storms. I have domes hung up above each feeder. I am very fond of the red cardinals and their mates. The chickadees are the most friendly. They will land on you if you stand there long enough. The yellow finches are still here. But their winter coloring is more green. Lots of different wood peckers. Tufted Titmouse are fun to watch. Grosbeaks are few. Juncos, nuthatches. Lots of action. Jays are few, don't care for their behaviors. Feed is mostly black sunflower seed, and some premade suet with seeds in it.

 

Trailer park bird feeder made with dollar store bird seed, deer tallow, and a goal of making fat happy birds.

 

That is what my wife says and I tell her that "Hawks are birds too!" She gets so mad. I have been getting a lot of birds this year.

 

A few days ago, I decided to chop up some peanuts that I knew we wouldn’t eat. Thought to woodpeckers might like it.
The super speed blender turned it into an almost butter texture. What the heck, put it in a dish and set it out.

The birds went crazy for it, especially blue jays. Got a big can at Rural King this morning and did it again. Immediate response, and it was gone in a couple hours.