The 2011 Invasion of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks
 

[CENTER][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][I][B][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"][SIZE="4"]It started out slow...[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B][/I][/FONT]

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[CENTER][I][B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]...but rapidly progressed to epic proportion :eek: [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/I]

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[CENTER][I][B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"][SIZE="4"]We could have followed in Alfred Hitchcock's footsteps and done a remake of "The Birds"! :laughing:

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I guess that their friends all spread the word that Hazel was giving out free food and it was the best :D

I'm not sure what the heck brought them all here! :eek: They might have just been backed up waiting for favorable winds to migrate. Or they might have stuck around and nested here. We'll know in a week or two, since by then the fledglings will be out. If the feeders are suddenly buried in youngsters, we'll know they all stayed. :D That'd be cool...but oy! The seed bills!!! :eek: :laughing:

what kind of seeds do you use??

wow, those are gorgeous, we don't see many around here, in fact we had one injured here about two years ago, never could be released again into the wild and I had a woman contact me from about 50 miles away, she had a female that could not be released and asked if she could have him, I went and checked out where they were to be kept and found a gorgeous 200 sq. foot indoor/outdoor cage with many different birds in it, none could be released into the wild....so he happily settled in with a mate.

Hazel, what a very lucky girl you are to have so many beautiful feathered friends. I can't imagine what your seed bills will be this summer, DH might have to get a part time job mowing lawns....(not yours) lol patti

LOL Patti, he's so busy doing ours and his mom's that he doesn't have time to do anyone else's! Luckily, they've all either moved on or dispersed into the woods for nesting, so we have a month or so break before the seed bills start rising again!

How wonderful the way that worked out for the injured male, Melinda...and the fem, too! Do you need special permits to rehab wild birds there? Here it's so regulated that people who have the experience, but not the license, can't come to the aid of an injured animal. Our local wildlife rehab facility just closed down due to lack of funds. What a loss that was. :(

breeze, the feeders they went after the most were the platform feeders with sunflower seeds in them. We use the black oil sunflower instead of the striped sunflower--it seems to appeal to a bigger variety of birds. (Although we did discover this winter that the red-bellied woodpecker is also very fond of corn, of all things! :eek: Very odd!)

well....you do need a licence Hazel, but i call the ministry with each critter/bird I'm caring for and the reply I get is "Shelley, we never had this conversation and you know what to do, right?" *L* I agree and we hang up, I just like to cover all my bases, the birds, if possible I release, the critters if I can "repair" them , I do and release them back here, but if its babies or some that people have taken in as pets then realized it can't work out, then I do what I can for them, but refuse to release them in my area because of traffic and cats, those I take up to the wildlife center in Ottawa to be released on preselected area's.

I wish they were that understanding here, Melinda. :( All I get when I call is 'let nature run its course' or 'transport it to the vet for euthanasia'... Doesn't encourage me to call. :o

are you serious??? hell, I've had them come over here to check up on some critters, last time they were here it was for my blind (in one eye only) groundhog. they told me the mom probably rejected it and thank god for people like myself and the wild animal sanctuary in Ottawa. when I called them two weeks ago about the black groundhogs and said who i was, the lady started laughing and said "Mrs. Boisvenue, is there ANYTHING you do not get in your yard?" *L*.

Ya, US FWS is a real stickler. Anything migratory (like rose-breasted grosbeaks) falls under US FWS regulations, although I believe the DNR has sway over things that are always in residence (like deer, bear, etc).