The TJTwitter

[Chris21711]

The Twitter How I missed twittering............thankyou Hazel

My only beef.......I don't have any purple Finches and I so love their reddish heads .......Oh, and you could send a few of the GF's up/down here

[hazelrunpack]

Glad you enjoyed the pics, Chris! Wish I could ship you some goldfinches--I had 119 on my count yesterday They're eating us out of house and home...or at least sunflower and thistle.

Originally Posted by Love4himies

Ummm, how do you keep the squirrels from getting on your bird feeders and eating all your seed?????

Our squirrels aren't too bad. There are a lot of them but they all come at once and then they disappear all at once. As long as there's food low to the ground, they don't bother the other feeders much. So I hang one platform feeder quite low to the ground and spread sunflower and peanuts on the ground.

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Glad you enjoyed the pics, Chris! Wish I could ship you some goldfinches--I had 119 on my count yesterday They're eating us out of house and home...or at least sunflower and thistle.

I was looking at the tray feeder you have Hazel....I don't have any like that and thought that if I were to put one up and have that many sunflower seeds so openly available, it just wouldn't be doable with so many Squirrels ....I don't mind feeding the Squiggies but at times there are several at a time feeding................I'm going broke

[Love4himies]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Our squirrels aren't too bad. There are a lot of them but they all come at once and then they disappear all at once. As long as there's food low to the ground, they don't bother the other feeders much. So I hang one platform feeder quite low to the ground and spread sunflower and peanuts on the ground.

Originally Posted by Chris21711

I was looking at the tray feeder you have Hazel....I don't have any like that and thought that if I were to put one up and have that many sunflower seeds so openly available, it just wouldn't be doable with so many Squirrels ....I don't mind feeding the Squiggies but at times there are several at a time feeding................I'm going broke

I was looking at the tray feeder too and like you, chris, I have way too many squirrels, sometimes 10 at a time and they eat all the food so there isn't anything left for the birds

[hazelrunpack]

We have 15 or so steroidal gray squirrels and half a dozen hardy reds that hang out here. They monopolize the platform feeders for a while, but they always move on. It helps if you have more feeders--we now have 12 up--4 thistle feeders, 2 tube feeders with a mix in them (new for the finches this year), two small hoppers for sunflower, one large mesh sunflower bag, two platform feeders for sunflower and the suet feeder, all spread along the fence on the south side of the property. I also put some seed on the ground (sunflower, peanuts-in-the-shell, some of the mix and thistle). That often is enough to keep them off the hoppers and mesh feeders. The thistle they don't touch, anyway, so the finches are always present whether they can get to the platform feeders or not. I sorta like the squirrels--they clean up under the feeders, and the deer finish the job by cleaning up the chaff!

[Chris21711]

I love the Squirrels Hazel, but I can only afford so much.....Right now I have 5 feeders including 1 tube feeder and 1 niger feeder + suet....I'd like to find a cheaper source of feed but one that is acceptable. So far I haven't.

[hazelrunpack]

Do you have any feed mills in your area? They often have cheaper seed.

[pbpatti]

Hazel, thanks for the photos, now I know where my GF go after they leave here. They look so cute all fluffed up trying to stay warm. Great pictures and I look forward to the birdies returning to my feeders in the spring. patti

[hazelrunpack]

I was hoping to put up the blind this winter, but it's been a strange year and I'm just not getting around to it. Not sure it would stay up staked to snowbanks, anyway

But we're definitely getting huge numbers of goldfinches, Patti! They're coming from somewhere, but I don't know where! Hundreds of them!!! And I just heard a report from the NE that they're starting to see an influx of redpolls! I hope this is an irruption year! We had an irruption of redpolls a few years back and it was just awesome!

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Do you have any feed mills in your area? They often have cheaper seed.

We have 2 Hazel, I do buy from them especially when it is on sale...but overall there is not that much difference.

Redpolls in the NE, does that include Canada?....I rarely see a Redpoll

[hazelrunpack]

I've only been hearing from people in CT and RI in New England. If they're showing up there in numbers, though, they're moving down from Canada. Still haven't seen any here and haven't heard of any large scale irruptions, yet.

[Chris21711]

They are moving down from Canada ....Canada is a nice country, tell 'em if you see some

With the exception of the larger influx of Pigeons that I'm getting.....I haven't seen any newbies for a long time

[pbpatti]

Do you have any pictures of these guys? I don't think I have ever seen any. patti

[hazelrunpack]

LOL, Chris, if they leave it'll be cuz they're looking for food. I'm beginning to hope we don't get an irruption of them this year. I counted 204 goldfinches under the feeders today. If we get redpolls, too, I'm gonna hafta buy more feeders

patti, these are common redpolls:







They look very similar to pine siskins but have the red caps (polls). The males can also have very pink breasts. The fems are drabber. There is also a species called the hoary redpoll, but to my knowledge, I've never seen any here.

These pics are from March of 2009, our last irruptive event. It's a bit early to expect another, but since the food sources are a bit dicey for them, they may be headed down again.

[pbpatti]

Thanks Hazel for the pictures of the redpolls, yes they really look like the Pine Siskin, we don't have any redpolls here or I should say I have not seen any here. It looks like they "dine" the same as the siskins by cleaning the seed from the ground. Pine Siskins are a favorite of mine because they do a cleanup if food that has fallen or dropped from the feeders. patti

[hazelrunpack]

They spent all their time on the ground--but how they found anything among the sunflower hulls is beyond me!!! I tossed seed (both sunflower and thistle) out for them on clean snow and under the sumac while they were here and they devoured that, too! I never saw one on the feeders. We now have platform feeders out that might attract them if they come back, though.

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

LOL, Chris, if they leave it'll be cuz they're looking for food.

I gotz lotsa food

I counted 204 goldfinches under the feeders today.

204.....

If we get redpolls, too, I'm gonna hafta buy more feeders

.

Don't bother Hazel, just give them my addy and send them to me

[hazelrunpack]

I'd love to, Chris! They're still a little flighty around humans, though, and won't stick around for a conversation!

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

I'd love to, Chris! They're still a little flighty around humans, though, and won't stick around for a conversation!

How about signage

[hazelrunpack]

[Dee-O-Gee]

My daughter bought me a new feeder with a mounting pole and a large bag of black oil sunflower seeds for Christmas. I have been hoping to attrack Cardinals for a personal reason.

When I was a youngster, Grandma, Grandpa and I would sit in their kitchen nook and watched all the winter song birds perch amongst Grandpa's feeders. Grandpa would then take his "state of the art" camera and snap beautiful pictures of all the Cardinals and Blue Birds (some Jays too). We would sit at the window for a whole morning being mezmorized by their beauty.

My feeder has been up since December 26th and yesterday, I spotted my first Cardinal! It was a female none the less but it's the first time I've seen them around my area. Hubby and I have a new DSLR camera on the way (retiring our old SLR) and hope to test out the new gadget with some zoomed in Cardinal pics soon.

[hazelrunpack]

Lucky you, klm! Our cardinals have flown the coop....none since two winters ago

Happy practicing with the new camera! When is it supposed to arrive?

Here's a picture of half the Am. goldfinches hanging around, though...managed to catch them this morning, but had to do it from 80 feet away on the deck and through the chainlink fence, so not a great shot. Still, you get the idea... This is about half the flock that's been gracing the feeders...

[Dee-O-Gee]

Oh my...the new DSLR can't come soon enough! Hoping it'll ship tomorrow and have it by week's end. It's a Canon EOS Rebel XS and comes with an 18-55mm and a 75-300mm DC Lens. We'll probably look at getting an IS lens soon but this is a start into Digital SLR world!

Met the male Cardinal today and he was so vibrant in colour. I took out my crappy camera and zoomed in on him. With a little help on some captions, you can see a slight glimpse of him perched on our fence line.

So did you count all the finches Hazel? Wow there sure is a lot of them and theres one little Gold one on the ground that sure stands out!

[chico2]

Oh Hazel and everyone here,did I ever enjoy all the birdpics,thank's!!
It can get quiet expensive,feeding birds,but I really love it.
I certainly do not have as many different kinds as you Hazel,but we fill the 3 feeders every day,then nyger-seeds,suet and peanuts for the Squirrels(keeps them away from the feeders)
I forgot the bags of corn for the pigeons,both hubs and I love the birds,any kind of bird,so it's well worth the money.

I only saw one Hummingbird last summer,but maybe if I get one of those hook-thingys and hang a red plant together with the feeders,I'll see some more this summer

[Chris21711]

Too many Goldfinches to feed Hazel

This year I have noticed only 2 Cardinals at the feeders at any one time, both males....last year I counted upto 9 at one time....lots more Pigeons and the usual gang.

Oh, and the butcher stopped making fat balls ....now I have to give them the suet cakes.

[Dee-O-Gee]

This little guy came back to my feeder today!

I was in the house when he showed up and grabbed my camera with the 300 mm zoom lense! I was about 75 feet away from him but he sure was a pretty sight see!

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, cool, klm!! Our cardinals are AWOL--have been for a couple of years, now. Your fella is quite the handsome bird!!! Glad he came back for you!

[ownedbycats]

For your viewing pleasure here are some strange ducks I saw down at the river yesterday. I don't recognize the species, they aren't our usual mallards or Canada geese, but they are pretty. I also startled a great blue heron into flying off before I could get any pictures. This part of the river is no more that two blocks from the busiest part of downtown. Amazing where you will find wildlife. I've heard some of the plants along the river let their non-contaminated, warm waste water go into the river. The warmth attracts the ducks and that, along with people feeding them, is what keeps them here all year round.

[chico2]

They are 2 males and 2 female Hooded Mergansers,beautiful pics

[hazelrunpack]

Beautiful, ownedbycats! They're such striking birds!