Yay! She's back

[onster]

This red guy (cardinal? ) has been visiting our feeder for a few years and used to come with his wife...for the past while she hasnt come around but today we spotted her

Sorry for the bad qual pics. cam phone..

[hazelrunpack]

A lovely cardinal couple!

During the nesting season, Mama C is pretty cautious, sticking to the shrubby stuff and staying hidden. We sometimes see the local Mr and Mrs C at dawn and dusk during the summer, but for the most part, they keep a pretty low profile!

Now that the baby season is over, I expect to see ours more often, too.

[onster]

thanks for the info hazel I think baby cardinal is visiting our feeder too! my mom said she saw a red one (ok thats what we call hubby..red bird ) that wasnt hubby but younger, smaller.

theyre def my one of my favourites. We also get a bird with a yellow and black head (no idea what species ) and ones that look like sparrows but have red in them....

yah i dont know my birds

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by onster

This red guy (cardinal? ) has been visiting our feeder for a few years and used to come with his wife...

how do you know it's his wife ? It may be a different hoochycoo every time

Just kidding I have one here in the spring , knocks on the living room windows every Saturday mornings

[onster]

LOL ure too funny frenchy.
he knocks on the window?? cool! ours are more timid than that :sad:

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by onster

he knocks on the window?? cool!

Not at 7 am on week ends

[onster]

lol...the poor baby is hungry u should give him some food when u take the dogs out in the morning ( im assuming they go out then )

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by onster

lol...the poor baby is hungry u should give him some food when u take the dogs out in the morning ( im assuming they go out then )

I tried at the other house but all the big black birds would come and empty the food , so there was never any left for the cute birdies

[onster]

I had that problem at the begining of the summer. The big black birds seem to have dissappeared now tho...only cuties

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by onster

I had that problem at the begining of the summer. The big black birds seem to have dissappeared now tho...only cuties

Same here , they're only here at the beginning of summer (when they poop all over my pool ) I wonder where they go after

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by onster

We also get a bird with a yellow and black head (no idea what species ) and ones that look like sparrows but have red in them....

Yellow and black bird is called an American Goldfinch Onster.

yah i dont know my birds

You can say that again

Originally Posted by Frenchy

I do you know it's his wife ? It may be a different hoochycoo every time

It's kinda early in the morning for this kind of chatter

Onster and for the sparrowlike bird with the red, it would depend where the red is on the body, pic please

[onster]

Yellow and Gold finch! cool! thanks

Heres a pic (not so good) of the sparrow with the red in it



We also get what looks like sparrows with yellow in them too, with the yellow more in the head area.

We also get chicadeees. I only know that from tv cuz they said that they say their name in their call "chicadee dee dee"

[chico2]

The sparrow-like bird with red on his head and chest is a male House-Finch,the female looks kind of like a striped Sparrow,
We have a few bird-feeders and Feed ALL the birds,including Black-Birds and Pigeons,they get hungry to you know
Gets awfully expensive though

[onster]

So far I have seen:

At least 3 different regular blue jays
2 Cardinal couples
Morning Doves
American Goldfinches
Black Capped Chickadees
Red Breasted Nuthatches
Purple finches
House finches
House sparrows
Pine siskins
Chipping sparrows
Squirrels of the Cirque de soleil variety
(Yes, onster picked up a pamphlet about birdies)
ANDDDDdddd

Yesterday I was in the kitchen watching all the birdies when suddenly they all started flying like mad, whacking into the house (the glass). On the fence there was a hawk/falcon of some sort. My poor birdies I Dunno about him/her becoming a regular...eek!!!

[hazelrunpack]

If you want to discourage the hawk, stop putting feed out for a while. The little birds will hang around but not gather at the feeder and the hawk will move on to greener pastures. Once it's been a while since you've seen the hawk (a couple weeks or so) put the seed back out--the little birds will be back before you know it!

[onster]

You think the hawk will be back? I havent seen him again but I suppose he'd try to come back. He didnt actually try to swoop down on the birdies just looked on from the fence (plotting?? ).

Im worried about my regulars abandoning me though :sad:

[hazelrunpack]

The hawk may just move on if he finds he can't catch anything, so I guess is depends upon how successful he is. We have a sharp-shinned hawk that stakes out our feeders. Occasionally we find feathers from a kill. She's around quite a bit, but she doesn't feed exclusively at our feeders (unless she's surviving on three birds a year) so we haven't taken any measures to discourage her.

If your hawk is migrating, it may not be back, but keep an eye peeled. At feeders in more urban areas they can start making a big dent in the numbers of birds because there are fewer to hunt in the area.

If you have to let your feeders run dry, don't worry about the little birds. They'll come back quickly once you are able to fill the feeders again. Most of the birds you listed stay all winter so they'll still be around

[Magicwildwolf69]

So pretty

Wish i could have a bird feeder but i live on a third floor apartment i could put one out but i couldn't see them hehe plus it would give my cats something to watch hehe

[chico2]

Onster,I have dfferent kind of Hawks coming here regularly and equally as many birds as you have+pigeons,they are not going to be scared away by a Hawk,only for the moment the Hawk is there.
My birds fly in to a very dense cedar-hedge and hide and come out when the Hawk is gone.
I am in awe at the beauty of a Hawk,so I do not mind them coming here.
Some birds have paid a hefty price,mostly Mourning Doves and Pigeons,but more often than not,the Hawk leaves here hungry.
"My"Crows do a good job of scaring them away..

[onster]

The squirrels are doing a good job at making a mess but theyre so cute



yeah he's a fatty, lol



BUT that's not the problem..today I saw this guy




I know its not clear, couldnt get close. But what is it?? A mouse? It had a short tail though...and it seems like it lives underground?? I dunno if you can see the tunnels it seems to have made. I would assume a mole but I always thought moles were big...........

[onster]

Another pic....

Later it just disappeared in one of the holes.

[hazelrunpack]

It could be a short-tailed shrew. They eat a lot of mice--they have to eat about their body weight each day or starve. The don't really tunnel so much as make flat runnels in leaf litter and under snow--and they'll use the paths that mice make. They don't hibernate, so could very well be a shrew--by the size, a short-tailed. I like them...cool little dudes! They're pugnacious, and have mildly poisonous saliva, so don't try to handle them and keep kitties away.... 'specially bunduk who might decide that it's nommable (cuz after all, isn't everything on earth made to be nommed by bunduk? )

[otter]

Hey, those guys aren't making the mess (darn birdies ) they are just cleaning up what fell on the floor (ground). Goooooooood squirrels

Hee, hee.

Could the little guy be a "vole" as well.... Misery is fond of nomming something of that sort. I know Bunduk would never do that though, he's a gentle soul, only noms inanimate objects, never something living, right

.... at first I thought this was a new post, when I saw the GREEN grass in the photo I went

[onster]

LOL funny u guys should mention bunduk. Right after I see this dude the neighbour rings the doorbell because lil bro left garage door open all night so im telling lil bro "OMG mom and dad are gonan coem home and were gonna be infested with mice!!!!" (i try to scare him )...he mildly freaks and declares we should let Onnie and Bunduk in the garage....I look at bunduk who's lying on the rug "dudi, u wanna go in the garage?" He purrmeos, and rolls over seductively for a belly rub. Lil bro "that's my killer!!" "ummm so where can we get mouse traps"


poisonous saliva?!?! really?? Wow. I like that they eat mice though..sweeet!!!! Kitties dont really go out anymore because I have to supervise and frankly its too cold to supervise

and otter, nono BAD squirrels!!! the squirrels are making a mess because theyre trying to pick out the peanuts...they basically dig alll the seed out of the feeders till they come across the prized peanuts

UMMMM and bunduk noms my finger ...which I like to think of as animate!! LOL....and spiders. He loves spiders..mmmmmMMmmm. And flies

hahaha...a vole eh? Do voles eat mice too??

[luvsmallfurries]

Looks like a mole to me......Corkie, , (my 'catch and release hunter') brought one in for me once and dropped it right on my chest. It fit into the palm of my hand so I don't think they are all that big. The voles we have around here are tiny, smaller than the mice I'm familiar with. Don't shrews tend to hand out in more boggy areas? (not too familiar with shrews I'm afraid)

[hazelrunpack]

Nope...we have short-tailed shrews that run along the house and hang out under the feeders.

You're right, luvsmallfurries. Could be a vole, too. They wouldn't eat mice, though, onster--strictly vegetarians. They do eat seed. We need a much closer pic, onster

If it's a short-tailed shrew, they're not poisonous enough to really make you sick, onster, though smaller animals and children might feel ill if bitten. It's the shrews' "claim to fame", though--the only poisonous north american mammal.

[Spatx]

I think it's a shrew - but I haven't really seen enough around to be sure. Last time I think I saw one was in the dark while camping and it was running in circles by the van, and I screamed because I almost stepped on it... thats a whole 'nother story though

[onster]

so do shrew also eat seeds? cuz this guy was eating seeds?

Okies im gonna have to wait till the pops is back from vacay and then borrow SLR and take more pics

definately didnt look like a mouse though...unless canadian mice are different than Middle eastern mice

omg spatx, im so glad this guy was outside!!! lol. I really hope no creatures made their way into the garage

[onster]

k so looking at pictures, this guy defnately didnt look like a vole.

Looked like a shrew except im not sure bout the longish nose...didnt seem to have that...but..hmmm ok now im gonna have to stalk mystery animal

[hazelrunpack]

Shrews are great for getting rid of mice in garages! Bonus--they have no urge to live there, just to hunt there.

If you can corner one, you'll know right away if it's a shrew. They rear up on their hind legs and growl at you--they think they're pretty ferocious! (I think so, too! ) You'll never see a mouse or a vole do that.

Occasionally we'd find one trapped in a window well at our old house. It was tough trying to get them out cuz if you'd try to put in a jar or a pail and trap them, they'd try to attack your hand. So we'd just lean an old board in the window well and let them find their own way out.