View Full Version : Who Visits Your Birdfeeder?
Before Christmas I set up a birdfeeder in the backyard here in SE Denver. Thus far the following feathered friends have dined at my bird restaurant:
Various types of sparrows - I'm not very good at identifying different types.
Black-capped chickadees.
Juncos - Usually upper body is very dark gray, almost black, lower half is cream-colored.
House finches
Nuthatches - cute birds
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flickers - we have two pairs that stop by - they can drain the feeder quickly
A collared dove - My birdwatcher friends tell me to chase these doves away as they are an "invasive species".
What types of birds visit your feeder and what kinds of feed to you use?
All of the above plus noisy mountain jays...and a large mule deer buck who has acquired a taste for black sunflower seed--we call him Mooch--and a fox who leaves his calling card.
OldFogey
02-08-2017, 09:38
Before Christmas I set up a birdfeeder in the backyard here in SE Denver. Thus far the following feathered friends have dined at my bird restaurant:
Various types of sparrows - I'm not very good at identifying different types.
Black-capped chickadees.
Juncos - Usually upper body is very dark gray, almost black, lower half is cream-colored.
House finches
Nuthatches - cute birds
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flickers - we have two pairs that stop by - they can drain the feeder quickly
A collared dove - My birdwatcher friends tell me to chase these doves away as they are an "invasive species".
What types of birds visit your feeder and what kinds of feed to you use?
Same as above. Nuthatches and downie's rarely, the rest quite often. However, my border collie/Australian shepherd mix seems to think that one of his main jobs is to bust chops on any birds at the feeders. Feed lasts a lot longer now. Have some fence feeders that are supposed to be for the larger birds that are really squirrel feeders. Side note: since I started feeding the flickers they have quit pecking holes in my siding. I think that I am actually paying protection seed here...
My mom has her back yard set up to attract birds. I don't really know what all she gets, but I know she sees a lot of gold finches and hummingbirds. We also have a woodpecker that's coming dangerously close to meeting my airgun.
Great-Kazoo
02-08-2017, 10:40
My mom has her back yard set up to attract birds. I don't really know what all she gets, but I know she sees a lot of gold finches and hummingbirds. We also have a woodpecker that's coming dangerously close to meeting my airgun.
Woodpeckers are protected species. The ring neck / collared doves are not ;)
No bird feeder here in town but we do get eagles, hawks, multiple owls, a porcupine AND even with a NO SOLICITORS sign the occasional nuisance huckster. Hovering around the area.
Squirrels mostly. But when I plant sunflowers we get something that looks like this. They are my favorite besides the robins.
https://goo.gl/images/eeZ69L
We're currently feeding both suet and seed.
Suet birds:
Clark's Nutcracker
Steller's Jay
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Wodpecker
Mountain Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Seed eaters:
Common Raven
American Crow
Steller's Jay
Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Juncos including:
Slate-colored Junco
White-winged Junco
Oregon Junco
Oregon Pink-sided Junco
Gray-headed Junco
The various mountain finches have been conspicuously absent for the past month although I think I heard a Pine Grosbeak in the yard Monday. We did have both male and female Great Horned Owls duetting in the yard a couple weeks ago.
I'm on the lookout for Bohemian Waxwings and Common Redpolls which are arctic species that visit the Colorado Rockies in winter.
Here's a photo of male and female Golden-crowned Kinglets feeding on elk suet. They are tiny, active birds that survive at high altitude.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/GCKI-male-crest-raised.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/GCKI-male-crest-raised.jpg.html)
Here's a Bohemian Waxwing that visited our Palisade yard a few years ago.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Imsohandsomeyes.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Imsohandsomeyes.jpg.html)
Woodpeckers are protected species. The ring neck / collared doves are not ;)
... AND even with a NO SOLICITORS sign the occasional nuisance huckster.
Free hog feed!
spqrzilla
02-08-2017, 17:15
Send him to Wu's pigs!
Forgot to mention, we went through 60 lbs of sugar last year feeding the hummers. Practically a full time job keeping the feeders full. They sure get testy when I'm slackin'.
Haven't really tallied how much black sunflower seed we give away. I'd guess about 150 lbs/year. That goes a scoop at a time on top of a stump (bear country so we don't bother with hanging feeders). Used to do suet but messy and didn't seem to attract anything different.
Hucksters are a rare breed around here. Of course, we put some impediments in their path.
[QUOTE=Hummer;2049554]We're currently feeding both suet and seed.
Suet birds:
Clark's Nutcracker
Steller's Jay
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Wodpecker
Mountain Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Seed eaters:
Common Raven
American Crow
Steller's Jay
Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Juncos including:
Slate-colored Junco
White-winged Junco
Oregon Junco
Oregon Pink-sided Junco
Gray-headed Junco
The various mountain finches have been conspicuously absent for the past month although I think I heard a Pine Grosbeak in the yard Monday. We did have both male and female Great Horned Owls duetting in the yard a couple weeks ago.
I'm on the lookout for Bohemian Waxwings and Common Redpolls which are arctic species that visit the Colorado Rockies in winter.
Here's a photo of male and female Golden-crowned Kinglets feeding on elk suet. They are tiny, active birds that survive at high altitude.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/GCKI-male-crest-raised.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/GCKI-male-crest-raised.jpg.html)
Here's a Bohemian Waxwing that visited our Palisade yard a few years ago.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Imsohandsomeyes.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Imsohandsomeyes.jpg.html)[/
Hummmer, you have hit the bird jackpot in Boulder County. Nice pics of some of your birds! Let us know who visits your feeder in the summer and send more pics.QUOTE]
A few months ago my wrought iron shepherds hook that I use for the bird feeder was bent over. At first I was thinking I had a 10lb squirrel jumping on it - or a deer managed to jump the high fence. Nope; had 7 wild turkeys decide to roost up the hill from me. Every so often they land on the feeder and bend it over.
I get the normal mixture of birds along with a few that look like young robins before they change color.
encorehunter
02-12-2017, 07:52
69159
We get the Black-capped Chickadee Mafia visiting out feeder. Two 'guards' make sure all other birds stay away while the Don Chickadee and his favorites eat their fill. We also get a small group of Pine Siskins, in addition to a Downy Woodpecker, nuthatches, and various little 'tweety birds' that come in such a flock that it's hard to say what they are. Robins, of course, nesting in completely inappropriate places. Tiny little house wrens, who are real comedians. We also have Northern Flickers, and they're my favorite. The males are such clowns! In the early make their way around my neighborhood, hammering on the flashing of the chimney to set up their territory. Last year, I could set our clock by the hammering on our chimney (7:07 am), along with his goofy laughing call. We've not had any damage done by flickers, or I might not hold them in such favor as I do.
We also have the variety of Kestrels, Red-Tailed Hawks, and the occasional great horned owl.
We do get little hummingbirds in the spring and summer, but I don;t know how to keep the wasps and hornets from taking over the feeders. Any tips? I've got the yellow wasp traps, but there are apparently a variety of the little bastards.
We also like the flickers and other woodpeckers. I find if you put up a nesting box for flickers they are less likely to damage wood siding. Very often they are pecking siding because they hear bugs behind the wall.
Bees, wasps and hornets can be a problem on hummer feeders in late summer. Wasp traps are effective. Sometimes they will prefer to visit open trays of sugar water rather than humfeeders. And at peak hornet time I take the flower ports off one or two feeders so the bees and yellow jackets can enter, drown and fill the feeder with dead bodies.
We get the Black-capped Chickadee Mafia visiting out feeder. Two 'guards' make sure all other birds stay away while the Don Chickadee and his favorites eat their fill. We also get a small group of Pine Siskins, in addition to a Downy Woodpecker, nuthatches, and various little 'tweety birds' that come in such a flock that it's hard to say what they are. Robins, of course, nesting in completely inappropriate places. Tiny little house wrens, who are real comedians. We also have Northern Flickers, and they're my favorite. The males are such clowns! In the early make their way around my neighborhood, hammering on the flashing of the chimney to set up their territory. Last year, I could set our clock by the hammering on our chimney (7:07 am), along with his goofy laughing call. We've not had any damage done by flickers, or I might not hold them in such favor as I do.
We also have the variety of Kestrels, Red-Tailed Hawks, and the occasional great horned owl.
We do get little hummingbirds in the spring and summer, but I don;t know how to keep the wasps and hornets from taking over the feeders. Any tips? I've got the yellow wasp traps, but there are apparently a variety of the little bastards.
A Northern Red-shafted Flicker at an aspen nest hole in our yard. All woodpeckers are cavity nesters that drill into heart-rot diseased trees for bugs and nest sites.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/RSFL49kb.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/RSFL49kb.jpg.html)
Hairy Woodpeckers visit our sugar water feeders in summer, and take suet and seed year around. They can deftly pop the flowers off the hummer feeders. Clown!
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Sugar-Thief.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Sugar-Thief.jpg.html)
The Northern Three-toed-Woodpecker is similar to the Hairy Woodpecker but lives only in high altitude spruce-fir forests. We regularly get them in our yard but they have never used our feeders. Seldom seen and highly sought after by birders.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Three-toed-Woodpecker.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Three-toed-Woodpecker.jpg.html)
A Lewis's Woodpecker at our Palisade tray feeder. Named after Captain Meriweather Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Lewis's Woodpeckers populations are in steep decline.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/LEWP.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/LEWP.jpg.html)
Like woodpeckers, the Clark's Nutcracker goes for elk suet at our kitchen window. This pic taken a few minutes ago. The Clark's is a strong corvid or jay species, named for Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Interestingly, the flight pattern of Lewis's Woodpecker and Clark's Nutcracker are remarkably similar.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Clarks-Nutcracker-on-elk-s_zpscf0iga92.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Clarks-Nutcracker-on-elk-s_zpscf0iga92.jpg.html)
Anybody have any ideas how to keep the peckers off the house? Not the best way to wake up every morning, and they don't seem affected by the Owl.
SideShow Bob
02-12-2017, 20:49
Pigeons have taken over my neighbors bird feeder since a year ago. I have asked them to not put it up anymore. The pigeons are becoming a real problem in this neighborhood.
But like a dim bulb he keeps refilling it.
Yesterday, I took a drive along the Peak-to-Peak and found a few Horned Larks feeding along the roadside and bravely gathering sand and salt in the wheel tracks on the highway. While this is common behavior on the plains I haven't seen it much in the mountains. I'm guessing that these are birds that are now establishing breeding territories in the alpine tundra but have been forced to forage at lower elevations due to large amount of snow along the Continental Divide. (We've had 12" in the past two days.)
Here's a snapshot of one feeding on the shoulder where the state snowplows exposed some ground.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Horned-Lark-feeding-on-high_zpsm9yrvalp.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Horned-Lark-feeding-on-high_zpsm9yrvalp.jpg.html)
Well, apparently one of these birds followed me home and has been hanging out with the juncos and other birds below the feeders. What a surprise! In more that 50 years of feeding and watching birds here I've never seen a Horned Lark at the cabin. It's heavily wooded along a stream, and Horned Larks prefer open grasslands. Horned Larks nest in the shortgrass prairie of the Pawnee National Grasslands, in agricultural fields, desert grasslands and alpine tundra. They occur in all 64 Colorado counties.
I got a couple photos of this handsome male Horned Lark just outside our front door:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Horned-Lark-PV-2-25-17_zpsbot5cjly.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Horned-Lark-PV-2-25-17_zpsbot5cjly.jpg.html)
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Birds/Horned-Lark-2-25-2017_zps5lux22ld.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Birds/Horned-Lark-2-25-2017_zps5lux22ld.jpg.html)
Pigeons have taken over my neighbors bird feeder since a year ago. I have asked them to not put it up anymore. The pigeons are becoming a real problem in this neighborhood.
But like a dim bulb he keeps refilling it.
Are there solar panels around? I've noticed that they love hanging out around solar panels and have seen some pretty significant problems caused by them.
buffalobo
02-25-2017, 21:38
The Horned Lark is my favorite. We have quite a few. Very pleasant bird to have around.
Bailey Guns
02-26-2017, 08:18
I love the look on his face in the last photo, Hummer!
Hummer, I've never heard of a Horned Lark before. I'm learning all sorts of things from your posts, and I love the photos! :)
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