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Bird Watchers

jfields

jfields

Where did all my money go?
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
16,907
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
Any of you here into feeding or watching birds? I’m no one to trek out into the wild with binoculars, but I do enjoy feeding them and giving them a hand. I’m sitting here now watching these beautiful Goldfinches while enjoying a cigar. Can’t wait for the hummingbirds to come back around this spring and summer.

Here in Virginia some of the more common song birds we have are Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice. I put high end seed out with peanuts, and pistachios, which also attracts a lot of woodpeckers, such as Downy, Sapsucker, and Pileated Woodpeckers.

If you do feed, what types of birds do you see your way? Post some pictures!883C6E7D-9F25-4751-8EFB-9FE19DBF6557.jpegB3D3CFC7-9661-406E-8FBC-CE72708C2023.jpeg5C1B7776-70E0-4AC9-8D81-99A241A60BDC.jpeg
 
Been a birder for most of my adult life. As well as a member of the National Audubon Society and New Haven Bird Club. I’ve done the migration count at Light House Point here in New Haven a couple of times. Raptor migration patterns in the Northeast goes over New Haven heading to and from Cape May NJ.

Vacation packing always includes binoculars and sometimes my spotting scope along with my Petersons bird guild. It’s amazing what you can see when you actually pay attention. Woods, beach and mountains, thers always something flying around.

We maintain a seed feeder and suet feeder throughout most of the year and a Huming bird feeder during the summer months. We don’t buy anything special just a song bird mix and the cheapest suet I can find. Both my children use to tease me about birding but now as adults they both maintain their own feeders. This one of the simplest and cheapest ways to introduce kids to nature.
 
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We put out seed all year and right now is the best due to the migratory movements. I can't name most of them but there are several varieties of finches, wrens and larks along with cardinals, quail, dove, roadrunners, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. There are two resident ravens that harass them the best they can too, Lol.
 
A buddy has a feeder by his screened patio. Some little birds were showing up, we didn't know what the heck they were so we called them tits. Because who doesn't like to see a pair of tits!

Anyway, I started looking online and danged if they don't look like the Tufted Titmouse.
 
Darin said:
We put out seed all year and right now is the best due to the migratory movements. I can't name most of them but there are several varieties of finches, wrens and larks along with cardinals, quail, dove, roadrunners, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. There are two resident ravens that harass them the best they can too, Lol.
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I’ve always wanted to befriend a crow. Very intelligent birds!
 
jfields said:
I’ve always wanted to befriend a crow. Very intelligent birds!
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The Ravens are very smart and very social. Once, on a windy day, we sat and watched a group of them take turns hopping out to the end of a limb and hang upside down by one foot as long as possible. Then, they would fly to the back of the line to await another turn. Also the only bird I've seen fly upside down. Incredible!
 
I installed a hummingbird feeder off the eaves of the house and have only spotted a couple hummingbirds use it. Nothing lately. I plan to get a bird feeder installed as well. Really cool to hear some of the crows when I'm out in the yard with a smoke. When they flap their wings some of them sound like a bird twice their size, like an eagle.

We've gotten some large lizards around here as well. Like a foot long and 2 inches in diameter.
 
tone-ny said:
This guy visited in the fall, among a ton of water fowls in the pond.View attachment 54090
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They’re cool! I love Pileated Woodpeckers. We have had one coming around for a little over a year now. Like Thomas, I buy the cheapest suet cakes I can find, and it’s a good thing. He will go through one in about two to three days. Sometimes it sounds like someone is hitting a tree with a small baseball bat when he’s going to town. Thanks for sharing that picture Anthony.
 
The Black Cloud said:
I installed a hummingbird feeder off the eaves of the house and have only spotted a couple hummingbirds use it. Nothing lately. I plan to get a bird feeder installed as well. Really cool to hear some of the crows when I'm out in the yard with a smoke. When they flap their wings some of them sound like a bird twice their size, like an eagle.

We've gotten some large lizards around here as well. Like a foot long and 2 inches in diameter.
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Did you move out of the condo and get a a single family home Jeff?
 
jfields said:
Did you move out of the condo and get a a single family home Jeff?
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My fiancee and I dipped our toes in the housing market earlier this year, but LA prices are insane. We abandoned that idea and are focused on planning a wedding for next spring. We'll see how the housing market is after we're married.

We rent a 1 bdr unit from my parents next door (technically a duplex with no shared walls), so our living situation is comfortable and cheap as dirt, albeit cramped with 2 adults and 2 large dogs in a small 1bdr house.
 
I've also been a birder most of my adult life. In fact, this week I saw my 768th different bird, a black-faced spoonbill.

We have several feeders in our backyard and woods. We have a main feeder with sunflower hearts and a birdbath that are out all year round. In the winter we also put out Nyger seeds for the goldfinches and pine siskins, mealworms for the bluebirds, and suet for the woodpeckers. In the summer we have a hummingbird feeder and several flower pots that they like better than the best hummingbird feeder that money can buy.

We used to have squirrels terrorize our feeders, but we've switched to hot pepper seed and that cured the problem. Birds don't have a sense of smell/taste, but the furry rats sure do!
 
Nihon_Ni said:
I've also been a birder most of my adult life. In fact, this week I saw my 768th different bird, a black-faced spoonbill.

We have several feeders in our backyard and woods. We have a main feeder with sunflower hearts and a birdbath that are out all year round. In the winter we also put out Nyger seeds for the goldfinches and pine siskins, mealworms for the bluebirds, and suet for the woodpeckers. In the summer we have a hummingbird feeder and several flower pots that they like better than the best hummingbird feeder that money can buy.

We used to have squirrels terrorize our feeders, but we've switched to hot pepper seed and that cured the problem. Birds don't have a sense of smell/taste, but the furry rats sure do!
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I remember the first squirrel that ate that capsicum pepper treated food. That guy came out of that feeder bouncing all over the ground and then took off. You could tell he was in agony.. Funniest thing ever! 😂
I have a pole with a vinyl sleeve they can’t climb or jump up now. I don’t mind if they eat the scraps that fall.
 
Great photo......I've only seen two Pileated Woodpeckers in my life and both times were pretty deep into woods hiking. We get lots of Red Headed, Common Flickers, Harriers and Downey's but never a Paliated.
 
I have a woodpecker that's been hanging around all winter. Not sure what he is, has some bands on his back and a really golden-orange underside when he flies.

Looks like it might be a Golden Fronted Woodpecker. Little dash of red on his head, not nearly as much as the Red-Headed Woodpecker. My main issue is that when I'm generally out there relaxing, the birds are between me and the sun so a dark silhouette is what I see. Some times I get some better lit views.
 
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