Poll: Birds

[Ron Wenrich]

poll expires on 1-2-06.






Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. 

[crtreedude]

No bird feeders - it isn't getting cold...  ;D

[IMERC]

feeders of any kind here attract bears.

[asy]

Cold???

All our birds are sufferring heat exhaustion...

asy :D

[Tom]

We have one just so that we can watch the birds and squirrels fight over the sunfower seeds.  I scatter corn on the side of the yard and specific places back in the woods too.  ;D

We don't have much problem with wildlife finding something to eat around here.   I just wish they would leave me some.  They can eat a whole garden in one night and I can't get but a handful of grapes and a pear or two before the birds, coons, possums and deer get them.  I actually got 3 persimmons this year.  I'll bet there are some really mad 'possums. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I don't like to make the birds dependent on hand outs, so I don't feed them. My mother used to and we had blue jays that mostly sacked the sunflower seeds off to hide them. In the field we had hundreds of sunflowers growing up in the potato crop. :  Also, there is no shortage of natural feed for the population of birds we have. ;)

[Furby]

I don't have any feeders out, but the question asked is a trick question in my case! :D

[pigman]

I don't have any feeders out, but the question asked is a trick question in my case! :D

Domestic birds don't count. ;D

[Furby]

Nope! ;D

[beenthere]

Right Furby, I answered for '2', but have 3 more in the garage, not 'out'.  ;D  Can't get anything by you. 

[IMERC]

but the question asked is a trick question in my case! :D

Was the cold the trick or how many feeders ya have even if they're not out.

[sprucebunny]

The first story of my house has a 12' ceiling so bears or stray cats have a big stairway to face because I live on the second story and have a deck on both levels. One feeder is on a pole on the upstairs deck and the other sticks out on a piece of rebar.
I also put seeds on the deck for grosbeaks, cardinals and squirrels. Blue jays showed up for the first time this year.

I really enjoy seeing birds visit and each year there is a bigger variety. Had cardinals this fall for the first time ;D

The squirrels are fat and sleek and there is activity and chirping in the woods ;D

[Rocky_J]

I have to go buy some small diameter wire rope to hang my bird feeder again. I used Zing-It throw line to hang it off a tree limb and it lasted for over a year before the squirrels figured out that they could chew the string and drop the feeder. I fixed it and the next day it was on the ground again, with 4-5 fat squirrels having a field day. Once I fix it, they will forage normally plus whatever I give them but they aren't busting up my bird feeder again!
:D

[Furby]

Was the cold the trick or how many feeders ya have even if they're not out.

If we ever meet, I'll explain it then! ;)
Might just give ya a reason to come to the piggy roast eh? ;D

[Corley5]

I've have hairy and downy woodpeckers, goldfinches, house and purple finches, chickadees, red and white breasted nuthatches, mourning doves, and an occasional bluejay, evening grosbeak and pileated woodpecker.  It's about time for the pine grosbeaks and redpolls to show up.  Last winter I fed five hundred pounds of sunflower seed and I lost track of the # of suet cakes.  Last winter I had a red bellied woodpecker hang around for a while and a couple years ago a tufted titmouse was a regular visitor.  Both are uncommon up here.  Of course there are squirrels.  Gray squirrels and the their black phase, fox squirrels, red squirrels >:( and my favorite the flying squirrels.  Historically we never had the gray phase squirrels, all of them were black around here but the last few years some gray ones have been showing up. 

[ellmoe]

Do Wild turkeys count? ;D

Mark

[beenthere]

It's really tough for them to count, but if you watch their head bob, sometimes they at least act like they can.

[Larry]

Guess I fed about the same as Greg plus we plant a lot of goodies for em.  I'm in the 5 or more feeder group. 

Planted pine trees also so the song birds could have a little protection from the hawks.

[bitternut]

Does a deer's ribcage hanging from a tree limb count as a feeder?

[beenthere]

Does a deer's ribcage hanging from a tree limb count as a feeder?

Doesn't get much better'n that, does it?  beenthere, and they enjoy that most of the rest of the winter.  Freaks out a few people who walk into the woods and find them, but what the heck........

[Paul_H]

Our Bears are all sleeping til mid-March.We keep a feeder in the flowering Crabapple tree out the front window where the birds will feed on the crabapples in the early Spring when the apples thaw out a bit.
The Stellers Jays feed out of our cats dish outside and I've even seen them work him by having one Jay razz him while the other swoops in for some grub.

The cat is an old Tom that uses the neighbours cat door to access all the grub he wants and he doesn't have to put up with the Jays.

My neighbours hate him  :D

[bitternut]

It was at least 35 years ago that I discovered that birds would pick at a deer carcass. I was deer hunting in Pennsylvania and I had a stand next to a stone fence. This fence started at the road edge and ran into the woods and went right by where I had my stand. It made a great way for me to find my stand in the dark.

Well, some one had gotten a deer during the archery season and had dumped their deer trimmings in the ditch next to the stone fence. When I came out for lunch I noticed that there were several Chickadees picking at the deer scraps. Got a nice buck out of that stand the next morning and when I butchered that deer a week later the ribcage went up in a tree. Been doing it ever since.

[Saki]

Mark us down for 3 to 4. Have 2 suet feeders, and a feeder for sunflower seeds. Lots of times the seed feeder is a " fill daily " deal. We buy our suet cakes 100 at a time or more. That many lasts us a winter so we average putting up a new suet cake every day. You sure get some strange looks when you buy a hundred suet cakes at once ;D

[Modat22]

we had a dressed manaquin out a couple years ago with a feeder in its hand, after awhile you could go out dressed like the dummy and the birds would eat out of your hand, I think we're going to try it again this year and get some pics. I'm rather fond of birds especially birds of prey.

[Norm]

I used to put out bird feeders until Angel my cat decided that it was his personal bird stash. I too put out the deer carcass's, we get a bunch of bald eagles that will feed on them.

[OneWithWood]

We have one 'commercial' feeder and acres of natural stuff.  We are not at a loss for feathered friends, even with two cats on patrol.

[Bill Johnson]

We have one feeder, outside our picture window.  Since it consists of 1/4 sheet of plywood, its commonly referred to as the "aircraft carrier"  :D.  It easily accomodates 30 grosbeaks, numerous chickadees, and siskens. We also get our fair share of jays, squirrels, chipmunks, etc through out the entire year.

[Bro. Noble]

I put out sunflower seeds,  suet,  niger thistle seeds,  and cracked corn.  Last night I put out an armidillow to feed the crows ;D  If they pick it clean without tearing up the shell,  it will go for a sewing basket for a good friend up north ;)

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 When I butcher deer I save the tallow and stuff it in my wire suit feeder.
The Ladderbacks really like it.

The squirrels really get into my bird feaders, I'm thinkin about squirrel stew.
Just another dish that would go well with grits!

Jon

[thecfarm]

We use to have a 2 square foot piece of plywood on top of a 7ft pipe to feed the birds.I got tired of fighting the gray squirrels off from it.I put 3 liters plastic soda bottles through the post.I drilled a hole in the bottom of each bottle and pulled the pipe out and put the bottles through the pipe.This helped out alot.The bottles would spin as soon as they would leap  on them.No way to keep the garys away all the time.Haven't seen any this year at the feeder.My dog loves to chase them.

[CHARLIE]

I feed Northern Orioles, hummingbirds and finches in the Spring and Summer, but the winter birds are on their own.

[Danny_S]

This is our feeding station the other day. We have about 10 regular chickadees and a couple of finch.

[Corley5]

This guy showed up today   I've tries to get pics of him in the past and finally got him.  The strange thing was that Mr Elusive came to the feeder with the Cummins truck running 12' away from it.  Not sure about that :  The pics didn't come ou too bad considering they were taken through a window ;D





8) 8) 8) Birds.  The red crest on his head would stand up like a fan sometimes.

[SwampDonkey]

I drive them away from pecking at one of my maples in the yard. I tried getting a pic of one in the woods but he would always be one step ahead of me and would only allow me so close. He also liked to duck around the other side of the tree. ;D  Ever try to get a picture of a sapsucker? They'll have you running and running around the tree. :D :D :D

[Cedarman]

Our cat thinks we are attracting birds just for her to try and catch.  So no feeder.  There are enough weed seeds to feed a huge flock and enough dead trees for the woodpeckers.

I really like the hanging rib cage idea.  Will give it a try next time.

[SwampDonkey]

I got curious the other day as I saw where someone was driving on my cousins lot and walking in a road he has. I found a bunch of marten carcasses and a flock of chicadees at them. Also there were 3 coyote snares set, but I don't think they will be in danger.

[Murf]

I have about 5 or 8 different feeders spread around the place, mostly out the back, we back onto a huge (mostly) coniferous forest so there's lots of birds around.

We feed sunflower and niger (thistle) seed mostly, but do put out a few suet bars in the winter.



Most of time there's a waiting line to get to these little feeders, it's comical to watch the finches buzzing each other to steal their seat at the buffet.

[farmerdoug]

I do not put out feeders as it attracts rodents(rats and mice), but I do plant 5+ acres of field corn and a couple of acres of grain sohgram and buckwheat by the woods each year for all of the wildlife.  It also keeps them out of the truck farm crops to a point during the summer. :

Farmerdoug