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.