BIRDS

[aigheadish]

I may have seen the hummingbird zip by once yesterday, not sure...

The turkeys here will be around for a bit and they seem to have a pretty good range. Then as they get big and fat it seems like they are turned into food by some of the guys hunting in the neighborhood. I love seeing them in the yard. 

[ron barnes]

We still have an occasional Hummingbird.  One fat female was at the feeder earlier this morning.  Probably be her last day in SC.

[Magicman]

I have mentioned before that I have never really paid much attention to how many birds that we have nor the species.  I know that Hummers go South, but what else?  Heck, we are South.

I also have never put out bird seed/feed.  So this year, PatD got a bird feeder and of course it fell my lot to keep it supplied. 

Of course the Hummers seem to be gone, and about the only birds coming to the feed now are Cardinals and a couple of Blue Jays.  Looks like I have enough seed/feed to last the Winter.

[SwampDonkey]

Saw 8 turkeys in the field yesterday on the way home from wood cut'n. Never got up to the woods today, grocery run and house choirs. Have not seen a pheobe for quite awhile now, even in the warm spell. Which I'm glad of because they come around after house flies on the house and leave their deposits. Some kind of a warbler does the same, he's not around either. Mostly now is robins, blue jays, grackles, starlings, chickadees, vireos, nuthatch, red poles and juncos and various sparrows. Geese and ducks are still around. See a grouse once in awhile on my trips to the woodlot. Have not seen a heron nor an osprey for awhile. I think the herons are still around though.

[Ron Scott]

I'll put my bird feeders back out on November 1st before the snow comes.

My feeders' site has been registered with the Audubon for over 20 years. I send them a monthly bird species and count for the months of November through April from an observation and count day each month.

[SwampDonkey]

Saw 12 turkeys in the field and one grouse out on my trails at the woodlot when I brought home a buggy load of wood. I wasn't cut'n on Sunday, but I had to get out of the house.  And there was also snow squalls here in the afternoon. Clear out now and 28°, sunny day coming.

[aigheadish]

I haven't seen any turkeys in a while, there were a couple years when they hung around the yard, but not this year, yet. Hummingbird finally made it's way probably a week or so ago. I've seen squawky bluejays and some kind of falcon, maybe, I don't know if falcon is right but it has definitely got a different shape and flying pattern than most of the birds around here. Much more streamlined and direct.

[KEC]

Aigheadish, does the hawk have a relatively long tail and does it fly where it flaps its' wings and then glides ?

[aigheadish]

I just saw something, grayish, smaller than a normal hawk that I know of, but bigger than a bluejay, zoom over the house and barn, no flapping, just quick swoop. The neighbor said falcons but again, I don't know much. I'll have to check Merlin and see if there is a suggestion, though I rarely get a good look when I see them. 

[KEC]

Not a lot to go on here. Falcons would include Peregrine, Merlin or American Kestrel (small). My guess maybe a Coopers' Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk. They oftentimes will come zooming in to try and flush some bird that they then grab. Young hawks are drab.

[Mooseherder]

14 Turkeys showed up today. They've only been up here less than 10 years.   I've seen this group a couple of times this year while on the atv trails. 
https://youtube.com/shorts/F670dORSZdo?si=yMGZdxYBcTY-f52I

[SwampDonkey]

Yup, there been about 12 coming out lately here, never seen any in the yard all summer. Last year there was flock of at least 40 around. They either got thinned out a lot or getting smarter, because we now have a spring season on them. I doubt that many are harvested though, only allowed one. And not everyone knows how to cook them right, they ain't no farm bird. 

[SwampDonkey]

Over 200 geese just flew over the house this morning, they were headed east.

[aigheadish]

We started, last week or so, getting the big flocks of something Grackle or Robin sized flying over. It's interesting that it's a small flock the first couple days, then bigger and bigger, then waves of big flocks, all flying east as well. They'll congregate in the trees in the yard for a bit, squawking their beaks off, then fly along just to have another batch replace them a few minutes later. I could watch the big flocks all the time. Directly to my east, two miles away, is a landfill that I can just see the top of when the leaves are gone, I can't, however, see the presumably millions of birds that hang out there. I can see them when we take a back road home and it's neat.

[SwampDonkey]

We usually get flocks of grackles in the fall before the leaves are all gone, they tend to go to the maples. In the summer they go to the spruce trees and nest. Back in the early 70's, they sprayed insecticide on the spruce trees indiscriminately, to kill budworm larvae, right over your house. Could be your back yard trees. I remember seeing all the dead grackles under the spruce trees on the ground. That's burned into my memory ever since, it happened 50 years ago.

[aigheadish]

Holy socks! It's 731a and I just saw who knows what kind of bird flock but enough to blacken out the sky fly to the west, presumably, out of some of my trees, because they were low in the sky. I happened to look out the north window in my shop as thousands and thousands of birds took flight. I didn't hear them because the heater is on. 

[aigheadish]

I have a bird problem in my shop. The doors don't close well enough to keep birds out, so they come in and build nests in the insulation. They also poop everywhere, which is really the problem. If they didn't poop in here there could be 20 and I wouldn't care that much, but they do (doo) and it's maddening.

It's a beautiful 60ish degrees today, in Dayton, Ohio, and I've pulled the blankets back to open the shop doors. There were about 6 birds flapping around right outside, looking, like they wanted to come in. I saw some bluebirds in the mix, which I didn't expect. Like a crazy person I usually scream at them (top of my lungs style, you can probably hear me three rural houses away) and clap and try to scare them away. It rarely works.

My beautiful wife suggested to my in-laws my bird problems could use a solution and for Christmas I got this plastic owl.

Totally anecdotal but I went in and got the owl and set it on the floor where you see it below and I haven't seen a bird since.

I love birds I just don't want them pooping in my shop. I even tell them that but they don't seem to listen.

[KEC]

Those huge fall flocks of "blackbirds" are oftentimes composed of different species, including European Starlings, Common Grackles, Redwing Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Aigheadish, if the birds in your building are small and mostly brown, my first guess would be House Sparrows.

[SwampDonkey]

In the spring time I notice those flocks are crackles and red winged blackbirds. In the fall they seem to be crackles and in the maple woods. We also have rusty black birds but they are not abundant like the others and never see them mixed in. I remember thinning softwoods on some crown land 16 years ago. A bunch of college students had nets like they were chasing butterflies. They were netting rusty black birds on our block.   The blackbirds were in the wet land pockets on the block. There might have been 1/4 acre wet spots here and there. We used to cut right through those spots because there would be spruce here and there in it.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

My beautiful wife suggested to my in-laws my bird problems could use a solution and for Christmas I got this plastic owl.

I bought an inflatable one for my garden... its been very effective at keeping birds and other small critters out of there. Funny how nature has it figured out, we just need to mimic it.

[aigheadish]

Yeah, I think it's sparrows. They are cute until they poop on my tools or benches. Maybe I need a net to catch the poop before it hits anything below. 

Really I have some of that reflective bubble liner that I need to put up, and figure out how to close the doors better.

[Magicman]

I still have and am enjoying my little feeder tray.  There are many Cardinals, a Woodpecker, and a couple of Blue Jays.  There also are many little brown birds, no larger than my thumb; some with a reddish upper breast and some with a yellowish breast.  There are a few sparrows and a couple of House Wrens.  Just entertaining to watch.

[Magicman]

Anyway, just how much feed does it take to fill Redwinged Blackbirds.  A pair moved in this morning and they are dominating my feed station.  The Cardinals are hesitant to land so they are sitting and watching. 

[SwampDonkey]

Dunno, never fed them. Used to feed song birds this time of year, but pigeons took over so we quit. Blackbirds are gone south of here in winter. Except for a lot of our crows. I imagine those birds can eat a lot, but they probably spill a lot to.

[Magicman]

This is the first time that I have ever fed birds.  It's interesting especially since the feed tray is only ~20' from my recliner.