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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC

    ForThose That Feed The Birds.

    Many of us feed winter birds here I am sure, and if you are not stocked up with black oil sunflower and thistle seed, you'd better get cracking.
    According to the experts, this winter conditions are right for a "Superflight" of winter northern fiches and species like red breasted nuthatches. This occurs when natural food stocks are low up north. These finches usually visit us in some numbers each year, but not in anything like the numbers we should see this year.
    I already have observed a few purple finches and pine siskins along side the cardinals, goldfinches, Carolina chickadees, titmice and other birds. One of my neighbors has seen evening grosbeaks at his, and hopefully I will get some of these beautiful birds at mine.
    Here are some birds to look for.
    Evening grosbeak
    Purple finch
    Pine siskin
    Common redpoll
    Hoary redpoll
    Red breasted nuthatch
    Winter wren
    Pine grosbeak*

    * Very rare here in NC, but you may get lucky, as I did in December 1994, when a male hung around eating sunflower seeds for two days.
    Remember, black oil sunflower will attract most feeder birds, and thistle gets mainly goldfinches and pine siskins. I try to stay away from the mixes, as they are mostly milo and millet. I keep some around however for doves and sparrows, just toss a few hand fulls on the ground for them, just not too close to bushes and other places cats may hide.
    If anyone sees any evening grosbeak flocks this year please post the info (flock size, town seen) as they are being monitored this year!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    There have been reports of evening grosbeaks this month from Greensboro, Thomasville, Maxton, Cary, Garner, Jacksonville, Matthews, and King..Keep your eyes open...https://www.allaboutbirds.org/this-c...t-your-feeder/

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    we've got grosbeaks of all kinds out the nose here...our volleyball team was called the Grosbeaks...

  4. #4
    I have a few bird feeders out in my yard. Lots of small song birds and white winged doves hang out here. In the last 6 months a hawk/falcon has turned it into their personal hunting ground. By the look of the 3-4 feathers on the ground this morning they got one of the white winged doves.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    Sounds like a Cooper's hawk. They will hang out around bird feeders.

  6. #6

    Exclamation

    10F38917-395A-4EB3-BD59-3C386B7438A4.jpg

    This is one has been hanging around the office. A caracara or locally a Mexican Eagle.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Devilwin View Post
    Sounds like a Cooper's hawk. They will hang out around bird feeders.
    They came swooping in while I was looking out my window. I saw the flash of feathers of a larger bird among all the song birds and white winged doves. I ran outside immediately. It had circled back and was looking in the bushes so it must have missed on its first pass.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Westport, CT
    At first I thought the topic was about Mary Poppins!


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckxLDGHQxrc[/URL]

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    I filled up the feeders with sunflower seed and suet in advance of this winter storm. Must have drawn in every bird in the neighborhood! I counted 51 cardinals, numerous goldfinches, titmice, chickadees, house finches and a few purple finches too. Downy and hairy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers and sapsuckers dominated the activity at the suet, even a red winged blackbird.
    I always toss some millet mix on the ground for doves and sparrows, and was rewarded by a small flock of fox sparrows (big as a robin, nearly), song sparrows, mourning doves and eastern towhees.
    Any time rough winter weather is forecast, the birds will come looking for winter handouts.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Rougemont Nebulae
    About half of my 5+ acres, proximal to the Flat River in north Durham County, I leave in its natural state. Trees decompose where they fall and I get to observe the biome maturing in microcosm. I had often heard that some species of woodpeckers prefer as habitat dead but still standing trees and I have had several over the years available for occupancy. About 4 years ago a mating pair of pileated woodpeckers took up residence in one of the trees and hung around for 2 seasons. They bear a striking resemblance to the ivory-billed wp presumed extinct of course. My neighbor who had complained about the lack of landscaping on my property and has even offered to come over and remove several debris piles that have collected naturally along the river, filmed the pair off and on for a few months. (He doesn't complain quite so much about the lack of landscaping in my backyard anymore). In the wild their size is surprising. If you spend a lot of time scanning the undergrowth for small songbirds that habituate feeders, the size of the pileated wp is shockingly out of proportion. It just seems so much larger than its reported 14 to 17 inch size at adulthood. They also spend far more time at ground level than I expected seemingly willing to take advantage of the insect populations that are attracted to decaying organic matter as much as they like to bore into harder woods.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBlue View Post
    About half of my 5+ acres, proximal to the Flat River in north Durham County, I leave in its natural state. Trees decompose where they fall and I get to observe the biome maturing in microcosm. I had often heard that some species of woodpeckers prefer as habitat dead but still standing trees and I have had several over the years available for occupancy. About 4 years ago a mating pair of pileated woodpeckers took up residence in one of the trees and hung around for 2 seasons. They bear a striking resemblance to the ivory-billed wp presumed extinct of course. My neighbor who had complained about the lack of landscaping on my property and has even offered to come over and remove several debris piles that have collected naturally along the river, filmed the pair off and on for a few months. (He doesn't complain quite so much about the lack of landscaping in my backyard anymore). In the wild their size is surprising. If you spend a lot of time scanning the undergrowth for small songbirds that habituate feeders, the size of the pileated wp is shockingly out of proportion. It just seems so much larger than its reported 14 to 17 inch size at adulthood. They also spend far more time at ground level than I expected seemingly willing to take advantage of the insect populations that are attracted to decaying organic matter as much as they like to bore into harder woods.
    We have had pairs of pileated woodpeckers here for years...our area is heavily treed, and the pileateds love dead trees (insects), though occasionally they'll pick out a healthy tree and make a mess of it (no big deal).
    What is especially fascinating is the size of the holes they can bore...we have one tree in particular where the distinctive pileated hole is roughly five feet high, maybe nine inches wide, and seven or eight inches deep. They can excavate.
    Look for them, I bet you have them on your property.

    Kudos for you habit of allowing fallen trees to lie in state (we have a compulsive neighbor who actually rakes his woods). As you noted, wildlife love the habitat, lots of places for squirrels, foxes and others to set up shop.
    Gives our dogs stuff to chase they'll never catch.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by budwom View Post
    We have had pairs of pileated woodpeckers here for years...our area is heavily treed, and the pileateds love dead trees (insects), though occasionally they'll pick out a healthy tree and make a mess of it (no big deal).
    What is especially fascinating is the size of the holes they can bore...we have one tree in particular where the distinctive pileated hole is roughly five feet high, maybe nine inches wide, and seven or eight inches deep. They can excavate.
    Look for them, I bet you have them on your property.

    Kudos for you habit of allowing fallen trees to lie in state (we have a compulsive neighbor who actually rakes his woods). As you noted, wildlife love the habitat, lots of places for squirrels, foxes and others to set up shop.
    Gives our dogs stuff to chase they'll never catch.
    Is your compulsive neighbor, by any chance, from Finland?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Quote Originally Posted by curtis325 View Post
    Is your compulsive neighbor, by any chance, from Finland?
    that's funny (I do get the reference...but hey, he periodically builds fires to burn the brush...so far, none has burned down our town.)

    Outdoor columnists (which I happened to be some decades ago) often extol the virtues of leaving fallen stuff in place in the woods...nice decomposition, wildlife habitat, etc...but
    neighbor Tom has a different M.O.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBlue View Post
    About half of my 5+ acres, proximal to the Flat River in north Durham County, I leave in its natural state. Trees decompose where they fall and I get to observe the biome maturing in microcosm. I had often heard that some species of woodpeckers prefer as habitat dead but still standing trees and I have had several over the years available for occupancy. About 4 years ago a mating pair of pileated woodpeckers took up residence in one of the trees and hung around for 2 seasons. They bear a striking resemblance to the ivory-billed wp presumed extinct of course. My neighbor who had complained about the lack of landscaping on my property and has even offered to come over and remove several debris piles that have collected naturally along the river, filmed the pair off and on for a few months. (He doesn't complain quite so much about the lack of landscaping in my backyard anymore). In the wild their size is surprising. If you spend a lot of time scanning the undergrowth for small songbirds that habituate feeders, the size of the pileated wp is shockingly out of proportion. It just seems so much larger than its reported 14 to 17 inch size at adulthood. They also spend far more time at ground level than I expected seemingly willing to take advantage of the insect populations that are attracted to decaying organic matter as much as they like to bore into harder woods.
    W e have pileateds here as well. They can wreck havoc on suet cakes. But they are beautiful birds, and the largest common woodpecker in the US. The ivory bill may be gone, but I am inclined to believe some still exist in Louisiana and Florida.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by fisheyes View Post
    At first I thought the topic was about Mary Poppins!


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckxLDGHQxrc[/URL]
    And I thought it was about Tom Lehrer:

    https://www.bing.com/search?q=poison...A3EA34EFCD8E8E
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    For Those Who Feed The Birds


  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    For Those Who Feed The Birds

    Ok. Who feeds them..lol

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    For Those Who Feed The Birds

    For Dem What Feeds Da Boids.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Resurrecting the bird thread due to winter boredom, wildlife scene quiet here (bears still napping)...the other day my wife called me to the window, pointed to a spot 200 yards away near neighbor's driveway, big fluttering of wings (diameter of nearly three feet) thrashing in the snow...even with binoculars couldn't figure out what was going on, but with all the flappage, it looked like a very large bird in distress...turkey? hawk?

    After it kept going like this for a full 30 minutes, I felt compelled to have a look, fearing it had a broken wing or some other malady, might require action...

    So I threw on the boots and jacket and headed over...and when I nearly got there, two happy crows took off from the snow, it would appear they had been manufacturing more crows for the Spring season.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Thomasville, NC
    Crows are fairly early nesters, so these birds could have been going through their mating process.

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