I have birds again!

[Cinnamon]

I have been so excited to have birds again. What helps is my Goldfinches are back! They come in droves in the winter. I think I have more this year than last. It is a refreshing welcome after Hurricane Rita depleted my bird population as well as the squirrels. We managed to loose 2 thistle feeders when we put everything up in preperation for the Hurricane. Saturday I bought 2 more at Wally World. In our big willow we now have 3 small reg birdfeeders, 5 thistle feeders, and 4 large feeders! All in one tree! :lol: That is the only tree we have left to put feeders in. You might think it is a bit much but.... They emptied the little ones a couple of days ago. The big ones are about half full and the thistle feeders are almost empty. I have so many goldfinches that they fight over the 5 feeders and lots more on the ground and in the tree! 30 birds can eat on them at once. I walked out of the shop the other day and I had about 25 doves on the ground. I was so excited. After the storm we had 3 is all. The squirrels have nothing else to eat as we are the only ones to feed and water around here. We lost our big squirrel we called Woodchuck :((( One of his offspring is still here. He had been around for many many years.

I was so excited I wanted to share it with ya'll!

Pam :smile:

[Sandi_W]

Pam,

I know you are so happy to have the birds back after everything that happened. Just goes to show that eventually all returns to normal even when we think the time will never come.

I know how you feel about the squirrels. No one except us feeds them around here and I just love them.

I have one birdfeeder outside my kitchen window and I love to watch the birds gather. Usually the smaller birds sit at the feeder and the doves gather underneath on the ground for all the scattered seeds. We have a new dove this year that is just huge and very territorial. He runs around running all of the others off more than he eats. When I see he is being too bad, I go out and throw more food on the ground in several areas so they can all eat in peace. They don't even run when I open the back door now because they know what's up.

It's been so warm here this week (until today) that I've wanted to jump into spring. Today brought the reality home that there's a long winter ahead.

Sandi

[Terri]

So that where all our gold finches go.. to your house! LOL The blue Jays are out back making a racket and so are the chick-a-dees. We spot the odd wood pecker and owl now and then. We don't have squirrels here (that I've seen) but plenty of chickmunks!

Happy you are happy - to have the birds back :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

Cinn that is great news!!! I miss the birds when they are gone for half an hour. We still have gold finches here but they are in their winter coats now, dull green instead of bright yellow. The cat got our woodpecker... so its mate hasn't been seen for a while either. Chickadees, mourning doves, 3 types of sparrows, juncos, house finches and yes the dreaded starlings. All the blue jays must be out with Terri.

Oddly enough I haven't seen a robin this winter but our guy usually winters over.

[marla]

Wow, how great!! I love watching the birds and the goldfinches are a favorite. I keep a thistle feeder right outside the kitchen window. The goldfinches stay here year round, however in the fall and winter they are a very very dull drab olive to brownish green almosts looks like a sparrow. So when March comes and they turn bright yellow I know summers comming. When fall gets here we get the little juncos, they are so cute hopping around on the ground.

[Jackie Ramo]

The old wives tale says that while the Juncos are here snow will follow. I never count the snow storms over until the Junco's move north again.

[marla]

Is that what happenes, and all these years I've been blaming the weather man :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

:lol: Yes, and runnig out ans shooing them off doesn't bring spring any earlier. who needs the weather man when we have Juncos' to tell us its still winter.

[Cinnamon]

All goldfinches turn the greenish gray in the winter time. In the spring only breeding males turn the bright yellow. Just a little tidbit for you :) I have seen a couple of woodpeckers also. I hung a new hummingbird feeder I received for Christmas. I haven't seen any hummers lately but they say they stay here all year round. That I have not found to be true. Although I was looking at the new feeder yesterday and it is half full. mmm I will have to pay more attention. We use to buy bird feed in 50 lb bags and buy 2 of them. It is just now starting to pick up. They are draining all the 11 feeders in 3 days as well as the 5 thistle feeders. Hungry little critters they are! :lol:

[Jackie Ramo]

I was happy to see our woodpecker return yesterday or perhaps its mate since the feathers I found near the feeder were too many for the owner to have escaped. I like cats mind but can't they feed on sparrows or starlings, better yet pigeons???

[Cinnamon]

Jackie I love cats but not the ones that kill my birds! Our cat is inside only. When we had an outside cat she brought me a bird one time and I scolded her so bad she never did it again! Now if a stray comes along that we can't get rid of we set a live trap and take it for a ride to the cat lady :) It is a lady who takes care of strays and finds them homes. She is better than the Humane Society haha.

[Jackie Ramo]

Well, some days I am tempted to set up a trap for the cats, except these are my neighbours cats... so best not. I do let the dogs out when I see them. Now that Skip has some back up it should improve around here. The cats didn't even run from him half the time.. neither did the squirrels. !rofl

[luke frisbee]

JR
irresponsible neighbors can pay to pick their cats up at the humane society.
To allow cats to roam through every other neighbor's property and diminish the bird population and take a dump in the children's sand box is unthinkable by caring people.
Uncaring people should not have pets...in your backyard.

[marla]

Cinnamon, Oh yes I know this about the gold finch. Sometimes it does seem that the females do brighten there olive tone though. I forgot to take in my humming bird feeder this fall (now it's frozen) and I know better. They say to have them down by Sept. 1 here, to entice the hummers to leave before it gets to cold. I need to get out and fill my feeders this weekend, most are empty and this time of the year the birds have come to count on them, don't want them to starve. As for cats, we have one sneaky siamese that even though he is not to be out, he opens screen doors, runs out the minute the door is open etc. If you go out one door he sits and waits for you to come back in there, usually I try to fool him and come back in a different one.

[Jackie Ramo]

Luke, cats have instinct... its in them to do it. It is not a sin or a bad thing it is just how they are. I've had inside and outside cats and tried to train the outside ones that birds were not prey... with some success but not always. You'll note in my post I don't complain they kill birds, just which ones they kill... I hope they keep the mouse population down, gosh knows I could use a cat in the house these days... damn mice