I set some bird feeders out the beginning of January knowing that it was late in the season to get the birds to visit. Usually you want to set up your feeding stations near the end of fall when pickings are starting to get slim, but I had no choice. The house wasn’t finished yet and I had my priorities set upon that task before worrying about any feathered guests.
The first two feeders were on the deck some 10 to 15 feet above ground level and maybe 30 or 40 feet from the nearest trees. I filled one with sunflower seed and peanut hearts and the other with niger thistle. Neither got any attention from the few birds I did see flitting about in the pines 40 feet away and below the level of the deck. So I went out and bought another feeder.
This one was filled with the sunflower/peanut mix and a suet feeder were placed on an old telephone pole to the southwest of the house and located adjacent to the powerline right of way and some trees. Within a few days the local flock of chickadees found it and have been regular visitors ever since. They also located the feeders on the deck, much to the amusement of the cats, especially Chester, who sit with rapt attention watching the birds come and go. Only once did Chester smack into the window trying to attack.
Nearly all the birds coming to the feeders have been Black-capped Chickadee Only a once or twice were they joined by a Tufted Titmouse or a few Slate-colored Juncos.(Also known as “snow birds” or officially as Dark-eyed Junco.)
I've had some crows fly by and some blue jays inspect from a distance, but they haven't made any stops at the feeders. That's a little surprising because the peanut hearts do not seem to be favored by the chickadees and they just spill them onto the ground/snow. I see some tracks of mice who are happy about that situation.
UPDATE: The link to the Junco was bad. I DO know the difference between it and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. :-P Thanks to Appilachian Gun Trash for pointing the error out.
re: Cardinals. I've seen a few just down the road about a quarter mile but I think I put my feeders out a little late for them to put me on their schedule. I'm also about 200-300 feet higher in elevation (I'm at 2100 ft.) and that may make a difference. No shrubs or berry bushes nearby either.
2 comments:
Hmmm.... joated, are you sure that Slate-colored Junco wasn't a Yellow-billed Cuckoo?
I think the link got discombobulated on ya. :-)
And no cardinals? None at all? The majority of our feathered guests are cardinals, sparrows, finches and chickadees and an occasional Carolina Wren. I like the way the chickadees will grab a sunflower seed then fly off to eat it elsewhere. You'd think they'd realize they're expending extra energy with all that flying in and out.
A.G.T. too lazy to sign in blogger.com
At any one given time this time of year I have Mockingbirds,crows, Blue Jays, Robins, Cardinals, Doves, Chickadees, Titmouse, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, sparrows, Bluebirds, and some that I don't recognize nesting in my trees and feeding at the two feeders. I feed about fifty pounds of black sunflower seeds and twenty pounds of wild bird seed every month..the tree rats get a lot of it of course but I also put out ears of corn for them everyday..plus dried corn on the ground that a pair of cotton tails that have a warren under my workshop like to gnaw on..I do get a kick out of the wildlife..which is not really all that wild..
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