Throwback Thursday

Looking back at my blog during the A-Z Challenge has inspired me to post more things from the past, so here goes my Throwback Thursday plan. Every Thursday, I plan to post something from the past that occurred the same week.

Today's post is a look back to 2011, when we got our first bird feeder. We have had many feeders over the years and many visitors. We have very much enjoyed watching them all. About a year ago, we added the Merlin App to our bird "watching," and that is bringing a new fun aspect to it all.

Presently, we have fewer birds at our feeder than we would like, but there are plenty of birds around enjoying what nature has to offer.

So without further ado, here is the blast from the past. 😀

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May 21, 2011

Our Fine Feathered Friends

Recently, for Ward's birthday, we put up a bird feeder, suet feeder, and bird bath. He wanted to become a bird watcher---at least from our windows. We put out expensive seed and suet and waited for the birds to come. Slowly, but surely, they have been finding their way to our gourmet offering.

However, did I mention the whole family is severely lacking in our understanding of birds? Until the new feeder, I was the advanced one because I could identify both a cardinal and a robin. Ward could spot a blue jay, and Wally and Theodore knew a crow when they saw one. That was about the sum total of it. One time, my sister, a longtime birder, took me birdwatching. While she was saying, "Look at the white on the tip of the bird's wing," I was saying, “Which tree?”

After a couple of weeks of watching, we're very proud of our new knowledge. We can now tell you that house finches are our most frequent visitors, the male cardinal doesn't like sharing, and the feeder REALLY swings when a crow lands on it. We can also tell you that we have both pileated and downy woodpeckers enjoying the suet, but neither one seems to resemble Woody Woodpecker. We're still a little confused about all of the little brown and gray birds, but we think we have been visited by a black-capped chickadee, a white-breasted nuthatch, and a house sparrow.

We've also had the ubiquitous visitor to every bird feeder—the squirrel. So far, the “squirrel-proof” feeder is doing its job, but we are enjoying the squirrel's antics as it tries to eat from the suet feeder in all positions. So far, upside down seems to be the favorite. Perhaps it's trying to copy the woodpeckers.

Who knows what we will see next? Maybe it will be something exotic. I just hope that we will be able to recognize it when it comes.

A Footnote: Special thanks to the boys' Aunt Martha—the bird expert who has been a tremendous help in getting us started.

They're Back

Squirrels love bird feeders.

We have had a bird feeder at our house for years and years. While we have never reached the number of visitors we had at our old house, we have enjoyed watching our feathered friends here.

However, the last three years have seen an unwelcome trend. Late summer, the birds stop showing up and stay away until spring. This includes all of the birds that don't migrate. It's as if the bird community has a meeting and says that they are done with our feeder and move on to other things. We still see plenty of birds around, just not at our feeder. I asked Aunt Martha, my bird expert, for insight, and she said maybe the neighbors had put up more feeders. 

When it happened again this year, we did our standard. We cleaned the feeder and filled it with fresh food. No takers. After a couple of months, we moved the feeder to the back. No takers. We bought expensive food. No takers. 

Red-bellied woodpecker

Tufted titmouse

Until this week. I guess the birds had another meeting and decided it was okay to return to our feeder because we have seen finches, juncos, Carolina wrens, tufted titmouse, chickadees, sparrows, cardinals, and a red-bellied woodpecker. 

Male and female cardinal

It's all a mystery to me, especially how they all seemed to leave and return at the same time. But for whatever reason, I am glad they are back. 

Caroline wren

Until next time...

Note: All of the pictures are from years past. Our newly arrived birds are too skittish for me to get close enough for a picture.

Our Fine Feathered Friends

We have had a birdfeeder outside our kitchen window for about six months now. It took a couple of months for a few birds to find it. And a couple of more months for the variety of birds to increase beyond the ever-present house finches. And recently, we finally got close enough to take a few pictures. Watching this feeder and other birds around is one of the best parts about spending extra time at home.

Male downy woodpecker

Female downy woodpecker

Chipping sparrow

Mockingbird with wind-ruffled feathers

Female house finch getting ready for takeoff

Red-bellied woodpecker

Male house finch

Female cardinal and male house finch

Bird's that slid down the drain spout. It took a while to get the bird and the nest out. The top now has a screen on it to prevent this happening again. We hope.

That bird, which I think is a finch, may have then moved to a nearby bluebird box. When I went to remove the extra nest to give the bluebirds a chance, there were already babies in it. Use your imagination when you look at the fuzzy red and yellow colors in the middle of the picture. Those are newly hatched birds, however, I was not able to see them well and neither was the camera.

And what feeder would be complete without our large furry friend.

Until next time... when hopefully a few more fine feathered friends have stayed still enough for us to get a picture.

Be Careful What You Ask For

The feeders are just an easy climb up the branch
and a little jump for the squirrels now.

Aunt Martha and Uncle Billy have a very nice feeder set up for the birds in their yard. They have things for big birds, little birds, seed eaters, and insect eaters. The have lower perches and higher perches and during the summer they grow flowers under the feeders that attract birds. The birds appreciate their efforts as seen by the many of them that frequent there each day. In fact when I visit Aunt Martha, I often have a hard time concentrating on the business at hand because I am distracted by watching all of the birds. If we have something important to discuss, she makes me sit with my back to the feeder.

So when I found out Uncle Billy had drawn my name for Christmas, I asked for a branch to be installed close to my feeder like they have at theirs. I hoped that would be the first of several additions I had planned to my set up. And on Christmas Eve, it magically appeared.

As I had hoped, the birds flocked to it. Yeah! However, what I had forgotten to calculate into the equation was that we had just added a convenient way for the squirrels to get to the feeder. How soon I had forgotten that we had worked so hard on a setup to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. This included placing the feeder at a distance far enough from the trees so the squirrels couldn't easily jump from one of them onto the it.

 I'm not sure what to do now. The birds are enjoying the new branch, but not as much as the squirrels are. And if truth be told, the squirrels are pretty fun to watch. However, the birds don't come around so much when they're there. And it's pretty expensive to feed a squirrel as much suet as it wants to eat.

So for now, as we consider the next move, we're enjoying both the squirrels and the birds, And we're looking for sales on bird food. :)

Here are a few pictures of the squirrels with their new-found treat.

Clever Squirrel

Anyone who has watched squirrels, especially around a bird feeder, knows that they are very clever animals. We have been finding this out first hand.

It all started when we got Ward a bird feeder for his birthday. We carefully picked out a "squirrel proof" feeder with advice from Aunt Martha, our bird expert. However, it didn't take long until the squirrels had bypassed the weight sensitive lever on the feeder and were eating to their heart's content.

We enjoyed their antics for a while, but soon tired of feeding them the expensive bird seed we had put out for the birds. We have many oak and walnut trees in our yard providing ample tasty food for the squirrels, but they seem to only want the store-bought stuff.

Last week, Ward and Wally put up a new barrier for the squirrels in the form of an upside down bowl that others had said should thwart them. However, that only slowed them down for a day or so. They are back eating to their hearts content and looking fatter than ever.

I'd like to say, "When you can't beat them, join them" and that we are giving in. But we're not. We are going to win this battle (at least in our dreams.) In the meantime, I will be flattered if someone calls me a "Squirrel Brain."

Look at the Clever Squirrel's Antics Below.

Ward's new bird feeder before the birds or squirrels had visited it.

Mr. Squirrel having a leisurely afternoon snack on the new feeder.

 

The first day the bowl is up. Notice the squirrel climbing the pole like usual.

It wasn't long until he learned to jump out from under the bowl to the feeder.

The bowl wobbled a bit, but he enjoyed his seeds.

He followed the seeds with some hearty suet.

He finished up with one our juicy tomatoes.

After his meal, he had a nice after-dinner drink.

The next day we found the bowl moved out of the way. No more of this wobbling while he was eating.