Posted on 01/24/2014 1:20:45 PM PST by Doc Savage
We have about a foot of snow on the ground here at Valley Forge. Birds have been very active at our feeder. We're using Cherry-Scented Dark Oil Sunflower Seeds - no squirrels!! This morning, about 6*F, we had lots of Cardinals plus the usual assortment of Juncos, Sparrows, Black-Capped Chickadees, Purple Finches, and Blue Jays. I did a double take this afternoon as I saw a Carolina Wren - the eyebrow and beak were unmistakeable - for the first time ever. We had a Northern Flicker a few weeks back but he hasn't returned. Just wondering what you've had at your feeders. Anything unusual?
living in the west, I truly miss cardinals and blue jays....
ping
Plenty of cardinals in my neck of the woods. I think west nile virus wiped out most of the blue jays around here. There used to be lots of them now I only see one every once in a while.
Now that you mention it, I haven't seen any of the little gray squirrels for months. There are three large red squirrels that come around once in awhile but they stick to the ground when eating. I think they're too fat to climb the feeder pole and too big for the hawk to go after them. :)
I do the Cornell Labs Feeder Watch and here’s my list for the past two days:
House finches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, Carolina wren, yellow-bellied sapsucker, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrows, northern cardinals, red-bellied woodpeckers, eastern towhees, eastern bluebirds, yellow-rumpled warblers, mourning doves, Carolina chickadees, ruby-crowned kinglet, white-breasted nuthatch, brown thrasher, goldfinches, pine siskins, blue jays, and a mockingbird.
Typically see 20 - 30 species a week here in central NC. Temp was mid to upper 20s today.
Have several feeders-suet cakes, black oil sunflower, safflower and nyjer seed in a sock.
I was home in rural Hunterdon County, NJ for Christmas and New Years and as God is my witness, I saw a Robin fly over to my mom’s Koi pond, land on the ice and take a drink from where the circulating pump is set up to agitate the surface to leave a hole in the ice.
I never ever in my whole life saw Robins wintering over before there.
We have a birdbath that I fill and have a little birdbath heater in it.
I counted 13 birds on it at the same time. Got a bit crowded.
Based on what another poster has written, I wonder if an apex predator has moved into the neighborhood . . . I mean, apart from the bipedal kind.
He is a very tame banded bird... visits my parents' every day to pick the sunflower seeds the snow buntings don't get that have been slopped on the ground by the nuthatches, cardinals, flickers, tufted titmice, house finches, even some wintering over goldfinches.
Dad's cat was all acting like he was ready to go have Christmas dinner... When presented with the option however, he chose wisely.
Amazing how tame this guy is... Would come right over to me like chickens when I scattered some seeds from the bottom tray of the tube feeder. Mom is excited about the turkey... but is not excited that it likes to leave turkey crap on her patio and front doorstep.
The usual sparrows and doves. Weather this AM was thirteen below with the wind chill. I live in western PA and we’re to get two to four inches of snow starting late tobite. Haven’t seen a squirrel at my feeder for about five days, they must be hibernating.
Our city only allows us to use non-hulled seeds in our feeders. I don’t get the numbers of birds I use to before I changed to a “Deck and Patio” mix. I cheat a little and have a safflower feeder and throw out unshelled peanuts for the jays and squirrels. Luckily, my neighbors don’t care.
I have chickadees and some type of brown wren with a long beak. I leave the finch tube out in case the goldfinches come back but haven’t seen them in the past two weeks since my area’s been hit with on and off arctic freezes - Pittsburgh PA.
Great list. I’ve never seen a pine siskin. Must be fun!
Great photo. I wonder if he’d like chewing on Boehner?
Wife and I spotted a Swainson’s Hawk in Valley Forge Park on a walk. Had never seen one before. Lot’s of red-shouldered and red-tailed also around here.
Good Luck!
We have a cabin on Buzzard’s Bay near Cape Cod and it was supposed to be called Osprey Bay but the pilgrims named it after the darned turkey and black vultures. We have so many here in Valley Forge I sometimes think they’re going to attack!
Neat list. Cornell is searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker. Now if I could just find some old ivory-billed DNA and start cloning……………….mad scientist alert!
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