Creating A Bird Sanctuary In Your Yard

March 5, 2005 | sweetliberty

[sweetliberty]

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As it turned out, the previous thread on this topic generated a lot of interest and several people recommended doing it as a regular thread, so here is the second installment.

How you go about creating a bird sanctuary in your yard, or outdoor space, will depend on a number of givens, some which can modified, and others over which you have no control. One of these is geographical location or climate zone. If you live in the Colorado Rockies, you are not going to attract Cardinals, no matter how many black oil sunflower seeds you put out, and if you're on a beach in Florida, it's a pretty safe bet that there will be no snow buntings visiting your yard, the cornucopia of insects notwithstanding. Of course, if global warming keeps encroaching on us, we may soon find Alaska overrun with Parrots and Flamingos, but, I digress.

Within any given area, there are a variety of habitats, so no matter what your specific location, it is possible to vastly increase the types and numbers of birds in your immediate environment by modifying your habitat to make it more bird friendly to a wider array of birds native to your region.

Another "given" is your available space. If you live in a cottage in the woods by a stream, you will obviously have a lot more options available to you than if you live in an urban apartment with nothing more than a small porch or balcony. Of course, I think the majority of us live somewhere between those extremes. The point is, even if you have nothing more than a porch, you can still make it bird friendly, thereby increasing your enjoyment of these highly entertaining creatures. If you don't even have so much as a porch, I would suggest moving!

The purpose of this thread is to share ideas for maximizing our outdoor spaces to make them appealing to birds and butterflies, to share our experiences and knowledge or expertise, photos and resources. The discussion is pretty free-flowing and may expand to include gardening, landscaping and related topics. The direction the thread takes will really be up to the FReepers who post on it. We can focus on a different topic every week or two, or just keep it open and casual, updating the thread periodically. The main thing is that we learn and have fun.

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Link to previous thread: Attention Bird Gardening Enthusiasts

[GodBlessUSA]

One more thing, I got a kick out of your shot of the Lovely Cardinal and her tuft. She looks like she did her hair before she went out for her day. LOL!

[sweetliberty]

The Red-headed Woodpecker has been a regular for a few weeks now. I've only seen the one, but I suspect he is toting some of those peanuts to a lady friend. Perhaps she is just timid. There has to be more than one, because he seems pretty well settled in. It's gotten where if I don't see him for a couple of days, I worry about him, although sometimes my schedule and his run opposite each other. He makes most of his visits in the morning, although I do sometimes see him later in the day. I think he has set up housekeeping in one of the trees behind me or in the eaves of the house behind me, which is currently vacant.

That one Mockingbird is still coming around, too, but so far, I only see him in the morning. He started coming when I added golden raisins and craisins to one side of the platform feeder.

[sweetliberty]

"Maybe you have a Cat Bird"

I wondered if that was the kind of sound they make.

[sweetliberty]

"She looks like she did her hair before she went out for her day"

LOL! One of the males is like that too. Maybe they have their tufts done at the same place.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Here's the best shot I got of a visiting woodpecker from last year.

[sweetliberty]

I am discovering that is is difficult to photograph birds without a super power camera, or a very close viewing source. I'm finding that I can photograph them out my back door, but the aesthetics leave something to be desired. Most of my feeders are in the front and the only way I can photograph them is to go out there and hope the birds ignore me after awhile. Perhaps in the summer if I spend some time sitting out there in the evenings they will become less timid. It just doesn't work taking them out of windows that have screens in them, at least not with a digital.

Here's a couple I took just a little while ago:

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I took this shot about 10 seconds too soon. During the recharge delay, this Titmouse snagged a peanut, which is the shot I would really like to have gotten.

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Chickadee

[sweetliberty]

Right after the post about the Cardinal, I just happened to catch this one! LOL!

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[GodBlessUSA]

That's adorable. Yep, they go to the same place. LOL!

[GodBlessUSA]

That's a terrific shot of Redbelly. I'm lucky to see them here too.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Took a couple of pics earlier when we had snow:

[sweetliberty]

That's today????

[Conservababe]

WE CALL JUNCOS 'SNOW BIRDS' AROUND HERE. WHEN THEY SHOW UP, BAD WEATHER FOLLOWS.

[sweetliberty]

"WHEN THEY SHOW UP, BAD WEATHER FOLLOWS."

Oh, well aren't you just full of good cheer today? Did you shoot that groundhog yet? And the Juncos have been around for a few weeks now. Maybe they came with a spell of bad weather and decided to stay.

Actually, it is a beautiful day here and I've been wandering outdoors off and on, taking a few pictures. Wish these confounded birds would just come in close and pose for me. LOL! Although, I did have a Nuthatch a little while ago that appeared to do just that, although I don't think he realized I was there until he had swooped down and landed, then I guess he figured as long as he was already there he might as well grab something.

I haven't downloaded the the last few pictures I took. I'm fixing to do that momentarily.

Hope you're feeling better.

[andyandval]

WHEN THEY SHOW UP, BAD WEATHER FOLLOWS.

I never heard this before. But we had some flittin' around this morning and sure enough, here comes the snow this afternoon!

[sweetliberty]

How's this for a lucky shot?

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[andyandval]

Sweet!

[sweetliberty]

"When you get that shot of your Redheaded Woodpecker, please don't forget to ping me to see him!"

Well, he hasn't graced me with a close up yet, but I did get this one. Yeah, I know. It's not very good, but you can make him out in the tree. I think I figured out where he hangs out.

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Lovely!
Add me to the ping list.

[sweetliberty]

Will do. Here's another one I took this afternoon.

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[andyandval]

That's a Downy Woodpecker isn't it?