Birds at your feeders now? (flowers, purchase, neighbor, Virginia)

[Maine Writer]

A male pileated woodpecker kept me entertained while I worked outside today.

[swbtoo]

The birds that used to feed (lots of them!) from our two feeders hanging from the screened porch have disappeared and a mockingbird frequents the feeders now. I'm wondering why the others left - there was no change in bird food. The screened porch is in the open and I thought they may have disappeared due a few more to hawks circling overhead recently. We filled some feeders near the side of the yard, close to trees, and they are a'flutter with birds! Do you suppose that is because they have safety and refuge in the trees nearby, if they are threatened? We've always had a few hawks and that never seemd to interfere before. I'm also wondering whether the mockingbird that has taken up residence in the jasmine outside our porch, and now hangs around the feeders, is keeping the others away. Are they not compatible with the smaller birds?

What do you suppose is going on here? I miss all my beautiful birds at the porch! Even bluebirds were regulars!

[North Beach Person]

Just a guess, but if your original feeders were in the open and you moved them to a shrubbier/more protected area the birds are there because of that, probably. Also, more hawks circling would tend to make the birds move, as would cats. I notice that mockingbirds can tend to be aggressive around food, not as much as blue jays, though.

[quiet walker]

My suet feeder has had pileated woodpeckers all winter as well as some hardy, year round sparrows. Last week I watched a pair of Carolina Wrens spend time there - haven't seen them since. Not at my feeder, but today I was working outside on the house and could hear Robins. Arlington VA (Washington DC)

[Summerz]

We feed mostly oil sunflower seeds mixed with striped and cracked corn, and suet and once in awhile some bread which the Blue Jays love to cart around and fight over.

Mourning Doves
Black Capped Chickadees
Cardinals
Tufted Titmice
Nuthatches
Squirrels
Blackbirds
Blue Jays
Woodpeckers
Squirrels

We have a flock of Turkeys that come by and say hi from time to time.
I'm probably forgetting someone

[big daryle]

Originally Posted by OvertaxedOnLI

(This is a garden question, right? The feeder's in the garden... )

What birds are you seeing at your feeder this winter? And what are you "serving"?

I have 3 feeders: a tube feeder with nyger seed, a suet basket, and a hanging feeder with sunflower heart chips (no shells).

The nyger feeder gets only goldfinches.

The suet basket gets woodpeckers, chickadees, the occasional cardinal, too blasted many starlings, and Sheba the Squirrel if I forget to grease the hanger pole so that she can't climb up it.

The sunflower chips get chickadees, goldfinches, cardinals, sparrows, juncos, and titmice mainly. A small flock of mourning doves patrols the ground beneath the feeder but lately I've seen a few of them actually land on the hanging feeder perch and eat directly from the hopper. The starlings will also come to this feeder but not as much as when I had a 4th feeder with a shelled-seed mix (they decimated that in no time, so I went back to just the sunflower hearts which they don't seem as attracted to).

What surprises me is that although there's a bluejay in the area (hard to miss those calls) I have only seen one at the sunflower feeder once all winter, and never at the suet feeder. I'd think the sunflower hearts would be a big attraction but no. Very strange, even more so because there are no oak trees nearby (thinking that if there were plenty of acorns the bluejays will prefer that to the feeder.... but no oaks).

We had a very warm spell (temps in the low 50s!) a few weeks ago and suddenly a "bachelor group" of about 15 male robins appeared in and around my yard for two days. Haven't seen them since, so I assume they left when the arctic front moved in!

So, what birds has everyone else got this winter?

I dont understand why everyone gets hostile when a squirrel eats out of the feeder. They are one of Gods creatures too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elston]

I have pilated wood pecker up in an old oak tree.....many mornings....

the feeder is a magnet for gold finch just now.....sometimes 4 to 6 vieing for space! Mourning doves on the ground under the feeder and the never ending parade of chick-a-dees. Have seen a flicker some days.....the blue jays seem to be taking a break....a cute little sparrow with a reddish streak on his head....and a bird I think is a towhee (black bird with rusty reddish sides)...also see a scarlet tanager several times a week....cardinals.....and indigo buntings. The birds add a great deal of color to the garden...

I havent seen any turkeys around my house this summer.....last winter and last summer we had more than 20 almost every day. I fear the cold wet weather must have been hard on the young ones.

[yankeegirl313]

Red cardinals. Male and female, and the finches.

[elston]

Originally Posted by BlueWillowPlate

Do you have many hawks around? They sure do like to eat doves.

When I lived in Colorado, we only had mourning doves from spring until fall.
Those poor things would have some rough, snowy springs. It always gave me a sign of hope when I first heard their coo.

Now that I am here, I not only see the familiar mourning doves I knew in Colorado, but other species of dove as well--much smaller ones. They seem to come and go, but never disappear altogether.

we have doves but havent seen but one hawk all summer....one hawk and one owl.....with t he large numbers of red and grey squirrels and their being so bold....I expected to see predators.

[DLK55]

Summerz, that sounds like our lineup with a few changes.

Song sparrows
Squirrels
Mourning Doves
Chipmunks
Black Capped Chickadees
Squirrels
Cardinals
Chipmunks
Tufted Titmice
Squirrels
Goldfinches
Chipmunks
Nuthatches
Squirrels
Downy woodpeckers
Chipmunks
Grackles
Squirrels
Blue Jays
Chipmunks
Red bellied woodpeckers
Squirrels
Wrens
House finches
Squirrels



We also get the occasional oriole, grosbeak, cooper's hawk and crow.

At one point on Saturday afternooon we had blue jays and squirrels in our little tree begging for peanuts, squirrels and chipmunks on the ground doing the same and cardinals, gold finches, wrens, sparrows, house finches and mourning doves on or around our feeders.

I told my wife once I sometimes think of the line from the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Lookin' Out My Backdoor" that goes "Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn".