Faunascrolling--what's visiting where you are?
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I looked out towards the backyard this morning and saw a bajillion birds in one of the bird baths. At first I thought they were sparrows but then I looked again and realized they weren't. I used the Merlin app to identify their call. Cedar waxwings.
First couple of photos are from the screen room, through a window screen, so a bit fuzzy. I snuck out onto the deck for the last one and got a clearer snap but about half the birds had flown away. I've never seen so many of these guys at one time in our yard!
Zoom into the bird bath just to the left of the bridge to see the original crowd:
A bit closer, but still through the screen:
From the deck:
Cedar waxwings:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id
sidebar: I have a lot of anemone deadheading to do....
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What a nice view.
A black snake came in my backdoor. I found him in my bathroom. He attacked the plastic clothes hanger I used to get him out. Of course, there's no way I'm going to let a snake live in my home, but I trap and put every animal outside for their own good. Mosquitoes are an exception because you can't control them. The best you can hope for is to kill them or barring that that they bite, get it over with, and leave you alone. I wouldn't have mosquitoes if it wasn't a choice between leaving doors open and roasting to death.
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So, fellow birders....I gave up on bird feeders years ago..got tired of the mess and all the squirrels they attracted. It was a pain with the dogs around.
No dogs here anymore. I picked up a nice feeder with a solar powered camera for cheap at Costco. Online it's $110, but for some reason they were on closeout at the warehouse back in January for $25. I can't resist a bargain.
I got some seed and put up the feeder where the squirrels can't get in it. Of course the birds drop seed all over the ground, and the squirrels are ground feeding amongst my hostas. Four or five at a time, and when they scuffled with each other to protect their access to the seed, they did a number on the two really nice hostas that are at the base of the post with the feeder. Had to dig half of each plant out in order to save them. Anyway...
I find that I'm basically feeding the house sparrows right now, with them consuming probably 99% of the seed. Cardinals, blue jays, brown-headed cowbirds, and a downy woodpecker are seen every so often but clearly the sparrows outnumber them bigly.
The new feeder is empty right now and I'm thinking about not filling it until fall or winter. Do you guys feed birds during the summer? Or do you let them forage their own food during the summer and focus more on late fall/winter feeding? I bought a small finch feeder, too, and filled it with nyjer seed and we've been enjoying the goldfinches who show up pretty regularly.
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So, fellow birders....I gave up on bird feeders years ago..got tired of the mess and all the squirrels they attracted. It was a pain with the dogs around.
No dogs here anymore. I picked up a nice feeder with a solar powered camera for cheap at Costco. Online it's $110, but for some reason they were on closeout at the warehouse back in January for $25. I can't resist a bargain.
I got some seed and put up the feeder where the squirrels can't get in it. Of course the birds drop seed all over the ground, and the squirrels are ground feeding amongst my hostas. Four or five at a time, and when they scuffled with each other to protect their access to the seed, they did a number on the two really nice hostas that are at the base of the post with the feeder. Had to dig half of each plant out in order to save them. Anyway...
I find that I'm basically feeding the house sparrows right now, with them consuming probably 99% of the seed. Cardinals, blue jays, brown-headed cowbirds, and a downy woodpecker are seen every so often but clearly the sparrows outnumber them bigly.
The new feeder is empty right now and I'm thinking about not filling it until fall or winter. Do you guys feed birds during the summer? Or do you let them forage their own food during the summer and focus more on late fall/winter feeding? I bought a small finch feeder, too, and filled it with nyjer seed and we've been enjoying the goldfinches who show up pretty regularly.
@wtg I feed year round, can't resist. I guy bags of shelled peanuts for the squirrels. They know me now and make themselves known if the food isn't out.
A few weeks ago a honking huge black bear broke the door to the entry room off it's hinges--basically a shed attached to the side of the house. That door is a modern wood and plastic thing. The door into the kitchen is a solid wood outside door and that remains intact and I expect it to remain so.
The reason the bear was able to barrel through into the 'shed' is that the piers it rests on heave horribly in the freeze/thaw cycle every late winter to the point where the door doesn't even latch shut any more and I have to keep it closed by propping a spade against it.
The 'shed' is where I'd been keeping the bird seed... in a plastic bin. But, unfortunately, the week before this occurrence, I'd accidentally forgot to prop the door closed and the bear was able to walk right in, during the night of course, and discover that beyond the door was the tasty treats he'd been looking for. Hence, his subsequent forcing his way in.
It hasn't happened since and I don't think it will happen again. I keep the seed in the house now. I saw a bear twice today, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the same one. This one seems like a one-year old, newly on his own.
They're so cute when they're young! A pic from a few years ago, on the wood pile:
The industrial revolution cheapened everything.
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We've been asked to stop feeding birds via bird feeders due to disease. Still throw breadcrumbs.
Bears in your back yard!
We've got some bison, beavers and boars now reintroduced to England. But bears no, while wolves, and lynx are still being discussed I understand.Ventosa viri restabit
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@wtg I feed year round, can't resist. I guy bags of shelled peanuts for the squirrels. They know me now and make themselves known if the food isn't out.
A few weeks ago a honking huge black bear broke the door to the entry room off it's hinges--basically a shed attached to the side of the house. That door is a modern wood and plastic thing. The door into the kitchen is a solid wood outside door and that remains intact and I expect it to remain so.
The reason the bear was able to barrel through into the 'shed' is that the piers it rests on heave horribly in the freeze/thaw cycle every late winter to the point where the door doesn't even latch shut any more and I have to keep it closed by propping a spade against it.
The 'shed' is where I'd been keeping the bird seed... in a plastic bin. But, unfortunately, the week before this occurrence, I'd accidentally forgot to prop the door closed and the bear was able to walk right in, during the night of course, and discover that beyond the door was the tasty treats he'd been looking for. Hence, his subsequent forcing his way in.
It hasn't happened since and I don't think it will happen again. I keep the seed in the house now. I saw a bear twice today, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the same one. This one seems like a one-year old, newly on his own.
They're so cute when they're young! A pic from a few years ago, on the wood pile:
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We've been asked to stop feeding birds via bird feeders due to disease. Still throw breadcrumbs.
Bears in your back yard!
We've got some bison, beavers and boars now reintroduced to England. But bears no, while wolves, and lynx are still being discussed I understand. -
@wtg I feed year round, can't resist. I guy bags of shelled peanuts for the squirrels. They know me now and make themselves known if the food isn't out.
A few weeks ago a honking huge black bear broke the door to the entry room off it's hinges--basically a shed attached to the side of the house. That door is a modern wood and plastic thing. The door into the kitchen is a solid wood outside door and that remains intact and I expect it to remain so.
The reason the bear was able to barrel through into the 'shed' is that the piers it rests on heave horribly in the freeze/thaw cycle every late winter to the point where the door doesn't even latch shut any more and I have to keep it closed by propping a spade against it.
The 'shed' is where I'd been keeping the bird seed... in a plastic bin. But, unfortunately, the week before this occurrence, I'd accidentally forgot to prop the door closed and the bear was able to walk right in, during the night of course, and discover that beyond the door was the tasty treats he'd been looking for. Hence, his subsequent forcing his way in.
It hasn't happened since and I don't think it will happen again. I keep the seed in the house now. I saw a bear twice today, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the same one. This one seems like a one-year old, newly on his own.
They're so cute when they're young! A pic from a few years ago, on the wood pile:
@Bernard wins the fauna of the day award! My squirrels are nothing compared to your bear.
I keep the bird seed in some old metal tins in the garage. The biggest critters we might have would be raccoons, but they've never tried to get to the seed stored in there.
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