MidAtlantic bird watching for spring Pt2

The yellow finch I complained about not having months ago are here by the dozens. I have never seen so many TAME yellow finiches. It is like they are caged birds with humans and cats. Nothing seems to bother them. I am thrilled. The Purple finches are feeding their fledglings on the dog pen fence and they are so adorable.

We now have three hawks that are killing off our baby bunnies and squirrels but I guess they have to eat too.

The other birds, so many of all of them, are eating me out of house and home. They keep the feeders cleaned twice a day and I am running out of bird feed money. I also recycle the caged bird seed but they want more.

The Barn Swallows are busy mating and laying eggs and pooping on the cars and vehicles in the barns. They do keep the bugs cleaned up. Seldom have any bugs at all when they are here.

That is the update for my flock just now. Hope you are enjoying yours as much as I am mine. Oh, NO hummers at all. Very sad about that.

JB and others, do you have a source of water for your birds?

I like the feather in the hat! I bet yours was glorious.

Judy

Our goldfinches have abandoned us -- I'm glad they went to your place, JB!

Coleup -- we have a heated birdbath in the winter, but I've put that away. I need to find an easier one to maintain for the summer.

happy--

You can purchase the biggest, heavy duty, plastic saucers and use them as bird baths.
I always use these in the winter--as my concrete ones will crack with the freezing and thawing...

I just put them on some bricks on the ground, a big tree stump, or on a small table.

G.

That's a good idea -- I have a bunch of big saucers anyway -- but don't they blow in the wind?

I have a very old concrete one what I put a flat stone in so the little birds have a place to bathe without getting in too deep, since it is deeper than usual. That gets changed daily and they use it so much. Robins especially are clean birds. The purple finch love the stone and so do their babies.

Happy................
NO! They don't blow if they are filled with water......:o)

I place a stone in my plastic saucers just to be sure.

Rocks in the plastic saucer will do more than just holding the saucer down. We have a very contemporary bird bath which is just a smooth bowl. No bird used it in the first year. Then we figured it was probably because birds had nothing to land on. We put some rocks in the bath and birds came right away.

This message was edited May 30, 2013 8:28 PM

They don't like it when it's too deep

You can certainly tell some of these people who design these beautiful bird baths never saw a bird bathe. They not only nearly drown but they can barely get footing to take a drink. Little stones do wonders but they also gather slime which needs to be cleaned frequently or the water gets gooky. I wish they would make them for big and little birds with little sections or perches in the middle. Someone needs to design something like that. Go for it Jen....make some money. I am too old or I would. LOL Besides, I can not even draw a stick man and make him look good.

lol, I'm like you I have no art talent, I can come up with a vague idea but then I'd have to have someone design it

I fished a fledgling out of the pond in the backyard yesterday, thought he might be a goner. Saw him later under the burning bush which has a robin's nest in it. He was still around this morning so maybe his mom found him. He is not a robin, doesn't look like the birds in the nest. Not sure what he is but he was making noise this morning.

Noise is good. :)

I think I also read that they don't like smooth slippery baths...hell -O, all those decorative glossy frou frou ones...
Yay Catbird, holding a baby bird is a precious treat.

Two of mine are the same--heavy concrete bird-baths. One is a lg. brown plastic tray.
Vintage? Franks Nursery and Crafts.... Long defunct and closed...

I would say, when I fill them up totally--they are about 3" deep.
I've seen the birds sit on the edge and contemplate diving in--
then the go for it and have a glorious bath...emptying out about 1/3 of all the water...

The third concrete one cracked in pieces 2 winters ago. Forgot to bring it into the shed..
I have it mostly glued back together--but there is some small areas that still leak.
Have to go at it with the "Loctite" Superglue...that will fix it...soon.....

G.

Not sure if I posted this on here on not. Forgive me if I did. I wanted to and I know I posted it someplace but I am not sure. These are the first clutch of the barn swallows. They have another clutch to go before they leave in August. They are sitting in front of the barn being fed. Mommy had to tell them to move so I could put my jeep in the barn. They have no fear for humans. Can you see them...just two in the middle of the top half of the photo. So adorable.

can't see that they are birds, looks like rocks, LOL

Use your imagination.....I am now in a walking boot. Sprained my left foot Monday and I am cranky being grounded. I can not get outside to feed my birds or work in my Greenhouse. Not a happy camper. I hate having to tell people how to do things. They are willing but I like to see my plants before I do anything to them. I am really a grumpy old lady.

Well get well ,real soon , before you know it , you will be as happy this lady cardinal having a plum dessert ..

It is terrible when your "down" not to see your plants though , I agree ..

Again it knocked off my pic that time

I have started a thread for the Carolina Wrens that are nesting on our balcony...

If you would like to follow their progress, please join us here!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1322911/

Thanks for looking!
Karen

Can you all help me ID this bird? A group of them swarmed my crape myrtle and I thought they were eating something. Maybe bugs?

(oops, edited to say crape myrtle)

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 10:12 PM

Not real sure from that angle and cell phone i am viewing it on but could be a native sparrow.

Female house sparrow ..
(Passer domesticus)..... See if that does for you .. Top left next page center photo

www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 11:25 PM

Okay lets try that again

House Sparrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 11:29 PM

OH well and OH "what the birds do to the feeders and cars anyway"

Definitely time for bed ,, Before I drive myself cuckoo !!! gadgets good grief ...

Thank you, sally and juhur, that's probably it!

So happy to see that they eat insects. It looked like they were feasting on something.

Hi everyone!

I just entered one of my heron photos from this past Spring in the National Wildlife Federation Photo Contest.

http://www.nwf.org/PhotoContest/PhotoContestHome.aspx?perma=karenjallen@hotmail.com

If you like it, would you please give me a vote?
Thanks for looking!

Karen

Gotcha,

Done.
You know you are an award winning photographer in our eyes!

How exciting for you Karen! Will be watching to see what 'hatches'!

When I look the other day I was sure it said that you had 10 votes but then the next day when I came back to vote it said that there were no votes for you. I was wondering if the votes reset back to 0 each day.

I was going to vote too-but you have to register ans choose a password and all that.
So--I have not voted.
WHY do we have to do all that???? Gita

You register so you can look through the galleries and vote for other photos as well. That's OK Gita... no problem.

Holly, you are correct... As of last night, I did have 11 votes, but as of this morning, it started back to zero. You can vote for any photo once per day. For the People's Choice, they add up the most votes each day or each week (not sure which). The top four each week moves on.

Thanks for looking and helping me out!

Karen

Up late and browsing.

Came face to face with a mocking bird fledge yesterday. He was sitting in a shrub. His parents were going crazy. I see the parents today. Wonder where they have the baby. He was pretty big but didn't Have a lot of feathers. Hope he makes it ok.

watched a hummer feast in the yard today. Stoppd at the arbor where I am growing Spanish Flag (Ipomoea lobata) for the first time.

Then on to some hyssop/agastache.

Then the Black and Blue saliva.

Enjoyed watching. I'm not out often due to the skeeters , but a lady friend who is a DG member came by today to see the garden. I was doused in repellant.

About bird baths?

I use round aluminum (?) Cake pans usually purchased at thrift stores. I don't remember when or why i started using them, but all birds use them. I have a few on the ground and a couple elevated. They're only about an inch deep and its so gratifying to watch them drink, especially on really hot dry days AND in th middle of winter when everything is frozen.

I've come up with a couple of rigs to heat the pans slightly to keep the water from freezing in winter. Always wanted a heated bath, but they're so expensive!

I have a taller fancy bath on a Pedestal with sort of a roof over it. Kind of deep, so I have some white quartz in there on the side which gets Sun in the afternoon. I thought maybe the quartz would reflect some of the light to keep the water cool. Also, some neighbors keep bees and I have rescued drowning honey bees more than once from the bath. So the rocks are also a landing pad for insects. Everything drinks water!

Amanda, I wouldn't have thought they'd like the cake pan so thats great news. I have a couple very large plastic plant saucers as on-ground birdbaths.

Watching a hummingbird is a nice moment in the garden.

Karen, I voted again. They bring up your photo for me so its very easy to vote again.

Thank you Sally!

Please keep voting! The tally runs Monday thru Sunday. Let's see how many votes I can get for the week, and if I can move up in the People's Choice competition.

Karen

Karen--OK, I signed up and went hunting for your picture...gave up after p. 20
Then glanced at the top and saw you couls search by the photographer's name.
So i did--and found it and voted. Will try to do it every day--if I remember...
Gita

I put one in there today and yesterday ..Maybe I can get a few lurkers to do the same .. I will ask around here when I get the opportunity

Thank you all very much!

Karen