My first question

How many people have hummingbird feeders and how many people are getting regular visitors? What feeders seem to be the best for the birds? I maintained a small plastic feeder for a month religiously changing the sugar water every day and nobody came. A month or so ago I saw one hummingbird darting around some asters out front as if it was scoping out the area. I'm doing something wrong because after the leaves drop in the fall, I can see their tiny little nests that are so distinctive all over the place. They are here but they don't visit me. I'd really like to see hummingbirds visiting me so maybe somebody can tell me what to do.

'Lib' I've had hummingbirds forever. Even before I started my garden or even before I hung my first feeder.

Maybe you're wearing the wrong clothes. LOL I was hanging clothes on the line many years ago, wearing a brightly colored flower print shirt. I had them trying for the BIG red flowers on my shirt.

Actually, I can't give you any advice on luring them to your yard. I have them constantly...but I think it's because there's little "easy" food for them in my area. And they do nest in my pine tree, believe it or not.

~julie~

I can't tell you if you are doing anything wrong, but here's what I've found works for me. I like the glass jar feeders best, they are easiest to clean. I find they like my feeder with the perches the best. I don't change the water everyday, but at least every few days when it is hot. I keep fresh in the fridge for a few days, so when it's time to change they are not kept waiting. My hummers have to share with the Orioles and sometimes warblers. I just boil water and mix in the sugar, 4 parts water/1 part sugar. Feeder is mostly shaded and close to protective shrubs and trees. If any of this helps you, my pleasure. Love my hummers.

I just have a cheapie plastic feeder, and it's not very big. But I have hummers regularly. Of course, not anymore this year. They've gone south, and I would imagine yours have too, E.

Mine is a clear plastic reservoir and it has a little plastic base with bright red fake plastic flowers sticking out of it where the centers provide access to the sugar water. There are no perches. Maybe I need to go buy a different one that is glass and has perches. Glass is probably easier to keep clean anyway and will look better longer.

My feeder was suction cupped to my kitchen window. Other people like kbaumle seem to have lots of visitors with the kind of feeders I have so maybe that was too open for them to feel protected. I put it there for personal reasons. Figured it would be nice to look out when doing dishes and maybe see little hummers buzzing around.

Ah ha, loud clothing. Maybe that's what I should do. Buy a real bright tropical shirt and stand out there like a scare crow with one hand on my hip and the other pointing to the hummingbird feeder. I suspect the reason why your hummingbirds came to check you out is because they feel comfortable around your home and you must work outside a lot so they're used to you. I'm outside a lot too always running in and out and the rabbits view me as a grazer these days and don't even bother to move. Come to think of it, the herons view me as a grazer too. Now if I could just get some hummingbirds over here.

I do get Orioles in the spring time. They seem to like the oranges I put out. I hang coat hangers from tree limbs and twist them so that I can get the fruit slices to hang without falling off. I've got warblers around here too but they don't seem to come in close to the back of the patio or any of the bird feeders. They sort of hang back like the Bluebirds.

I'll try again next year. I'd really like some hummers buzzing around.

Oh, we have orioles here, too. There's nothing prettier than their song.

This is how I attract HBs to my yard...(You might have to look pretty close, but he's there.)

~julie~

...And you mentioned the Herons...I can't match those, but would a Sandhill Crane do?
(There were 4 or 5 in this family...and I couldn't believe my luck. I was watching them circle our yard and wa thinking "I wish they'd come visit me." And they did!! They landed in my son's yard and walked across his yard then all the way across mine and on the dirt road that runs along the side of the property. WHAT a DAY! I got pics of the whole trek.)

~julie~

Nope, no sandhill cranes! What else do you all get? I have quite a few raptors around here. I used to have some turkey vultures that came for goodies I provided but I haven't seen them this year. I do get egrets and herons but they hang out in in or near the water. I create my own suet with extra peanut butter in it and get a boatload of woodpeckers and flickers visiting in the winter. I get the classic cardinal, chickadee, bluejay, cedar waxwing, junco, finch, nuthatch, titmouse, brown creeper, and mourning dove too as well as robins spring through summer into fall. garden4birds was over here in my kitchen one morning and said she saw an eastern phoebe or maybe that was dodecatheon who saw the eastern phoebe. I know I have seen a few painted buntings and a tern of some sort. Another friend has heard catbirds around here although I've never seen one or at least I don't think I have. If I had a bird book in front of me to help me id what visits when it's out there in plain view, I probably could add a few more that come but my bird identification isn't the greatest other than the commonist of the common. Oh, I have a great big loud crow. That bird amuses me he is so animated.

'Lib' I think the most welcome and newly acquired member of our visitors is a young Pileated Woodpecker. When he shows up he makes his presence very well known...cackles like a chicken LOL. Then we have the sapsuckers, two type of nuthatches, wrens, purple finches, warblers of all kinds, catbird, cowbirds, brown trashers, phoebes, peewees, kingfishers, Bald Eagles, vultures, indigo buntings (not many), bluebirds, oh geez...the list goes on and one.

I'm one of the lucky ones...I live adjacent to state owned hunting land so there's not much here to drive the wildlife out of the area. I've even seen bear and heard tell of the couger that lives in the caves near by. But I've never seen them...and don't particularly care to. :-)

~julie~

This message was edited Oct 29, 2005 4:01 PM

I've seen only one Blue Indigo. At first I figured somebody's pet something or other got loose so I actually tried to go out with a net to catch it. I snared a parakeet many years ago and figured what the heck. Good thing I didn't catch it because I later learned that they are a native bird and end up visiting every once in a while. I've never seen one since and that was about 5 years ago.

Bald Eagles are out there in the next two counties over but none around me. Some sightings south of Chicago though.

Kingfishers sound familiar but I'd have to go look up a photo and be on the lookout to see if I've had one or not. We definitely have a Pileated Woodpecker. Big bird or was it the Downy or the Hairy Woodpecker that was really big? One of them is big though. My husband particularly likes the finches. We get three species of those. The reddish colored one, a yellow one, and another brown one. Those are cheerful little birds so we try to keep the thistle feeders filled at all times throughout winter.

When we had our place on the Mississippi River, the thistle feeders were chock-a-block full of goldfinches through the winter. I had a feeder up close to my window by the computer and came to know several of them "by name"...we had one that thought it was a Cardinal...he was called "Attitude" LOL He'd come to the feeder and raise his 'hackles' and all the other GFs would leave him alone. I got lots of pics when we were out there. I love to have birds around...they remind me that there's still 'life' out there.

If you'd like to see a pic of the pileated, I'll upload it for you. I got a decent, tho not excellent, shots.

(BTW...the gold finches and nuthatches are my DH's favorite, too.)

~julie~

We have our feeders right out side the slider door - hummers, jays, chickadee, peckers, grossbeaks and twice an indigo bunting (gorgeous) Only problem is our cat likes to lay at the bottom of the feeder and snatch the unwarry birds. Constant fight!!

I don't change my hummer food but once a week in the summer - and I've never seen a nest!! They swoop around our heads and are kind of a nuisance sometimes!!

"Only problem is our cat likes to lay at the bottom of the feeder and snatch the unwarry birds." Yes, this is what cats do unfortunately. We're in a quasi rural area and people dump a lot of cats off. It's a constant battle over here. We try our best to keep up with all the ferals and strays but we still see piles of feathers in the yard every once in a while. One cat we cleaned up and vetted and took in our home, most go to animal control, and a few that were former pets go to the animal shelter. There are so many.

Yes Julie, I'd like to see a photo of your pileated. I HAD quite a few bird books around here until the boys went camping and took them with to work on something or other with Boy Scouts. I haven't seen them since which is a shame as I had a few nice books that had good illustrations and photos for identification. Suppose I'll have to break down and buy one or two more then chain them to my kitchen counter like the scissors.

'Lib' I'm looking for them...(Got a new photo viewer...changed my folder structure...and now I can't find what I'm looking for. LOL So much for 'organization'. :-))

~julie~

Ahh, no problemo. I can't ever find anything I want to find either so why should anyone else be any different? Ooops, I take that back. The minute I go and buy something that I can't find... what ever I was looking for magically reappears. Story of my life.

Same here! Buy another and the old one miraculously appears out of nowhere! LOL

~julie~

'Lib' ...I could only find this one. And it doesn't show how large a bird this 'baby' is. His tail is wrapped around the feeder. It was the funniest thing I think I've seen. He/she was bigger than the feeder itself! And I couldn't believe it *actually* come to the house! Most of the time, we see Pileateds scampering up the sides of the pines...never, ever, out in the open.

Here it is...

~julie~
(P.S. This was shot through the dirty kitchen window in February...but I wasn't about to miss the shot no matter how it turned out! LOL)

Oh, Julie, I love that!!!! We have several woodpeckers that hang out here, but I've never seen a pileated one.

Thanks Kylee. I don't think I even knew they existed until I saw one a few years ago. I'd seen them in the ID guides but doubted I'd ever get the chance to see it in 'person.' Like I said before, this is one of the smallest I've seen...and I *think* it's only a year or so old. I saw one once that looked like it could have a Thanksgiving platter! LOL (I'll the neck on that one would have been a bit tough. hehehe)

~julie~

Hello there Lib:))
great nick I think..How is your Nick? Hope hubby and Ray are good..

You promised me that peanut suet recipe long time ago and Now I want it!!! PLEASE???
I have a solution to your cat problem---MIA!!!
a couple hits from her and the cats will really avoid your area:))
Gosh know I don't see alot of squirrels in my yard anymore.

Here is my Mia if you all wanna know

Hey G4B, I've been setting aside trays to make the suet so I have some spares. You and me can go shopping and we'll make up a batch and then you can just take home half. We store it in the freezer in the garage.

I have something very exciting to tell you G4B, it just happened about a half hour ago. I was out in the back with my chainsaw and saw some kids in costumes walking up the drive. Raymond was with me and said trick or treating must have started. I turned off the chain saw and put it away to go get candy. Next thing I know there is a huge "kid" in a costume walking up the drive on the arm of a young gal. I can tell he is stuggling to walk a little. He sees Raymond and takes off his mask and walks over by Raymond and they hug each other. Neither of them had ever met each other before. Turns out this "kid" is cognitively challenged too. Turns out they just moved in to the neighborhood. Turns out this "kid" is going to be in the same special ed program as Raymond. G4B, I let Raymond go trick or treating with them in their golf cart. The gal is Brad's sister and their Dad is driving the golf cart and they go trick or treating every year with Brad, that's his name. Oh I am so excited. I have my binoculars and am sort of trying to stay out of the way by dodging behind cars and bushes. I don't want Raymond to think I don't think he's ok to go trick or treating in the neighborhood with somebody else. Oh I have to get back out there.

Lib;
T&T was yesterday for us..I didn't buy no candy due to I was planning not to be home..I went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory( I am now on a quest for their brown bread recipe) with my MIL and 2 SIL..DH wasn't happy I was driving alone..he was going to drive me then go to a local winery..Well had new furance put in yesterday so he stayed home and put a note on door""NO CANDY SORRY""
I took off early from work on Wed because Kern's said they'd be here between 10-11 Am..No Show and No Call..So since I was taking the rest of the day off I made lots of calls and got Jefferies here by 4pm..TG..
Got my bonus on friday and have it set aside":))YA..

Congrats on setting the bonus aside! Good thinking!

Ok,

basically, I melt down the beef suet. If I have any lard left over from baking from the past holiday season, I toss that in too. Once it starts cooling and solidifying a little bit I toss in cornmeal and mix that in. From there I add a big generic tub of Peanut Butter- what ever is on sale because the birds don't care. To this mix I add in some raisins, sunflower seeds, and unsalted peanuts. Sometimes I add Quaker Oats.

That's it. Every once in a while if somebody gifts us a fruit cake... you know those things you can use as door stops... I stick that in water and pick out all the fruit chunks and toss those in my mix.

I've been pouring the mix into trays that fit perfectly into my wire suet baskets but sometimes I roll up a big wad and stick it in an empty onion mesh bag. A few times we used knives and spread the mix into pine cones but that was pretty messy and then you have to tie yarn to the cones to be able to hang them.

I was poking around on the Internet and found these links which look interesting-

http://www.gardenartisans.com/suet-recipes.html

http://birding.about.com/library/weekly/aa031300a.htm

http://www.havahart.com/bird/_old_bird/suet.htm

http://www.sialis.org/suet.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_10858_make-suet-bird.html

I briefly looked at those links and noticed that one of them had the exact plastic hummingbird feeder that I was using.

PS... this year we had a bumper crop of trick or treaters. Normally I am stuck with candy that finds its way to my derriere but this year I just ran out. I feel guilt. I shut the front door and am hiding. I can't believe we ran out of candy.

Don't you hate that when you run out of candy..Just means there's none for you:)) a ton less zits to worry about for me:P
I tend to breakout if I eat too much sweets.

It's nice to finally have heat on in the house...The bread is starting to smell good baking in the bread machine..
OH NO!!! I am getting THE look..She's gotta go out..back soon..
We did a very bad thing..We taught her how to speak!!
my life will never be the same again.

'Lib' Thanks for the info *and* the links. They're going to save me a ton of money this winter. (We make sure we have bird & dog food before we even think about grocery shopping. LOL)

~julie~

Feed the babies first! We're the same as you. Stuff for school lunches, my MIL's healthy heart foods, and animal feed first. That West Niles took a toll on quite a few of our birds and I want to make sure I'm well stocked this coming winter too..

Thank goodness there were only three who came after the candy ran out. I had shut the door to hide but couldn't. I answered the door, showed them the empty box and apologized profusely. I told them to come back next weekend and I would get more candy for them. I had every intention of hiding... but I couldn't. Hind sight is 20/20 as now I have to remember to go and buy 3 more treats before next weekend. Guess I'll just write it on my hand with everything else I can't forget.

You know what I found classless, a friend of ours took our younger ones trick or treating because my husband hasn't been up to par lately and I had to work and answer the door here. We've been going through the candy just to make sure it looks ok and lo and behold I run into a juice box with a real estate agent's stamp on the back of it with comments about free market evaluations. Then I run into one of those tiny toothbrushes you get for free on overseas air flights with a business card attached to it for ballon rides at a couple hundred dollars an hour and I was expecting it to be a dentist's card. Last but but not least... a squishy stress reliever heart advertising freeby with some sort of blurb on it for a prescription drug or something. Halloween is about kids going out and being kids. They look forward to it and there are adults out there turning it into "their" day? Interesting.

Awwwww geez! Putting advertisements in the TREAT BAG!! How disgusting! Although, from what I heard on the History channel last night, it seems as thought the reason Halloween is such a biggie holiday now is because the kids of the 50's and 60's have grown up and have made it 'their own'. I guess in light of that explanation, it all makes sense. (duh!)

:-)

~julie~

Well, guess what... the squishy heart is a hit. They've been whipping them at each other. Who would have thunk. Tacky though.

equilibrium, Thanks for the links for making suet. In reading the wild feeding methods, it mentioned grinding the suet instead of rendering it. I wonder has anyone done this, somehow the thought of rendering suet sounds really yucky! (Yes, I was raised on a farm, but I must have had enough of that stuff, because I don't do well with raw "meat" stuff.) Then they mentioned somewhere that they mix venison tallow with the beef, any thoughts there?? That stuff will be free and available very shortly here. I buy the square blocks for the wire feeder, but would like to save some money and be able to be generous with the birds as well.

Then I thought the part about using a birch log was the best, can you tell l like the "natural" ways best?? Legit

I looked up those links on the Internet for G4B more so because she's really into birds. Me... I just slop it together in the big soup kettle and start tossing everything but the kitchen sink in.

I barely read what was at those links but I intend to some day real soon ;) I think sometimes I add links as much for myself for rainy days as I do for other people so I can go back and just click away.

Raw meat stuff and venison tallow? Well, all the "boys" are hunting real soon so it would be doable for me but I'm thinking that I wouldn't put anything meat in there or "gamey" at all. Lord knows I have enough trouble around here with critters and I get this visual of a raccoon swinging from my suet feeders and it isn't exactly making me smile.

You know those little square trays that the suet comes in from WalMart or where ever? Save those. That's what I have been using to pour my mix into. Now if I could just find the stack of 20 that I "saved" I would be in real good shape.

Oooo Oooo Ooooo...the talk about "saving" things just hit me with a whallop! I've savved those smallish mesh bags I got my smaller bulbs shipped in. They are stronger mesh than an onion bag, and would be perfect for suet! Whhheeee...I'm gonna make suet balls...I'm gonna make suet balls. (FREE is GOOD!!!)

~julie~

I save those, too, Julie, but I only got a few this fall, and I used those for my caladium bulbs for storing (in the wood shavings).

Kylee...I never thought of using wood shavings inside those bags. I kept thinking peat moss...even tried it. LOL Obviously, it goes straight through.

~julie~

Some of my bulbs came in wood shavings and I saved it so that I could put my caladiums in it. :-)

Ah...I thought you might have a source locally. (I shoulda thunk about saving it! I always shake the bags out over the top of my plantings to let me know WHERE I've already filled the space. LOL)

~julie~

The grocery stores around here can't sell suet in the meat depts any more, I asked why once, and was told, but I can't remember right now. I can still get some from the locker plant where we get our deer scraps processed.

I never thought to add peanut butter, what a great idea!

This is so much fun to read, maybe we'll make suet balls for the birds, will certainly entertain our kitty. Sorry you didn't get any hummingbirds Lib, I think I read/heard somewhere that they have excellent memories, so they'll come back to the same spot every year, if you keep feeding them. I got my first one to visit this year by planting sage (salvia spp.) and butterfly bush (buddleia). I don't have a feeder, but they eat nectar, right? Also sedum and coneflowers, asters and ornamental grasses (for cover). I don't use insecticides or pesticides either, so had many butterflies visit too. I would think with all of your natives, they're there, maybe they're too quick to see them much. I was outside when this little fellow came by, right about supper-time too, LOL. I almost missed him! They are tiny, I really don't know how you guys get pics of them! I have never seen a nest, what do they look like?