DAILY PICS- VOL. 17

Third. I like the reflection and the ripple he's leaving.

Last one - in flight. Again, I love the reflection - and also the contrast of the shoreline.

Great pictures, Murmur. We had two egrets visit our pond yesterday, but I was without camera. The fish still haven't come out of hiding!

I would have loved to have seen the egrets, Kaperc! How big is your pond?

Pelle.....they are together a lot. They're are not friends though. There is constant friction between them.

Love those pics Murmur!!

Murmur,

DH says it's 45ft long x 17 wide - plus the little stream he just added, which is another 40+ft. It's not a fancy pond - half the reason for it is to attract wildlife, the other half being us. We like to see the egrets, but don't encourage them to stay, or they'd eat all the gold fish. We just walk out the back door and they take off. I'll try to get pics next time.

Fabulous sized pond, Kaperc!!! Your pond and stream are longer than the width of my property - lol!! (75 x 125 feet) I would love a pond/stream myself, but don't have a big enough space for it, plus I wouldn't be good at the upkeep (and DH wouldn't be interested).

This is either the bravest or the greediest of the 30 or so Lesser Goldfinch that come to the feeder. When some thing happens that scares the others away, this one stays right there and keeps on eating.

My DH, (only half jokingly) wants me to either fill in our swimming pool with dirt or (my thought) turn it into a "pond". When I get the electric bill each month I'm awfully tempted. Maybe we could raise our own supply of catfish without worry of contaminants... yummmm and attract some of the many water birds that hang out at the Park lake nearby and just fly over my place coming and going to the lake. That's an even better thought.

gg=alice

That Goldfinch will wind up being a tiny snack for a hawk if he doesn't change his ways.

Downy male at the log today.

just hanging out at the feeder...

HAHAHAHAHA Lily that is just too funny! Whatsamatter with those birds!!!

Pelle ~ did you make that log feeder or buy it? Do you know what kind of wood it is...looks kind of like cedar?? I've been wanting to make one but didn't know what kind of wood to use and the ones I've seen online say they're pine...of course, we don't have any pine trees!
Thanks!

I purchased some that looked like that a while back. They were simply a CEDAR log with holes in it, little wood dowel perches in drilled holes under the big holes, and a good sized eye hook on the top. You could leave the perches off but the non-clingers would have some difficulty. Pretty cool looking and the birds (and squirrels) really liked them. The squirrels eventually ate them up so I had to go back to metal suet holders.

BTW... you don't have to buy the cylinder plugs for them; just get your "suet" at room temperature, cut into squares, and form with your hands to fit. Smush it into the holes and pull off the protruding extra. It's a bit messy so do it outside where it's okay to litter the ground.

Also, over time mine got pretty nasty looking from soaking up the oils from suet and black spit from the hackberry trees but I and the critters still really liked them. They really look good if you are aiming for a natural look at your feeding stations.

gg=alice

No room at the Inn.
I have this rather large group of small birds here today. We always have some little sparrows or sparrow type birds at the feeders, and the birdhouses are always full, but today is different. There is a pretty large group just twittering away and zooming around the yard in groups of about 8 to 12 or so. I'm afraid my camera will not zoom in closer, such a shame I can't document it better for you. These guys are really putting on a show.

Nice pic Holly!

Looks like Mourning Doves.

Holly, you are very popular with your feathered pals. :)

Little W.B. Nuthatch this morning.

Deb

Thanks GG ~ I've got plenty of cedar to use! I don't have any squirrels brave enough to venture that close to the yard so maybe mine will last for a while.

I had wondered about cutting the squares up to put in the holes, I'm glad to hear it works. There's no place around here to buy the plugs so I'd have had to order them, although I was thinking that I could probably form some of the stuff that I make into the plugs too.

the problem with the plug ones is they don't come in a No Melt so I just cut the lengths of no melt and smash it really good into the holes. Of course I use a big sheet of wax paper on the counter to work on. Mine seem to like the Insect Suet the best so I have that in the log and a cake of it on the pole above the baffle, The Cardinals and Downys love that Insect suet Cake.
Another popular flavor of No Melt mine liked was Almond but I'm having trouble finding it at my store.

No Pell, not Morning Doves, Something smaller more sparrow like. I tend to class all small brown birds as sparrows. I have quite a few birds here. We have a very good habitat. My camera just doesn't zoom in enough to get good close pics. That's why I don't usually post Bird pics. But this group today was so funny to watch and a little different than my usual.
BTW, Last year someone posted a website for hummer migration, it showed when we should remove our hummer feeders. Could someone point me in the direction of that site?
Here is a sample of what I'm getting in the way of hummer pics, I think I can get closer pics of the hummers, just need to work on that. We have had a huge hummer explosion this year. We have always had some but this year there are a lot more.

I don't think I've ever seen Almond around here. I haven't tried the insect suet, I know tractor supply has it so I'll give it a try. Most of mine seem to like the peanut suets the best, all the WPs and the Mocking birds; I've seen the WB Nuthatch at it too. I really love watching the WPs so I know I'll enjoy watching them on a log feeder too. Do you have any idea what the diameter of the holes are?

Heres the maps

http://hummingbirds.net/map.html

Sorry sadie I don't know the diameter of the holes but it doesn't matter if your smashing it all in anyway. I think their around 1 3/4.

Thanks pelle, I've think the set of drill bits we have, have several sizes for holes, I'm sure I can guesstimate it once I get started :-)

I have a friend that has long moss covered logs and he drills tiny holes in them to put suet in (don't ask me how he gets suet in there). Then he somehow lodges the logs in the ground and gets trememdous natural looking photos of his birds.

Well now, that just brings all kind of interesting ideas to mind!

My first problem with that for me would be squirrels, other wise I would definitely try it.

I think the holes are about 1 3/4 inches too, or there abouts; mine definitely weren't 2".

BTW... I use latex or vinyl gloves to do anything with the suet. It's almost impossible to wash off your hands.

pelle, I'm going to try some of the insect ones.

I put some mealybugs, that were alive at the store, but didn't live too long in my fridge, but still probably good, in the "seed saver" feeder with the millet. They're not supposed to be able to crawl out from the straight sides (which, of course didn't matter with these). Doesn't look like any birds were interested. I'll keep trying though.

gg=alice

One way to get the suet into the small holes would be to heat it and then inject using a large syringe.

What a great idea for picture taking. Same here pelle, squirrels would demolish the log in no time.

gg=alice

This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 2:05 PM

Edit:

Never mind, I goofed.

gg=alice

This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 2:04 PM

I've got lots of old limbs and logs around here, could make for an interesting fall/winter project....no squirrels but I wonder how it might draw the raccoons, I have problems with them from time to time and they really like suet!

Hmmm, I guess theres only one way to find out.. The smaller holes would definitely be better in that case.

The coons can certainly get their hands in to dig the suet out if they can get to them. My squirrels chewed the holes to get them bigger but use their hands to reach into the caged wire suet holder to dig the suet out (the kind that holds a whole block). I wished they had used their hands for the logs also instead of chewing but then again they will chew just about anything wood even if it doesn't have food. They also scatter a lot on the deck under the suet holder which does melt and is hard to get up and out of the Trex, but thank goodness they don't bother it too awfully much.

BTW.... On my suet logs the holes went all the way through. It's easier to pack the suet in tight if you can smush it from both sides and I would think there would be less likelihood of the some suet remaining in the holes and going rancid.

gg=alice

This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 2:45 PM

Since it started raining last night, I think these Goldfinch are glad I moved the feeder under cover,

wow adel, you would definitely have a full house even on one of these super long feeders.

http://www.rachelsrobin.com/shop/index.php?page=shop-flypage-18322-adfd571bfe52af6ab025873e6466167f&ps_session=bf5a8b676aedbcd4bcdf4089b66d78ad

good golly what little hogs you have there!!! :)

Pelle... you're right. The double sock feeder is just as big as the one in your link and when I fill both socks up it's standing room only. I've tried to get a head count and the best I can come up with is 30+

This is a smaller, younger fox than the one I posted before. I was on my way to fill the feeder when I noticed it watching me. I was only able to get the one pic. This was right after the rain stopped (around Noon).