Bird cam Saturday.

Not a very good day. Too much rain, a squirrel tried to live in the dish, and too many people moving around.

I still got a few.

1 of 5. Grackel.

2 of 5. Another Grackel.

3 of 5. Grackle and Mourning Dove.

4 of 5. Dove and Grackle, sort of getting along.

5 of 5. Mourning Dove.

Beautiful pics trois! That picked up the irrecescence (sp?) great on the grackle!

Thanks for posting it!

Thanks, pell. Yep, those grackles are stunning in the right light.

They sure are bullies at the feeders, but so are the doves.

Beautiful trois. I always enjoy seeing different birds together and love to watch them interact!

Thanks, dellrose. Frequently there are many birds fighting on the feeder. Then they seem to realize that no one gets to eat while fighting, and they start taking turns.

Trois, do you have many finches? We have been feeding them about three years now and each year they have increased. I didn't realize they were here until I saw several mixed in with the sparrows eating sunflower seeds I had thrown out on the driveway for the doves. Approximatey December I, I saw the first two this year; then on the 23rd they arrived in a huge flock of approximately 60. Do they send out scouts as do the martins? I was prepared this year with the largest bag of thistle that I could find.
Carol

flowerette, we have several that live around the house. So far they hit the feeder and are gone before I can react.
Where did you get the thistle? I don't know a great deal about them, hope to see more soon.

trois

Tell me about this "birdcam"-the photos are great! Is it a special camera for the feeder? I think I need somethig like that . . .
Deb

I have a long remote control cable connected to the camera from my computer desk. The camera is on a tripod, prefocused to a spot on the feeder, and left in manual focus mode. I have a small security camera that shows the entire feeder on a monitor just above my computer monitor. When I am set up, I watch the monitor and push the button when birds are in the correct position. Due to a bright background, I use a fill flash to even out the overall brightness. I get a higher percentage of good shots than I did the old way, and as the birds can see no people, they just react with each other. I am using a Lumix FZ 30 camera.

trois

Thanks! You have given me some wonderful ideas. I just need to locate a remote switch for my old camera. I saw a birdcam ad last night but it was $249-I like using my old camera much better.
Deb

The American goldfinch is the one visiting our feeders. The family also includes the siskins, crossbills, redpolls and the evening and pine grosbeaks. Have only seen one purple finch. The female resembles a chunky, heavily streaked sparrow, but her beak indicates she is a finch. Maybe our northern DG friends have seen a nest and could describe it for us. They only nest in Texas in the far northeastern corner.

We have 3 Nyjer feeders, one sack from which they also feed, and two regular feeders with sunflower seeds. They are amazing little birds to watch.

We call the Nyjer seeds thistle, but actually it is not the same plant. The Nyjer come from eastern Africa. Wal-Mart has the seed and the special feeders. I purchase the Nyjer from Tractor Supply in Alvin as they carry a 25# bag. These little munchkins eat voraciously in preparation for their flight back to the North where they do most of their nesting. I love spreading the word about these beautiful little wild canaries.

We do have a few Goldfinches. I will head for Tractor Supply and get the Nyjer seeds. Thanks for the info.

DMurray407, you will have a lot of fun. I have tried motion activation and the results were not good. It needs a human deciding when.

trois