Wild Birds

[LizStreithorst]

The damn things are eating me out of house and home.  Right now I have mostly finches (house finches, purple finches, and Gold finches).  There are also Black Headed Junko's, Tit Mice, and Chickadees.  It's the Gold Finches that are killing me.  I have 4 feeders that I need to fill daily.  When I walk out the front door, huge swarms of them fly into the trees.  They're going through   50 lbs of black oil sunflower seeds a week!  They're not cheap!  Perhaps when spring arrives I'll till up a large area and plant a bunch of seeds and save the seeds the plants produce so I can feed them in winter.

I missed the first invasion of the Cedar Wax wings.  It must have happened while I was at work.  They arrive en mass, pick one female holly tree bare and move on.  A couple of weeks later I'll get another invasion that does the same with another holly.  They're great to watch and have a subtle beauty. More importantly, they cost nothing.

[BillT]

Sounds like you are popular.

[Mugwump]

Sounds like you are popular.

Hmmmm..sounds like 'Hitchcock'.. .....You can grow Sunflowers real easily...then harvest big bags for yourself....I'll bet it's a pretty site tho....my Mom used to put an old video camera on the front, glassed in, porch...then Dad would run a line, and hook it up to the TV/VCR...she would watch all the various birds come through, and switch on the recorder to capture them ...Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, etc...

[PaulineMi]

Liz I agree with you completely regarding Cedar Wax Wings.  I've only seen pictures of them but they are very lovely birds.

[wiggs]

Liz, I have grown Sunflowers, very easy. Only thing that you have to watch for is squirrels they will eat them even before the seeds are ready. Maybe put a couple of dogs on gaurd duty.

[Barb]

Wow, lots of birds Liz!  We have quite a lot too, and we feed whole dried corn to the squirrels, trying to keep them off the bird feeders.  Works a bit but not always.  We have a couple rabbits who eat from the ground under the feeders too.  And the occasional coon, bobcat and small rodents, all hanging around the feeders that Bill has full.
Barb