Birds

[NickieL]

They fascinate me. I love watching birds at the bird feeder. When I first moved in, the yard was bare except for grass. I've added trees, water, food just for birds and a bird feeder too. I can tell it's nesting season as they are going through my bird seed faster then ever before. I have birds nesting in the yard now. When I first moved in, I was lucky to even get a robin on the lawn. Now I get finches, blackbirds, starlings, doves, sparrows, jays, oriels, cardinals and I've even had a great blue in my yard once. They eat the seed, bathe in the bird bath and sing sing sing. I'm so happy to have birds around.

[lenii]

I always thought it would be fun to be a bird, except for the ones that eat worms..

[NickieL]

I'm thrilled I'm seeing so many more birds...I've been trying to make a friendly habitat for them but the landscape is still very very young yet. Most of the bird plants haven't gotten old enough to bare fruit yet but it's still amazing how they've flocked here once I planted a few things.

[willow_girl]

My husband puts out bird feeders, so we have quite a population here.

The other morning I was out on the patio watering my seedlings, and a big mockingbird was sitting in the very top of our dawn redwood, going through his whole repertoire, one call right after another ... cardinal, phoebe, robin, etc. He was really full of himself, and such a joy to hear.

[JasoninMN]

I am a bird fanatic. I have a ton of nest boxes ranging from blue bird boxes to barred owl boxes on my property and a few different feeding stations. I have a bluebird trail too, what can I say I am a bird nerd. Right now the chickadees are on there nests, the tree swallows are in the process of claiming their nest boxes, and the phoebe bird is building a nest on the door of my garage, like they do every year. I am still waiting on the blue birds to show up. One of my best bird attractors is a tiny pond I made 2 summers ago. Its shallow so they can bath in it and the birds love it I also has a little pump in it because the sound of water draws them in from all over.

Here is a picture of the bird pond, more of a puddle.



and my larger pond.



Owls are my favorite birds so I added barred owl nest boxes this year and I was shocked to lure one in so quickly. I try to meet up with him a few times a week for a photo session.



Birds are cool.

[NickieL]

Wonderful Jason I plan on making a shallow small pool like that near the patio at the end of this month in hopes of bringing in more. I just planted some seeds in a garden bed a little while ago and put wire over it but the birds have found their way into it anyway LOL!!! so smart they are.

[CherieOH]

Another bird nerd here. I have bird feeders and a birdbath to entice them to my yard. Would love to put in a little garden pond someday. Oh Jason, what a lovely piece of property you have! I also have hummingbird feeders. Those little buggers are not shy! They will come right up in your face if their feeder is empty. Some of the chickadees will get a bit "friendly" too if the feeder is empty. For some reason, the house finches disappeared for a few years. I thought maybe the sparrows had scared them off or killed them, but they are back this year and I'm so glad. They may not be the prettiest of birds, but I do love hearing them sing and watching their silly antics.

And then there's the squirrels who think they are birds and steal all the seed. What piggies they are!

[Mid Tn Mama]

I never used to feed the birds, just planted things they liked and left flowers there through the winter for them to eat the seeds. But I enjoyed seeing birds as I ate at someone elses home and now have several feeders in front of the dining room window. Dinner ANd a show! This year I put out a bird bath, but I've not seen them using it. I hear many more birds than before. This year I'm planting more shrubs that have berries so they can eat in the winter.

[ChickadeeL]

Birds are wonderful to watch. My son used to have the chickadees trained at our old house to eat out of his hand. So sweet!

Jason, those pictures are beautiful!

[elliemaeg]

We love birds too. We have a long covered porch off our livingroom and watch the birds that come to our feeders on our porch. We have a variety. We see different birds with each season. Lovely to watch. We do have a time with squirrels. I get a kick out of watching them try to get to the feeders. I allowed one to stay one day and the little pig ate til he could hardly move. Stretched out on the banister, hind legs straight back, front legs staight ahead and flattened out like a rug. He slept quite awhile. If they didn't eat up all the food I would probably allow them to stay. We also get cowbirds lately and they eat and keep all other species away.
Would love to have a waterfall and small pond on this porch to give out feathered friends a refreshing drink. Maybe sometime this summer....

[TexasCheri]

My husband bought me a Canon digital camera, with lenses etc, a couple of years ago and I am infamous for 'stalking' birds that come to my bird feeder. I just find it soothing and comforting. I love to take photos of the birds (and other nature things) and I'm trying to learn to be a better photographer.

We have a ring-necked dove who makes her nest in the gutter, under the eaves, right outside our front door. She's been doing this for 4-5 years. Last year I found her baby by the front door, trying to fly, I guess. I didn't realize that these guys like to return to the same place every year. My husband told me we need to get rid of the nest but I told him we have to wait until her baby hatches. Of course, I'm not gonna touch her nest because it doesn't cause problems with the gutter system.

I have been told we have an owl in our neighborhood but I have yet to see him. However, I was thrilled when we spotted a baby barn owl in Chicot State Park in Louisiana about a month ago.

Yes, I am a bird nerd, too...

[RedTartan]

How do you seal a pond so it will hold water? My children are working on digging out a depression that holds water in the spring and early summer, but it always eventually dries out. How do we seal the water in?

[Karenrbw]

We found a hedge tree with lots of lateral branches and cut it down for our "bird feeder tree". It is about 15 feet tall with lots of hooks and places for our feeders. We have five suet feeders, six sunflower seed feeders, two hummingbird feeders, and four peanut butter logs for the woodpeckers.
Our bird feeder tree is right outside of the dining room and kitchen so I can watch the birds while I wash dishes or watch them while we eat dinner. I would be so crowded this winter that you couldn't even begin to count the birds. We get cardinals, nuthatches, titmouse, red bellied woodpeckers, red headed woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, Baltimore orioles, mourning doves, juncos, blue jays, rose-breasted grosbeaks, chickadees, ruby throated hummingbirds, bluebirds, indigo buntings, and some I am sure I can't remember right now. I have seen scarlet tanagers and pileated woodpeckers on the property, but haven't managed to entice them to the feeders.
The highlight of our week last winter was the morning I looked out at the pond and there was a mature Bald Eagle on the pond bank taking a break - beautiful!

[JasoninMN]

How do you seal a pond so it will hold water? My children are working on digging out a depression that holds water in the spring and early summer, but it always eventually dries out. How do we seal the water in?

Luckily for me, one of the ponds has a clay bottom and holds water on its own, otherwise I think you would have to invest in a liner or have clay hauled in. Check the forums on this page it has a ton of info.
http://www.pondboss.com/

[Kstornado11]

I also love watching birds. Today I've seen cardinals, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches, purple finches, robins,some kind of sparrow w/ stripes on it's head, all sorts of woodpeckers & nuthatches,titmice,chickadees, and my favorites, hummingbirds & orioles! The little downy woodpeckers are so used to me, that when I sit at my patio table & read, they fly right up to the suet feeder not more than 5 feet away!

[Old John]

I generally feed from 1 November to 1 May, each year.This year I am still feeding though.
In the really cold months I go through 120#'s every 3 or 4 weeks, and a dozen suet cakes. Then they start to slack off on their eating. Now, I am
using a gallon jug of my own mix which is 3/4 oil sunflower and 1/4 good mixed
small seeds. If I can keep the racoons away from the feeders That's plenty each day. We have quite a variety out here in the woods. I think one of the prettiest is the little Indigo buntings.
It's a great hobby

[NickieL]

Old john, I leave my feeders up year round. So far during the winter, I hardly get any bird visitors so I only put a tiny bit out and then have to dump it out when it gets ruined. Its this time of year right now that they are swarming my feeders because they are nesting.

I love the idigos, but have not seen them come to my feeder. I've seen them when I went hiking to the south. The forst time I saw one it took my breath away.

[countrygurl]

we have a birds nesting in our mail box, barbecue pit and a hollow out tree trunk ground level.