Name: Kurt Woodbridge , Va (Zone 7a) Jai guru deva om
cliftoncat said:Would the robin have killed the fledglings?
I don't think so, from what I read it is just trying to intimidate her into leaving .. the robin's nesting and feeding territory
they are actually related , both members of the thrush family
the male bluebird dive bomb some of the other big birds but doesn't do that to the robin
A pint can't hold a quart , If it is holding a pint it is doing the best that it can.
and it is written ,
if the evil spirit arms the tiger with claws , brahman provided wings for the dove.
krobra said:did someone say bunting , stopped by one year for a few days
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I think that's what's been visiting our feeders the past three days! I'm getting my new camera this coming week so I hope he/she is still around so I can bet a picture.
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Ibis, the globe cage feeder in the foreground of this picture actually excludes the squirrels pretty well, too. It also only admits the little birds although the male cardinal gets in there regularly. He must be slimmer than the female because she doesn't make the attempt. I'm pretty happy that the blue jays, grackles and doves can't chase off the little birds now. It's available on gardeners.com
I must qualify the above statement by saying I did look out the window (it is right beside my desk here) and saw a squirrel had actually removed the lid on the feeder and was head-down in the seed tube. They are SO clever and determined! Darn it, I was too slow to get a picture of him, but will keep my eyes open.
There is a red-bellied woodpecker on the tall green feeder in this picture, too btw.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Interesting, Elaine! We have a tall feeder with a squirrel baffle - before I added the baffle they would sit on the feeder and empty all the containers in super fast time. It was quite cute to see, their little bellies would get rounder and rounder, a bit like men's beer bellies! But the idea was to feed the birds... So now I let the squirrels eat from the feeder in most of the photos, but not from the tall one. I prefer that they eat birdseed than that they dig up and eat my tulips/irises, etc! And when they have babies, the little ones are SO cute to watch.
That woodpecker is tricky to spot - but I found it - nice shot!
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Mika but there is a round net suspended under the big feeder that catches most of the seed that the birds drop, so the squirrels have plenty of seed to eat without raiding the feeders. The sparrows are especially bad about throwing seeds out. They seem to eat about 1 seed in 10, and sometimes there will be a flock of 5 or 6 sparrows around at once.
My cat found it amusing to stalk the birds foraging on the ground so we came up with the catcher idea, and that has made everyone happy (except the cat, who is really too old and slow to catch birds anyway). Here's the feeder, net catcher and the cat, too since she was out there posing. That feeder is a fancy "Squirrelbuster" designed to shut the ports if a squirrel gets onto the perch ring. It works except for a couple of the younger squirrels who are light enough that the ports don't close all the way, so they can get their little paws in there and scoop out seeds. They only do this if the net is empty, though.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Elaine, that's a very ingenious solution to a problem that I suspect a lot of us have. Do you have a hummingbird feeder as well? And what a beautiful cat, he/she's a lovely colour.
krobra said:Of course the chickadees have their own private feeder that only they can fit in
My mother in law used to have a similar feeder with the mason jars. We had to get rid of it because the grosbecks would go in it and couldn't figure out how to get out. Imagine having to go out and try to get the birds out of the jar about a half dozen times a day. They didn't appear to be as smart as the little chickadees who didn't have a problem at all.
Heron heading towards one of our ponds, to kill my fish - I chased it away, but it keeps trying...
Then I drove to a local supermarket (20 mins away) to get a few provisions; on the way back I stopped at a red light and found a collared dove nesting on the traffic light itself... Took the photo out of the car window, I was on my own and driving so couldn't get out. Crazy bird!
Thanks, Marie. Yes, the heron flew off - they're quite timid now because always being chased. Thing is, my fish are real pets, with names, so I feel a responsibility to protect them. And there's a fishing lake not too far away, so the herons should learn to go there...
What I find worrying in the collared dove's choice of nesting place is what happens when there are little fledglings that need to leave the nest? I hope they don't get flattened before they can fly.
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Mika, lovely springtime shot of your garden there, except for the heron of course. I have a pond too, and when we first moved in, a white heron came by 3 days in a row and wiped out all the fish before I knew what was happening. (we had not had a pond before) Very upsetting as it turned out the fish were a fancy exotic type and would have been pricey to replace.
I re-stocked the pond with inexpensive goldfish, and I have a heron sculpture (cheap tinny thing, looking for something better but they're expensive!) that keeps the other herons away - they are evidently territorial birds and if they see another heron at a pond they will not land. I don't think I've had any more herons since putting out the sculpture and my goldfish are now at least 5 years old, and 9 inches long.
One other trick is to never feed the fish any food that floats. They learn to come to the surface when they see someone/something and this makes them more vulnerable to hunting birds. I'm lucky because between the insects and the algae in my pond I don't have to feed mine at all.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Name: Kurt Woodbridge , Va (Zone 7a) Jai guru deva om
Gorgeous gardens and captures Mika,
I was just digging up my crawdad flippin' heron pic last night
taken 10 yrs ago on the 10th of May at local park / wetlands
they fly over our yard every once and a while , never occurred they would eat pond fish or wildlife.
not sure I have room for a pond , but if I ever make room , definitely something to consider.
A pint can't hold a quart , If it is holding a pint it is doing the best that it can.
and it is written ,
if the evil spirit arms the tiger with claws , brahman provided wings for the dove.
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