Love Willie Wagtails! Margaret in Australia used share lots of them on the other site.

Claudia said:Love Willie Wagtails! Margaret in Australia used share lots of them on the other site.

I really miss her postings of the Ospreys!

Gleni said:How lovely and sweet Willy Wagtails are, Paul. I have one that shows up here now and again but not often. I saw my first Channel-billed Cuckoo today for the migratory season. Needless to say I didn't have my camera with me. Also the Dollar Birds have arrived back from the Orient.

Wow!!! I just looked up Dollarbirds & my oh my they are something special.

All I've got today is a juvenile White Ibis in the neighbor's yard.



The songbird mix seed Dad got me last time didn't have enough sunflower seeds in my opinion. So when he went to Home Depot yesterday, I told him to get Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. He brought them home, and I put alternating scoops of each in the bird feeder. Which, by the way, is keeping the squirrels at bay. They sit on the ground and eat, which is fine. In fact, today I threw out some of the sunflower seeds to draw in the birds and it worked like a charm. Saw my Tufted Titmice and the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I had to watch from inside though, because it was thundering. Tampa - the lightning capital of this hemisphere! (That's true, by the way.)

Really nice pictures, Melanie. I've got to say that's the blackest White Ibis I've ever seen.

I get my bird seed at Petsmart, or the Ace Hardware store is good too, and they have the Peanut Suet that my birds really go nuts for. The seed they sell at HD is definitely lacking in the goodies that most of the birds like. I bought it once, then just kept using the nice bucket it came in, refilling with bagged seed from elsewhere.

My surprise visitor of the day. I thought they all left and had taken all their feeders down. Good thing I still have plenty of flowers and mixed nectar , I did put a feeder back up now.

When I was really into feeding seed I was never happy with the mixed seed either and mixed in extra BOSS too. I still have at least on hummer still here!

I do like the buckets the seed comes in. Our patio doors don't quite shut. Well, the one especially. So critters could (and have) gotten in. I might make my own mix in the future. We have a lot of farm supply stores around here. Do they sell bird stuff? I need to check that out.

I'm glad you guys brought up hummingbirds. I probably should have done this the first time around, but I was on Amazon ordering a few things and I bought one of the Hummzinger feeders. Looks much easier to keep clean. It arrived today and I went ahead and put it out so we'll see what happens.

The temps cooled down again the past two nights. I only saw two or three hummingbirds out there today.

Get ready down there, they're moving south.

Our feed store does sell bird seed, too Melanie. I hardly ever go there as it's a bit further away than the pet store or hardware store.

I do recall now that the one time I bought seed from HD I added a bag of other good stuff to it and the birds liked that just fine. The Kaytee "Gourmet Blend" (I think" has pieces of fruit and peanuts in it as well as cracked corn and lots of sunflower seeds. The bluejays just go nuts for the peanuts and large sunflower seeds. Pardon the word play.

Kurt & Christine ... thanks for letting the hummers fill up at your places for their trip farther south to visit us!

Melanie, I have two of the Hummzinger feeders and I love them! Over the years I had all sorts of bottle type nectar feeders from plastic and glass but not once did I ever view a hummingbird sipping nectar! I knew hummers were around because I would always see them but for some reason they would never go to a feeder. When I put my first Hummzinger feeder out they began feeding that day and every day! I need to clean mine and make some sugar water in preparation for when those little birds to make it back to Florida.

The hummingbirds usually leave around the first week of October but I leave one feeder up just in case there are some passing through. I usually leave it up way past October. Until the wasps take over, then I think it's time to take it down.

Good for you leaving them up a bit later ... there may always be a straggler or two or three who are a little late in beginning their migration!

I also am a fan of the Humzinger feeders. I must be, I have 3! Easy to clean and they don't blow in the wind like the bottle feeders which ends up spilling the nectar out on the ground where the ants find it & build mounds & then you have double the problems.
I need to make some syrup & clean & refill mine. It's on the list!
Melanie, Margaret has a great way to clean the ports on those things. Use an old mascara brush after you've washed all the mascara off it. I stopped at the $ store & bought $1 mascara, threw away the mascara & kept the brush. WAY better than pipe cleaners or toothbrushes! Get the kind that has the old fashioned bushes though, not those new fangled things.

I just gave one of those Hummzinger feeders to Goodwill. It looked good until I read the instructions. Too much waste! I have found that they will get used to any kind of feeder as long as it's in the same place. I took down my Oriole feeder that was ugly, and put up one of the Antique jar type ones because I don't need the capacity now. The hummers had been dodging the Orioles all summer. I had painted the port "flowers" to try to get the Orioles to use it, as they were familiar with the yellow flowers. The hummers didn't take long at all to adopt it...the Orioles aren't as adventurous. Another thing I have noticed is that the glass feeders act as a barometer...I check it in the evening, and it looks almost empty. I check again in the morning, and the level is higher...then the sun hits it and it's dripping. My favorite feeder is the PerkyPet hourglass shaped one for that reason, but the hummers have to learn how to get through the bee guards....not their favorite. Just some things to think about while shopping for feeders.

Carol, I don't understand. Why do you say there is too much waste in the humzingers? I find no waste at all in mine. The hummers suck it down to the last drop.

flaflwrgrl said:Carol, I don't understand. Why do you say there is too much waste in the humzingers? I find no waste at all in mine. The hummers suck it down to the last drop.

Same here regarding the hummzinger feeders! A few years ago I had 4 glass feeders of different shapes and sizes and 2 plastic feeders .... they were always in the same locations but the hummers did not take to them at all. Not long after I put out the hummzinger, the hummers arrived and continued to return daily both morning and late afternoon/early evening. They visited the blooms in the area of the feeders but always stopped at the hummzingers for nectar as well.

The hummingbirds were coming to my glass and plastic feeder, but the flower ports were getting so dirty and I just couldn't get them clean and it was bugging me. They also use the flowers in the butterfly garden and around the yard. And my neighbor's Firecracker Fern.

I had read that tip about the mascara brushes on here before and I thought that was a great idea! Need to remember that when it's time to clean.

this is what I use , although some feeders say don't stick anything in the ports

http://coolpondsonline.net/col...

I gave away 2 Humzinger feeders, didn't like them, they spilled very easily in the wind, we get lots of wind here. The best one that I have found is Dr JB's, 3 parts and it all goes in the dishwasher, doesn't spill and the bees cant reach the nectar. Actually I liked it so much I now have 3 of them.