hi Gita! good to hear from you too and everyone else for that matter. I'm not as active here as I was back at DG. Hopefully 2017 will get me on more often. I wish we lived closer and I'd join the 2/4 swap!

happy gardening and birding!

Wow Diana, 21 eagles is a lot! In what kind of area was your walk? What water was it near?
What were they eagles doing? Isn't it egg laying and incubating time for them? Did you spy any of their 'nests'? I love to see them soaring high and hearing their cry is always a thrill. I bet you could get some great bird shots with a scope. Are they heavy? Easy to work with?
Expensive? I think @Chantell is our most into it photog.
That cardinal pic is not mine but borrowed. My camera phone doesn't do near or far but it's always with me!

Neighbor spotted a BlueBird today! Yikes and me without meal worms! I might have to do a Muddy.
Robin how is your new feeder? Gita, how is yours?
The red bellied woodpecker today preferred the cracked corn over the peanut pieces.

Mariposa, Bluebirds go for little peanut pieces and suet, too.

Bluebirds were using my 'hot' suet that had peanut pieces. Once I am done with the plain suet, I will start using that,
I guess I will put another chunk of mealworm cake out this morning, getting ready for a cold spell.

Lowes had a bluebird house on sale last week- got one for Mark's March birthday.

It's so sweet that Mark's getting interested in birds! Maybe he'll branch out to gardening for birds, planting berry-producing shrubs, etc.

I just checked the suet feeder where I had lots of bluebirds hanging out several years ago. All I saw was a lone junco perched on the tomato support holding the feeder. I don't think they like to cling to it, or maybe can't. When I put suet out, I usually drop some on the ground for juncos and other ground feeders.

Judy--

My new feeder gets some traffic--but not a lot. maybe b/c I have shelled peanut bits
in one of the sections in the feeder? I am amazed how many birds do not really care for them???? No one eats my Safflower seeds either....
I have bought so much bird seed lately--hope they come around.

Now--re the seed swap--I will be giving you a sandwich bag-full of Rudbeckia Goldstum seeds. You always wanted them--SOOOOO--Go and populate your area with these.
SPREAD THE GOLD!!!

I also have a nice gift for you. I fixed up a small pot today with several small sections
of the TRUE Christmas Cactus i it to root.. I wanted you to have these as I don't
seem to have too many small pots of other Holiday cactus to share. Maybe some.....

I don't know why my CC's are all doing so poorly. Too wet? Too dry" Not enough light???
I still believe that they all need to be repotted. Bought a bag of "Chicken grit" today
at "Pet Smart". Gonna mix up a BIG container with the best potting mix I can manage to create. Then I will re-pot most of the older plants.
Watch them all go down the drain when i do!!! Can't win. Hope NOT!!!!

See ya at the swap! You are coming--right? Gita

I made a batch of suet mixed with peanut butter and dried meal worms today and filled up all of the various suet holders I've received as gifts over the years - plus the one I brought home from the seed swap gift table yesterday (thanks to whomever brought it )!

Suet doesn't last long in my yard. The Starlings can go through 3 cakes in a day or two
I'm still hoping to see a Bluebird enjoying the suet this winter!

The suet holder with the plexiglass- I think that design is supposed to keep starlings off, as they can't cling upside down. I remember when there was discussion, and a member outside Mid At made that.

The bluebirds came to my 'blazing hot' commercial suet with cayenne and peanut chips.

The last chunk of mealworm cake that I put out got either eaten or carried off.

So far the squirrels have not managed to help themselves to my new feeder, the one I got at Ace. Enjoyed watching one really try but failing. Felt so bad for him I put a bit of the mix on the deck rail for him (and any birds that beat him to it).

It will be nice if Starlings can't cling to the upside down feeder

That was nice of you, Robin. I feed squirrels, too, although I don't give them as much as I used to because they wreck my garden when they bury the extras.

I'm thinking the squirrels must have figured out something to get to the seed. When I went out yesterday to check the feeder was empty and the top was unhooked. Critters are too smart. I still put more seed in the feeder.

Either squirrels or a raccoon....

After trying and failing all sorts of things to stop squirrels and raccoons, we finally put an upside down trash can on the feeder pole (out of desperation). That has worked. Not pretty, but at least the critters cannot climb the pole any more.

Pretty sure my squirrels would've gnawed little handholds up the side of the trashcan... I once thought I could store birdseed outside in a heavy duty trashcan with locking lid... the next morning, I saw how wrong I was, and I had to fish out a fat happy squirrel who was literally rolling in his newfound riches.

I think I've found the perfect squirrel baffle. I buried an 8' black pipe 2' deep. Then I put a barrel baffle 5' up. On top of that, I placed a flat 18" baffle. On THAT I screwed on a pipe flange and attached a birdfeeder.

No squirrel has beaten it yet!

@Yardenman we had a similar idea, but we used plastics instead. Squirrels simply bit them off.

We're being mobbed by robins right now, all in the trees and singing. Maybe they came down here from more north to avoid that snow.

Did know robins came back north so early. Don't think I have seen any this year.

Yardenman, that looks like a great solution! I rely heavily on barrel (or "bullet") baffles in my yard, too. In order to defeat raccoons, I had to use extra long barrel baffles.
Does the black pipe you buried 2 feet deep serve as the pole on which you mounted everything else, or does it have another function (e.g. to deter other critters)?

Finally got to see a bunch of tobins drinking form our birdbath- yay.
A mob of black birds have joined the "robin bunch" here