Always growing up in Texas my Dad was (and still is) an avid bird watcher with a Peterson's Field Guide for Birds of Texas and the whole nine yards of birdwatching gear.
Always saw alot of English Sparrows in West Texas but here where I live now in north Texas I never see them. On doing some research I found that they were not indigenous but were introduced on numerous occasions until they finally began to thrive.
The birds I see on our feeders right now are mostly titmice and chickadees with cardinals and the occasional woodpecker.
I was wondering what birds other people across the country see on their feeders in the winter months.
a curious Lucas
Red Bellied Woodpeckers seem to arrive this time of year. They are very pretty birds although a bit loud. Very entertaining.
> Always growing up in Texas my Dad was (and still is) an avid bird watcher with a Peterson's Field Guide for Birds of Texas and the whole nine yards of birdwatching gear.
> Always saw alot of English Sparrows in West Texas but here where I live now in north Texas I never see them. On doing some research I found that they were not indigenous but were introduced on numerous occasions until they finally began to thrive.
> The birds I see on our feeders right now are mostly titmice and chickadees with cardinals and the occasional woodpecker.
> I was wondering what birds other people across the country see on their feeders in the winter months.
>
> a curious Lucas
About the same here in Maine - we see a lot of Jays and Swallows around as well.
But your pseudo idle curiosity can't fool me. I can tell, you're getting ramped up to go for a Big Year...
Sparrows, chickadees and cardinals mostly at the feeder. Don't know where the jays go this time of year. When the grackles and starlings drop by in large numbers, the other birds run off.
George, the neighbor's grey and white cat, "feeds" at the bird feeder daily. He's truly an accomplished predator. He works like a large cat on the Serengeti. Since there's no cover around the bird feeder he uses the afternoon sun. As it 'blinds' the birds he slowly approaches hidden by the glare. Takes him 3 or 4 minutes to get close enough to pounce. Hardly seen him miss.
Chickadees, Nuthatches, Grossbeaks, Finches, occasional stellar jays. Also, we have a couple of insomniac bears that won’t go hibernate that have thrashed the feeder the last couple of weeks. (Paden: they probably would love a little cat in their diet)
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/bears-alaskas-largest-city-still-not-ready-hibernate-winter
In a rare snowfall a few years ago, the birds were caught by surprise too.
In the warmer months we have about that many humming birds hanging around the backyard.
There are 2 Spanish eagles outside right now - not a common thing though.
Those would be "Illegal Eagles"?
Paden
I have no idea where it came from but there is an old saying "out in the country" that Jay birds "go to hell on Friday". There is a book by that name written by my favorite hunting and fishing author, Havilah Babcock.
Andy
Big Year
Good post.
Good film.
That blue bird with the black head is beautiful, what kind is it??? The picture of you on the hummer is interestin', how did you get him to sit still while you got on?? Last time I tried that I fell off the back porch!!!
Actually - they are Mexican chickens. They don't have
green cards - their status is downgraded. We don't
discriminate though as they have it as a part of their
National symbol and we respect that. I wonder about them
though as 2 buzzards came and hung out with them....
The eagles were bigger but I think they both spoke Spanish.
We are not allowed to profile so I didn't ask that stuff...
as always Daryl, your pics are smoking cool...thanks for the post
never heard of the "Big Year" before, always like to learn something new - I am a pretty abysmal bird watcher - beyond the feeder my interest quickly wanes - anybody see English Sparrows? supposedly there are 200 million of the little suckers in the united states maybe I'm just not in the right area any longer...or maybe the rumours that bird populations are going down are true?...
:good: As usual!
Have a great week!
That blue bird with black head is the Steller jay. They will run everything else out of the feeder. Very aggessive bird.
> A few birds from my area in Oregon
Show off. 😉
Just kiddin! They are awesome as I expect anything you take a photo of will be...:-)
Round here we call them camp robbers......;-)
You can get them to take a cracker out of your hand.
Yes, aggressive and bold.
