Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Non-Fish Eating Birds

This is a photo of one of our Finch feeders at noon today. It is located outside our kitchen window. There were 9 feeding when I went to get the camera and when I returned there were 6. We have six feeders operational and that is about all we afford birdseed-wise!!

Those are pretty birds. My girl Cindy also has 6 feeder, or maybe even a few more by now. It's surprising how fast they go through the seeds.

We just put out the hummingbird feeders and there are a few coming around now.

We have never tried Hummingbird feeders. Gail grows a lot of flowers and there are a lot of wild flowers around as well. We get to see a ton of hummingbirds. I wonder if the prefer the feeder to the flower?

I bet they would favor the feeders because they're less work. In the fall there was a continuous stream of hummers all day long. We probably had a dozen regular visitors, maybe more.

Here's a few shots from last year:

Dwight, nice picture! Have you seen any Harris Sparrows yet? They were passing through our area last week and were very late migrating north this year.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Harriss_Sparrow_dtl.html#map

Nice picts Dwight. We have the little Finches like yours in the picture at the Lazy W. Here are some of our Hummers. I had 15 at one time the other day

Shorty, I haven't seen any HSs so far this spring. They are easy to miss if you are gone for a a day or two. Most years we see some as they blow through our area on their way north. I don't recall ever seeing them in the fall, though.

Heybud, Do they actually stop flapping their wings as they perch for a sip of juice?

We kept an active bird feeder in the back yard for a couple of years. The best part was watching the Cooper's Hawk that lived near our house occasionally swoop through picking off feeding songbirds.

My family likes things that eat other things.

Theo, I had not heard of the Active Bird species, do you have a photo?

:P

Dwight, The hummers do quit flapping their wings and sit and eat, although sometimes they do just hover over the feeder and eat. They sit on my fence alot and it the oak trees, but not for very long. They mostly fight all the time. We have tried to place feeders around, but they still wind up fighting.

One of my summer downtime joys is watching dog-fights with hummingbirds.

The ones at my house do sit down quite a bit. They'll feed for a while then go sit in a tree and then come back.

If my info. is correct, we only have one kind in Western PA which is the ruby-throated HB (I'll have to confirm that).

Yep, the HBirds are mean. At least around my area. I have visited the Rocky Mountains and seen as many as 25 all contentedly feeding.

Dski and I (OK...mostly Dski) have been feeding the Goldpigs for many years. We were blasting thru Nyjer seed to the point that it became a function in our budget. This concerned me, so I did a study. It was very scientific: I stood by the window and watched. The GF mow down the seed as they daintily plucked it from our tube feeders. After many minutes of keen observation, I realized that for every one seed they extracted to eat, 3 - 4 fell to the ground. Although the mourning doves are very appreciative of this practice, it wasn't fiscally responsible. So, we switched all the tube feeders for sock feeders . Problem solved. Virtually no waste.

Thanks Bski, I'll suggest those to Cinner.

When making the switch, I have heard of GF resistance. It is recommended to run both feeding station types simultaneously to "break the habit". It will be worth it, tho. The other option is extremely difficult since the nyjer patches are very difficult to attach.

Brettski, Thanks for the tip, now that I bought Gail 2 new tube feeders for her Birthday.......

I have a family of crows that visit my property twice a day. Does not that count?

Along with the usual Robins nesting in the corner posts of my log home, common house finches on the deck and nesting under it, I also have a couple of starlings nesting under the meter cover of my parent's propane tank. I commented to my wife aren't they just like typical Brits we observed in London all noisy and hyper? (For those of you that don't know Starlings are orginally from Great Britian.)

I also have a family of Pigeons that show up daily, Catbirds, Grackles, and various sparrows. And then there's the pair of mallards that show up on a daily basis. And there are the swallows that nest in my inflow pipes to the ponds when they are not in use.

What birds do you all see around your ponds? Anybody have any bats? I haven't seen one here for some time during the time of year they should be here.

Cecil, I have had some bat boxes up for a couple of years with no takers.

Our neatest bird is the bunting. About 7 different colors and very shy.

I'm right up there with Dave on the bat thing, but my commitment falls a couple of steps short. I built a pretty nice 3 baffle bat house
and it still sits in the basement. Too many other projects going on. Maybe I'll get the pole installed this year...?

I have been busy trapping sparrows. I got a really neat trap off the internet. I have trapped over 50 in just a few days. They are a big reason in the decline of song birds. I have a cool way of disposing of them with starter fluid, after I trap them. I have four eastern bluebirds that show up every now and then. Sparrows will kill the little ones and even poke holes in the eggs of various birds. Once saw a group of sparrows attack a mother swallow in her nest.

We have baby mallards and baby teal on the pond right now. The barn swallows are trying to build nests everywhere. The purple martins are back and so are the tree swallows. We have a nighthawk that visits the pond daily as well as a few shorebirds.

Y'all don't watch Alfred Hitchcock movies, do you?

Theo, my folks bought the pond years ago because they are very avid bird watchers and ponds do attract a lot of birds. They very rarely fish, it's just not their thing, that is why I am in charge of the fish management as they could care less about it. Myself on the other hand, I have always been a fishing fool but have grown to appreciate birding and the great divisity of birds we have and their seasonal movements. I would have to get out my bird book to tell you what type of shore birds we have visiting right now.