Very busy at the bird feeder today! (3 Viewers)

[Larry Lade]

Hi Carol, we live on a regular size USA lot in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri. Trees which line our corner lot (we live on the corner of 29th and Sacramento) are Sycamore, Black Walnut, Sweetgum, Sugar Maple, Redbud and Elderberry bushes. We have placed a small in ground water pool in our backyard. There are some more small Rose of Sharon trees forming a back drop for the water feature. There is a small brush pile in the backyard also where the birds flit around in. We usually have a small garden (tomatoes, strawberries and such) and also some black raspberry brambles. This should give you some idea of what our yard looks like.

 

[Carol Baldock]

Good morning All,

Up at 6.30am this morning.... enjoyed listening to the birds calling and singing and a pecker drumming. I am still learning the calls.

Found a third mallard nest, in one of our beds ( inside what looks like a wigwam structure, made from garden materials.. clever, well camouflaged ..only realised as I saw movement within the structure) .Our garden is never pristine, so good for wildlife) .

Had a male hare through the garden and watched another pair in the field, with a fourth male being chased off)

These are the new birds that I saw :

18 Robin
19 Blue Tit
20 Pair Greenfinches

Various other things flew over, which I a not yet experienced enough to identify... I find the gulls especially hard..

The solar eclipse should be c 83% here, but , although dry, but chilly, it is completely covered over with cloud.

Hope you manage to see more than I am likely to ....

Best wishes, Carol :-O:-O:-O

 

[bongofury]

Welcome to the thread Carol. You've got a good selection of birds of visiting.

Good views of the eclipse through thin cloud cover this morning. The Magpies all headed off in to the woods to roost and the Starlings went to their usual tree. It wasn't dark, but it a had an eerie, dusky feel to it. I wish I'd got some of those special glasses now. Only 11 years to the next one...

 

[Larry Lade]

March 20, 2015 (Friday)
In our yard around the bird feeders

American Robin
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
House Finch
Dark-eyed Junco
Common Grackle
European Starling
American Goldfinch
Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse

 

[Bananafishbones]

my best effort of the eclipse we eventually got 95%

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Up to 10 Greenfinch in the garden this morning along with the usual LTT's, Nuthatch, Jays, House Sparrows etc.

Rich

 

[bongofury]

my best effort of the eclipse we eventually got 95%

Nice shot. I spent ages faffing with my camera and only got images of something bright in the sky.

 

[alexcropper83]

Not often I post in BF but I've got to share this..

4 Reed Buntings in my garden this afternoon. All male too!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Not too much to report here lately but the last couple of days have been a little more interesting.
First though a couple of shots from my mother-in-law's garden. I wonder how long it will be before they spread this far north.

Back home a robin is nest building in the ivy high up on an ash tree and the magpies are adding to their already large nest in the top of a conifer. A pair of tree sparrows have been in and out of a nest box all morning. They used the same one in 2013.

The only addition to this years list has been a brief visit by a male siskin. I saw it once on the niger feeder but it must have been just passing through. I don't often get them, its the first for over 4 years.

Three weeks ago I saw a blue tit with an extra long beak but couldn't get a good shot of it. Yesterday it was back and I managed a few pics. I watched it feed by holding its head on the side and managing to pick seeds off the ground and also nibling at the suet feeder with the side of its beak.

At dusk last night a flock of starlings pre-roosted in the horse chestnut tree, over a hundred at one point. The roost proper is next door in a leylandii hedge where about 400 spend the night. I might try for some flight shots tonight although it won't be as spectacular as the really large roosts.

 

[JeffMoh]

Pretty quiet in our yards (except for 20+ House Sparrows several times a day) now that many winter residents seem to have left. Most days we have:
Northern Cardinals
Carolina Chickadees
Chipping Sparrows
White-winged Doves
Carolina Wren
Blue Jay
Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Our street's Cooper's Hawk is often around as, recently, is a flock of Cedar Waxwings. It's rare we don't see either Turkey Vultures or Black Vultures circling overhead.

It's fairly quiet at work, too, except that the Cedar Waxwing flock now seems to number about 1200 birds. I wonder how big the flock will get before it heads north.

Jeff

 

[Carol Baldock]

Saturday 21/03/2015 it pretty much rained all day and overcast , cold and grey so only the :
21 Male Green Woodpecker
braved the weather, searching for ants by drumming on our lawn ( old orchard stumps below)
Sunday had a great , guided Brecks tour, including Hawfinch; Firecrest; Great Grey Shrike; Bramblings; Male Grey Wagtail; Goshawk; Sparrowhawk; Siskins; Great White Egret; Male Garganey; Stone Curlews; Marsh Harrier; Reed Buntings; Woodlark; ..but none of these in the garden!!!! ( ever the optimist I live in hope...however...)

This morning , though has really livened up in the garden:
22) Songthrush
9 Goldfinch (3)
23) Pied Wagtail
24 ) Pair Long Tailed Tits, gathering nesting material
3 Greenfinches gathering nesting material ( 20)
25) Male Chaffinch in full song
Pair Blackbirds (4)

Our 2 mallards ( 2) are still sitting on eggs on their 2 nests in the garden...only the third nest was abandoned.

Happy Garden birding everyone :t::t:

 

[JeffMoh]

Not often I post in BF but I've got to share this..
4 Reed Buntings in my garden this afternoon. All male too!

Great stuff!
Jeff

 

[Larry Lade]

So far this morning we have had the following visitors to our backyard feeders:
European Starling
House Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
Black-capped Chickadee
Downy Woodpecker
American Robin
Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
Red-bellied Woodpecker

 

[Bananafishbones]

Jabberwocky has given the thread some colour again with his images, well done.

I cant compete for the colour but was nice to get a largish flock of Rook in the garden, 8 in Total

Dave

 

[JeffMoh]

Quietish in our yards but the Cedar Waxwing flock at work has grown to around 1,300 birds.

Jeff

 

[Larry Lade]

Quietish in our yards but the Cedar Waxwing flock at work has grown to around 1,300 birds.

Jeff

Any Bohemian Waxwings in the flock?

 

[christine]

I've noticed increased activity at my feeders also (London), and i guess many birds are pairing up now. The Jays are becoming less timid, always a treat to see, such lovely birds. I'm going to have a tidy up in the garden tomorrow and may put the squirrel proof feeder up again, as it looks as if the little blighters are back.

 

[JeffMoh]

Any Bohemian Waxwings in the flock?

I wish, Larry. As I do every year, I've already spent hours poring over photos of the flock but so far no luck.

 

[Larry Lade]

Do not give up looking. One of these days one/some is/are sure to show up! We can always hope!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Jabberwocky has given the thread some colour again with his images, well done.

I cant compete for the colour but was nice to get a largish flock of Rook in the garden, 8 in Total

Dave

Thanks Dave. Nice to see rooks too, smart birds. I used to hang a suet feeder from a branch on a length of string. One rook would sit above the feeder, reach down and pull a length of string up, stand on it and pull up another length until it got the suet block. In about 3 minutes the suet was gone. They are also the reason I stopped ground feeding, I was getting too many and didn't want to annoy the neighbours.

In my last post I mentioned the starling flock. I tried for some pictures but they didn't show up. They must have moved on as there's only 4 left now.

This week I've added 3 to this years total. Tuesday I saw my first red kite from the garden. I've been expecting this as there are a pair quite close now. It takes my all time garden list to 83.

Wednesday a pair of mallard flew over. Normally see them a few times a year.

Friday I finally got a brambling on the feeders. A female has stayed and although I missed it yesterday it was back today. That takes this years garden total to 44, only 6 behind last years final total.

Lewis