Favorite Backyard Garden Birds?

[rainbowgardener]

Pileated woodpeckers are very shy and secretive. I never see them, but when I lived on 5 wooded acres, we would hear them drumming/ pecking on trees. It's pretty distinctive.

We have tons of goldfinches because we use the upside down tube feeders. I love watching them gradually change from their winter drab to summer gold.

[PurpleOrganicLEDGuru]

Black birds, like crows, the ones that squawk a lot ! and Hummingbirds that come out of no where

[A Happy Seedling]

I...Am...Sick...Of...This...Song...Sparrow! I like them and all, but this particular one has been trilling the same song OVER AND OVER AGAIN tight outside my window for WEEKS STRAIGHT!

[catgrass]

My favs are the cardinals (which are a year round bird for me), and the Eastern bluebird, which comes and goes. The goldfinches are still around, though not many. LOTS of doves and blue jays. I did see, for the first time since I've been living in this house (18 yrs), 2 downy woodpeckers. I was totally shocked. I have nutthatches that come and go. I really love the bluebirds, but this year, somehow my cat managed to kill the moma bluebird at 10 oclock at nite. I thought I had their area safe from her, but, apparently not. Then, the sparrows threw their eggs out of the next. I need a pellet gun!

[Sweyn]

There are lots of House sparrows here. Nesting in roofs of houses and hedgerows. There are also a male and female Sparrowhawk who visit regularly, to catch and eat the House sparrows.

[digitS']

I...Am...Sick...Of...This...Song...Sparrow! I like them and all, but this particular one has been trilling the same song OVER AND OVER AGAIN tight outside my window for WEEKS STRAIGHT!

Look for a nest very close by and near the ground level . They are assertive little birds ... your good news is that they won't be there longer than what is required to get the kids outta the house. Maybe, Ma & Pa will be heading off to a retirement community, after that.

Steve

[A Happy Seedling]

Lol! Okay, since I have some cute evergreen landscaping bushes along one side of my house, naturally every single bush has two nests in it, so I will look there.

[LeaSmea]

We have seen cardinals, blue jays and even a wood pecker this year but so far my favorite are two owls that are nested somewhere nearby. We haven't been able to spot them yet but we hear them calling back and forth to each other. It's lovely to sit out on the deck and listen to them.

[A Happy Seedling]

Owls? You are lucky!!

[tomf]

I took this picture at Crater Lake Oregon.

[digitS']

Clark's Nutcracker, Tom?

LINK

They used to be somewhat common where I lived near Pend Oreille Lake but I think they were coming down from higher elevations. There was some White Pine there.

Steve

[A Happy Seedling]

Cute! Nice pic!

[tomf]

Thanks for the name of the bird Steve, I wanted to know.

[A Happy Seedling]

I don't have Nutcrackers but just discovered ANOTHER cardinal pair in addition to "Ace" and "Kivven"..."Ruben" and "Lyka" are now living in my yard too. And yes, my kids named these too.

[tomf]

I saw a grouse the other day, they tend to hide and you do not see them often.

[digitS']

Tom has grouse because his backyard includes a forest. My garden usually has Valley quail but not so much last year and I've seen none out there in 2015. There really seem to be more Sharp-shinned hawks around and I wonder if that explains it.

I learned that quail like ripe tomatoes. Their cousins, the Ring-neck pheasants like lettuce and to dust bathe in seed beds! <insert smiley throwing his hands in the air and going, "Gah!"> The neighbor ran a turkey off last year, for which I was much appreciative. Happy to have a flock of turkeys coming through a garden??! I don't think so ...

Dusky grouse aren't likely to come down into our gardens but I find the migration of these birds intriguing. They move down into the valleys in the spring to breed and raise their young. Then, they move higher in the mountains in the winter to feed on the needles of evergreens! Imagine making that choice for your winter home.

Steve

[A Happy Seedling]

I love quail. The feathers on the tops of their heads make them so adorable!

[tomf]

We see quail around but only sometimes. I was in Lake County California and we say a ton of wild turkeys.

[puzzlejunky]

Birds creep me out. Did you know crows will actually tell all its little crow friends about you if you're mean?

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/43570666/ns/t ... TZ01SGrSCg

Sorry for being a little off-topic..but the talking ones are really creepy. It's just not natural.

I'll leave now and leave everyone else to their appreciation of them...they just kinda scare the bejeebus out of me.

[applestar]

That was an interesting article!

[A Happy Seedling]

I love birds. I have cardinal eggs; Ace and Kivven's.

[digitS']

Not many birds just outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, zone 6?

I'd probably be in a blind panic most of the time if birds bothered me . I've never been attacked by a bird ... oh, Wait a minute. There were that rooster and that gander ...

Years apart. I think I had the same response for both. I had my gloves in one hand and slapped 'em. They didn't accept the challenge.

It may not be wise to say so but I named a rooster Satan. He was just too much trouble with the other chickens. I didn't tell the people I gave him to what I called that rooster ... I wonder what happened to him ..?

Steve

[Seedsofchange]

I like the Carolina Wren too. Is anyone in here involved with community gardens or just gardens at home?

[pinksand]

I've had Carolina Wrens nest in my flower pots for the past couple of years but last year my puppy got to the eggs while I was distracted watering the plants. I had a little burial ceremony for the nest of crushed embryos The year before I got to watch those babies hatch and grow and then awkwardly leave the nest for the first time all from about 2 feet away through my sliding glass door.

Last summer the Gold finches seemed to constantly be perched on my zinnias. I'd pull into the driveway or walk out the front door to a shivering plant and flash of gold. I love them and don't mind them snacking a bit on my flower seeds.

I love all my bird visitors with the exception of the turkey vultures. I know they're on clean up crew and are important, but ick!

[A Happy Seedling]

Awww sad! I like goldfinches.

[A Happy Seedling]

I saw Swallow-Tailed Kites!
First last week, then more and more over the past week.
Haven't seen those agile little raptors since I vacationed in Florida; they are my favorite bird.
I wanted to tell you guys about what happened in Florida; very strange & funny.
One of the kites is especially familiar with me and vice versa, so I know where her nest is. She left to find food for her chicks, and in a few minutes, a herring gull came with a wriggling gull chick and dumped it in the kite nest with the kite chicks. It then flew off. The kite chicks poked and prodded the gull chick with their wings, and they made noises at each other. The gull chick sat there like the new kid in school. The parent kite came back and fed all the kite chicks, but not the gull. The gull complained loudly, and the kite fed it. Then the kite grabbed the chick and returned it to its mother's nest once the mother was gone! Then it returned to the nest like nothing had happened.

Never thought I'd see something like that, until I did.

Also, I'll be posting some backyard feeder bird photos soon!

[imafan26]

The golden plover are back and I am seeing more of the Northern cardinals.

We have a lot of the non-related crested cardinals, bulbuls, mynas, and spotted doves all of the time. Not to mention feral chickens, although the state is starting to round them up since they are everywhere and recently many were found dead and dying because someone was poisoning them.

[digitS']

I believe I saw a robin today. It showed up in a walnut tree across the road.

The robin was there about the first of December . For all I know, it's the same bird. Sitting down here at home, the 3 most common places to find me all have a view of that tree. The chairs and 3 windows all line up right.

I could claim that a robin has sat in that tree once every 6 weeks since October. Ha! Might be true. I think that there are very few over-wintering and I've seen them no where else. It is a blue-sky, snow-covered landscape day! Yesterday, overcast, and even without snow or rain that day, the streetlights were still on at 10:15 AM! ... If I had wings ... !

Ah well, the robins will all be back by spring.

Steve

[gumbo2176]

I'm in the middle of an urban environment and even though we have several different birds that frequent my yard, they seem to be far outnumbered by the pigeons, or winged rats, as I like to refer to them. I do have lots of sparrows, mockingbirds, grackles, and to a lesser extent, doves, cardinals, blue jays and the occasional hummingbird.

There are also quite a few of the smaller breed parrots that are getting to be a fixture in the warmer months when the fruit trees are in bloom. When the Loquat, or Japanese Plum trees are fruiting, they fly in droves to pick the trees clean. So far I've been lucky and they have either not discovered my fig tree, or they simply don't like the fruit it produces.

My wife's favorite are the hummingbirds that come to our 2nd floor back porch to dine on the flowers we have in hanging baskets and in pots.

[HoneyBerry]

Nice woodpecker! I love woodpeckers. I have a regular that I see pecking on my lilac tree once in a while.
I have been sharing my cockatiel's millet with the juncos outside. So now I can enjoy the juncos as well as my normal finches and chickadees. The juncos don't eat the sunflower seeds that I put out but they sure do like the millet seed. And they are ground feeders so I am feeding them differently. They even build their nests on the ground. I found a junco nest in my long grass once. I was protective of it. The baby birds seemed so vulnerable so low on the ground.

[digitS']

I hadn't realized that they had such a wide territory!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id

That's year round, folks . That Downy has got the "adapt to local conditions" skills down pat!

Steve

[LIcenter]

I hadn't realized that they had such a wide territory!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id

That's year round, folks . That Downy has got the "adapt to local conditions" skills down pat!

Steve

We've had an explosion of Downy's this year. Normally once a week I'll hang out at my local bird feed store to chew the fat for an hour or two. Just about everyone has commented on seeing an unusual abundance of this little cutey. That and Goldfinches.

[tommyr]

Hummingbirds and Cardinals.

[ButterflyLady29]

I had a House Wren family living in a birdhouse in my front yard last year. The male kept fighting and singing with his reflection in my living room window. We had to keep the curtain closed so he would spend time raising his family. There were 2 broods that fledged from that little house. I was able to video record the last day the parents spent feeding their last brood of the year. It was a constant back and forth that day with both parents feeding babies.

[digitS']

. . . we could do with a lesser number of grackles ... Meadowlarks are beginning to show up in the field, and we are eagerly awaiting the Kingbirds. ...]

I have not seen a meadowlark here for years and years! It's probably been well over 10 and maybe closer to 20 years since they were here keeping the killdeer, cows and cowboys entertained.

I could be wrong but I blame the meadowlark's distant cousin, the starling. The first starlings I saw was when I was about 12 or 15, in southern Oregon. We said that they migrated north out of California.

Starlings were here when I migrated north nearly 50 years ago so if they put pressure on the more solitary meadowlark, it began about then. It is probably true that this was the northern part of the meadowlarks' range and they decided showing up to build nests wasn't worth coming here. Disappointing ...

If meadowlarks can live with grackles, count your blessings .

Steve

[tomf]

I like most of them, crows not so much. A short list of some of the cooler birds that come by are; Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Pileated Woodpeckers, Grouse, Quail, Hawks, Owls, and Sapsuckers. We are feeding the birds so every day there are tons of small birds out our windows.

[tomf]

Morning doves make the nices sounds.

[DavidCampbell]

I believe I saw a robin today. It showed up in a walnut tree across the road.

The robin was there about the first of December . For all I know, it's the same bird. Sitting down here at home, the 3 most common places to find me all have a view of that tree. The chairs and 3 windows all line up right.

I could claim that a robin has sat in that tree once every 6 weeks since October. Ha! Might be true. I think that there are very few over-wintering and I've seen them no where else. It is a blue-sky, snow-covered landscape day! Yesterday, overcast, and even without snow or rain that day, the streetlights were still on at 10:15 AM! ... If I had wings ... !

Ah well, the robins will all be back by spring.

Steve

I like magpies but having seen this video I want my own robin https://www.instagram.com/p/BAz_xFBg7CJ/

[digitS']

David, someone else will have to verify that as a Robin of the British Isles!

Holland Park is in London, just past Kensington gardens and Paddington station.

The British have their larks! And, other critters, as well.

Steve

[applestar]

Today's favorite is Titmouse. I heard a rustling, then rapid tapping right outside a FR window and there was a cute beady eyed and nervous titmouse cracking open some seed on the grapevine.