Bird Houses, what birds do you want in your garden?

[Gary350]

This prison bar feeder only allows small birds in. This type feed was $25 at the store made out of wire. I made this with 2 pieces of scrap 1/4" plywood and limbs from a back yard tree. This will keep out the Blue Jays. This gives me an idea for another bird house.

[Gary350]

1 more feeder for small birds. Wife must be trying to make the birds fat look at all that seed she put in there. LOL

[Gary350]

Bird Buffet seems to be working sun has been up 20 minutes and there are too many birds to count maybe 15 to 18. There are 2 Wrens, I have never seen Wrens this time of the year. Doves are more aggressive than I realized they are keeping the Blue Jays away. Doves even scared off the 1 and only Black bird. The 2 black spotted wood peckers are cute but not close enough for me to get a good photo. I have a few pics of the red color sparrows. There are 4 of these cute birds I have been trying very hard to get pictures of but they are very quick. These cute birds land and grab 1 sunflower seed then go up into the tree to eat it. It take the bird about 60 seconds to hammer that sunflower seed open to eat the inside then they fly down grab 1 seed and fly off again. It is 27 degrees this morning bird water is frozen.

[Gary350]

Cute bird again, light color breast, orange/brown color under the wings, gray/blue color on tip, pointy feather head. I can not find this bird in my book or online either. Pic is blurred.

[Gary350]

This is a better pic of the bird in the tree slightly above and to the left of center. You can see its colors better.

[Gary350]

Here is a pic of the red color sparrows. There always seems to be 2 birds together, 1 has red color the other one does not.

[applestar]

The cute grey bird is almost certainly the Tufted Titmouse. The rusty body/side under the wings is distinctive:
Tufted Titmouse, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_titmouse/id

The red colored “sparrow” is the House Finch. They are somewhat larger than the other finches, which makes you tend to think “sparrow”. Male has the red coloring, females are drab brown all over. They will visit finch feeders with the Goldfinches, and are often seen feeding together even on plant seeds in the garden.

If it is redder — softer darker red, not so orange — all over the head, face and shoulders, I would think it is a Purple Finch.

— I don’t know if they actually flock together — usually, I see the goldfinches flying in a flock by themselves — maybe they are simply attracted to the same food and happened to visit at the time — and/or — they are just used to feeding at the same place at the same time from visiting the feeders together and are unconcerned about mingling while feeding.

In my area, other finch feeder birds that sometimes visit during really cold temp winters are Pine Siskin which look like smaller than normal female House Finch but has a yellow marking ...somewhere that I can’t remember..oh, wings! — and Common Redpoll which are also tiny and just have a sort of a red speck/stripe on their crown that makes me think “odd looking tiny male House/Purple Finch”.

[jal_ut]

Birds appreciate a water source.

Lessee........ this was about Bird Houses. I make houses for wrens and Flickers. Sure as you put up a house for a Flicker you will have a pair of starlings in it. So what to do to get the starlings to leave it alone?

[Gary350]

The cute grey bird is almost certainly the Tufted Titmouse. The rusty body/side under the wings is distinctive:
Tufted Titmouse, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_titmouse/id

Applestar this link is a very good source of information. The plans are more detailed than other plans I found. Much better information about birds too. I built 2 more bird houses by the Titmouse Plans. Information says the house must be on a 10 ft pole which I have about 20 of in a pile out back. Now that the 2 new houses are up I realize they need to be relocated to a different place away from the house and near the trees. The link says, titmouse like being near tall trees and forest. There is no information about how many bugs titmouse birds eat or if they eat bugs.

[Gary350]

You can see both new titmouse houses in this photo. You can also see 14 bird houses and 8 bird feeders. These 2 new houses makes 37 bird houses.

[Gary350]

James you are correct, every thing I read says water is the #1 attraction for birds. Next I need to shop for a small bird pond, fountain, and other sources of water for birds. We already have a bird bath. I have about 15 water containers for the garden it keeps birds from pecking my tomatoes to get a drink of water.

This sure is a cute bird, very nice pic of the 4 titmouse birds that are coming to the bird feeders.

[Gary350]

We bought 2 ceramic bird houses at a yard sale. I'm not sure any bird will live in these, we will have to wait & see. This makes 39 bird houses. LOL.

[Gary350]

The bird feeders are very popular every day, 3 to 18 birds all the time. Most popular seeds are black sunflower seeds. I have 2 kinds of seed, mixed bird seed & sunflower seed. Birds fight over the sunflower seeds, soon as they are gone the mixed bird seed is not very popular. Birds are very fast it is very hard to get good pictures. Little birds land for 1/2 second, grab 1 seed then they are gone up into a trees to eat it, larger birds are not so shy. Today I keep seeing, 4 titmouse, 2 chickadee, 2 red birds, 1 mocking birds, 1 spotted red head wood pecker, 2 brown sparrows, 1 red head sparrow. No doves, no blue jays, today. It has been raining slow all day birds not bothered much by the rain. Few days ago when it was raining hard on & off all day birds stayed inside the bird houses, when rain slowed down they fly out to eat sunflower seeds. I need a better camera it is hard to get a good photo in 1/2 a second. I keep moving the table closer and closer to the back door to get better pics but birds are quick. Other bird feeders are too far away to get a good picture.

[jal_ut]

Hmmmm........ I went looking for a picture of a birdhouse, and didn't come up with much ........ but gotta give you something: https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/well ... sville.htm

[Gary350]

Small birds are fun to watch inside the prison feeder. Little birds are not worried much about larger birds while they are in there. Sometimes there are 2 small birds inside for a short time then one leaves and another one arrives. Today 2 Red birds are trying to find a way to get inside the prison feeder. 38 degrees and lots of birds to watch. Maybe when it gets warmer I can set at the patio table and birds will get accustom to me being there and not fly away. It was 70 degrees a few days ago wrens are the funniest birds I was setting at the patio table a wren lands on the other side of the table an looks right at me then chirps over & over & over like it is telling me something. I think I was being told to get away. LOL. Other birds have their own limit to how close they will get. Birds have gotten use to the cats sleeping in the patio chairs 8 ft away and the dog sleeping in the recliner chair 12 ft away but birds are not use to me yet. When weather gets nice we eat breakfast, lunch an dinner on the patio table we hope the birds get friendlier.

[applestar]

That’s a fun spot for birdwatching, Gary350


Here’s my skill level for a home made birdfeeder



...it has drainage holes but I think I will make them bigger, and maybe if I can, push a piece of window screen to lay at the bottom so the seeds are raised above the bottle-bottom ridges.

[Gary350]

That’s a fun spot for birdwatching, Gary350


Here’s my skill level for a home made birdfeeder



...it has drainage holes but I think I will make them bigger, and maybe if I can, push a piece of window screen to lay at the bottom so the seeds are raised above the bottle-bottom ridges.

I like your bird feeder, I want 1 too. Hard to see but it looks like you cut several door holes in the soft drink bottle. Plastic bowl is the rain cover. Great idea. What is the red thing? Is that some type wire thing I see inside?

[applestar]

Thanks! The red thing is a plastic lid from a large herb/spice jar with the flip-tops removed. The wire is securing it to the dowel (actually a shortened bamboo chopstick) which provides perch for little birds brave enough to hop inside the holes cut in the side. I also tried cutting slits and was going to heat soften and pull them open into sort of lips, but had to abort.

I think you could also weld/solder the plastic lid on to the opening cut in the bottle maybe, but I can’t take the burning plastic fumes at all, so had to try other options.

[Gary350]

More new bird feeders.

6 hummingbird feeders makes from small mason jars. Drill a small hole in the center of the lid then paint flowers on the lid. These do not hang upside and drip all the liquid out. I don't see hummingbirds this time of the year. YouTube videos show about 30 birds buzzing around this type feeder.

The other feeder is made from a soft drink bottle and a grocery store cake plastic cake cover. Birds have been looking at these very close for several days, I have not seen bird eating from it yet.

Sun is coming out today & more rain tomorrow. We already had 3 weeks of rain and 9 more weeks of rain to come.

[applestar]

They’ll get used to it.

This is a poor quality photo taken with my iPhone from the upstairs window through the screen, etc. but maybe you can see the pair of House Finches. Earlier, there was one that had sidled along the chopstick to go inside and was hanging nearly upside down to pick up the seeds.

[Gary350]

The Audubon Society says to face your bird houses away from the prevailing wind because birds don't like air blowing in their hole.

[digitS']

... We have California Quail here at home this winter. That's unusual and kind of fun but they are ALWAYS in the distant garden. I don't know if I would really want to encourage them as a garden companion, however. ...

The at-home quail have been doing fairly well this winter. One has apparently been lost out of the original 9 but it seems so likely that they would have trouble with cats.

We don't have a cat but it has been snowing quite often the last few weeks, and I know --- when I go outside this morning that I will find cat tracks in my yard.

I haven't seen the nextdoor neighbor's calico in about 2 months. I'm afraid to ask her about her cat. We are only about 30 yards from a busy arterial. Anyway, it isn't her cat leaving tracks and it doesn't really matter because it's impossible for this yard or any other to be cat-free in this neighborhood.

Come spring, the quail just cannot be nesting here. In nearly 25 years, I have almost never even seen them within about 500 yards of my home. At that distance, they are often around. It's probably 3 acres of grass and small trees. To the south there are businesses with large parking lots. It can't be a very good place for a cat. ... altho I've seen raccoons. And, I am waiting for the turkeys to show up ...

Gary, you could start a thread on what birds are worst for the gardener . The turkeys weren't around often enough to cause any noticeable harm the season they showed up in the distant garden but the pheasants all but moved into my salad garden one year!

Steve

[applestar]

Today, there was a Carolina Wren inside that soda bottle feeder, which House Finches were clustered around on various perches waiting their turn.

Other birds that are frequent recent visitors are Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Juncos, White Throated Sparrows and Song Sparrows who stay on the ground waiting for oily seed eaters like Chickadees, Tufted Titmouses/(mice?), and White-breasted Nuthatches, occasional Red bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, as well as the House Finches to flick unwanted seeds out/down in search of their favorites. Squirrels attack the feeders too and drop a bunch on the ground in the process for the ground feeders.

I put a lot of white safflower seeds in the mix, which nobody but the Cardinals particularly want, so there are two pairs of Cardinals that come around — females seem to not mind pecking around on the ground together, but the males tend to posture in the trees above and occasionally swoop each other.

I did see Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds the other day. Maybe they have come back early because of the warm spell.

[applestar]

I just saw a Cedar Waxwing!

[jal_ut]

Picture of my bird feeder.

applestar, that is great on the Cedar Waxwing. Speaking about Red-winged Blackbirds, there has been a big flock of them here about 50 I would guess. They like to hang out in my orchard and come visit the feeder.

[jal_ut]

The birds I have coming to the feeder are: E Sparrow, Magpie, Eu Dove, Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Junco, House Finch

[digitS']

I haven't seen a Red-winged Blackbird in months!

I haven't seen a Starling in weeks! That's pretty much okay ...

Waxwings. Once in awhile, Bohemian Waxwings show up here in the winter. It's apparently too far south for them to be nesting here. That's kinda like the Snowy Owl that we see around in the winter. The Cedar Waxwing takes up residence during the summer. Does anyone see Bohemians this winter? They put on quite the show .

Steve
comparisons of Waxwings

[applestar]

Oooh I have to study this. Do Bohemians Visit this area? The one I saw had the crest — I had to look really hard to see if it could possibly be an oddball colored Titmouse. Then I noticed it had the red wing bar and yellow-tipped tailfeathers.

[applestar]

Ooh ooh! I think you are correct! It must have been a Bohemian Waxwing! The Cedar Waxwing colors couldn’t have looked “almost” like a Titmouse. Thank you, digit’S

[digitS']

Well, I wasn't "trying" to be correct about anything, AppleStar .

It looks as though we might see either species at this time of year. Although, neither of us would be likely to see the Bohemian unless it was winter. Honestly, I don't remember seeing a Cedar in the winter but here is Cornell saying that I might.

Of course, they are also saying that the Cedars are spreading their population aaaalll the way down into Central America during the winter! So as both species migrate south, the range of the two species overlap. They are separated at nesting, fairly well.

Their size is partly how the Bohemians are more showy birds. They also show up around here in flocks. I guess it isn't surprising that the Cedars aren't inclined to travel in flocks when I have seen them during the summer. Not a great deal of difference in appearance ...

Steve

[HoneyBerry]

Rare Yellow Cardinal:

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/0 ... /23373508/

[jal_ut]

"I looked up bird names everyone suggested, those are some of the birds I see in our yard that I never knew there names."

Do you have a field guide? Look for the field guide to the birds in your area.
Hey, good job on the bird houses. Hope you get some takers.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America is a good one.

[LGrammer]

I love all the birds but crows. So i welcome them all

[gumbo2176]

I love all the birds but crows. So i welcome them all

I live in an urban area and it's not the crows, but the pigeons we pretty much can't stand. Nothing but rats with wings is how we look at them.

I once had a neighbor who had several bird feeders on her property and once the pigeons found out where the food was------in about 15 minutes------they congregated in her yard and on every roost they could set their feet around and crapped on everything. It took a while, but she finally got the hint and removed the feeders-----problem solved.

[applestar]

Squirrel chewed through/off the herb shaker top, so now it looks like a round porthole — yeah I meant it to look that way
Sparrows and finches find it a handy access. I even saw a male cardinal in there the other day... but he flew away when I had just managed to fit the telephoto lense on my iPhone....

[digitS']

I saw a pair of robins days ago and miles and miles from my house. (But, they were north of the place .)

I'm out and about as much as usual and often find a few robins in the winter months. Not this year ... however, there was a robin just a few hundred yards from my home, yesterday! And, after a brief time away - the California quail were back in my yard.

I wonder what the birds will think of the return of the snow this morning ... The weather service promises warmer and sunnier days once we get thru this stormy weekend.

Steve

[applestar]

...I wasn’t going to share this because it’s not a very good photo, but I saw a robin, too, to my complete surprise. Because the normal “rule” in this area is the Snowbirds (Juncos) fly south here to spend the winter just as Robin’s fly further south for the winter, and just about when you see the Juncos for the last time in spring, the Robins start streaming back.

Well, it’s not time yet! There are Junco’s all over the place still. In fact, during the snowstorm that resulted in the pictured accumulation, Junco’s were the ONLY birds very busy raiding the bird feeders, even hanging ones that only have short perches — I thought juncos were ground-feeders and only came to platform feeders.

This Robin was looking so pathetic all fluffed up and cold! Obviously a male, so maybe an advance scout? While I watched, he sat huddled and fluffed up, trying to stay warm, then eventually gave up and hopped down and ...again to my surprise... creeped under a fallen and snow covered fencing where I suppose there was a nice cozy shelter.

[jal_ut]

I heard a Robin singing this morning. Didn't see the bird. Lessee, coming to the bird feeder: Magpie, Junco, RW Blackbird, E Sparrow. For a time we had a lot of the House Finches, but they are MIA.

[Gary350]

Birds do not like the factory made hanging feeders they swing is the wind and swing when birds land on them.

I built a new bird feeder to replace the one that was the most popular in the center of the picture. It was a 6"x8" wooden pan that filled up with water every time it rained then seed sprouted and weeds grew in the feeder. I tried several things to make the water drain but seeds kept stopping up the drains. I built a new feeder with a very large over hanging roof to keep out rain. This is the most popular feeder now. I have been watching birds this morning they come and go just as fast as they can get a seed then fly away. There are, 4 titmouse, 2 chickadees, 2 red birds, 2 blue jays, & some sparrows.

[Gary350]

It has rained hard ON & OFF all day so I built another bird house to match our little vintage camper trailer. It might be too late for birds to live in it this year just have to put it in a tree and see what happens. This is the easiest bird house I ever built it only has 2 pieces of wood 3/4" thick 5.5" x 6" with a 1.25" diameter hole for the door. The corner radius were traced around an green bean can with a pencil. The door hole cut out becomes the trailer tire. Wrap the 2 boards with a thin sheet of aluminum 5.5" wide 22" long attach it with 1" paneling nails. Drill a 3/8" hole from a peg so bird has a place to set. Then paint it with your favor colors & vintage trailer design. Looks like I forgot to paint the blue strips across the front of the bird house I will do that when it stops raining. I forgot to put a hand full of soft pine needles inside the bird house to help the bird get started building a nest.