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Apr 3, 2014 5:57 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
From my backyard late this afternoon ...

Mourning Doves
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Boat-tailed Grackles
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Red-winged Blackbird and ............... (I think) Sharp-shinned Hawk
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~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 3, 2014 6:19 PM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
Beautiful as always.
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Apr 4, 2014 3:05 AM CST
Name: Carole
Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)
Charter ATP Member Garden Sages Plant Identifier I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Avid Green Pages Reviewer
I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Ideas: Master Level Cat Lover Birds Region: Tennessee Echinacea
Mourning doves are one of my favorite birds as are the Red-wing Blackbirds. Nice shots.
I garden for the pollinators.
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Apr 4, 2014 11:03 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Thanks Rita & Tee!

I love the Doves too ... they are abundant around here but I've never found them to be a nuisance. The Common Grackles and Boat-tailed Grackles are another story; they raid the feeders and when there are eight or ten or more at the feeders at one time they keep the smaller songbirds away. Sad
~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 4, 2014 2:14 PM CST
Name: June
Rosemont, Ont. (Zone 4a)
Birds Beavers Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Native Plants and Wildflowers Dragonflies Cat Lover
Region: Canadian Cactus and Succulents Butterflies Deer Garden Ideas: Level 1
Only a few grackles have made it this far north, so far. The rest probably saw the snow and turned back! Snow is still 2ft deep in the woods, and so I'm continuing to scatter corn in my yard for the wild turkeys. This morning, the flock's Glorious Leader was puffed up in full courtship display. The ladies totally ignored him and concentrated on eating corn.
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Apr 4, 2014 3:01 PM CST
Name: Carole
Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)
Charter ATP Member Garden Sages Plant Identifier I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Avid Green Pages Reviewer
I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Ideas: Master Level Cat Lover Birds Region: Tennessee Echinacea
He's really strutting his stuff. Smiling
I garden for the pollinators.
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Apr 4, 2014 7:06 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
That sure is a handsome fella! It's funny that the ladies ignored him, I guess they are more interested in food than his showing off. Green Grin!

We don't have any of that white stuff down here! Green Grin! We had a high of 85ºF (29.44ºC) here today ... it was very warm! Hubby just now went to take the dog for a walk and before he left he looked over at the weather station and said "Well, I don't guess I need my jacket, it's still 77 degrees outside!

I think it must be getting a bit warmer to the north too because some of our winter visitors seem to have disappeared. The little Myrtle Warblers that I saw many of all winter are now gone along with Brown-headed Cowbirds and Cedar Waxwings.

These are pictures I took in the back yard today;
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~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 5, 2014 7:19 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
A few from today ...
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~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 6, 2014 9:58 AM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Organic Gardener Garden Sages Birds Frogs and Toads Dragonflies
Butterflies Hummingbirder Orchids Container Gardener Garden Procrastinator Foliage Fan
Great pictures all!
@plantladylin...Lin, what tree/shrub is it that the birds are enjoying? They're really going after those seeds by the looks of it! Thumbs up
Last edited by terrafirma Apr 6, 2014 9:59 AM Icon for preview
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Apr 6, 2014 10:10 AM CST
Name: Tara
NE. FL. (Zone 9a)
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Organic Gardener Garden Sages Birds Frogs and Toads Dragonflies
Butterflies Hummingbirder Orchids Container Gardener Garden Procrastinator Foliage Fan
Pics aren't great, but the Goldfinch are still hanging out here! Seems that they are resisting heading north! With our temps being in the 80's for seems like a week now, I'm thinking this should be about our last sighting of them for the year. Chipping sparrows still hanging around too!
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Apr 6, 2014 11:02 AM CST
Name: Carole
Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)
Charter ATP Member Garden Sages Plant Identifier I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Avid Green Pages Reviewer
I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Ideas: Master Level Cat Lover Birds Region: Tennessee Echinacea
Today ...

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I garden for the pollinators.
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Apr 6, 2014 12:57 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Tara: That's a Pond Cypress (Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium) the birds hang out in ... I have a suet feeder and a seed feeder hanging in that tree which is why a lot of birds gather there. Smiling Love your photo's of the Goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows. I haven't seen a Goldfinch in quite a few years and we used to get hundreds of the cute little Chipping Sparrows at our other house where they'd hang out for a couple of months in the winter but I only saw one in Dec. 2013 and one this past February ... I love and miss those tiny little birds!

Tee: I love the look on that birds face, seems like it stopped and posed for a picture! Is it a European Starling?
~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 6, 2014 1:58 PM CST
Name: Carole
Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)
Charter ATP Member Garden Sages Plant Identifier I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Avid Green Pages Reviewer
I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Ideas: Master Level Cat Lover Birds Region: Tennessee Echinacea
Yes, a Starling. It kept hamming it up until I went and got the camera. It did seem to be posing. Smiling
I garden for the pollinators.
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Apr 7, 2014 2:20 AM CST
Name: Glen Ingram
Macleay Is, Qld, Australia (Zone 12a)
(Lee Reinke X Rose F Kennedy) X Unk
Amaryllis Hybridizer Canning and food preservation Lilies Native Plants and Wildflowers Orchids
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Pollen collector Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Plays in the sandbox Sedums Seed Starter
I have made up my suet cakes to the tune of the recipes Ann linked. Eight bars that look so good I want to eat them. Are there special suet holders you put the slabs in so they aren't just run off with?
The problem is that when you are young your life it is ruined by your parents. When you are older it is ruined by your children.
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Apr 7, 2014 8:07 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Gleni, LOL ... I have bought so many suet holders but the raccoons still find a way to make off with them. I've bent the wire hangers so much that I thought for sure no critter could steal them but they still come up missing. I found an old metal suet feeder beneath our deck when I was working outside a few days ago ... it's one that went missing almost two years ago. Another wooden/metal one was missing from a tree last week but there's still no sign of that one. I've been known to make up a batch of suet and just smear it on a few branches ... birds love it no matter which way it's served. Green Grin! I put peanut butter in my suet and with the heat it melts rather quickly and makes a mess but I don't know how to make cakes like the peanut butter suet cakes I buy that keep their form. I've probably had hundreds of some of these https://www.google.com/search?... metal types over the years. Next time my husband trims some tree branches I might have him cut some to short lengths, ream/drill out some holes for stuffing suet!
~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 7, 2014 8:29 AM CST
Name: Carole
Clarksville, TN (Zone 6b)
Charter ATP Member Garden Sages Plant Identifier I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Avid Green Pages Reviewer
I helped beta test the Garden Planting Calendar Garden Ideas: Master Level Cat Lover Birds Region: Tennessee Echinacea
Same here with the suet cake holders. But that's what I attempt to use. They often don't stick around for very long before being hauled off behind the back fence. It's rather comical when one gets stuck in the hold under the fence.
I garden for the pollinators.
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Apr 7, 2014 3:02 PM CST
Name: Becky Panetta
Dacula, Georgia (Zone 8a)
Region: Georgia Butterflies Birds Hummingbirder Orchids Seed Starter
Keeper of Poultry Greenhouse Garden Photography
The only reason I still have my 2 suet feeders is that DH screwed one into a post so it won't move and I bring the other one in at night. I use the plastic container that the bought suet comes in to form my cakes. I have six and the recipe I use fills 6. How long can you keep feeding suet? I usually stop using it around mid-May when the days get hot. I may keep using it this year to keep the bluebirds around.

The first 2 pics show the suet feeder on the post AND a Yellow-throated warbler which is a first for me.
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These 2 Yellow-rumped warblers have such different feather patterns. They were waiting their turn on the suet.
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Apr 7, 2014 5:29 PM CST
Name: Glen Ingram
Macleay Is, Qld, Australia (Zone 12a)
(Lee Reinke X Rose F Kennedy) X Unk
Amaryllis Hybridizer Canning and food preservation Lilies Native Plants and Wildflowers Orchids
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Pollen collector Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Plays in the sandbox Sedums Seed Starter
Wow. They certainly come in all shapes and forms.
The problem is that when you are young your life it is ruined by your parents. When you are older it is ruined by your children.
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Apr 7, 2014 5:32 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Becky: The only suet I feed year round is the No Melt Suet Cakes that I buy at Home Depot or Wal-Mart, No-Melt. The other suet cakes melt or get rancid quickly in the Florida heat. When I make suet I use a mixture of peanut butter, quick oats, nuts, berries and birdseed but the peanut butter melts very quickly too so I mainly make it only during the winter if it's cold.
~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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Apr 7, 2014 5:37 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Lin Vosbury
Sebastian, Florida (Zone 10a)

Region: Ukraine Region: United States of America Bird Bath, Fountain and Waterfall Region: Florida Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Butterflies Bee Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
When I have bagels, most of the time I will only toast and eat half so I take the other half, smear it with peanut butter and birdseed and hang it in the tree for the birds.
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~ I'm an old gal who still loves playing in the dirt!
~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot!


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