Hey there David ... good to see you over here on the backyard birds forum! I know you are always busy with your lovely garden and especially with that wonderful yard art you create but feel free to pop in here sometime and share photos of the feathered friends you see around your garden.

Ok ... I'm heading out to go visit family again so I probably won't be posting much the next couple of days. Have a great weekend everyone!

We get every WP found in Pennsylvania here and a block of suet only last 2 days or so.
We probably use 320-400# of seed, about 200# of sunflower, 10#s of Niger, and 35-40 blocks of suet a year. We get A LOT of birds. Just the 2 pileateds we get everyday eat a good bit of suet. We are a certified wildlife habitat and really enjoy the birds. We have 120sq' of glass looking out at the backyard and feeders, and we find this to be great entertainment. We have an ice free pond the birds really enjoy and I just realized I have and unused heated poultry fountain in the barn. I will be adding it to the patio where we scatter a bit of feed for the Juncos and doves.

I have only seen a Pleated here once. My chicken bird was by and he is a Red Bellied woodpecker. He was
real hungry so got to see who he was

Nice shots of the WP's Claudia. We have Pileated here but they are always so shy when you get the camera in your hand. I haven't yet been able to get a good shot of one.

So I'm more of a butterfly person than a bird person, but sometimes you want to get in your car to get some Chick-Fil-A and there's a giant bird standing in your driveway. I seem to recall some facts from elementary school and I think this is a Great Egret. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.



Look at that neck!



FYI, it's usually Sandhill Cranes I'm chasing out of the driveway or honking at in the road. One of them got hit about a week ago and was lying on the side of the road about a half mile south of me. They're stupid birds, but I still felt bad for it. I'm trying to learn more about birds. I used to know a lot of them back in school, especially anything endangered. Also, I knew lots of the birds around the water because we used to go fishing out in the Gulf when I was a kid. I'm going to try to keep an eye out on the cow pasture up the road from me. It floods all the time and there are various birds constantly standing there picking at whatever is in the water. I actually saw two Roseate Spoonbills a couple of months ago! Hadn't seen one of those in years, but I think I live a little far inland for them. I also see lots of birds where I volunteer (see my signature). One of my bosses at MOSI is also social media manager for Birds and Blooms magazine. I'm trying to learn more so I can keep up with her and talk to the guests in case they have bird questions. So you can't claim me as one of you bird people yet, but I may come around.

Still loving all your pictures!

Great shot Melanie! Yep, that's the Great Egret (Black legs & feet, yellow bill. The Snowy Egret is shorter in stature with Black legs, Yellow feet and dark bill.

A few pic's that I got within the past hour.

Hawk, probably Red-shouldered, possibly a juvenile. It flew from one neighbors Sycamore tree, through my yard and landed at the top of a Norfolk Island Pine in another neighbors yard:


Red-bellied Woodpeckers:


Boat-tailed Grackles ...................................................... Red-winged Blackbird:

Ric, that setup you have sounds really cool! Would love to have that much viewing space. I would love to add a pond but they more work than I can invest. I have sometimes rigged up an electric water bowl with small stones in it and the birds loved having water available thru the winter.

I had to quit feeding seed because of the expense. We took on raising 2 grandkids so have to feed them instead.

I read this thread, but haven't posted. I just want to tell all you Florida folks that you captured some very nice photos of the Winter birds as well as the water birds!

I always envy those of you in the Northern states because you get some really interesting birds that I don't think we get here in Florida, even during migration. And those of you here from other countries .... WOW!!! Some pretty neat birds you've shared photos of! I have enjoyed all the photos!

I host the typical birds year round such as Cardinals and Blue Jays. I also have a mating pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Plus 3 different species of Doves (White-winged, Mourning, and Common Ground). Unfortunately, I also have a Red-shouldered Hawk or two here that has on occasion attacked the Doves, leaving only a large pile of feathers. I hate when that happens. I have lots of coverage in my yard, but Doves don't seem to be the smartest birds at the feeder.

In Winter, I also host Painted Buntings, Indigo Buntings, Gray Catbirds, various Warblers, and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Twice (in 2011 and just recently), a Hummingbird bander came to my yard to capture, band, and release the hummers. Just this past year (2014), I contacted a different bander south of me about the Painted Buntings, so she comes up at least once a year to capture, band, and release those birds along with anything else she catches in her nets or traps. It's very interesting to see the birds up close, hold them to release them, and study them briefly during the banding activity. Being captured and banded does not seem to scare them off afterwards and I often see those same birds at my feeder until they migrate north for the Spring/Summer.

Something I discovered about some birds is that they like to lick the nectar from blooming nectar plants. Seems many have a love of nectar (not just hummingbirds). I video-taped a Cardinal and Painted Bunting pulling the flowers off some of my Salvia plants. The Cardinals will strip the flowers from my bushes and trees in a matter of days! LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Becky - Love the video. I've never seen Painted Buntings in person, so nice to see them moving around and eating.

Wow! do I ever agree with you Panetta. This is an incredible video Becky and loved the music you chose. Guys and Gals. Watch Becky's video. Its magical!

Becky and David - Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed that little video clip. It was taken from inside my home looking through the window. That particular window has a great view of many of the feeders and therefore birds (and squirrels). I take a lot of photos, but like most cameras these days, the camera also has the capability to film video. I enjoy watching the birds in action as well as still shots. I have a number of videos on YouTube of the various wildlife that come to my yard, under my user name BeckyC:
https://www.youtube.com/channe...

Some of the videos are 7 years old. Some are also slideshows. If there is distracting noise while video taping or I am inside looking through a window, I just edit and remove the video sound completely and replace it with music. Gardening and wildlife (mainly bird watching) observing are my two favorite hobbies! (They seem to go together as a hobby!) I work full time, so it's a weekend hobby unless it's summer and there is daylight until almost 9 pm here! LOL!

BTW - The green birds in the video are either female Painted Buntings or immature males. I have had a bander tell me that I had at least a dozen Painted Buntings in or around my yard, sometimes more. I always thought I had a pair or two, but found out I have way more than that here. It kind of surprised me to know there are that many! They don't all come to the feeder at once, so I never knew until the bander started capturing and banding them. There is a research project going on concerning the Eastern Painted Buntings in North Carolina. Seems the number of birds has been on a sharp decline and they are trying to figure out why. It is probably habitat loss as the main reason.
http://paintedbuntings.org/

We enjoyed your bird video as well, Becky. Music went well with it.

@beckygardener That is an amazing video!! The Cardinal and Buntings sure seemed to enjoy those Salvia blooms, I had no idea birds would eat those flowers. I sooo miss the Painted Buntings that used to visit the feeders at our old house! I can't seem to attract them here, mainly because there isn't enough cover but we also have many boisterous birds that I think keep the shy little Buntings away too. I don't see the Gray Catbirds much anymore either; they used to love the Loquat fruit in spring at our other house. Originally, when we moved here three years ago I had plans for a lot of different shrubs etc. in this yard but have since changed my mind. My husband will be retiring (hopefully in about a year) and we plan to move farther south to be closer to my sister and family ... so, I will wait to garden at the new place. :)

I really love the music you chose for your video ... really beautiful!

Linda and Lin - Thank you. Glad that y'all enjoyed the video. I didn't know until about 2 years ago about some birds licking the nectar out of flowers with their tongues. I was impressed how they manipulate the flowers around with their beaks/bills and tongues to get the nectar. Smart birds! Seems some birds have a sweet tooth .... err ... beak! Birds are so fascinating! I can see why bird watching is one of the top hobbies in the world:
http://www.coupay.com/topoften...

I enjoyed the video as well, Becky. I don't recall seeing any of the colorful male Painted Buntings around here either, although they are known to be all across eastern and central Texas.

There's lots of cardinals again and bright spots in the landscape at this time of year.

Christine, what a pretty picture that is!

Thank you, Lin, that is very nice of you to say.