Spring birds arriving.

[deerseeker001]

our first hummingbirds arrived last week.

 

[crash325]

BEAN DIP

Humming birds love to eat mosquitoes. If you have ever seen one that looks like a Drunk in flight, its after a flying bug (Mosquito). Really fun to watch.

 

[beandip]

Any idea how to attract the hummingirds. We have never had good luck.

 

[crash325]

Any idea how to attract the hummingirds. We have never had good luck.

Plant a lot of different kinds of flowers. Put out 2 or 3 sugar water bottles. Don't bother with the store bought food. 1 Sugar to 4 water, boiled to fully desolve the sugar and keep it from molding.

Think I saw the babies feeding on flowers today. Mother is one of the smallest types of hummers, so it is really hard to tell if it is her or the babies.

On Road Runners - They are sort of pretty, but with a very mean and nasty face. They are pretty much on a meat diet, small quail, lizards, small rabbits and snakes. They can eat a 3' snake in 1 meal. Don't ask me where it goes, as they are not that big. Nose to tail around 20" give or take a little.

At certain times of the year they will hunt together. First one gets a kill and then the other one takes its place and waits.

 

[crash325]

Around here it is almost "Summer Like", 105+ Monday, 106+ Tuesday. Today its down to 99+.

More baby Quail coming in, Think there are 2 large groups 1 maybe up to 20 and 1 about 14. Really hard to count as they never quit moving. Not able to get pictures of the large groups.

Picture is the small family, 4 babies.


Saw my first "Real Crow" today, don't get too many of them here.

Big old Raven (Most folks around here call them Crows) came in a little while ago. Did get a few pictures of him, still in camera. Video would have been fun watching him / her hopping from rock to rock. Must have his second trip as he hopped up on the bird bath and picked out some kind of food. White, but bread would have fallen apart.

 

[tcreeley]

After reading your posts I figure you are the one to ask about attracting mosquito eaters. We have about 18 acres in the Southern Adirondacks with a climate probably similar to yours. Our land is about 60% wooded evergreens with the rest tall grasses and scrubs, and a couple open acres. The pines are high and dry but the scrubs are in wetlands with 2 small creeks running through them. Next door is about a 5 acre "pond" depending on the rain.
I would like to attract a few different breeds of skeeter eaters, or any songbirds for that matter. Any suggestions as far as what flowers, homes, or cover to use. As much as I enjoy birds I don't know a lot of specifics trying to attract specific breeds. My wife is enamored with hummingbirds, and over the years we have tried to attract them with limited success.
Some of the "locals" seen so far are a few Phoebes, English sparrows,Woodpeckers, several Wild Turkeys, and a large gray wading bird( I can't get close enough to get a good description.
Any input would be appreciated. Perhaps the title of a good book?

Tree swallows like their bugs! Try putting up nesting boxes (same size as for a bluebird- who eat bugs too) about 5-8' up. (steel fencepost and attach rod to that holding up the birdhouse). Put them every 50 feet or so- best facing SE. A flat overhanging roof gives them a place to rest. Other birds will uses the boxes too- that's why you put a bunch up!
Swallows, bluebirds like open area. All of the berry bushes do their share of attracting birds - year round. Apples are great for the waxwings, grosbeaks, orioles.
Leave areas of brush and thickets, rough fencelines etc- provides habitat/cover for the birds nesting at the edges of fields/woods. Also- undisturbed woods with down branches, old rotting trees, snags, bushes is hospitable for nesting. A neat forest is what people like! I compromise with trails to walk on. Species mix in trees is good.
-Plentiful blackflies is a sign of clean water.
Most all of the perrenials like bee balm will grow wild if you start them, Phlox too, lillies. Hummingbirds love them. Put them along in open areas. Goodluck.


I haven't read the book...!....but it looks reasonable.....from amazon.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Audubon-Society-Guide-Attracting-Birds/dp/0801488648/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1338037121&sr=8-3]Amazon.com: The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds: Creating Natural Habitats for Properties Large and Small, Second Edition (9780801488641): Stephen W. Kress: Books[/ame]

 

[tcreeley]

Around here it is almost "Summer Like", 105+ Monday, 106+ Tuesday. Today its down to 99+.

More baby Quail coming in, Think there are 2 large groups 1 maybe up to 20 and 1 about 14. Really hard to count as they never quit moving. Not able to get pictures of the large groups.

Picture is the small family, 4 babies.


Saw my first "Real Crow" today, don't get too many of them here.

Big old Raven (Most folks around here call them Crows) came in a little while ago. Did get a few pictures of him, still in camera. Video would have been fun watching him / her hopping from rock to rock. Must have his second trip as he hopped up on the bird bath and picked out some kind of food. White, but bread would have fallen apart.

I like your quail! I was in CA years ago and saw some, same time I came within 4' of a rattler crossing the path. Gave me a new view of wildlife! There is a slaughter house 40 min north of me that throws out their carcasses. In the spruces and hardwoods behind the building there are ravens and eagles year round there for a free meal, sitting in the limbs. One January I counted 14 eagles in the trees and some coming and going. Ravens are year round here. I like them.

 

[crash325]

I like your quail! I was in CA years ago and saw some, same time I came within 4' of a rattler crossing the path. Gave me a new view of wildlife! There is a slaughter house 40 min north of me that throws out their carcasses. In the spruces and hardwoods behind the building there are ravens and eagles year round there for a free meal, sitting in the limbs. One January I counted 14 eagles in the trees and some coming and going. Ravens are year round here. I like them.

Big old Ravens are fun to watch. kind of goofy most of the time often just hop straight up. when taking off they like to get a running start.

Most wild birds will get almost tame if given a chance and they love to play. When my sand pile was fresh & loose, quail would get on top and slide down. They were lined up on the railing of my ramp and 1 after the other would slide down the railing on the stairs. My sister, brother in law and I were about 4 feet away watching.

Had a humming bird that would get a few inches from my face and yell at me when taking "His" sugar water down to refill. He / She guarded that bottle all day.

 

[grnspot110]

Saw this Bob-O-Link at the farm yesterday! Pretty rare around here, don't remember ever seeing one here before. ~~ grnspot

 

[tcreeley]

Saw this Bob-O-Link at the farm yesterday! Pretty rare around here, don't remember ever seeing one here before. ~~ grnspot

We have them around here, but they've been going down in numbers. I'll see them on the telephone wire beside the fields - they sing as they drop back in. Ground nester in the tall grass.
Do you you have meadowlarks? Usually when I see bobolinks, I'll hear and see the meadowlarks with it.

Looking from above bobolinks blend in with the field. Nice bird!