I wasn't watching where I was going yesterday but thankfully just missed stepping on a little chickadee. The little bird didn't move away, just stood there looking up at me like, hey, I was here first. I made it over to Costco to get the good bird seed, a great mix of seeds and nuts for all types of birds and other critters. AND very cheap price for such a large amount of feed. Buying seed at a grocery store is just crazy, but at times I have to. Co-op and Safeway charge three times more than Costco for a poorer seed mix.
They're lovely Johnny. Could almost be one of the long tailed tits we have here.
I have lots of coal tits visiting, and they feel secure enough to sit inside the cage and eat, instead of grabbing food and flitting off to a nearby tree or shrub. The blue and great tits are in on a regular basis now that the weather's colder, and the robin and dunnocks are never far away.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"My" robin sits in the tree and warbles to his heart's content - staking claim to his territory ie our garden, and feeders copiously provided with much-relished mealworms! (And, boy! does he complain if I'm not digging the soil quickly enough for him to pounce on the worms etc that are turned up!)
Coal tits are frequent visitors (along with blue and great-tits) but are rarely shy. The Long-tailed tits visit as and when the fancy takes them, swooping down mob-handed, chattering excitedly, and then moving on for the next few days/weeks.
We've had blackbirds, but no thrushes thus far. But we've been here just under a year, and we are just loving encouraging the birds to our feeders.
That's where I went wrong. I used a big plastic bin for the seed and spent last winter running out of the house to chase the squirrels off it. They pretty much chewed the lid off the bin.
Yesterday I hung another feeder out and it wasn't long until a Blue Jay showed up. Of course I didn't have my camera.
I haven't been bothered by squirrels up until now. Trouble is, they are just so cute, it's hard to remember that they are rodents that cause enormous damage to trees in general, and saplings in particular, as well as transmitting squirrel pox which has proved fatal to the native reds.
But today at lunchtime, sitting down to watch the news on TV, we heard a repeated banging noise on the French windows. I couldn't believe it: a grey squirrel was repeatedly running at the glass, presumably thinking that it was a clear passage to our dining room! Like you, JC. I didn't have my camera!
I don't know if they have spread disease here but it's rare to find the native squirrel in the city anymore.
Shrinking Violet,
That squirrel sounds like a rare one. The rare ones that get run over crossing the road. Out biking this summer a grey squirrel ran out in front of me, I put on the brakes, the squirrel kept going until it darted back at me because a bus was about to run it down. So it hits my spokes and darts back across the road into the side of a car's tire then back my way and off into a yard. I don't know if it was wounded.
That sound quite an emotional experience JC. Even though I know that the greys in this country truly are a pest, if one runs out onto the road in front of me, I automatically hit the brakes, and couldn't contemplate doing anything other than trying to avoid it.
The same could be said of pheasasnt, which are numerous at this time of year in rural areas where pheasant shoots take place during the winter. They may be members of the peacock family, but they behave like the cartoon roadrunner - hurtling along the road in front of the car, trying to outrun it, and obviously failing on many occasions, given the corpses to be seen from previous traffic!
They are beautiful birds (well, the males are at least). They used to visit my previous garden, one regular earning the name of Phillip the Pheasant! When he didn't come any more I had to assume that the shoot had finally got him
I did feel a bit sick about it. My cousins taught me to shoot and they taught me never to leave a wounded animal. Being a farm boy, I learned that sometimes you do have to get rid of predators and pests. But most of my shooting was aimed at controlling the gopher populations on our cattle pastures. I would leave the dead rodents where they lay and over the night the Coyotes had an easy meal.
I get how you feel about the pheasant shoot. I was too little to join my older brothers, cousins and dads when they would go out for a pheasant shoot. I liked the birds and I didn't realize until years later that the horticultural farm on the highway actually hatched the eggs and released the birds for the shoot. They aren't a native bird here. But yes, I always wanted to get some pheasants but had to settle for taking over mom's leghorn hen house and selling eggs. Actually it was a fun little business I had, except cleaning the chicken house after a long cold winter. I much preferred being at my Uncle's place, helping my cousins shovel pig manure out of their barn.
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I wasn't watching where I was going yesterday but thankfully just missed stepping on a little chickadee. The little bird didn't move away, just stood there looking up at me like, hey, I was here first. I made it over to Costco to get the good bird seed, a great mix of seeds and nuts for all types of birds and other critters. AND very cheap price for such a large amount of feed. Buying seed at a grocery store is just crazy, but at times I have to. Co-op and Safeway charge three times more than Costco for a poorer seed mix.
They're lovely Johnny. Could almost be one of the long tailed tits we have here.
I have lots of coal tits visiting, and they feel secure enough to sit inside the cage and eat, instead of grabbing food and flitting off to a nearby tree or shrub. The blue and great tits are in on a regular basis now that the weather's colder, and the robin and dunnocks are never far away.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"My" robin sits in the tree and warbles to his heart's content - staking claim to his territory ie our garden, and feeders copiously provided with much-relished mealworms! (And, boy! does he complain if I'm not digging the soil quickly enough for him to pounce on the worms etc that are turned up!)
Coal tits are frequent visitors (along with blue and great-tits) but are rarely shy. The Long-tailed tits visit as and when the fancy takes them, swooping down mob-handed, chattering excitedly, and then moving on for the next few days/weeks.
We've had blackbirds, but no thrushes thus far. But we've been here just under a year, and we are just loving encouraging the birds to our feeders.
Muddle-Up,
That's where I went wrong. I used a big plastic bin for the seed and spent last winter running out of the house to chase the squirrels off it. They pretty much chewed the lid off the bin.
Yesterday I hung another feeder out and it wasn't long until a Blue Jay showed up. Of course I didn't have my camera.
A good video of an Alberta Blue Jay at bath time.
I haven't been bothered by squirrels up until now. Trouble is, they are just so cute, it's hard to remember that they are rodents that cause enormous damage to trees in general, and saplings in particular, as well as transmitting squirrel pox which has proved fatal to the native reds.
But today at lunchtime, sitting down to watch the news on TV, we heard a repeated banging noise on the French windows. I couldn't believe it: a grey squirrel was repeatedly running at the glass, presumably thinking that it was a clear passage to our dining room! Like you, JC. I didn't have my camera!
I don't know if they have spread disease here but it's rare to find the native squirrel in the city anymore.
Shrinking Violet,
That squirrel sounds like a rare one. The rare ones that get run over crossing the road. Out biking this summer a grey squirrel ran out in front of me, I put on the brakes, the squirrel kept going until it darted back at me because a bus was about to run it down. So it hits my spokes and darts back across the road into the side of a car's tire then back my way and off into a yard. I don't know if it was wounded.
That sound quite an emotional experience JC. Even though I know that the greys in this country truly are a pest, if one runs out onto the road in front of me, I automatically hit the brakes, and couldn't contemplate doing anything other than trying to avoid it.
The same could be said of pheasasnt, which are numerous at this time of year in rural areas where pheasant shoots take place during the winter. They may be members of the peacock family, but they behave like the cartoon roadrunner - hurtling along the road in front of the car, trying to outrun it, and obviously failing on many occasions, given the corpses to be seen from previous traffic!
They are beautiful birds (well, the males are at least). They used to visit my previous garden, one regular earning the name of Phillip the Pheasant! When he didn't come any more I had to assume that the shoot had finally got him
I did feel a bit sick about it. My cousins taught me to shoot and they taught me never to leave a wounded animal. Being a farm boy, I learned that sometimes you do have to get rid of predators and pests. But most of my shooting was aimed at controlling the gopher populations on our cattle pastures. I would leave the dead rodents where they lay and over the night the Coyotes had an easy meal.
I get how you feel about the pheasant shoot. I was too little to join my older brothers, cousins and dads when they would go out for a pheasant shoot. I liked the birds and I didn't realize until years later that the horticultural farm on the highway actually hatched the eggs and released the birds for the shoot. They aren't a native bird here. But yes, I always wanted to get some pheasants but had to settle for taking over mom's leghorn hen house and selling eggs. Actually it was a fun little business I had, except cleaning the chicken house after a long cold winter. I much preferred being at my Uncle's place, helping my cousins shovel pig manure out of their barn.
Truly JC we all take our pleasures variously
Well, it looks like neither you nor I will be in contention for a Countryfile Calendar next year aym