Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Forecast - sunny, but cold for the birds.......................



Outside the window this morning things have changed.  
After several days of dreary drizzle and low leaden skies
although still very cold here, the sun is shining 
brightly again and the view is bathed in beautiful colors. 
Our garden birds, here the woodpecker and cardinal, 
have been emptying the feeder within a few hours, they 
appear to be ravenous. Crowds of chickadees, finches,
towhees, sparrows, even large thrashers, wait their turn
patiently for a seed or nut. They crowd the now bare 
branches of the Celeste fig tree, always alert, now and
then dipping into the birdbath for an icy drink. 

I love how birds have very different feeding patterns. 
The woodpecker hangs on vertically because of his size, 
digging quickly for a peanut, then flies away. 
Last week on opening the potting shed door peanuts 
rained down on my head - I know they always store 
their nuts there, and along the top of my back door!
Cardinals stay on the perch for several minutes, nibbling 
and cracking open their choice of sunflower seeds, 
devouring them right there. Tiny chickadees take one 
seed back to a branch, banging it until it cracks open, 
such a lot of hard work for a very tiny bird.

I see the feeder is almost empty again. Sunny yes, 
but a very cold day, still below freezing as I write, 
so I'm off to refill as yesterday we bought more seed. 
It's expensive but............well you know, I do have 
have a soft spot for my garden birds and the joy they 
bring is worth every penny spent to keep them fed.

Do you feed the birds? Can you share tales of special birds 
who come to your garden..........I'd love to hear them.

Click to enlarge

10 comments:

  1. I have been feeding my birds every morning by throwing sun flower seeds on top of my old vintage garden shed roof. The squirrls even get up there LOL
    It was 5 degrees here this morning

    merry Christmas

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  2. Yes, I am feeding the birds here too. I have a nyjer seed feeder for the goldfinches, a mixed seed with sunflower seeds on a hook on the deck, a sunflower seed silo on the clothesline along with 2 suet cakes. We get a lot of red squirrels and once in a while, grey ones, that love the clean out the feeders so the one on the clothesline is great! We've had chickadees, bluejays, hairy woodpeckers and mourning doves, which are ground feeders, so far. Last winter we had a European starling visit a lot. I do enjoy watching them and as you say, the cost of feeding them is worth it. Enjoy!

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  3. I am a fan of birdies too! love that you appreciate them..xoox, tracie

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  4. We do feed the birds, though we have not yet filled the feeders for winter. We have to wait until the bears go into hibernation, or they will come and break open the feeders to eat the seed. I think we are safe now...usually after the end of November we can. I need to get Mr. Comforts out there putting the feeders back up!

    We have woodpeckers, cardinals, nut hatches, chickadees, tufted tit mouse and blue birds.
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  5. Wonderful photos - we do feed the birds. We've had two Pileated Woodpeckers (or one, twice) come to the feeders. One time I got some blurry photos and one time I got excellent ones. We once had a flock of Grosbeaks come - they emptied the feeder in minutes and have not been back since. One time, in California, I was looking out the window towards the pasture behind our house - I noticed a swirling motion - got the binoculars (or birdnoculars as my grandson calls them) and looked - and it was a huge flock of goldfinches swirling about and all of a sudden they took of upwards, swirling, swirling - and they were off on their migration south. It was a stunning sight.

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  6. I don't feed them...not sure that I could afford to, but I do provide suet and what spare crumbs I have from the kitchen. I enjoy seeing them out there scurrying about...mostly chickadees and nuthatches and squirrels...always the squirrels.

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  7. We injoy feeding the birds as well. Cardinals, nuthatches, goldfinch, house finch, sparrows,woodpeckers, chickadees, mourning doves, pidgeons, and juncos all within a small city lot. They know the sound of the garage door opening means food. They bring so much joy to life. Thank you for your beautiful blog. We are freezing in Wisconsin.

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  8. Such gorgeous birds - I love those Red Cardinals - how beautiful they look in the bare garden.
    Yes I feed the birds especially during the winter months - they rely on us to help them out when their usual food sources are no longer available.
    Our garden birds are very ordinary - mainly sparrows, blackbirds, thrush no beautiful reds or blues - I still love them!

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  9. Yes, we feed the birds. Right now I am enjoying the hummingbirds. I thought they left for the winter and someone told me they stayed around.
    We put out a feeder and they came back right away. Then their sugar water froze in the cold weather; so we have Christmas lights wrapped around
    the feeder to keep it thawed. They are very happy sitting and sipping in the colored lights.

    Oh how I wish we had cardinals, they are so gorgeous. Your birds are just beautiful.

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  10. We had a feeder up, but the raccoons took it down within a day. Until we can figure out a solution, it will remain down, sadly.

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