Thank goodness Spring is finally arriving.

We have 3 pairs of adult Purple Martins taking up residence in our house ( the youger birds will show up a little later) and a bluebird pair busily building a nest in the box we put up last fall. Besides them, we have goldfinches, robins, house finches, and there are still a few juncos left. Sparrows too but we don't count them.

Any other bird junkies here, and what are you seeing as spring gets to your place?

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Renee
1/19/04
261/220/160
41 lbs off
60 lbs to goal



Race to 199 Challenge
Labor Day Challenge: Focusing on the Journey
Personal Goal: 199 by 12/31/05

We have lots of sparrows too, starlings, robins, cardinals, purple grackles, a few woodpeckers. I've heard a couple mourning doves but haven't actually seen any, crows of course and a few goldfinches. Some guy FLIPPED me the 'bird' yesterday, does that count?

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keep on keepin on

211/165/170

LOL at Gregg!

We have LOTS right now - Cedar waxwings, grossbeaks, pine siskins, lesser and American goldfinches, mourning doves, banded pigeons, acorn woodpeckers, titmice, spotted and California towhees, chestnut-backed chickadees, black-eyed juncos, house and Cassin's finches, the occasional black phoebe and two kinds of nuthatches, gold-crowned, white-crowned, and song sparrows - sheesh! No wonder my seed supply goes down so fast!

We also have a pair of Red-tailed hawks nesting across the canyon from us and a sharp-shinned hawk who also likes to come feed in our yard - difference being, his food is the birds we feed! Oh well, everybody's gotta eat....

We so love watching our birds. OH yeah, forgot our faves - a mated pair of scrub jays that we've had for the 5th year now - he (Algernon) is finger-tame, and will come and sit with us if we're outside, singing and taking peanuts from us. She (Sweetie) isn't THAT tame, but will occasionally take a nut from our hand. Algernon has been VERY busy running off some Stellar jays who have had the nerve to come into HIS territory lately!

I buy seed 80# at a time from Costco, plus we added two nyjer seed feeders in the past 6 months. We just bought a new digital SLR camera (came today!) and can't WAIT to get it set up and photograph some of "our" birdies!

Char

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Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

Oooohhhhh...our birds are plentiful also. Our purple martins arrived last week and more keep showing up almost daily. We also spotted a pair of Carolina chickadees this past week end. The regulars are a pair of cardinals...and he is singing to her and also feeding her at the seed feeder. Our house finches are singing their little hearts out, we had cedar waxwings a few weeks back, but haven't seen them recently.
We still have the juncos, and house sparrows, and they are about to *pop their buttons* they have been singing so much...LOL.
We also have a sharp shinned hawk that keeps showing up at our place. We shoosh him off everytime we see him...hopefully he will get the message and go hunt a mouse instead of our sweet little birds in our backyard.
We have mourning doves all year round and they are cooing up a storm right now too.
Robins are in abundance this year, and we are starting to get a few bluejays that show up on a semi-regular basis.
Of course the pesky starlings are trying to set up housekeeping in our martin house, so that's a daily battle to let the house down and evict the starlings.
And DH actually spotted a red headed woodpecker last week in the neighbors tree...toooo cool!
Oh, and I almost forgot...tons of red winged blackbirds...they are sooooo pretty to!
Yep.....we go through the bird seed and sunflower seeds big time...but it is soooooo worth it! Love those little fine feathered friends

Shelley

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Shelley
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Visit Kassie's Korner



Life deserves a treat now and again, but life also deserves being healthy[with required disipline] to make it worth living!

I still have my same bunch that I have been feeding all winter, (cardinals, bluejays, chickadees, juncos, sparrows and house finches.) I will know spring is truly here when I don't see my junco as he will head back up to Canada.

I did catch a quick glimpse of a goldfinch in his yellow plumage, so that was encouraging.

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Libby

2004 174/142/138

Begin Again 2007

164/159/142

Big-time bird junkie here! It's interesting watching the change in feeder birds at this time of year. All winter, it's primarily woodpeckers (hairy, downy, and red-bellied), nuthatches (white- and red-breasted), chickadees, blue jays, and one pair of cardinals (I am a little far north for cardinals). Over the past couple weeks, we've gotten a huge influx of finches (goldfinch and house finch, mostly; American Goldfinch is the only one here), the starlings and robins are parading around the yard, the crows are back on the fields, and this morning when I let the dogs out I heard a killdeer. I'm also noticing more apparent pairs; right now, there are two downy woodpeckers snacking, a male and a female.

The seed in my feeder actually lasts longer this time of year when the weather warms up and the birds are less dependent on it. In the winter, I fill the seed feeder at least every other day, the peanut butter feeder every day, and the suet feeder at least weekly. At this point, the seed feeder is lasting about four days, the peanut butter feeder about a week, and I probably won't fill the suet basket again after this batch is finished.

I have a Sharp-Shinned enjoying my bird feeder, too. He doesn't have much luck, but a couple times this winter he managed to snag a Mourning Dove.

Aderyn

I don't have a bird feeder, so I don't see the wonderful variety of birds hanging around my house. I do love our neighborhood cardinals, winter and summer, and delight when they kick off the spring (usually at the end of January) with their come-hither songs.

From my high window at work, I occasionally see peregrine falcons. They nest in boxes built on downtown skyscrapers not far away. Last summer, a mallard duck fell in love with his own reflection in our big windows, and spent hours on the ledge admiring himself.

We often see redtail hawks spiralling on the urban thermals.

I keep a pair of binocs handy for casual passers-by.

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Barb, I keep binocs right on my desk, too! Heaven forbid a "good" bird should happen by and me not be armed!

I got my first redwing blackbirds today; a far more reliable sign of spring than the robins up here. Yippee!!

Aderyn