Feeding Backyard Birds

[MichaelWittmann]

When i lived in TX there where these nasty looking black raven type birds they called Grackles (i think).

If you're in Texas they're a Boat Tailed Grackle, which is even bigger than the regular Grackles we have in the East. They are very smart and I also get the sense they aren't really all that impressed by humans.

I actually had an argument with one, called him an asshole and he actually was responding to me with his horrible sounding cackle.

Classic. I sometimes try to yell at them to get them off the feeders so the other birds can have access and get the same response.

[ArtiIntel]

WN mascot bird!!!

I once sat and watched a small wood pecker, i dont know what it was but it was sap sucker sized. It was pecking on a steel guardrail and was loud as f. Idk if he was retard or signalling other birds far away. It was pretty cool to watch though and went on for at least 3-4 minutes. Almost like code type stuff.

[kerrang]

i like birds, aside pigeons. they are "flying rats"

[MichaelWittmann]

WN mascot bird!!!

That would be awesome. Pepe and Pileated....

I once sat and watched a small wood pecker, i dont know what it was but it was sap sucker sized. It was pecking on a steel guardrail and was loud as f. Idk if he was retard or signalling other birds far away. It was pretty cool to watch though and went on for at least 3-4 minutes. Almost like code type stuff.

It might have been a Downy. They're about that size.
He was "drumming." It's a territorial display to warn off other woodpeckers. They look for the most resonant object they can find and hammer away at it like a machine gun. When they're looking for bugs to eat, the strikes are more widely spaced and less regular, and not as loud.

[Retnar]

We have two breeding pairs, there are others around but they tend to visit infrequently. I've noticed that they're not the best parents. They hatch 3-4 chicks but only ever one or two of them fledge.

[MichaelWittmann]

We have two breeding pairs, there are others around but they tend to visit infrequently. I've noticed that they're not the best parents. They hatch 3-4 chicks but only ever one or two of them fledge.

Starlings are definitely not into "high investment parenting."

[Vitamin-KKK]

Another interesting bird I've encountered is the killdeer. They have ground nests, and the parents will try to distract potential predators by putting on a display like they are a wounded bird. When I was in college I had a summer job doing landscaping, and there was this one area that had killdeer in it, it was a gravelly field which is apparently their preferred type of habitat. Anytime I would come near on the mower, the mother bird would come running out dragging its wings behind her like she was injured. I was always careful to avoid damaging their nesting sites.

[Seigster]

I got the same motherfucker where I am too.
Annoying as hell in the morning.

[WASP]

Goldfinch, blackbird nesting, bullfinch, Jay, tree creeper, woodpecker, doves, wood pigeons all this week, so lucky
But I've got magpies, nested first time this year, and I don't want them at all.
My daughter drives to same spot to feed a crow every eve after work, he always arrives as she does lol
Lovely aren't we all.

[MichaelWittmann]

So the Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris),

a perennial nuisance at birdfeeders, is not actually a native species to North America. It was intentionally introduced in 1890 by...wait for it...one (((Eugene Schieffelin))).

[Askeladden]

What kind of moron would intentionally bring those things anywhere? What a damn Jew he was!

[burlcons]

one of those got one of my bantam chickens. ...It ended up leaving the chicken.

[MichaelWittmann]

A great thing to do if you feed backyard birds is maintain a "Life List." This is simply a list of species you see at your feeder or in your yard, with the location and date you first spotted it.

As you continue feeding birds, a Life List will be a great help in remembering if you've seen a particular bird before, what time of year certain species appear, and when you saw a rare species.

It is also a great activity to do with kids. Letting them help maintain a Life List will give them a sense of involvement, and will be the basis for some great memories as they get older.

We've been maintaining a Life List for several years, at two different houses, and it has been educational as well as a lot of fun to go back through it periodically.

You can make your own life list, and many bird field guides have a Life List section in the back where you can check off species that you've identified.

[MichaelWittmann]

Getting ready to head out this morning and saw a flock of these guys

trotting across the front lawn a few feet from the window. I didn't have time to get my camera out, but there were about a dozen of them, including what looked like some young ones. (Not the little peeps, but definitely juveniles.) I was surprised because we live in a suburb, albeit with some wooded areas mixed in. I'll get on google maps and see if I can find a pond or water source nearby where they might have come from.

I may get some cracked corn and try putting it on the lawn. Maybe they'll come back...

[somedaysoon]

I'm hoping for another sighting of a hummingbird that I saw a couple of times a few weeks ago,feeding on the thistle plants out back.

I have no idea if it was a juvenile,or just a very small species:when I first saw it,I mistook it for a bumblebee or hornet,and had to look again before I realized it was a very small hummingbird. Couldn't grab my phone in time to get a pic,and it was backlit,so I couldn't really make out any distinct colors.

With a little bit of luck,I'll see it again,and maybe be able to identify it.

[ArtiIntel]

I wouldnt feed them much. Idk where you are but thats a canadian goose, they migrate south and can become a huge pita. They shit everywhere, and have a bad attitude.

Up where i am they are abundant, as well as snow geese.

Snow goose.

They are cool as f but they get like this which is not cool at all.

Very similar to the canadian geese but slightly smaller.

[Iconoclast]

I was always careful to avoid damaging their nesting sites.

That is such classic White behavior. Can you imagine a beaner taking such care? Not likely.
Yet another one of the many unwritten benefits of hiring White people.

[Askeladden]

Yeah - don't do that. They will remember where you are and then every year you will have huge amounts of shit all over your yard when the flocks start visiting. I don't classify the Canada goose as a pest species, exactly - they're fine in the wild - but they are a real nuisance around human stuff because of the shit problem
A flock of maybe 20-30 birds can completely shit up a football field sized area in about 24 hours, it is impressive in a way

[somedaysoon]

More hummingbird sightings over the past few days. There's apparently a territorial dispute going on,over feeding or breeding rights.

[CryCzech]

A friend of mine would shoot Grackles in his yard. He called them 'nigger birds,' because they were black and worthless.