Kennebec Bird Walk

[rolanni]

So, I'm over here at the Morning Song Bird Food site, and among their helpful tips is How to Attract Blue Jays. And I'm thinking, there are people who want blue jays at their feeders? They should send me their address and I'll ship 'em some of mine. Air mail.

What I want to see at my bird feeders -- are cardinals. Don't get me wrong; I'm very fond of the woodpeckers -- downy and hairy -- who now have their own hanging basket full of stuck-together seeds -- which the blue jays (*sigh*) also enjoy. And of course the chickadees, the nuthatches, house finches, juncos, titmice, purple finches, house sparrows, and pine siskins that grace us with their winter custom. But cardinals...I'd love to get cardinals as regular visitors.

What birds come to your feeders? Which are you trying to attract? What bird book do you keep closest to the bird-watching window? (I like Stan Tekiela's Birds of Maine Field Guide. The birds are sorted by color, which is just about my speed, and the photos are clear and unambiguous.)

Comments

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

We have the Sibley, but I really need to dig out some of my Audubon photo guides.

Cardinals are, I'm told, surprisingly urban birds. We have at least a pair. It may be owning to them liking to have both open spaces and bushy spaces. I'm not sure.

We also have blue jays (usually arriving in a flock of eight), the pig-headed cowbird (bronze-headed, actually, but stupid) and his mate, both forms of nuthatch, chickadees, titmice, juncos, robbins, occassionally a wren, sparrows, including occassionally a fox sparrow, downy & hairy woodpeckers, occasional flickers (though they seldom come to the feeder), ruby-throated hummingbirds, an occassional indigo bunting, rose-breasted grosbeaks, house and purple finches, blackbirds, and morning doves. I think that does it.

Not at the feeders, but locally, we also regularly see ducks, crows, ravens, geese, and great blue herons.

[moon-happy.livejournal.com]

I miss cardinals, which were abundant in Chicago when I was growing up. We have none here in the Southwest. We do, however, have jays and magpies. I don't know which is worse!

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

In my old house we had wrens, cardinals, blue jays, thrushes, cowbirds and towhees, bobwhites (so cute to watch quail families zipping across the ground!). And of course, the giant birds: the great blue herons, the sandhill cranes, the snowy egrets, and the tinier cattle egrets.

Also some birds of prey, mostly red-tailed hawks. And Mexican vultures.

In the suburbs we don't get as many.

I admit, though, my favorite backyard birds are the grackles. So insouciant. :)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You want cardinals, put out black oil sunflower in an open feeder. Sunflower seems to be cardinal crack, but they can't handle the ports and perches on our tube feeder. Poke around on the ground instead, competing with the squirrels.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I'll second that advice and add to it that you probably need to have some good cover near the feeder to get the cardinals to feed there. Also make sure you have food out at the end of the day. Cardinals like to feed very early and very late in the day, when it is too dark for most songbirds. For that reason, they often become food for screech owls, which is why they like to have cover near their feeding areas.

cardinal food

[(Anonymous)]

I used sunflower (black or stripedI and safflower flower (white) seed mixture.
Many birds like the sunflower but fewer liked the safflower seed. Cardinals did though. If you can attract a mated pair you will have long timers.
I had to take my feeders down about 2 years ago (bear problem) but my mated pairs still stick around. I love the distinctive chirp.

-Ellen

[star-gazersusan.livejournal.com]

We see Cardinals quite a bit here in Michigan. They *love* our magnolia bush - even in the winter. **shrug** don't know why - they just do!

[topayz4.livejournal.com]

Since I recently moved I generally have no idea what my birds are. But, so far, thanks to The Guide to Colorado Birds I've identified Juniper Titmouse, Mountain Bluebird (which is nesting under the eaves of the house,) Nothern Flicker woodpecker, Pinon Jay, Red Tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier (formerly marsh hawk) and of course magpies, ravens and crows. We had a huge bird of prey at the property line a few weeks ago that only showed me its back, so I've had a hard time identifying it and haven't seen it since. And there are several owls, but they're rather hard to identify in the dark.

I need to put in a bird feeder, but its hard to pick a spot, since I need to put it where the dogs can't get under it but I can still enjoy it. We did that at the old house and they ate an awful lot of bird poo... eeeewwww.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Further on the cardinals -- Wife says they rarely show up at the nature center. Maybe once or twice a year, and the place has tray feeders as well as tube feeders.

Guess cardinals are more of a city bird in Maine. So you may not get them even if you try bait.

As far as that guide goes, the photos may be unambiguous, but the birds don't necessarily match their portraits. More variation than you'd expect from Momma Nature.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Chickamice, jays and mourning doves here, mainly. I used to have a female cardinal who came to my tube feeder regularly, but my cat caught her. :(

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

At the moment the cardinals are checking the mountain ash and viburnum for the last of the berries still on them. My yard is a fairly open area surrounded by the neighbors large trees. I have mostly small fruit bearing trees and shrubs which they seem to like.

I've got two pairs that nest in the neighbors trees but feed in my yard. When I am actually feeding they will come to sunflower seeds however. I'm two miles from the capital in downtown Lansing (MI) so I would certainly second the urban preference.

It's snowing at the moment and looks to stick. The plus is it is easier to see them against snow but the leaves need to fall first.

Otherwise the normal roster of house finches, purple finches, house sparrows, a few jays and mourning doves.

[origamilady.livejournal.com]

One of the things I love about living out in the boondocks (relatively so) as I do is the amount of wildlife herebouts . . . esp the birds.Some of the birds I see routinely . . .
Cardinals (we've got 4 pairs herebouts)
Robins (most abundant bird around here (or so it seems)
Black capped chickadees
a pair of red-tailed hawks
blue heron (yay for having plenty of small lakes around)
a pair of woodpeckers
1 pair of blue jays (they are awful bullies aren't they?) =(
and during the summer I see occasional glimpses of hummingbirds.

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

We have Pileated, Harris & Downey woodpecks, junkos, chickadees, and sparrows, Stellars Jays (blue with black top knot) and a gluttonous, insande squirrel. That's just in winter.

Summer brings ban tailed pigeons, 2 kinds of gross beaks, gold finches and blackbirds. Oh and crows all year round. A murder of crows.

Some winters we have a sparrow hawk that perches near by. There will be a flurry of small birds all launching into flight at once. Then and explosion of feathers drifting down. We know then that the hawk got one.

No cardinals this side of the Rockies.