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

[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.