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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
So here is the list: black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, chipping sparrow, tree sparrow, house sparrow, house finch, goldfinch, dark-eyed junco, red-bellied woodpecker, downy wooodpecker, hairy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, and bluejay. These are the usual winter birds we have. The only missing member is the cardinal, who I hope will come soon. My son says he also saw mourning doves yesterday morning, but I haven't seen them yet.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
[This message has been edited by Cathy Sears (edited November 26, 2000).]
This is the first time I have ever seen juncos eat in the feeder itself. Always before, they have only eaten on the ground underneath.
The blue jays tend to chase away all of the other birds while they eat, but the other day I discovered that they don't quite chase them all away. A blue jay was headed for the feeder, but when he saw the red-bellied woodpecker there, he swerved and went up into a tree instead. He waited a little while, but when the woodpecker stayed and continued to eat, he left without going near him. I wonder if he knows instinctively to leave Mr. Woodpecker alone, or has he discoverd by experience that his beak is long and sharp?! 
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
I think I saw some finches of some kind but not goldfinches. I know where they are. I used to feed them in Alabama all winter when we lived there. 
------------------ [This message has been edited by Linda Sutton (edited December 09, 2000).]
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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda
Why don't you check out the Patuxent Bird Identification Center's website, listed in the web sites thread. If you have a general idea of what kind of birds you are seeing, you can find photos to identify them.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
Now I can consult the book while looking at the birds. Maybe some family member will get me a bird book for Christmas
I'm not going to count on it though.------------------
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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
Of course, all of the migrants are back home now, and the red-winged blackbirds, cowbirds, grackles and mourning doves have discovered the feeder. I expect that I will stop filling the feeders as soon as I run out of sunflower seed, even though I enjoy watching the birds there all year, because I can't afford these large birds' huge appetites.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
I am excited. I saw a bird today, and I don't even have a bird feeder!
I don't know what kind of bird it was, but it was kinda funny looking. It stood on the ground and kept turning its head back and forth. I don't know if it had water in its ears or not, but its motions were kinda like a kid does with water in his ears. Apparently it is not a vegetarian because pretty soon it was pulling on a worm, and then consumed it. It was kinda ugly colored on the top, brownish - grey with a dirty orange front. Can you give me any assistance what kinda bird I saw? I don't think it was a blue bird because it didn't have any blue on it. And the brown-grey color was not dark enough to be called black, so it probably was not a black bird. I wasn't big enough to eat, so it probably wasn't a pheasant. And I understand that hummingbirds are very small, so it was probably too big to be one of those.
Have a great day, and if you are lucky, maybe you can see one of those birds too!
Now, tell me again what you are supposed to do with the birds once you get them attracted.
I have starlings, sparrows and wax-eyes visiting the feeder every day.
They are there 1st thing waiting for breakfast. I put out fresh every morning so the frost doesn't get it.
What do you do once you get them at the feeder?
You watch them enjoy.
This week there was also a photo in the paper of a 12 year old boy out in the country holding a granny-smith apple with a wax-eye sitting on it, and surrounded by other wax-eyes all eating apples.
It has been an exceptionaly cold winter this year and the birds are really feeling it too.
Wax-eyes are the size of a humming-bird.
Zita
I didn't see your post until today. I don't know why I missed it earlier.
Congratulations on your purchase of a bird feeder. Now you need to get yourself a good field guide. I recommend the Golden Guide to Field Identification of Birds of North America. There are other very good ones, maybe better than this one, but it is the one we've been using for years, and we have never failed to find any bird we've seen in it.
Once you have a field guide, then when you see a bird at your feeder that you do not know, you can look in your book and find out what it is. In this way, you will learn to recognize them whenever and wherever you happen to see them. Sometimes when I feel tired or stressed, I sit in my rocker next to the French door in our bedroom, and just watch the birds at my feeders. It's a good way to relax for awhile, and to me, a lot more interesting and enjoyable than television or other man-made amusements.
Be sure to tell us what kind of birds you are seeing at your feeder.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
I guess I'd better go out and fill the feeder again, cause those ravenous little devils have about emptied that feeder again!!
The only trouble with feeding the wild birds is the big birds come and scoff the food first and leave the little wax-eyes wondering where it all went!
Can be a very relaxing activity this bird-watching.
Don't forget to buy a pair of binnoculars too.
Have you heard of Geoff Moon? He is a brilliant photographer in nature.
So maybe you could add a camera to the list as well!
Have fun with your feeder DRD
Zita
Why would you want to put a bell on the cat? Are birds so slow that they need an advantage in addition to flying?
You mean we also have to determine good birds and bad birds? I guess the big birds are the bad birds and the little birds are the good birds. Is that right?
Do birds from "down under" eat upside down?