nhbabs: Maybe the hawk was enjoying the lovely light in that view. Good point about the crows eating gravel to stock their gizzards - Apparently dinosaurs also used gastroliths and they're often found with fossils. I wonder if some of the smooth stones we call river rocks are actually dinosaur gastroliths. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Mindy: The local Christmas Bird Count circle is run by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and each year the group that counts in my neighborhood stops by my yard to check the feeder birds (and almost guaranteed turkeys). They came by yesterday and the turkeys obliged.

I'm still kicking myself for not following them around the yard last year because they saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the thicket between my house and the house next door. I've still never seen one although I have seen what might have been a kinglet (tiny, very fast, with erratic flight) but I never had a camera or binoculars at hand.

Claire

Claire, Thanks for the tip on the rubber feed bowls. I bought one which I knew was way too deep for the water I wanted to put in it. I remodeled it with garden shears. This morning there was a skim of ice, but the birds found water at the edges. Early morning light intensified the colors and reflections.
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Lots of customers for the suet feeder. Here’s one.
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Pretty female cardinal in the Japanese maple.
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Bluebirds face on always seem to have an attitude.
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Susan

Good idea, Susan, to cut down the rubber bowl. Your bluebirds definitely seem to have their own opinion on things (you expect me to eat that white stuff? And you're pointing that camera thing at me again!). The cardinal just stays gracefully in the background. Pretty birds all of them!

Claire

Great photos, Susan. I particularly like the color echo between the cardinal and the maple twigs. I am a bit surprised that you still have bluebirds since the ones at in-laws' disappear in late fall. Do they stay all winter usually? Perhaps having the suet gives them the calories they need once the bugs disappear. That is without a doubt the nicest looking suet feeder I've ever seen.

Susan, easy to see you've made good friends with your camera. Very nice captures. I agree with nhbabs - that's the best feeder for homemade suet. Was it originally intended for suet or something else? Now we all may want one, lol.

Jane

Thanks nhbabs. We are fortunate to have bluebirds year round. We have boxes for when they are nesting, and they are never gone for very long during the rest of the year. We only have feeders up from late fall to early spring, but the bluebirds definitely use both the seed and suet ones.

Jane, thanks. The fat bird shaped feeder was a cute gift. I'll ask where it came from. Not sure if it was intended for seeds or suet. I wired the door open because the birds couldn't reach the square suet cakes through the mesh when it was closed. Now it's very popular.

Susan

Duncraft used to sell them but they're no longer available.

Amazon has a Blue Bird Shaped Metal and Glass Mesh Bird Feeder that sounds like the same thing but they don't have a picture so you'd have to take a chance.

Claire

You're on the right track, Claire. Google images below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluebird suet feeder

Thanks, Jane. I searched by bird-shaped bird feeder. The one listed by Sears, the Evergreen Flag & Garden Decorative Bird Feeder is sold by Pembroke Street, which is the same seller as the Amazon feeder, so I'm betting it's the same.

The prices vary widely, from under $20 to over $30. I like under $20 myself.

Claire

Well, I've had mine for 3-4 years and I've never seen another one...didn't know they were widely available. Here's another cute one I received recently, but I do know where this one came from: Tractor Supply.

Susan

Very cute, Susan! The finch looks like he's proudly stopping the tractor from moving.

Claire

Waaaahh.. all mine are boring square cages!

This bird shooting hobby does give one a reputation. This was placed on my desk today:

Jane, the rest of ours are the boring ones too...and the birds like them just as much. Love the cartoon.

Susan

Susan, your photo from 12/19 of the bluebird perched on the bird-shaped suet feeder is on the GW Facebook page today. I think that whoever selects the photos must check out this thread fairly often.

Thanks nhbabs! I check that page from time to time now that I know it exists, but I hadn't seen this one. We do seem to be well represented.

See that - we all have good taste. That bluebird on that feeder just works! Good going, Susan, nice photo! The pictures here on GW are displayed better, I think, than on FB. A better size proportionally.

Twas another good year in a special GW thread.
Good cheer to each of you,
Jane

And may the New Year be filled with light and beauty. (I cheated, the photo was taken last January when we actually had snow).

Claire

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Thanks to youall for the many beautiful images. Checking into this thread is a special treat for me, and you certainly have turned me into more of a bird-appreciator! Thx again.
mindy

The demand for peanuts today is crowding the flyway.

Jane

Jane: In a showdown between a jay and a red-belly I have no idea which would win - they're probably equally matched (very nice picture!).

This is the view from the edge of the coastal bank in my yard. At the top, farthest out, you can see a few blobs on the rocks to the left and right, AKA seals (harbor seals I think, or maybe gray seals.)
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Zooming in a bit, I see:
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There's no way I can feed these seals (probably a good thing for my wallet). They were quiet today, sometimes you can hear them growling and grunting.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 13:55

Seals in your 'backyard'? I'd call that blessed! How wonderful! I saw them once in San Francisco, but never in NE. I'll have to try again. Good pictures- and with sound sometimes? Lucky duck.

The crows can't resist trying to eat suet from this suet feeder, but it's hard to do it with dignity when you can't grab onto the feeder. The feeder is just a little bit too far away to keep your balance (unless you're a squirrel with paws, not wings).
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The robins are still testing the winterberry ripeness and going away unsatisfied. With all the testing there won't be much left when they finally get around to feast time.
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Claire

Poor crow. What they may lack in fine agility is far outweighed by their cleverness and tenacity. No, the berries may not be perfectly aged yet, but I was somewhat surprised seeing the budding maple yesterday when I caught this RT hawk way out back. Seems bud development is a bit farther along and redder for this time of year. It all magically works out.

Jane

It's turned cold now and I expect the early spring budding will crash to a halt. Your hawk probably knows that already.

This morning only the heated birdbath was free of ice and I had to stomp out the ice from the rubber baths. (Some days it's hard to take a photo without turkeys in it. Yesterday they were gone all day.)

Heated birdbath:
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Big rubber baths - you can see the stomped ice beside them. The yellow is bristles from the birdbath cleaning brush:
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The stone in the bath is mostly to keep the turkeys from tipping the bath.
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The copper birdbath can't be stomped so I put a small rubber bath on top of the ice so I can stomp the small one.
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Winter is sneaking up on us.

Claire

so Claire, we've been perplexed by our coral berried ilex 'autumn gold" not being eaten by birds. Am I to think that the berries aren't ripe enough? that never occurred to me!
mindy

Mindy: With all this abnormally warm weather, it's very possible that your berries aren't ripe yet. That may change now that we're in for a stretch of abnormally cold temperatures. Sometimes they need alternating cold and warm to ripen up.

The birds don't usually eat my winterberries until the end of December/beginning of January anyway, and this year it may be even later.

Claire

The robin flocks came by several times today, but are still unsatisfied. This one seems to have a look of dismay "So few berries left, but they still don't taste good!"
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At least there was water in the heated birdbath so the trip wasn't wasted.
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Claire

Last 2014 day at the birdbath:

Is that him coming?
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Andy had a drinking problem
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Sometimes peaceful doves got an earful
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All bets were off as Andy said farewell till next year
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I can't look. Did he make it?
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Not even close.

Don't drink and fly. Happy New Year, everyone.

Jane

Ah, so that's how you keep the ice from your birdbath, Jane! A little alcohol lowers the freezing point just enough to prevent ice, and inebriate your visitors - and if the birdbath is heated as well you're giving them a hot toddy!

Claire

The heron has been frequenting the pond lately. He was here on New Years Eve, as well as this morning.
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Hawkeye has been making a few appearances as well. Though he has tended to hide in the trees. You can just see his tail feathers here. And my, what yellow feet you have!

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Love the heron reflections, pixie_lou! Can you tell what it's hunting? Something must be out and about under the water in your pond.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Fri, Jan 2, 15 at 15:18

Happy New Year to my NE forum friends! I was a long time GW reader, but only started to post this year. I was pretty sure my focus would be on the vegetable/harvest forums (garden/tomato freak here), but I found myself drawn to the NE site.
I want to thank you so much for the beautiful images, the great advice on cameras, bird baths, bird IDs, plants, landscape, and so much more.

Jane, I got a heated bird bath like yours for Christmas. With that, and the rubber bowl one like Claire’s, I’m very popular in local bird circles!
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This could be “Where’s Waldo”, but is female cardinal with a berry.
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This tree sparrow pic and the next one creeped me out a little. Seemed like painted or retouched…but this is exactly what came out of the camera.
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Rare tufted bluebird? Actually, just a well-timed gust of wind.
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Susan

Very nice Christmas present, Susan, and now you'll be able to take great pictures all winter! I particularly like the tufted bluebird. I haven't seen any tree sparrows yet this winter but they should get here eventually.

Every morning I put out shelled and unshelled peanuts and the blue jays wait for me, calling "she's finally out with the peanuts, what took so long!" (the squirrels wait for me too). It's useful for Project Feeder Watch - put out the peanuts and count the blue jays.

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This jay seems to have both an unshelled and a shelled peanut pack in its bill. They often fly up to the wisteria before taking off to their caching grounds.
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Claire

Well, it looks like 2015 is off to a very good start! A raspberry sunrise (gorgeous), 5 male bluebirds in a new spa!, another year of pond envy - herons in January in an unfrozen pond - abundant peanuts for Blue Jays (still with no Heineken), what's not to like?

Yesterday was a PFW count day and all the regulars came plus 2 RT Hawks, all 5 woodpecker varieties, the return of the Hermit Thrush, 25 Dark-eyed Juncos and 34 Mourning Doves at one time. Had to take a picture in order to count them all. Big day. The interesting thing was that none of the feeding birds under the feeder or in the gardens left when the Red Tail Hawks came, some 60 feet away. As soon as Fluffy (Cooper's) showed up, they all left for Kansas. The RTs have been close to the house, but I guess the doves know the difference in hawk hunting styles.

Jane

That's a great PFW count, Jane! So many doves and juncos and five woodpecker varieties - I've never gotten more than three woodpecker varieties in one count. I wonder what the red-tails were hunting - chipmunks? mice? squirrels?

Which brings me to the movie trailer I just watched, Tiny Giants, which gives a life view from the small side.

It's not a count day for me so I didn't bother to count the turkeys hanging around the yard this morning after breakfast (their breakfast).
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Claire

Wow. You guys need car wax with turkey protection. The 'Tiny Giants' film looks wonderful - 'cept for that sn*ke part - but worth noting when it comes locally. I saw 'Pelican Dreams' at a theatre a few weeks ago - also worth the while.

It'll be a while before the berries are 'good enough', but as noted above, with all the testing, few remain. She spat them out.

Jane

I spoke too soon, Susan, the first American tree sparrow showed up today just in time for my PFW count (along with four red-wings).

Such a pretty female cardinal, Jane - maybe the nasty cold weather in the forecast will finally ripen the fruit.

Claire

As of today, there are 71 days till SPRING! Tonight will be -2 with -25 wind chill factor according to the local chap. Naturally, the more cold that arrives, the more thoughts of spring and how to get a mister for the hummingbirds set up. I'd rather have a pool of water under a shallow dish with a solar powered pump to keep recirculating the same water and only have to add to it daily. Does anybody who reads this thread have a bird bath mister?

Thinking it through and how to build it. Jane

This post was edited by corunum on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 16:30

I have nothing to offer concerning experience with hummingbird misters, but I can't help but think that if you turned one on now in these temperatures you'd get a great flurry of snow. I wonder if chickadees would fly through a snow shower...

Claire

Is there no end to your helpfulness? hehehe I'll come up with something for the hummers. Dreadfully windy here, which I intensely dislike, and temps heading for 0, so this project will remain a cerebral effort till the weather cooperates.

Synchronicity is working. This morning on Face Book Birders someone posted a video of a hummingbird taking a bath and someone else found out where the shallow opening, recirculating resin pot fountain came from; answer is Kmart. If any readers here are interested in providing shallow-depth bathing for the hummers this year, watch the video below. A shallow bowl with a small pump affixed with a fine nozzle floating inside a larger pot to hold the water will do the trick. The fountain in the video would fit into any garden at just 17" high and weighing 7lbs. I have my answer.

Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: Youtube- Humming bath

Now it's Downy Woodpeckers. For a few days running, two female Downies have been having either a good time playing, a gossip session, or a territorial dispute. Too many pictures to post, but if you want to see the movements involved, click the link below for pictures 2-9. They are also quite vocal. I'd like to think it's local chatter, but it's probably suet related.

Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: Flickr, top row 2-9

That's a very happy hummer and I love the chittering sounds it's making singing in the bath tub. I wonder though if the bath will be hogged by other larger birds (and most birds are larger than hummingbirds). I look forward to you giving the answer next spring.

That female downy looks like she took a trick from the male grackles with the bill pointed straight up in a territorial dispute.

Claire

I think we're alone in here, Claire. Got 4" of snow in a few hours this morning and luckily, it was time for the birch tree to bloom birds!
Jane

Jane, that's a fun photo! I am reading and appreciating, but haven't seen much at all as it's been too cold and icy to want to spend time outside.

Your photo of the female cardinal spitting out the berries (cranberry viburnum?) was on GW facebook in the last day or so.

Hi nhbabs! (okay, so we're not alone, Claire, lol) Thanks for telling me. I didn't see it, but will go to the GW FB page. It's regular old native chokeberry, (aronia). And as Claire noted on her winterberry, so much testing and rejecting has led to very few berries left for the Cedar Waxwings.

So many pictures today. The communal hot spring here is not as colorful as Susan's, but they do love it.
Jane

I'm just amazed, Jane, at how many doves you have while you have an active hawk (Fluffy). I'm down to three scared doves visiting very rarely.

There's an adult Cooper's Hawk here that doesn't stay around for a photo op - suddenly no birds, then after a while they come back. Every once in a while I'll see the hawk for a few seconds. The adults are very efficient.

I need to start a new thread, this one is getting long. I have to check if I have any recent interesting photos....

Claire

A new thread, the first of 2015, is posted.

Claire