Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Last Christmas my wife bought me two caged suet feeders. They paid for themselves. I would go, sometimes, through one suet cake a day. Usually in two or three days I had to put up another. Now it is weeks, sometimes a month or two that before I have to put up another suet cake. I did not realize how much the squirrels were eating. Until now.

The second suet cage I hung from a stake and can be viewed from our bathroom window. There is a tree nearby and my wife said recently she saw five birds on that tree each taking a turn feeding on the suet. The birds definitely know about the suet outside the bathroom window.

The other cage is hung up near the trunk of the large white pine which can be viewed outside our large living room window. The holes in that cage are a little bigger so a larger woodpecker like the red bellied woodpecker can reach the suet inside. Not just the downy woodpecker. I really am thrilled with this unexpected gift from my wife.

In addition to the woodpeckers the suet attracts white breasted nuthache, titmouse and an occasional chickadee and sometimes other birds like the brown creeper.

Tags: brown creeper, chickadee, downy woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, squirrels eating my suet, the caged suet feeders
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I am waiting to see how long it takes for the birds to find the suet, again. For years I put some up right next to the trunk of the large white pine outside our window. I got tired of sharing the suet with the squirrels. Sometimes I would have to put up new suet once a day. My wife surprised me with not one but two cages to enclose suet cakes. It was a Christmas present she gave me before the holidays. The cages are supposed to be squirrel proof. I put up the one that had largest holes. I wanted bigger woodpeckers to be able to reach the suet. The suet I put near the trunk of the tree was finally gone. I want to see how long it would take the birds to find the suet in the cages. Today I saw a chickadee alight on the outside of the cage briefly. That is the closest I got to seeing a bird go in the cage. It might take weeks before a woodpecker goes into the cage. And they seemed to like that the suet near the trunk of the tree. Let us see how many weeks go by. Birds are creatures of habit.

Tags: a cage enclosing suet cakes, bird feeding, birds, birds are creatures of habit, chickadee, Christmas present, my wife, squirrel proof, suet cage, the birds are competing with the squirrels for suet, the suet placed near the trunk of the tree, woodpeckers
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A chickadee came to visit yesterday.  I had repacked the feeder with clean sunflower seed.  The birds had stopped coming to it.  I was thrilled when I saw my first chickadee visit the feeder.  They are one of my favorite birds to watch.  I always love watching their antics.  I had not seen one in a long time.  Or any bird come to this feeder.  Now I will await the next visitors.

Tags: bird feeder, bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, chickadee, sunflower seed
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The birds must be hungry.  There is a flurry of activity outside our front window.  I did sprinkle some handfuls of birdseed on the snow earlier in the morning.  I have seen many mourning doves and slate covered junco feeding on the ground.

We are getting a steady stream of downy woodpeckers feeding on the suet placed by the trunk of the large pine tree.  I am still waiting for the entrance of the red bellied woodpecker.  I am always awed by its sight.

There are usually a few tufted titmouse at one time coming to and fro the feeder just outside the window.  They like the sunflower seed I put out for them.  Once in awhile I see a chickadee or a cardinal.  I love watching them.

Maybe, today I will see an unusual species.  You never know.  Today I will have more time to watch the birds.  It is snowing and there is no where else to go.

Tags: bird feeder, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, cardinal, chickadee, downy woodpecker, it is snowing, living room window, mourning dove, pine tree, red bellied woodpecker, slate covered junco, snow, snow covered ground, suet, sunflower seed, tufted titmouse, winter
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I find it interesting that sometimes for days I did not notice the birds that came to and fro feeding on my bird feeders viewed from my large living room window but sometimes I don’t.

And I know they have not stopped coming.  The sunflower seed in the bird feeder closest to my window keeps going down so I know there has been a steady stream of mostly tufted titmouse with an occasional chickadee and white breasted nuthatch feeding there.

To me it is interesting I do not always see what is right in front of me.  My mind is just elsewhere.  And how many other things do I not see which are happening in front of me because I am preoccupied?

All that is interesting to me.  I always wonder what am I missing every day because my thoughts are somewhere else…

Tags: bird feeder, bird-watching, birds, chickadee, living room window, my mind is elsewhere, my thoughts, preoccupied, right in front of me, sunflower seed, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
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The sky is dimly lit just before the dawn.  The birds are in song in full crescendo.  I am wondering when I will see the first chickadees, tufted titmouse and downy woodpeckers come to my feeders.

I am thinking about that Carolina wren that built a nest in the large pansy pot hanging from my garage door.  Yesterday before it became light I shined a flashlight into the nest–flushing the poor frightened bird who high tailed it for parts unknown–and peered into the nest spotting three tiny speckled eggs.  My wife reprimanded me for scaring the bird.  I will leave her alone now.  I want the mother to successfully raise its young and I do not want to scare it out of its wits further, possibly abandoning her eggs.

Two years in a row (the last two) an eastern phoebe built a nest just outside our front door on top of the right lamp but I guess there was too much traffic in and out the house so it abandoned the nest and raised its young somewhere else.

This year a pair of robins have built a nest in the right corner in the gigantic bush.  At least twice I looked inside it but I could not spot the nest.  A few times when I walked nearby I flushed one of them.  Two robins keep feeding under our large pine tree which is somewhat unusual.  Several time I saw a robin extract a worm from the earth, toss it above its head, then gobble it down.

I love to observe the natural world around me especially the birds that come to our four feeders.  I am expectantly waiting for the first hummingbirds to come to our two feeders I have set up for them.  One is hanging from the pine tree mentioned and the other is hanging close to the window.

According to my bird journal I have kept for over five years the first one usually appears the end of April.  It is the twenty-second of April so my eyes have been continually sweeping the area outside our large living room window.  It was over a month ago the local nature columnist reported someone spotted one passing the Mason Dixon line and they would be here any day.  I put out nectar immediately after that announcement.  Well I am still waiting to spot one and already had to replace the nectar I set up and clean the feeder immediately after I noticed black mold in the feeder.  I guess they must have turned around or taken an extended stay along the way.

Watching birds give me such pleasure.  The money I spend on feed for them is worth every cent.  I love observing their antics:  they are all different.  This has been a lifetime hobby.

Tags: April, bird eggs, bird journal, bird migration, bird nest, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, Carolina wren, chickadee, dawn, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, flower pot, God, hummingbirds, lifetime hobby, Mason Dixon line, my wife, nectar, pansy, pine tree, robins, sun comes up, tuftet titmouse, watching birds gives me pleasure
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I make sure my two large bird house totems face outward, one on each side of my front door.  I want the birds in my neighborhood to feel welcome.  There are a multitude of birds that come to our five feeders, which I keep well supplied with anything from sunflower seed to thistle to suet and when the warm weather arrives I put out nectar I make especially for the hummingbirds.  That does not even include the birdseed I scatter on the ground for the birds who prefer to feed there.

Last year there were three birds nesting in our vicinity.  An eastern phoebe built a nest above the right front door light although there might have been too much traffic there for her to be successful in raising her young.  A nest was built there two years in a row.

A scarlet tanager raised a family in a bird box stationed at a large white pine a foot higher feet than my head less than an hundred feet away from our entrance although I never spotted the brightly colored male.  I had never seen one before.

A catbird made a nest in the thicket of one gigantic bush in the corner of our yard.  One of our cats found the nest and flushed the young catbird out of the bush and we shooed the cat away immediately.  The frightened baby bird hopped into the open garage chirping in fright.  My son who happened to be at my house first had to move a table and a filing cabinet out of the garage to reach the scared little bird who had hopped deep into the cluttered garage.  He trapped the baby bird carefully scooped up into a little box without touching it and safely released it back into the overgrown bush where its nest lay.

I want all the birds in our neighborhood to know they are welcome to visit our premises and raise their young.  Every day I watch them come to and fro our feeders.  Soon I will put out nectar for our hummingbird feeders and watch the miniature “helicopters” come back and forth and jostle for position at their feeders.  We will have one feeder at the window just so we can watch them closeup.

There is such a variety of birds that come to our feeders.  The magnificent ten inch long red bellied woodpecker with its gorgeously marked red head occasionally feeds on our suet feeder (which I have placed right next to the trunk of the large white pine tree) and there is his companion–the smaller downy woodpecker which stands at attention as it climbs up and down the trunk of the same tree also feeding on the suet.  Then there is the diminutive brown creeper who is aptly named who also feeds on the suet and my favorite–the fearless chickadee whose antics I always love watching.

This is, of course, an incomplete list.  I want them all to feel welcome and the birds continue to come here in a constant stream.  I joyously greet them each morning and watch them all day and never know when an odd bird makes its appearance like the indigo buntings that seem to come through here once or twice a year in flocks.  I never know for sure what I will see outside my window.  I want the birds to always feel welcome.

Tags: baby bird, bird house totems, bird migration, bird nest, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, birds are welcome, birdseed, brown creeper, catbird, cats, chickadee, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, hummingbird feeders, hummingbirds, indigo bunting, my son, nectar, pets, red bellied woodpecker, scarlet tanager, suet, sunflower seed, thistle, white pine tree, woodpecker
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