Feeders

We just filled the feeders in the rain. Now that is a bird lover. It wasn't pouring but still raining.  Oh the birds are so happy. They are flying all over the place like they just got something special to eat. I guess even birds think a full plate looks better then a half plate.

I have 10 feeders. Some are summer feeders but most are winter feeders and some are all year round feeders.

Some look like a house type feeder and some are platform feeders, some are tube type feeders, some suet feeders that look like a small cage. Most are wood but a few are plastic. And one a net bag. I once bought a copper feeder that was expensive. It was $35.00 and only lasted a year. The copper all rusted and it didn't hold up. I went back to the cheaper types. They seem to last for several years.

a platform type

Some of the feeders hang in trees, some are on a pole and some hang from shepherd hooks and some hang from the roof on wire. I have from time to time turned onion bags into feeders.

Tube type feeder

Then there are the Hummingbird feeders. I have two. One hangs from the house and one in a tree. The trouble with the one hanging in the tree is it is always full of ants. The ants get inside and drown in their own sugar fix. The one hanging from the roof attracts bees. I once watched the bees chase the Hummingbirds away all afternoon. I have one feeder that looks like this red one and another that looks like a light house. This is the one that the ants get in and drown.

This is the Lighthouse feeder I have

I have made nature feeders too. Taken pine cones and rubbed peanut butter and seed all over them. Birds like those. I hang them from tree branches. I also nail a half of an orange to a tree trunk. Citrus attracts Orioles for one. We have a lot of Baltimore Orioles in the Spring and Summer.

Male Baltimore Oriole

One of my feeders is both a seed feeder with a suet holder on both ends

A plastic type feeder

 The copper type I had that I spent alot of money on and didn't last at all. All the copper rusted.

I have a couple separate suet feeders. By that I mean not attached to another seed feeder.

You have to wire the top shut to keep animals and Hawks from running off with the suet cake.


Hanging from shepherd hooks

My husband has modified several of the feeders to try to keep the squirrels out. The platform feeders are up on a metal pole with squirrel baffles. Others hang by a wire.  Some by hooks. It is worthless to but a a feeder in a tree unless you don't mind the cost of buying huge amounts of seeds and refilling 2x a day. Animals love seed too.

How the baffles work.

However squirrels are rascals. They can think of many clever ways to get into a feeder. I have seen some jump over the baffle and also climb metal. How they did this I have no idea.  But I was very upset when I saw that squirrel in the feeder.

 I have a log feeder given to me by a friend. It is packed away for the winter now so I can't take a picture.

Net bags make good thistle seed feeders. I know my finches love them

And onion bags make good feeders

 There are so many ways to feed the birds. From planting trees or bushes that produce some kind of seed or berry to home made feeders, to fancy bought ones, to very simple to just spreading seed on the ground.  You feed them they will come. 

Woodpeckers

The other day I was at the feed store looking at all the kinds of suet to buy. I have 3 suet feeders hanging here and there in my backyard.  But the main one I enjoy is the one I can see from my computer room window. The others are on the other side of the back yard.

Anyway, I was looking at the suet cakes wondering which to buy. Fruit? Nut? Fruit and Nut? For song birds? On and on...the one that I was interested in said " For Woodpeckers" It then went on to say it would attract all types of those little pecker birds.

I thought sure it would. What is so different that this type would attract them  over the other types of suet. It seemed to have the same things in it as the other suet's. Seeds, berries nuts. Why was it so special?

Well I bought the Woodpecker suet cake and a couple of others for the other feeders.

Later in the day I went out to hang the suet cake that would attract all the peckers from the neighborhood.

Since it was later in the day I didn't sit and watch the feeder. By the next day I had forgotten I was going to sit and watch that woodpecker feeder.

That afternoon I was on the computer when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I looked up and low and behold I had a tree full of wood peckers. Several kinds of woodpeckers. In fact as I write this there is one at the suet feeder and one waiting it's turn in the Lilac Bush.

There is a female Hairy Woodpecker at the feeder.

Here are both male and female Hairy Woodpeckers

There was some Downy Woodpeckers also

A male Downy

a female Downy


So similar it is hard to tell the difference. The Hairy Woody's are bigger then the downys are.

The suet attracted a Flicker also

 

 Later in the day the Red-Breasted Woodpecker came to visit

But my all time goal for Woodpeckers is Woody Woodpecker......a Pileated Woodpecker

a Flicker and a Pileated Woodpecker at a feeder.

I saw one at a State Park close to me this Fall.
But I want to see one in my yard. And they do visit backyard feeders. I know people who get them.

All in all me buying a Woodpecker suet cake was a huge success!

Hodge-Podge of Things

Yesterday I went to my parents house. They live 50 minutes from me. Both country and city streets.
Saw lots of road-kill. Isn't that interesting? The usual, racoons, squirrels and one duck.

I was watching their bird feeder and noticed they had mostly the same type birds I do.

Today was a rest day. It was very chilly 49 degrees compared to yesterday's 78 degrees. Big difference. The other day when I was raking the leaves I got 5 nasty blisters on my hand. Quite painful. I went outside today to see if I could use the leaf blower but it was too painful to use it. So I sat and looked around for a short time. I heard robins but could not see them. Blue Jays were calling back and forth all over the neighborhood. I didn't hear them much in the middle of the hot summer but they are noisy now. They will stay over the winter if there is a food supply.

a Blue Jay

While walking around my yard there was several places where a fungus or mushrooms were growing. Yuck...they seemed to be out in the open and under bushes.

I have no idea what these are. But we have them every fall. But never in the spring or summer.

The Red Breasted Woodpecker was back today. It is a pretty bird.

These woodpeckers are  9 to 10.5 inches long, and have a wingspan of 15 to 18 inches. Their heads are very eye catching.

After dinner tonight I sat at the computer looking out the window and saw the male and female Black Squirrels running up and down the Lilac Bushes. Playing chase it looked like.

There was a cat sitting down by the water edge just looking for the longest time. I think it was a neighbors cat 4 houses down. It comes by every now and then. Or it could have been a wild cat. We get a lot of wild cats around my neighborhood. Non cat lovers complain about them but we have always liked that they were around. They keep down the rodent population. And they don't bother anyone. Once there was a litter of kittens that were so cute. I saw them in my back yard under a bush. I bent down to pick the cutest one up but it hissed and got in full battle mode. I left it alone. Too bad, I would have kept it. It looked to be about 5 weeks old. I could have tamed it. But it wanted to claw me to pieces. I walked away.

Saw the Grebe's swimming today so they are still here. But our neighbors groundhog is nowhere to be seen so I am assuming it is hibernating already. Like all the frogs and turtles. Long gone now.
It lives under the neighbors pier and always comes over to our yard to eat something in our yard. It really hasn't done any damage so we just let it be. I don't know what it eats in our yard. Grubs or clover maybe. I don't know what they eat. I just looked them up... they are a rodent

belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as Marmots. Groundhogs primarily eat wild grasses and other vegetation, including berries and agricultural crops, when ^available.  Groundhogs also eat grubs, grasshoppers, insects, snails and other small animals. Very interesting! No wonder it lives down by the water's edge. A perfect smorgasbord for it.

Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting

 

Leaves, More Leaves and Then Some More Leaves..and Old Friends

Today was a beautiful Fall day. Almost 80 degrees and sunny. The Maple Tree's leafs were half way down.

How our tree looked a week ago before the leaves started to drop.

We started raking about 12:30 pm and finished about 4 pm. We use rakes, leaf blower and a plastic sheet. The plastic sheet works the fasted and best. I stand on a corner of it and Dick rakes the leaves on it. We close up the sheet and drag it to the trench.

It really pooped me out to do all this raking. Hubby too I noticed.  Living in the country everyone burns here.  We have many piles going.  Burning leaves brings back such childhood memories. I can see my dad raking the leaves to the alley and burning them. I just love the smell of burning leaves. I will even open a window so I can smell them burning in the house.

I was too busy today notice any wild life. I did see the Grebe's swimming and I saw the Muskrat once. The Black Squirrel was eating the corn. I saw a few birds at the feeder. I heard the Chipmunk scolding us.

When we were done I looked at the big Maple Tree thinking...we are only half way done...
There was half the tree left to rake. UGH

After our yard work was done I was meeting some friends I haven't seen a several years for dinner. We used to be neighbors in my old neighborhood.  We have known each other for 30 plus years.
Dinner was delicious. And it was great to see them.

Odyssey

Today we went to see our Grandkids. They live 160 miles from us round trip. Besides looking forward to seeing them, I was looking forward to seeing any nature along the way.

First we came across  a Cooper's Hawk. We saw one of these fellows a few miles from our house. He was sitting on a telephone pole wire looking around.

Come to find out, today was a day for these birds. We saw 3 of them along our journey. All sitting on a telephone wire.

Going to our Grandkids house we cross the St Joseph River 4 times. Really 8 times round trip. This river runs thru my city. Here is a description of this historical river:

St. Joseph River

 

Few rivers in Indiana have had more historical significance than the St., Joseph. Interestingly, the river is also said to be the hardest worker in the state.
The St. Joseph is really only a visitor to Indiana. It rises near Hillsdale, Michigan, flows across half of that State, dips into Indiana and flows back into Michigan to complete its 210 mile journey to Lake Michigan. Approximately 42 miles are spent in Indiana but Hoosiers have never hesitated to reap all the benefits they could from this river. In our state alone there are 4 dams on the river.

A plaque of the beginnings of the St Joe River in Hillsdale, Michigan

I went this summer with my brother to see the beginnings of this river.

Continuing on, we also cross the Black River and the Paw Paw river in Michigan. And many other large ponds. Water is in abundance in my area. And I can't get enough of these beautiful lakes, rivers and streams.

The Paw Paw River and the Black Rivers in Michigan

I was hoping to see some wildlife somewhere around all this water. I didn't see much at all. Three Great Blue Herons at a very small pond. They were all standing together near the shore.

Nothing else to talk about on our journey to our destination.

Once we got to the school football field where my grandson was playing flag football, it started to pour. Just pour. We were prepared with rain gear. As I watched these little guys play flag football, I saw movement across the field. The whole area on the other side of the field was plowed corn fields. Again I thought I saw movement. I did. The field was full of  Sandhill Cranes. They were spreading their wings, walking about, pecking for corn. I would have been able to hear them if it hadn't been raining so hard.

  Our visit was over and we headed home. It was now dark and on the highway I didn't think I would see much. Well we didn't almost 80 miles back home. It wasn't until we were 4 miles from our house when I saw 2 deer standing along the highway waiting to cross the road. The most dangerous place to cross the road is a highway.

 

 As I have said, I live on a lake, but this lake is surrounded by farm fields and woods too. It is nothing to see deer around. Every time I do it is as exciting as the first time. 

I should also mention in my town runs railroad tracks. Now here in my town the train whistle is not banned. I love to hear a train whistle. And I wasn't disappointed....the tracks are 7 miles from my house and run thru the center of town. We had to wait for the train and I got to enjoy the sound.

Grandkids, family, day trip, deer, birds and a train. A wonderful odyssey!

This and That

If I can think of a better title I will rename this blog. But this blog is just that...this and that.

I was out of bird seed of all kinds so I went to the feed store to fill up. I saw a dead doe along the road. Living out in the boonies like I do you never know what you will come across in the road. Dead or alive. Once about a month ago, there was a female Turkey (a Hen) and her 3 babies that were actually juveniles. Almost as big as she was but did not have their adult feathers. Do you know a baby turkey is called a poult?  Where do they come up with these odd names. 

A Hen and her poults crossing the road.

I didn't see anything else along the road either alive or dead on my way to the feed store.
I filled up on suet cakes, sunflower seeds and thistle seed. Main stay for my birds.

Once home it started to sprinkle. It never rained hard so I walked around the yard. The Grebe's were playing again in the water so I ran to get my camera. By the time I got back outside they were 4 houses away diving their hearts out. A couple of swans were swimming by the entrance to my channel and so I took their picture. Or tried to. They were just too far away to get a good picture.

You have to look closely but see the two white spots? Those are the swans and the grebe is in the foreground. The Swans are the background.

This is a better picture of the Mute Swan found on my lakes.

I have a picture of the Grebe's in another blog.

Gently raining

I filled the feeders and sat and watched for a minute.  The usual birds I have already mentioned. EXCEPT an exciting sighting of the Red Breasted Woodpecker. Now these birds aren't rare but I don't usually see them. Maybe another observation issue I have.

Here it is at my feeder. Window screens don't help at all when taking a picture!

 Here is what one looks like

Aren't they beautiful!

I am still waiting to see the Yellow-rumped Warbler again. You just can't miss the bright yellow spot on it's lower back near where the tail starts. Beautiful.

It is Duck and Goose season in my area so I could hear guns going off. Next will be Deer. Altho it is archery deer season right now but soon to be gun. We hear guns going off all Fall. It seems it is always some season. It is not unusual to see hunters walking thru the woods wearing their hunting outfits and guns slung over their shoulders. I stay out of the woods during this time. But I do see them when I am driving down the street.

Best to wear orange when out hunting. You can see them better.

I bought a woodpecker seed hanger. I tried to wire it to the tree branch so the animals won't carry it off. I will find out in the morning if it is still there. Suet in suet hangers can be wired shut to keep the animals from running off with the suet. But this can't be put in any kind of holder. As soon as I hung the woodpecker seed block the Red Breasted Woodpecker was back. And it wasn't only the woodpeckers that liked it. The Nuthatches, Titmice and Cardinals liked it also.

I came back inside and looked out the window and saw the Black Squirrel was eating the corn seed I put down in the side yard. But was surprised that an animal hadn't run off with the corn still on the cob in husks just thrown on the ground. I was glad but still surprised.

Here are a couple more pictures of this and that

It is raining hard right now. Don't you just love to sleep when it is raining? Gently lulls you to sleep.
Good-night

Quiet Refections

I sat for over two hours under the Blue Spruce waiting for the birds to come with my camera. Real pictures are better then using something off the internet. I turned the bench around to face the Lilac Bush and the feeders.

I could hear the birds but at first they did not come. Birds are very attuned to something new in their area. I was very quite and didn't move but just being there 20 feet from the feeder was enough to make them guarded.

First came the White Breasted Nuthatch

Then came the Tufted Titmice

Then the Chickadees

The Male Cardinal sat watching for the longest time. Maybe 20 minutes. I could tell it wanted to go to the feeder but he had an eye on me. In flies the female Cardinal. straight to the feeder. She grabs a seed and flies to the Lilac Bush. Well, if she can do I guess I will try it I am sure he thought. So sure enough he flew to the feeder grabbed a seed and went back to the branch he had been on to eat it. That's it! Let the wife get clobbered first.

I was waiting for 2 special birds. The Red Breasted Nut Hatch and the Yellow-rumped Warbler. 
Finally after about an hour the Red Breasted Nuthatch flew to the feeder.

Red Breasted Nuthatch

I put corn in husks and also corn kernels down in the side yard for the squirrels. The little black squirrel showed up. Stopped in his tracks when he saw me. I was a good 40 or 50 feet away but he still thought I was too close. He scolded me for 20 minutes. Finally he ran up a neighbors tree and twitched it's tail for another 20 minutes and then gave up and ran off.

Black Squirrel upset with me. He is sitting on a log on the ground.

While watching the bird feeder I turned my head and there was the chipmunk I mentioned in my other blogs. It was busy running by and then saw me. It too had to scold me. He ran to the worm box and jumped up on it. He kept a side eye on me for a long time. He never moved....until I sneezed and them he turned and looked right at me.

Cheeky Chipmunk

The male Cardinal who made it's wife go first to the feeder

 I waited for over two hours but never saw the Yellow-rumpted Warbler. I was disappointed.

But the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers showed up a lot. Both male and female.

I sat for awhile on our over turned boat but didn't see anything. No Herons or Muskrats or Grebe's either.

But the neighborhood was pretty noisy. Neighbors were outside everywhere. Much to do this time of year. Take out boats, take in patio furniture, mow yards, rake leaves.

So I sat and looked at things. Here are some things that caught my eye in my backyard.....

Black Squirrel in the neighbors tree

Lots of leafs still to come down

No Muskrat activity

Mums are still beautiful!

Burning Bush is gorgeous

God graced us with a beautiful Autumn day. Take time next time the day is beautiful and sit and look around. It doesn't matter where you live, there is always something to see.