Thursday, January 13, 2011

Birds at the Feeder


These are beautiful winter days. The snow falls in big flakes, swirling around, making me feel like I'm living in a snow globe. Occasionally, the sun peeks out and the snow glistens.  It really is the iconic, romantic setting, as I sit here on the sofa, the lower half of my body wrapped in a super-soft blanket, and Baby curled up sleeping next to me. (Baby is one of our cats.)

Every day isn't like this, of course, and I would be happy to trade it for a day that's much warmer - the kind where I spend hours getting dirty and sweaty in the garden. But for now, because it is winter after all, this is good.

There's a party goin' on right here...


I have a bird's eye view, literally, of the platform feeder just outside our family room window. Today, as in other days, I've seen various sparrows, finches, a starling, blue jays, cardinals and a mourning dove.

Mama cardinal looks at the mourning dove and wonders, "What are you doing here?"

"That's better. All to myself. And don't you get any ideas either!"


The juncos and chickadees are conspicuously absent, as are the nuthatches. I know the nuthatches are out there, because I often hear them chattering. I hear the woodpeckers, too, and saw a northern flicker on a nearby tree last week.

In the bird world, clearly size does matter. I've never seen a blue jay allow anything
other than another blue jay share the feeder, and sometimes not even one of those.


"Peanuts. Nom, nom, nom!"


We like to feed the birds, as many of you probably do, too. Keep in mind that once birds have found your feeder, they come to count on it as one of their major food sources, so be sure to keep it full.

We aren't the only ones that like to watch the birds. Baby finds them to be pretty interesting, too.

"Where did they go?"



12 comments:

Shady Gardener said...

Great photos, Kylee! Birdwatching is very "habit forming," isn't it?!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

That last photo is funny. The birds here fly away when Luna gets too close to the patio doors.

Gail said...

Great photos.

I don't mind looking at the snow but I don't want out in it!

Unknown said...

What busy feeders! And a happy candidate for Bird Television, too! Lovely post, Kylee.

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

I just love cardinals! Unfortunately, they aren't native to our region so we never see them. Our jays aren't like yours either. So it's a thrill to see photos of yours at the feeders.

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Kate @ Gardening and Gardens said...

We have two cardinals visiting the feeders, but not too many others. Yours look like they are having a party! :) How do you keep the squirrels away? I'd love to have a feeder so close to the window like that, but I'm always afraid of the squirrels ruining the fun.

Lynne said...

I'm impressed! How did you persuade all those birds to share their space while you snapped the picture?
We have two feeders up high, near the kitchen windows, but the local bird population don't share their space at all. Swoop in, grab quick & head for the trees seems to be their only strategy.

Kylee Baumle said...

Shady Gardener ~ It IS! I'm always looking for some new bird to show up, too.

Lisa ~ I love to listen to Baby "chatter" when she sees a bird out there. She's never been an outside cat (at least not that she can remember) but that instinct is there. Since she never had her mother to teach her what is "food," I don't think she'd know what to do with it if she got it and she might even be scared of the wing flapping!

Gail ~ I love to walk in the snow if it's not too cold and windy and the sun is out. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to breathe in the crisp, cold air of winter. It's so refreshing. If I have a little bit of a stomach ache, all I have to do is step outside, take a few breaths, and it's gone. Funny how that works. But driving in snow? ICK.

Jodi ~ Thank you! Yes, we've always got the latest episode of Bird TV here! :-)

Cindy ~ No cardinals? Oh goodness, I'd miss them! I think of them as our tropical birds. :-) The blue jays are bossy things and if they weren't so handsome, I'd probably be happy without them.

Kate ~ Our squirrels tend to stay to the front of the property around the huge oak tree we have out there. We also have a corn feeder for them in a smaller tree nearby. Having 7 outside cats probably has something to do with why they keep their distance, too. The cats patrol the property pretty well.

Our feeder is placed up high enough the cats can't get to it, plus it's smack in the middle of a yew shrub, so that gives it a hedge of protection, literally! They could probably get to it if they wanted to, but they never get that close to the house.

Lynne ~ These photos were all taken from inside the house, so they didn't know I was there! Sometimes they'll detect movement and then they scatter, but for the most part, me and my camera remain incognito. ;-)

Nutty Gnome said...

Kylee, you lucky thing - all those gorgeous, colourful birds AND snow!!!

Nutty Gnome said...

Kylee, you lucky thing - all those gorgeous, colourful birds AND snow!!!

Lona said...

Hi Kylee. Looks like you did have a party at your feeder. Maybe they felt like something was watching them. LOL!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I like your attitude about the cold and snow. You are right, it is winter, and when spring comes, I hope winter weather goes.

We didn't get our feeders out as early as usual. I haven't seen many birds on them, but the squirrels have gotten all of the sunflowers on the main feeder. The birds haven't found the one we put on the garden window. I have a photo of a bird on the sock thistle feeder I got for free for buying a bunch of stuff. I'm not sure what it is. I plan to post it in the next week.

I enjoyed your photos of the birds and Baby.

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