Back porch visitor

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

We have two bird feeders on our back porch feeding several types of sparrows and at least two types of finches, and two types of doves. This bird was an unexpected visitor, a sharp-shinned hawk, obviously looking for a meal also.

[kbproctor]

We get a wide variety of birds here. We have similar sparrows and finches as well as a mated pair of doves, robins in season, two kinds of wood peckers, and bluejays. We have had ducks nest under the blue spruce in the front yard, but that was quite a ways from water. The nearest water is about a block and a half from the house and it isn't much more than a glorified trickle of a drainage ditch. Haven't seen any hawks, though. We had an owl in the neighborhood 5 or 6 years ago, but no hawks.

[Marco]

Byron,
All I can say is, I'M JEALOUS. And having said that, I'd rather be in Wyoming. All I have here is traffic.

Mark

[WarrenP]

Beautiful hawk and a beautiful picture!

[fishdog54]

Byron Z,

Cool pic. One of the things I miss about the U.P. of Michigan is the variety of birds that hung around all winter. One of the birds that would clear my back yard bird feeders in a hurry, was the Northern Shrike. Also had a Golden Eagle visit once. One of the neatest things to visit the feeder (at night) was a flying squirrel. It took me a little while to figure out what it was at first. It was dark and it didn't quite look like a bird, and had big bug- eyes! LOL!!! Most of the birds I get around my house here are invasive - I don't feed them, I don't want to encourage them to breed!! Kinda like the feral cats that people perpetuate, thinking they are being kind! They are nothing more than rats that go meow! Whoops, kinda high-jacking this thread to advance my own agenda! Brazenly so, me thinks! Sorry!! I just love my native birds, and am concerned about their impact/demise, at the paws of this vermin!

Best regards, Dave S.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Byron,

Nice picture. We also have feeders out and seeds out for ground feeders too. Lots of bird activity. During the spring, summer, and fall we have a couple Sharpshinned and a pair of Coopers Hawks that hunt our feeders on a regular basis. They've been known to sit in our garden and wait for a finch or sparrow to take the wrong flight path. Once in a great while they will take a Mourning Dove, but rarely. It's odd, but when the neighborhood Goshawks make an appearance, the other hawks go into hiding.

[quivira kid]

VERY cool pic!

Ron, goshawks tend to be super aggressive from what I understand.

We hunted the river on saturday and had a bald eagle fly by a few times. Also had a small flock of golden-crowned kinglets cruise through.

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

As for hawks, we get several varieties here just not usually on our back porch. we have a pair of Golden Eagles that have nested at the ranch for a minimum of 16 years. A pair of redtails at the ranch house for over thirty years,a couple of generations and then some, several generations of Great Horned owls also. Traci and I have done bird surveys for the BLM before, birds of prey, mainly south of Rock Springs. Needless to say, we like watching birds, to the extent that both vehicles have two bird books and binocs in them. We just don't always remember the cameras.

[fishdog54]

quivira kid,

One of the few birds I see while sitting in my tree stand(winter) are the golden crowned kinglets ( they are a cheerful little bird, singing all the while). They come by every day, accompanied by tufted titmouse (is more than one titmouse - titmice? ha!), black-capped chickadees, brown creepers and the occasional white-breasted nuthatch. The goshawk is indeed no slouch. It is a powerful bird that targets snowshoe hares and ruffed grouse!!! We see more of them this far south when their prey species are low, up north.

Best regards, Dave S.

[Mark Vendon]

Hi Byron,

Nice pic. We've had bird and suet feeders up since the late 80's. Cooper's, Sharp Shinned, and Red Tailed hawks nail birds feeding from time to time. They take them up in the fur trees around our house and de-feather them in a hurry. Even on some of the coldest day's of the winter with the wind blowing on them, they just tear the feathers off and within less than 15 minutes, they're pretty much finished with that bird. We used to hang the feeders in a large lilac that was next to our house, but it got too old and I finally got rid of it. The feeder/s are way more exposed now, but there are still bushes nearby for them to crack the sunflower seeds etc.
Not to change the topic too much, but from the late 80's to the mid 90's, we never saw any Baltimore Oriole's. Then they started showing up, and are now here in pretty good numbers every year during the warmer months. Around 7 years ago, Carolina Wrens showed up, and are here year round. They only eat suet, and are one of the first birds at the feeder in the morning. The birds that I absolutely hate are Starlings. They're extremely good at raising their young, have taught/conditioned themselves to hang on our upside down suet feeder because that's what they like to eat. They come in hordes and bully all the other birds except Blue Jays. Woodpeckers will sit on a branch and politely wait their turn until another woodpecker is finished at the feeder. When Starlings show up, they don't stand a chance. It always reminds me of the stream etiquette threads that you read about here and on other forums now and then.

Regards,
Mark