Continued from yesterday, more pictures from the birdfeeder!
That cute little White-breasted Nuthatch again!
Stealth Bluejay.
Woodpeckers LOVE suet!
Cutie Downy Woodpecker
Goldfinches!
Redpoll niger-seed party. Apparently all common Redpolls, not the elusive Hoary! Click here for good tips on figuring out whether you're looking at Common Redpolls or Hoary ones. And here's a Charter Index for Redpoll identification. And here's a great picture of a Hoary and Common Redpoll party. Thanks, Happy Wombat Boy, for these great links. Hoary Redpolls are friggin' complicated.
Redpoll cage fight. Okay, not quite.
"Why did you have to buy that squirrel-proof feeder? WHY?"
Nuthatch again.
We get a good variety of birds here, since we are surrounded by fields and also deciduous and coniferous forests. Plus we have a creek and we back onto the Beaudette River, and the bigger St. Lawrence River is just south of us. We are on a migratory bird flightpath and get snowbirds passing through. The farm across the street from us is a migratory bird sanctuary with many beautiful ponds. Last year I saw green herons, bitterns and a cormorant over there!
I feed the birds year-round with good-quality seed from the Ritchie Feed Mill off Innes Road in Ottawa. We buy their "gourmet mix" (only the best for these birds!) and I think it's worth it. There's no filler junk seed in the mix, and the birds eat everything.
I also have a birdbath with a water heater in winter. Birds really appreciate easy access to water in the cold months, especially around here where any liquid is frozen for most of the season.
The niger feeder is great for attracting goldfinches, redpolls and any other birds that like that tasty, expensive seed.
The snowstorm we were supposed to get moved south and so only the north edge is hitting us. 2 cm of snow instead of 20 cm. I'm bummed, because our friends are coming over to cross-country ski with us tomorrow, and the snow right now is icy and crappy for that.
Have a great weekend!
Poor squirrel! I think maybe you should get him a bag of peanuts!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm even more jealous!
ReplyDeleteWhat great photos. I love the Stealth Bluejay; very handsome.
ReplyDeleteMore great pics! To answer your question, we're not in the city although we're not nearly as set apart from it all as you guys appear to be. We live in a residential area on the outskirts of Park City, Utah, but we're also surrounded by mountains with lots of hiking trails. We can drive just a couple of minutes to hike or ski but I think we're in a more residential area than you are. Your place looks ideal.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!! The nuthatches are some of our very favorites! We love their funny little call! You must have a lot of conifer trees around you, that's the habitat they love, sweet things.
ReplyDeleteA stealth bluejay? Never heard of that one - so cool!
Wandering Cat, if it makes you feel better, we have six very old black walnut trees. The squirrels steal the nuts and cache them all over our farm (in the barn, in the granary, under our living room foundation...) and are well stocked for winter. And they manage to find some seed that has fallen on the ground. :)
ReplyDeleteAre you a birding man, Jams?
ReplyDeleteAnd it occurred to me that some people across the pond might not know that I made up the "stealth" part in the Bluejay name. He was being coy. :) LBM, Bluejays are real characters, member of the crow family. I enjoy them. They love to scream.
Lauren, thank you!! You probably don't even NEED a heated birdbath where you are. :)
ReplyDeleteCogDis, we really are in a truly rural area, but an hour from either MOntreal or Ottawa. You must get a few interesting mountain birds passing through/hanging around?
Farmgirl, we do have a large stand of conifers right next to the house, plus a huge woodlot of white spruce and white pine at the back of our farm.
And the stealth Bluejay only exists in my garden. :)