Over the last year or so I have taken to the daily feeding of the birds that show up in my backyard. Since I live not far from a wildlife sactuary, I usually have a good variety of feathered friends but it's the sparrows, scrub jays, crows, mockingbirds, and dove (along with my pair of miniature Old English Banty chickens) that have taken up either permanent residence or my place is the first they visit in the mornings. It's been very interesting for me to watch how the different species inter-relate and how the relationship between them has developed.

When I first started putting out the seed and fruit there seemed to be a kind of war going on between the different kinds of birds...everyone scrambling to get their share, chasing each other off, and just general chaos. Over the months, things have mellowed out and it is not at all unusual to sit and watch jays and sparrows eating together or even to see them scoot over a bit to make room for a mockingbird.

I have surpised myself with the joy that I feel over my birds. I've made the feeding of them a morning ritual and every morning get such a kick out of seeing the different species all lined up on the top of the fence waiting for me.

Brigga,

I have the exact same hobby as you have. In August, I moved from a very rural area to a much more urban area than I am accustomed to. Although I live in a noisy apartment complex, my apartment faces a wooded area that's home to more wildlife than I expected the area to have. I have doves, finches, three types of wood peckers, and a pair of cardinals. At night, I even once glimpsed a fox and a deer. Any morning I do not have to be at work early, I sit on my sofa (which faces the patio door and my fireplace as opposed to the TV), and drink my coffee while watching the birds. I recognize most of them, and get concerned if I don't see them when they are usually around. I even know that there may be trouble in paradise with my cardinal couple because I've spotted another female in the territory. Although I live much of my life with computers and florescent lighting and I am not an outdoors woman by any means, the tranquility of watching the birds and listening to their songs is an integral part of what keeps me sane in this world of steel and concrete. I am glad that there are others enjoying the experience as much as I do.

Have any of you ever tried a hummingbird feeder in the summertime? They are sort of high maintenance, because they have to be cleaned out weekly,but it's amazing how quickly they will attract hummingbirds to your yard. And the hummingbirds are so beautiful. I have a feeder that I attach to my back porch, and I stand inside the porch but very close to the feeder. The wings beat so rapidly that they sound like insects and you can hear them coming a second before you see them.

I have many hummingbirds in the summer and I love them. I have a number of vines planted that attract the gorgeous little creatures. You're right, they do sound like insects...like HUGE bees or something like that and if I hear them before I see them I tend to duck for cover. LOL This year I'll plant honeysuckle vine on a trellis outside my kitchen window so that I can watch them while I work in the kitchen.

I also discovered, this past summer, that the hummers love lavender, so along with the fuzzy bumblebees that hang out in the lavender, I had neon pink and green hummers, too.

Hi Everyone,

I have a ritual of feeding the birds and hummers everyday as well....it is so interesting to watch as the seasons change, who comes and goes, who stays and so forth. After moving from Colorado to Louisiana almost two years ago, all I can say is wow for the birdlife in Louisiana! It is diverse and so colorful!!

We have bluejays, tidmouses, wrens, blackbirds, turtle doves, chickadees, and cardinals by the bushel...(and not because I live in the bible belt) LOL
Also squirrels, opossoms, raccoons and with the pond, goldfish, and two loverly frogs, and tons of applesnails (we brought a few out from the aquarium and they love it there and have bred like rabbits)

The hummingbirds are mostly of the green variety and seem to be seasonal...but they come in droves in the mid-afternoon hours it seems...

This is a great thread...I'll try and get some pics too...its amazing how wildlife can stir the soul so...

Blessings Bright and Dark,

I do have humming birds, but the summer was ending when I first saw them around my apartment. For those of you who put out hummingg bird feeders -- do you have a problem with them attracting bugs? I love animals and plants, but absolutely loathe insects like ants and wasps. I do have a bush in front of my kitchen window that attracts humming birds when it blooms. One morning in September, I went to open my kitchen blinds and there was a humming bird floating at my widow.

I don't keep hummingbird feeders because of the vines that I have but my MIL does and the only insect problem she has had with them is ants. Because the feeders are filled with a sugary food, I don't think thta it would be an easy thing to keep the ants from sharing in the abundance.

I used to have a "thing" about insects when I was younger but as I age they bother me less and less. In fact, I've learned to watch them, too...they have lots of lessons to teach. As an example, if I see ants moving their eggs up the tree from a raised bed that I built to encircle it, I know it will rain soon. Never fails.

I too, have a possum that visits from time to time. I had never seen one before the first time one showed up here. I freaked! I thought it was a HUGE rat! LOL I came running in all hysterical telling hubs that I just had an encounter with a rabid, mega-rat with red eyes! I felt much better after learning it was a possum..and a baby one at that! Those little buggers aren't very friendly, are they? He gets most of my veggie scraps but I try to stay away from it because it goes into fight mode everytime we run across each other.

Had a skunk that decided to take up residence under the house, too. Sure glad he decided to move on!

Its so cool to hear what kind of birds you all have in your area..

I have many feeders set up but this year I have not been overly diligent with them (as to the tropical weather we have had

I have to tell you all if you happen to go to new Hampshire,USA the first trail on the Kanga (it�s a road) on the left, in the winter if you cross country sky or snow shoe it�s a great trial!! And when you get a good 20 min into the trail pull out some sun flower seeds and the chickadees will eat them right out of your hands..
You can get them to do that at home if you have the patients. Many of the birds that come around my house are so used to us they have had generations of baby�s that don�t mind me in the garden just a foot away from them..

I have lots of different kinds of bird houses along with feeders.
I have a House Wren littlest thing you would imagine but damn is he loud, he has a special house my daughter and I made for him, he arrived just after we finished making it and made it his home and showed it off to all the ladies till one stayed. And now he shows up everyday never fail.
Even though he is not nesting, and I have taken his house down for wintering and cleaning up.
But I have a work aria in my house that is in a alcove with four windows around it, it faces part of my garden with one of my feeders right there. And a holly tree that the robins come by the flock, ya a hole tree full of robins it�s a bit odd looking they come for the berries, in the spring, usually but this year they are here still ,do to strange weather, and I only see one at a time in the tree.
But every day I am lucky enough to see and listen two (poor windows) Blue Jays (I call em hawk wana bees) Chickadee�s , my little wren pall, a few different kind a wood peckers, finches various sparrow�s , Junco�s, cardinal�s, catbirds, and mockingbirds, Titmouse, Nuthatch�s Lots of Crows, I love when they comc in there Cackles I know something�s up, Mourning doves, rock doves(pigeon sounds so dirty) and my beautiful Nabors the red tailed hawk family, one came down in my chicken coop, left with out a meal, they looked smaller from above I guess I watched one take a chip muck a few weeks ago, that used to run across the yard for
Food.
Ok that�s just whats about every day this time of year around me, and I am sure I left out some.. O like those little gray and black ooo hmmmm shit cant remember there name, but lots of them too.
But in the summer it is great! So many more birds come around, humming birds, I have lots of plants for them, they always go to those before the feeder�s, O and about your bug thing, if you put oil ie Crisco est on the bird feeder pole, the ants get stuck, they make a mess getting stuck inside the feeder anyway, as far as the wasps and bees they wont hurt ya and they will help to empty the feeder so you can refill it with out it getting moldy which it will if you don�t keep it clean and fresh food in..
For the summer I have a mulberry tree a big one right over my deck, (my deck is on the second story,) so the tree branches are just over it, man the different birds I get to watch, and some are not native to my area summer or winter, so I know that we are just a stop on there way from A to Z it�s a very cool way to keep in touch with nature!!
Everyone should have some sort of bird feeder set up no mater where you live many species will visit!
O and about the little woodland creatures,, Baby possums may look all tiny and cute,

We had a wood chuck problem in our last home, my very sweet little old land lady who lived down stairs, had left kitty litter in the holes to deter them as some one had told her to do.. Well that was a year before we moved in, and when we moved in her plants that her late husband had planted there hole lives there, where dying and she could not figure out why, (DO NOT use kitty litter in your yard around plants, they don�t like it) I took to the gardens and asked what the slimy disgusting goop was in a few places and she told me ooo (see above)
Needles to say I had to dig out all the litter and replace the dirt with fresh compost and dirt, everything came back, any way back to the little critters. We set up a have a heart trap because she had such a problem with the wood chucks, they like to take bits out of all the veggies. We caught a baby possum instead, the poor little thing was so scared you would have thought it was 5 stories tall the way it hissed at us.. Poor little thing. it was fine once we let it out, And few years later, My hobby had the kids out back of our house now, showing them how the possum play dead with a full grown fat one.They do it perfectly...
I had a coyote in my back yard the night before my hobby fell off a roof and shattered his heal, (the little jokester) I was stopped by a fox right in front of my car down the street as he crossed he stopped right in front of me and just looked at me for a few then ran across into the grave yard. I burst out crying when 3 day�s later I came upon him dead on the side of the road at the grave yard. O and coons, my dog keeps most away thought.

Ok thats just some of whats around me (and a lot of rambling)
I love to read what you all have in your area's

I get bees around my hummingbird feeder, not ants because it's on the second story and too high for them. The bees bother me, but I have so many deer around here, and they eat most of my plants, so I can't have those nice red flowers that the hummingbirds love, so I have to put up with the bees at the feeder. I like the deer, but I wish they would eat the hay I put out and leave the plants alone.

I have two bluebird houses, and most of my neighbors have at least on house up on a tree, so we have a whole bunch of bluebirds here. I thought they migrated, but they were still here and very active in December. I haven't seen any lately, though. Bluebirds are my favorite, and mourning doves. I love the way they coo.

I used to feed the birds. I saw alot of chickadees, nuthatches, downey woodpeckers, hary woodpeckers, canadian jays, blue jays, house sparrows, gold finches, it seemed like I had them all. The wild turkeys have started coming and digging up my lawn and there are alot of the freakin little red squirrels which I hate, the gray squirrels and the flying squirrels. (they freak me out....)

I stopped feeding them when one night I was leaving the house for work and there was a black bear on my porch enjoying the birdseed and suet! needless to say I was alittle late getting to work that night.

I have fed the humming birds but had a horrible case of the ants everywhere!

I do like lying in bed at night (on my days off) hearing the Barred Owls hooting outside my window. The other night there was a great horned in the field.

oh well. I should put the picture I took of the lovely red squirrels at my birdfeeder.....


eemia

We get all sorts of birds in our garden but alot of our birds are different to the ones that you get, even our robins are different.

We have Blue Tits, Great Tits, Rooks and Crows, sparrows, swifts, wrens, robins, Collar neck doves, wood pigeons, Jays which again are different to yours, Blackbirds, Swallows, magpies ummmmm yeah, oh and we dont have humming birds but we have a cool humming bird moth all summer long. Ive included some pics.

(wow) love the pictures!! Now I need to get my camera out and share some pics as well!!

We had a ton of blue jays, cardinals, wresn and mocikingbirds this morning, and now that it is raining, the tidmouses are making the birdfeeders their shelters and stuffing themselves....lol...

One thing I havent seen alot of this winter is house sparrows....just a handful, and usually they dominate the scenery....kinda odd. I have noticed that the cardinals seem to be very popular..it could be the feed I am putting out and I make my own suet...but I would love to see more sparrows...I love them and they are one of my totems...

Again great pictures Hedgewitch, thanks for sharing!!!

Blessings Bright and Dark,

The pictures are great, hedgewitch, thanks! The sparrows look just like the ones that live in my backyard. The moth is very cool.

I noticed this morning, that a big red-breasted robin came to visit. Much earlier this year than in previous years. They usually show up around March. It was just one but perhaps the rest of the flock are running a little behind.

I think the unusual weather has everything off kilter.

I think all of Lady Elaine's sparrows may be in the jasmine right outside my backdoor. I'll tell them you miss 'em.

There seems to be a bit of an uproar over that jasmine. Quite a few sparrows have been using it as their winter home and the mockingbirds have decided to move in. The sparrows aren't taking very kindly to that and it's been quite noisy out there because of it.
Sure hope they figure it out soon because hubs does not have the same attitude toward the birds that I do, especially mockingbirds, and I fear he'll lose patience with all the noise. Evil wife that I am, I have hidden his pellet gun.

Thanks to all for sharing their wildlife stories. I've enjoyed them all.

Im glad that you liked the photos Lady Elaine...I finally got around to uploading a load of pics onto photo bucket.

I am always getting visited by wrens and robins personally. The last time was in Chalice Well Gardens at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. My family had just moved off to allow me time to meditate under an apple tree with mistletoe and I was visited by a robin. He just stayed right by my feet whilst I chatted away to it. It was truely magickal.

Oh, Hedgewitch, Chalice Well at Glastonbury??? I am so envious! I very much want to visit there!

I was able to take a trip to Ireland in 2005. Hubs and I loved it so much that we plan to return in 2008. This time we will broaden our adventure to include a bit of England, Scotland, and Wales. Glastonbury is at the top of my list!