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Gold finches move around as do purple finches. I haven't seen them so far this season.
The cardinals are just beginning to appear--two mated pairs. No conclave yet but the slightly damp wood I'm burning is putting white smoke out of my chimney.
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Gold finches come and go. I thinks sometimes if there are enough feeders in a neighborhood and the pickins' are better elsewhere they'll go there for awhile then return to your feeder for awhile.
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flowergirl wrote:
Gold finches come and go. I thinks sometimes if there are enough feeders in a neighborhood and the pickins' are better elsewhere they'll go there for awhile then return to your feeder for awhile.
You're saying that they are just aren't that into me?
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I saw a strange thing one summer. I had a favorite mocking bird that would visit my yard. One day I went out to fill the feeder and there he was, dead on the ground. I got our pooper scooper to clean up the body and when I pushed what I thought was his body into the scooper, it fell away to nothing but loose feathers. It was like something got him, held him down, and pulled his body from his feathers leaving just a shell of feathers in the shape of his body, which is what I found. I'm guessing a hawk did this. I still miss that mocking bird.
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Saw my first bluebirds yesterday
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Man, if there are any robins up here in MA, they are buried in a snow drift!
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I usually see robins by this time of winter but none yet. We have a great proliferation of cardinals, more in one winter than I've ever seen around here. Love seeing all that red.
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Yes, I've seen Robins. There were a few in my side yard the other day. Some have been over-wintering here instead a flying south like they used to.
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Big flock of robins showed up in the field down the street. I have basically the same visitors as you all have mentioned, but once in awhile a hawk shows up, sits on a perch atop my feeder post and everybody splits. I let him there until he/she decides it's time to move on. I don't chase it away since I figure a hawk needs some love, too, and besides statistics have shown that birds of prey are successful only arond 10% of the time in snagging a meal.
On another note, I've surrendered to the squirrels ............ they are just too clever and resourceful for me to deal with anymore so I feed them, too. I could spend all kinds of time screwing around with 'squirrel-proof' feeders or just buy a bag of peanuts every couple of weeks and throw out a handful everyday. Besides, kind of like watching the little guys tumbling around the yard and competing with the blue jays for the peanuts.
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Fred, when you give the squirrels and birds peanuts, do you remove the tough shell, or do they unshell the peanuts themselves?
I want to try setting out a small bowl of grape jelly. I just read that robins like that.