Birds on wires

 How did pigeons ever manage before humans made electric wires for them?

Watching the sun go down. Mostly.

Starlings are second-class citizens; they have to be content with the lower wires.

And they watch everything. The sun can take care of itself.

Handsome little birdies.

A Skywatch post. 

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¿Cómo se las arreglaban las palomas antes de que los humanos les hicimos cables eléctricos de donde pueden observar mientras el sol se pone?

Foto: 

1. alambre, cielo, y una fila de palomas mirando (casi todos) hacia el oeste.
2. Los estorninos, parece que no se merecen sitio en el cable superior.
3. Viendo más de cerca. Son pajaritos guapos.

Just birds.

Backyard inventory: the usual visitors. Sometimes we forget to notice these; just another little brown bird, just another robin. And those starlings! What a nuisance, gobbling down all the suet!

How blind we can be at times!

Birdbath, with starlings and garden angel.

Another bath, this one with a robin.

Sparrow looking over the selection of peanuts.

Towhee and peanut tray.

Varied thrush are shy birds. I came one step closer and he left and didn't come back.

Golden-crowned sparrow.

That downy woodpecker again. Not a regular. I liked the pattern of the busy wings.

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Casi no los vemos a veces; los pájaros "normales', los que siempre visitan nuestros jardines familiares. Otro gorrión, decimos, otro petirrojo. Nada especial. ¡Y esos estorninos! ¡Son una plaga; se comen toda el sebo y no dejan nada para los otros!

A veces parece que estamos ciegos.

Aquí, unos de esos pájaros que pasamos por alto.

1. El baño de pájaros con estorninos.
2. Otro baño, este con un petirrojo.
3. Un gorrión contemplando la charola de los cacahuates.
4. Un rascador (toquí).
5. Un zorzal pinto. Estos pájaros son muy tímidos. Apenas di un paso más, y voló. Y no regresó.
6. Otro gorrión, este con la corona dorada.
7. El pajarito carpintero otra vez. Una visita insólita. Me gustó como se ven las alas en movimiento.
8. 
   

Manna from on high

Starlings congregate underneath the feeder tree, catching bits of suet dropped by a messy eater overhead.

Their bills get all gooped up with the greasy suet, and then the snow sticks to it. Half the starlings have snowy beaks.

The source of the falling suet, a starling waiting his turn, and a grumpy sparrow, who will be third in line at the suet feeder.

Fourth in line. May as well wait over here.

It has stopped snowing. The weather people say more is coming tomorrow.

First spinning chickadee

Three days ago, I hung one of my home-made, spinning, pop bottle chickadee feeders in a shrub I could watch from my window. A flock of starlings has been hogging the suet basket a few metres away, and chasing off any smaller birds that dare to show interest, but I was hoping the spinner was far enough away to allow approach.

Yesterday, the first chickadee showed up. This morning, they were lined up, taking turns.

Chickadee and feeder. The best I could do with fog, poor light, and through glass and a sheet of plastic for winter insulation.

When I've had feeders like this before, they were hanging only a metre or so from my window, where I could sneak up and take photos from behind a curtain; this one is all the way across the yard, in a tangle of branches. I'm thinking of installing a hanging pole much closer to the window.

Three starlings. The rest are waiting on a wire overhead.

Juncos don't usually use the spinning feeder; most are too clumsy to grab the perch as it flies by. The suet is there to cater to their needs, but with the starling invasion, all they get are the crumbs that the starlings let fall. Luckily, the starlings are messy eaters!

A sparrow was at the feeder today; they do fine as long as it's moving slowly. (The chickadees send it spinning at a great rate with their angled landings and takeoffs.)

I'm hoping to attract nuthatches and finches. Spilled black-oil sunflower seeds may bring in other birds, as well.

Now, how do I discourage starlings, without frightening off all the other birds?

(Is anyone interested in the instructions for making these chickadee feeders? Let me know, and I'll post them.)