Monday, March 16, 2009

Caught Red Handed

Wow. What a year it has been at the feeders. I changed the feeders around a little bit during the fall. First, I purchased a "squirrel proof" sunflower seed feeder. This has 6 feeding ports and holds a ton of seed. I also added a niger sock thanks to Lori and Tara's input. I also changed to hulled seeds so that there is no mess to clean up. I use the Patio Mix from the Wild Bird Center on the ground and the hulled sunflower seeds in the tube feeder.

Well, the results have been really good. We have Goldfinches by the dozen at the sunflower and niger feeders. We also have 20+ Pine Siskins as well which we have never seen at our feeders before this year. We continue to have the usual suspects including:

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chickadees, Titmice, Juncos, Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, House Sparrows (but only 2), House Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays (occassionally), Mourning Doves (although we had 2 killed by hawks this year), Carolina Wrens, and Robins (in the yard, not at the feeders).

Last week, the suet feeder was on the ground behind the garage. I thought that a squirrel got it. The other morning, I found the sunflower feeder on the ground, open and empty. Hmmmm.

Last night, I left Cocoa out to pee and saw the whole tree that holds the feeders shaking. I looked up to see the racoon holding onto the sunflower feeder. The little sucker wouldn't let go even with me yelling at him! So there I was at 10:30 PM on the ladder taking all of the feeders into the garage. Little sucker.

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