Same here.

I am having trouble keeping the Starlings(?) away from mine. I also have about 20 of what I think are Redwinged Blackbirds that are taking over. Any suggestions?? The cardinals and all the little ones seem to still be getting some, though.

Randy,

Lucky birds. I can't imagine how they survive the cold if people aren't putting out food for them. It looks like y'all have quite a bit of snow.

Scott,

I have no answer on Starlings or Red-Wing Blackbirds except this: you can buy some birdfeeders that are surrounded by cages. With some woven wire fence that has similar sized openings, you probably could rig a 'cage' over and/or around a bird feeder or food that is on the ground or on a shallow pan for ground feeders. The cage lets the smaller songbirds through, but not the larger and less desirable nuisance type birds.

I only have Red-winged Blackbirds during snow or sleet storms. Any other time they live off whatever seeds or grains they find in the fields I guess. When it snows or sleets, they show up by the dozen.

Starlings are a bigger problem because they are so aggressive and often come in huge flocks. I usually send a cat outside to patrol the bird feeding area. The cats don't bother the usual birds that come here and eat every day, but the 'stray' birds that only show up in icy or snowy weather don't know that, so they take off when they see the cat walking across the yard.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of a Caged Feeder

Hey Randy, What are you feeding those birds? That second one looks like it just had too many wine coolers. LOL You are getting some great pictures as usual. Stay warm. Carol

A coyote just visited our feeders. I guess it was attracted by all the activity. There are about 50 birds at any one time around the feeders. Our dog is in the garage.

When we ran to the window it looked at us briefly and then trotted back to the woods about 200 yds away. It did get the starlings away, though.

Scott,

Coyotes visit us too during snowstorms. They generally don't come as close to the house as the feeding station, but they go out back where I put out deer corn.

I know this cold weather is hard on all the wild things, but I don't like having the predators hanging around.

It is amazing to me how much the 'traffic' in the yard picks up during snow and sleet. I love going outside the morning after a big snow and just looking at all the wild animal tracks that are everywhere. There's always so many more tracks than I would have expected.

Dawn

Be sure to check your feeders - mine were covered with over 1" of ice and it even had the feeding ports iced over. The birds were going to the feeders in huge numbers but they weren't able to get any seed out. We had to bring the feeders inside and chip the ice off. By the way, I enjoy the "bird talk" - I think it is a part of gardening.

Here is a photo I just took of my ugly "feeding station". I bring out a few tomato cages, some branches, and a couple of extra feeders any time we have ice or snow. It is just out our back window where the concrete stops. The coyote came up to the feeder and then trotted straight back to the woods. I think it was a coyote. It may have been a cougar.

OK Scot, enough about the cougar. LOL It is amazing what you can see when you have snow. Last snowfall we could see tracks all around our chicken coop, and where it went over the fence and all around our neighbors storage, then back around again. We didn't find them until some melting had occurred but we think ours was a red fox since we see them in our neighborhood lots of nights. A couple of nights ago, I walked outside late at night and saw something move by my front porch. Since there is usually a cat there, I didn't even pay any attention until I was well into the yard and when I did look it was a possum. I guess the cats had left him a little food. LOL

Randy, I love that second picture. The bird looks like it is falling off the limb! I think they are Harris Sparrows. I had a few last year, but not this year. I love them.

We haven't had any ice so our feeders have remained open.

Glad everyone likes the pics.

Occasionally a blackbird flock will come in and try to clean me out. They spook fairly easy and leave after a few attempts.

My little feeding station next to the garage door so I can shoot from inside if I want. The perch is from cedar branches.

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Carol,

The silly thing decided to move down to the ground right as I hit the shutter button.

Glenda,

I'm pretty sure you are right. The two birds in focus look to be females.

randy

I am just posting this picture taken this morning to show how many Cardinals were visiting after the 7-inch snow storm. It is a poor quality shot, but you can see the redbirds. I think if you click, it will take you to the Snowstorm album and a larger picture.

Glenda,

Nice. Think about 8 male cardinals at a time is the most I've seen this year. I once counted 15 about 10 years ago. But my neighbor started letting out her house cats and they started killing birds big time. I quit feeding them so they weren't easy targets. Just started feeding them again a few months ago.

randy

That is a great picture.

The cardinals and redwinged blackbirds here seem to all get along well. They don't chase the smaller finches, sparrows, and chickadees either. The juncos(I think) seem to have a well-defined pecking order, but all the others are pretty laid-back here.

My parents are having lots of bluebirds, tufted titmouse (?), meadowlarks, and a couple kinds of woodpeckers all come to their pecan feeders during the snow. They chase off the meadowlarks because of how much they seem to eat. They have a very interesting location.

After just observing the birds for a while, I'll have to take back the part about the cardinals being laid-back. They are very aggressive with each other today. Maybe because there are no other large birds at the feeders now.