I've recently been looking through pictures and i sure took a lot of pictures of birds last winter. :) We only have the one feeder and a couple of suet cages. I've heard of the insect/suet things but have never seen them anywhere.

We get a lot of pine grosbeaks in the winter and have a resident flock of about 6-8 chickadees. Last year there were no nuthatches but i've seen at least one this year. This year there's been some other birds around that i haven't been able to ID. Maybe if i get a picture of them, someone here will know what they are.

This picture was taken in February last year.

This pileated woodpecker or her mate stops by every day to feed on suet and clean up the trees.

And what winter would be complete without a flock of Bohemian waxwings feasting in a mountain ash tree?

I don't have any pictures, but speaking of Bohemian Waxwings, what do they eat if there aren't trees with berries around in winter? We've had a flock of 50+ in our yard(we live on a farm) for the past couple of weeks, and I always wonder what they are eating. We have a row of green ash and double row Colorado spruce shelterbelt as well as a few rows of poplar, and a number of berry producing ornamental trees, but they are all small and don't have any berries on them at this point.

They sure are noisy!

Chickadees:
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Al

Weeper, waxwings clean out an area and move on. They don't eat anything in the winter except fruit, and they don't stick around long.

I haven't had anything but chickadees and nuthatches. In warmer winters we get redpolls, finches, grosbeaks etc. but not the past 2 years.

Great pics!

Chickadees are wonderful, the ones around here aren't tame enough to land in your hand like in the pic above, but they are still a very cheery bird that I'm welcome to have around.

My chickadee pic from a few days ago, eating a sunflower kernel.....
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I find that redpolls turn up later in the winter, February or March. We haven't had a lot of variety this year - chickadees, a couple of nuthatches, pine grosbeaks, a downy woodpecker and a hairy one. The birds I couldn't ID haven't been around for awhile.

Northspruce - that's kind of bizarre, then! I wonder where they are finding berries around our place? Maybe we have some chokecherry bushes on our land that I'm not aware of!

Hedges and bush around here often have a lot of viburnums and hawthorn, and in the city they eat from many decorative fruit trees. One thing's for sure, they move on once they run out!

Here are a couple of pics of the birds I can't figure out. Probably something simple! LOL
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Not the clearest pictures in the world, for which I apologize. :)

Marciaz3, my initial guess was a house finch although it could also be a Purple finch. A clean shot of the bill would be great LOL!..... If it is a house finch that is a nice 'development' you have there!!!!

SCG

I'd guess they're redpolls. I think I can spot the spot of red on their heads. I've got lots of them this winter and they're loving the niger feeder.

Pretty sure they're nonbreeding goldfinches. I had some around a couple of years ago that stumped me until Pudge suggested that and she was right.

Ahh good other guesses.... Both crossed my mind as well....but the beaks didn't appear right for them....lol

Maybe marciaz3 can tell us if there was red on the head for certain. When I blew the picture up some appeared to have red on the head, neck and chest... but I am guessing.

I can tell you why I am thinking house finch. BTW I find bird ID's fun if you couldn't tell.

-Apparent red markings on head, chest and neck
-single white bands on wings
-Beak on top right and middle bird in the line of 3 from left to right both have what appear to be short, thick beaks that the top appears to curve down.
-Tail appears long and the notch is shallow
-the pic of the single appears to be a female and its face doesn't have a noticeable pattern like the purple finch
-noted they came and went together, gregarious behaviour.

BUT.... I have been wrong before which makes it all the more fun.

SCG

I'll see if i can get a better picture next time they're around. They don't turn up every day. It might come out clearer if it was sunny, but there hasn't much of that the past few days. I really don't think they're finches of any kind. They're too streaky and more slender than finches. We have purple finches and goldfinches in the summer and i'm pretty sure there's a shape difference. Just found a picture of a goldfinch and i can see it. According to a couple of sites i looked at both goldfinches and purple finches have more colour than these birds.

Better pic would be great!!! Methinks they are finches of some kind. A red head would almost seal the deal.

Color is very regional and dependant on diet. The beak shape is what really helps.

I am still in the house finch camp. Lol.. House finches are 'drab' in markings compared to others.

Fun stuff.

SCG

Here's a couple of house finch pictures from my feeders last week. Last year I was calling these redpolls, but I think it was SCG who corrected me...

Male and female together:
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Male only:
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Mine aren't house finches. I was trying to look at them today - they're skittish so you can't get too close to them like you can with chickadees. They have a rufous breast but not red at all. Their beaks are small and pointed and not heavy like a finch's.

I anxiously await new pics. A shot of the beak and facial markings would be most awesome. Even one under good light we can blow up. Lol.

But... I still most certainly think it is related to a finch.

Lol.

SCG

There might be a bit of sun today so i'll keep the camera handy. There sure are a bunch of birds out there this morning - lots of pine grosbeaks, those little guys, a few chickadees and a blue jay just now. They're all skittish this morning, and one of the grosbeaks just hit our living room window, fortunately not too hard.

I didn't see streaking on your photo but if they are streaked, they could be pine siskins. You can tell those because they have a call that sounds like zweeeeep.

They're a little bigger than siskens, and no yellow on them at all. :)

Okay, i just went and got some pictures, and the little - ahems! - now seem to have some red on them. Except for the one in the tree. (hoping that by hitting preview i can add more pictures without uploading them first). Nope, no can do. Why aren't all sites easy like Facebook??

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Sometimes pine siskins don't have any obvious yellow... but those are definitely redpolls!

Yeah, now they are! LOL But they weren't before. They transformed, that's it....

Some still don't have any red on them. Maybe they start growing red feathers later in the winter?

Don't only the males have the red breasts?

Can you do quotes in here? Probably not!
"All redpolls are northern breeding woodland species, associated with birch trees. They are small birds, brown or grey-brown above and with a red forehead patch. The adult male's breast is washed in red, but in females and young birds the buff breast and white belly are streaked with brown. The bill is small and yellow. Some birds, particularly young ones, are difficult to assign to species."

This is from Wikipedia. So i think my answer is there.The next question is, will i remember this next year when they're at the feeder again and i'm wondering what the heck they are!

X2 for redpoll in these pics, but they are diffent than some in the original, however.

And yes, I am difficult.

Lol

SCG

I know, SCG - but they do have the same wingbars. Hard to figure out!

Yeah marcia it is, the beak is often the only way to differentiate.

I can't wait till next year when I will put feeders up again! Might even start this year.....)

Keep the pics coming I love them all!!!!

SCG

Downy woodpecker, a very regular visitor to my insect-suet. This is a female.
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Closer view:
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Nice don!! It is hard to figure out how they got their name, much like the blackbird it baffles me.

Keep the pics coming!!!

SCG

Nice pics everyone!

Chickadees are rather easy to tame. When your feeder runs out of seed and your birds are eagerly looking for more, stand very nearby to the feeder with sunflower seeds in your outstretched hand and softly whistle and mimic their songs. Go out several times a day and It won't take too long before they begin to get really close up and then one hops onto your hand. There's something really special about having them gain your trust and eagerly following you and landing upon your head or shoulders. I've had them fly long distances across the yard to visit me, so keep some sunflower seeds in your pocket. If you have cats or a dog that would go after them, then not such a great idea to tame the birds.