help out your feathered friends too !

[SNUFFY]

A couple days ago I noticed my local birds were hiding under the porch ......most of them with their tounges hanging out. I can`t remember the last time we even had a sprinkle. I`ve been watering the garden for 3 weeks and the new grass in the yard for a week. I found a little flower pot base and filled itfull of water and set it under a shade tree. Within minutes the birds found it and had a field day. Yesterday I went and bought a bird bath that would hold a couple of gallons. Put the other under another tree for the shy ones. It`s been a real hoot watching so many different ones you hardly ever see coming and fillin` up!</p>

They must be broadcasting the news cause everything seems to be coming in and getting `em a drink. Help `em out a little bit if you can ...very entertaining too !</p>

 

[EricM]

emoWorthy emoWorthy

 

[jbh3]

Head over to Tractor Supply and get you a couple of feeders and a sack of sunflower seeds, Snuff. You'll have a BUNCH of customers. They are fun to watch. Have a good one!

 

[SNUFFY]

John, I feed in the winter and yes I do love to watch `em and help `em out when it`s really cold or snowy. I don`t feed once the bugs and stuff come out in the spring. It makes some of them lazy and sometimes the young ones don`t learn howto find their own food the normal way. I didn`t have any squirrels around for years, but a couple showed up a couple years ago and now decided it`s their mission to tear my feeders down too. I`m growing some sunflowers so we`ll have some natural stuff come fall too!

 

[SNUFFY]

The thing about the water is the variety of birds....birds that won`t come near a feeder and stay in the woods have showed up to get a drinkand bath. I`ve had meadowlarks come out of hayfield and woodthrush and even some small red-headed woodpeckers . It`s fun watching to see which ones try to dominate the water too.

 

[mjwendorf]

My parents sent me a picture of a big hawk standing in their bird bath. Then after he left a big red headed wood pecker got in it.

 

[Fishin Fool]

Great post and a great idea. I've noticed when I have my sprinkler on that the birds are flocking to get under it. I also have a fish pond with a waterfall. It is amazing to see how many birds go to that thing on a given day! Yesterday at one point I counted 11 birds standing on the top of the waterfall and around the base.

 

[jbh3]

We water them too. Get a pretty wide variety even here in the "city". Also have a hawk that makes the rounds. The squirrels are a pest. Got a guard on our pole feeder that helps keep them off that one. Got to keep the feeder far enough from a tree so they can't jump to the feeder. A pellet gun helps thin the herd. Pat, you were talking about the young not learning to feed if you feed this time of year. Would you believe my mother in law is going over to C&C and buying worms to feed her young bluebirds?!! Now that may be taking it a l-i-t-t-l-e too far. LOL!! Stay cool, y'all.

 

[SNUFFY]

It`s amazing what people will do for their little animals ain`t it.
I`ll learned about not feeding when I got ready to leave my home in West Knox many years ago to move down here to Loudon. I had been feeding the birds for years and not for sure if the next occupant of my house would continue, I decided I needed to ween them of the feeder a little at a time. So when it ran out I`d wait a day or two before I`d fill it up again. All of the regulars adapted to the loss of easy food pretty quick except for one fat Cardinal...he`d just sit there and wait..... sometimes for a few days. I`d give in after a day or two and fill the feeder. I really don`t think he knew how find his food. I guess when their born and the mama`s are eating there they just follow right along. I thinks it`s better to just help them in the winter when it`s tuff to find their food.....there plenty the reat of the year. Mom` got about 10 feeders at her house in Powell...even puts out food for the squirrels... It looks like Ohare Airport over there !
I`ve found a .22 cal ratshot shell works real good on the squirrels and will really get the stray dogs to movin on too !!

 

[catjuggin]

We keep several bird baths out and have a goldfish pond. Chief like to sit in there and cool himself. I keep a blue hereon decoy at my pond to ward off other possible herons who would eat the fish. The tweety birds love the water, I'm glad my $300/ month water bill keeps some critters happy beside the hydrangeas and roses