Why older people like birds...

#1
Magical Realist Offline
I don't really go out of my way to see a bird. I've seen most of them, and most my experience of them comes from noting their comforting songs as they waft thru my open apt windows. The best songs are dawn and night calls. The occasional soothing morning dove coo. The mystic hoot of an owl in the night. Birds are the angelic afterlife of long dead dinosaurs. We should have it so good when we give up the ghost.

https://www.orono.org/DocumentCenter/Vie...U3R1zN-sfg
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#2
Syne Offline
Putting up a bird feeder made a huge difference in my appreciation of birds, and their varieties.
Titmouse is my favorite... partially due to its rarity at the bird feeder. But we have a larger assortment of birds than I imagined before putting up the feeder.
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#3
C C Offline
Quote:Requiring only a good pair of binoculars [...] A typical outing involves walking and standing...

Hmm. I guess one has to take into account that most bird watchers live in city structures and artificial habitat, and thereby have to venture to _X_ location that's beyond their residence. Anywhere else, the birds essentially present themselves to you whether you like it or not, and feeders are a passive element for enhancing that (even just providing a water source).

Cedar waxwings always flying around when there's "fruit" on the cedar and hackberry trees. Often wouldn't realize they are overhead if not for the hissing-like whistles.

During warm weather: occasional indigo bunting, blue birds (if putting up a house for one couple), robins, wrens, mourning doves, catbirds, mockingbirds, grackles, scarlet tanagers, and numerous small flycatchers or related birds I can't remember all the names of. Ruby-throated hummingbirds at the sugar water feeders.

Red-bellied woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers at the suet feeder (though they sample sunflower seeds, too). Maybe a Northern Flicker occasionally. Have seen a giant pileated woodpecker a couple of times (but not at a feeder).

The usual birds at the sunflower and millet seed feeders during the winter: Cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmice, and goldfinches -- minus the bright color of the males during summer. Juncos usually only hopping around on the ground. House finches never seemed to show up till early spring.

Blue jays, of course, but they're a menace at driving off the other birds.
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#4
confused2 Offline
CC's bird list puts ours to shame .. regardless..
We have seagulls - which I try to discourage as one seagull can eat about as much as 50 small birds and they just look 'wrong' in a small garden. I've put a smooth rounded thing (upside down gutter) over the bird food which has deterred them for the present. Difficult not to laugh as they slither about trying to reach down to the food without sliding off.
Magpies. Something slightly spooky about magpies.
Pigeons (wood?) .. larger and apparently stupider than town pigeons. Generally not clever enough to handle the slippery perch.
Collared doves - smaller but higher up the pecking order than the pigeons.
Blackbirds (Mrs B. being brown for reasons unknown).
Thrushes or something very similar.
Robins - generally tolerant if not actually seeking out humans.
Sparrows and tits in several colours.


My favourite bit is the first public showing of the new robins/sparrows etc.
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#5
Syne Offline
I'll see if I can get close to current order of frequency (changes in winter):
Sparrow (white-crowns are less frequent), house finch, chickadee, cardinal (desert cardinal very rare), mourning dove, house wren, junco, mocking bird, robin, three sizes of woodpeckers, bluejay, red-wing blackbird, starlings (yuck), goldfinch, titmouse, blue bird, grackle, thrasher, crow (in back yard, plenty elsewhere), hawk (once or twice a year, threatening our bunnies), and last year a few ducks found our yard for a bit. Plenty of hummingbirds once we put out their feeders.

All we put out is songbird feed and sugar water.

Been surprised some of the birds who like the feeder. A few mourning doves have figured it out, but they are not graceful and prefer to stay on the ground. Juncos can use the feeder easily but also prefer the ground. All the woodpeckers use the feeder. Wrens rarely do, seem to like hunting bugs in the wood rack better. Mocking birds just recently figured out the feeder. Never seen a robin use it, just hunting in the yard. Same with the thrashers.
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#7
Zinjanthropos Offline
We feed them black oil sunflower seeds only. According to Google these average 0.3 calories per seed. Still I’m not sure just how many calories are required for flight but judging by the amount they go through and frequency at the feeders it seems quite a few. Not to mention what’s required to put an egg together.

Our feeders are always busy but this year it seems as if there are fewer birds and I wonder if the bird flu has anything to do with it. Could also be that our area has gone from isolated houses to a full blown suburb in the last 2-3 years.
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#8
Syne Offline
We put out a song bird mix (seed, nuts, and berries), and different birds seem to prefer different things. Smaller birds, like chickadees, like the smaller seeds, like millet. Bigger birds, like bluejays, like the peanuts.
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