I've seen and heard lots of these little guys at and around my feeder but they're so quick I can never get a good photo of one. I was finally determined to sit in my yard until I did!
I was thinking about offering seut in addition to the black oil sunflower seeds so I bought this functional feeder! It holds 5 lbs of seed and 2 suet blocks. It's been about a week now and the birds have barely touched the suet. They took to the feeder right away, though.
For several weeks now I suspected this Flicker was emptying my feeder just about everyday! I saw him at my feeder on occasion but it didn't seem like he was there long enough to eat a whole feeder of seed in one day. Then I noticed tons of uncracked seeds on the ground below the feeder. I Finally caught him in the act. He was at my feeder just pecking at all the seeds and throwing them all to the ground like he was looking for something better. Can you see all the seeds piled up under his feet??? Of course I have two squirrels that are dining very well right below the feeder these days. I'm not sure what to do to deter him from doing this because it's getting expensive having to fill it everyday. I was thinking about getting a Suet feeder so he'll go there instead.
My latest backyard visitor! In my quest to identify this bird I found that a Brewer's Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow(winter plumage) are hard to distinguish. After looking at many pictures of both, I'm pretty sure this is a winter-plumage Chipping Sparrow! Frame created by KimB! Next topic...
Greg mounted a nice bracket and ran an extension cord out to the shed, getting it all hooked up safely to last the winter months. A closer look at his handywork of slicone and electrical tape....
You can never be too safe when it comes to electricity AND water!
Me, filling it up to test it out!
It needed to be weighted down with a rock so it wouldn't float but seems to be working nicely. All we neednow is some sub-zero weather to test it :)
