Finally got my feeders up

[Brian Bailey]

Well I finally got around to putting my feeders up yesterday afternoon.  Lots of activity today.  I'm up to 7 species so far - mainly House Finches and Chickadees. Only 2 House Sparrows! I'll save a lot on seed if they stay away.  

BB

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[winz]

You're lucky.. only 2 House Sparrows.. I have about 20 or more descending on my feeders at a time.. chasing the House Finches, American Goldfinches and Chickadees.

[Brian Bailey]

Yeah, I expect they'll find it soon. Maybe they already have. One of the aggravations of winter bird feeding is that I fill the feeders all week, but only get to see what I'm feeding on the weekend.  

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[BetCrooks]

What do you guys feed with?
We only put out Nyjer and Black Oil Sunflower and the House Sparrows here aren't interested. (They go to our neighbour who uses millet and corn.)
Do House Sparrows eat sunflower and nyjer if they can't get millet/corn?

I hope for your sake you'll only get native birds. (And I'll count House Finches as native, as they are N.Am. even if not eastern N. Am.)

[Brian Bailey]

The House Sparrows might prefer corn, but they happily chow down on black oil sunflower at my house.  I'm sure they would eat Nyger as well. They try sometimes but I think they have trouble getting their stubby bills into the little slots.  

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[Leslie]

"I'm up to 7 species so far..." and only 3 listed!
What are the others?
I haven't seen a house finch in my back yard in ages.
And someone forgot to tell my local house sparrows they don't like black sunflower seed or nyjer seed.

[BetCrooks]

Argh!
I sure hope our neighbourhood house sparrows either don't learn to like sunflower and nyjer or get fed lots of stuff they do like at others' feeders. I don't want them in my yard!

I had lots of visitors today: a flock of 12+ cedar waxwings in the crabapple, along with 3 house finches (first in several years) and a female downie. Then later on a flock of about 7 goldfinches in the black eyed susan seed heads.

No Snowies, Boobies, TB Murres or Elegant Terns though. : )

[Brian Bailey]

So, the other 4 species from day 1 were Downy Woodpecker, WB Nuthatch, Cardinal and Junco.  

The House Sparrows have definitely found my feeders now. There are about 20 this afternoon.  The major consolation prize though was a Carolina Wren! Quite a surprise. I hadn't seen or heard one in the neighbourhood all year.

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