Feed Station Zebra.. Spring 2024

The little boogers can bee persistent for sure , I am just waiting for my Kiefer Pears to get a bit bigger and the squirrels will be carrying them off birds too for that matter . Son shot one with the pellet gun just knocked him out the tree and he got up shook it off and hauled , didnt see any for awhile now they are coming back few at a time

Gotta say that them squirrels are sure a crafty little rodent and can be good problem solvers....

My wife and I are amateurish birders and feed them in the backyard as well and also have a bath for them…I like to photograph them and those we find out in the county…, We live in a rural tiny town so we get a lot of species that come to the yard.,, Fortunately we don’t have tree squirrels where we live ..,

Nice contrast of a redwing and yellowheaded blackbird sitting together. We have redwings here, but I don't believe I've ever seen a yellowhead in this part of the country.

rsv1cox wrote:Looks like a Swiss chalet roddie serving smorgasbord, a little something for everybody.  Mom used to set out suet for the Chickadees, but I never tried it.  Robins are back here in abundance, Bluebirds too.  Saw a Red Cardinal last week, brilliant in his deepest breeding season red.  

Now if it would just stop raining.  Still going on out there.    

Yes Robert, I enjoy trying different seeds/feed to see what species of birds I can attract. I'm on my 3rd 50# bag of black oil sunflower seed since the beginning of this past Winter. I mix the seed and a few cups of dried mealworms into a steel canister for storage. That seems to attract a nice variety. I also hang a tube-feeder that dispenses thistle/nyjer seed, which the Goldfinches love. Then there's currently X3 suet cages which get the "no-melt" type suet cakes. The cakes last 3-5 days on average. The two Cedar trough-style feeders have gone through some modifications in an effort to control their dispensing. They can be emptied in one day otherwise.. I'll post more on that soon.

Ooo.. I've neglected this thread too....

This is the feed-station's current configuration.



X2 trough-feeders which I fill with a mixture of black-oil sunflower-seed, with a healthy portion of nut & berry feed.. and dried meal-worms.

A central tube is filled with Nyjer/Thistle-seed and there are X3 suet-cages that are regularly filled with a "no-melt" seed-suet that my birdie friends seem to love.

Been a while... We had our deck refinished which required relocating Feed-Station Zebra to a free-standing arrangement.. about 8 feet away from the deck. The "Slinky" is still working to repel squirrels. They don't like the way it feels when they try to climb the pole. There hasn't been a squirrel at the feeders since I installed it.







Males; Cardinal and Bluebird.. enjoying the bounty of the feed-station.

We get a LOT of birds at Feed Station Zebra...

They don't like the Slinky, but if it is like the videos I have seen online, would be rather funny though to watch......

NEW222 wrote:They don't like the Slinky, but if it is like the videos I have seen online, would be rather funny though to watch......

I haven't watched any Slinky vids.. and I haven't witnessed many squirrels trying to get at our feeder. I installed the Slinky several years ago and have only actually seen two perpetrators trying to defeat it... unsuccessfully. One was just recently.. and likely a youngster who hadn't tried before. They don't get very far before giving up.

If there's less than 6ft. of clearance spherically.. they'll be able to to reach a feeder.

As resourceful as they are; they haven't been able to get at the bird's food with the slinky around the pole. This gives me a huge sense of accomplishment..

That's really nice Robert! We've had a steady stream of visitors to ours. I rinse-out and change the nectar every couple of weeks.. and buy the "concentrate" type that has calcium for thicker egg-shells. Any "red" coloring should state that it's natural.. because the artificial red dyes are not healthy for them. "Beet juice" is an alternative for red coloring.. if you boil/mix your own "sugar-water" for them. I've been buying Pennington concentrate which makes up to 64oz. and fills two quart bottles which I keep in the refrigerator.



I have used "clear" nectar.. but I always look for the calcium ingredient when I sourced it.

I've been blending my own mix of wild bird foods to attract different varieties. Dried mealworms are GREAT.. but they're very expensive. I source them through Amazon for a LOT cheaper than any local store where I've seen them. Nut & berry varieties are good.. and sometimes I throw in a "finch-blend". We also have a tube-feeder for Nyjer (thistle) seed.. and X3 suet-cake cages on the feed station.
 




We regularly see woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, goldfinches, house finches, bluebirds, cardinals, mourning doves, Carolina wrens, grosbeaks, blue jays, grackles, cat birds, cow birds, Northern flickers, red-winged blackbirds, house wrens, Baltimore orioles, European starlings and juncos at the feed station.

I buy X3 2lb. bags of jumbo unsalted peanuts in the shell for $3.29/ea. (6lbs. for $9.87) which I feed to the 4-legged critters. A handful of peanuts.. along with a cup of the mixed-seed in two locations set a good ways apart.



Then there's the big hawks and owls who occasionally perch on the shed-roof, deck railings or a nearby tree-limb. They're all fascinating and a joy to behold.

I had to intervene today.. on a situation between a Carolina Wren family.. that had occupied the space on top of the engine and under the hood of the "free" lawn-tractor that I took ownership of a few weeks ago..



I had put some "anti-buzz" foam under the hood.. in areas where there was obvious metal-to-metal contact. I had the hood open for this.







Just two days later.. I went out to assess some other work needed under the hood.. and find this;  







OK.. this changes everything. It took a while to figure out "who's" nest it was... I'd seen chipmunks around the machine and I was already to "move it" somewhere else.. when the birdie made his or herself apparent.

I told my wife Lynne about this newfound occupation and she said not to disturb the nest.  

So........ there's a family in there. I've witnessed food being taken in by I presume the male. Caterpillars, slugs... and such.. Lynne read that the males are the vocal ones.

I hear and watch them. They're an aggressive little bird.. and not too afraid of humans.. (or me.. at least) They'll perch near enough to me; to almost touch.



When this little bird "chirps"... it's almost deafening.. I'm amazed that such a loud sound can come from such a little creature..



So... today; there was repeated chirping.. that changed to more of a clicking.. enough to make me look out the kitchen window.. where the tractor is in full view. There was a chipmunk sitting on the front tire of the tractor. The chipmunk jumped-off the tire.. and ran across the yard with the birdie "dive-bombing".. and the fight went into the brush...  

This happened two more times... where a chipmunk was "taunting".. sitting on the tractor's front tire.. or standing-up like a prairie-dog.. just to make him or herself known...

I shoo'd the little critter away from the tractor.. and put some kibble in the critter-saucer over near the shed. That put an end to the antics.. at least for today.

Good on you guys for feeding and caring for the birds…. They’re fun to interact with and learn about….Artsy shot of my Martin house early one morning with the moon behind it…Babies about two weeks old in the photo….They are about ready to fly now….raised about a dozen this year….

rdw777 wrote:Good on you guys for feeding and caring for the birds…. They’re fun to interact with and learn about….Artsy shot of my Martin house early one morning with the moon behind it…Babies about two weeks old in the photo….They are about ready to fly now….raised about a dozen this year….

We get SoOo much enjoyment feeding the birds and critters. We're not much on gardening these days.. so we have no worries about vegetation getting disturbed or eaten. They're trying to survive... just like we are.. and we love to watch and learn from them.

Thanks for sharing your experience Robert.