OT; Blue Birds Feeding

My former co-worker sent me this picture of blue birds feeding. He said there was 8 of them. Hal

Looks cute!! Where are you at? Here in West Tn I haven't seen any for almost a month...too cold maybe? Charles

I haven't seen too many bluebirds lately, but we usually have a lot over the summer.We have several nest boxes and they bring off multiple clutches.Fun to watch develope.

Larry in Michigan

I'm in northeastern MD near the PA and Delaware line. Hal

Had a blue bird at our feeder over the weekend. We don't see a lot of them though. Location: South Central Ks.

E toro what kind of suet do you use for attracting bluebirds? Would like to get them coming around more frequently, we have a nest box and they are at it at times even in this weather and some food would help keep them I'm sure. Thanks, mEl

We would have more blue birds but the same people who donate to the humane society and peta. They also let their cats out who hunt and kill everything that moves.

I worked with this man about 25 years before I retired that sent me this picture. I will call him to see what suet he has used. I only had blue birds for one year back in the late 1970's.
Back then there were 50 odd acres behind me and I had a nest box setup at the end of the garden. The birds moved right in and had a hatching. My wife saw the birds flying around like something was bothering them. She walked down a found a black snake climbing the pole and she grabbed a hoe and carried that snake up and put him in a box. I asked what she would have done if that snake crawled off the hoe. She said he was a dead snake then. I took him to work and let him loose. I never had any birds after that and they filled it with houses a few years later. Blue birds like it where nothing bothers them. I like purple martins too and had them for years until summer 1972 when a freak storm came through. My wife said there's something wrong in the martin house. She said there was a bad odor
like something dead. I dropped the house down and found all the baby birds had drowned from the heavy rain around 7 inches. I never got martins
after that. I even bought new houses and they would look at it and leave. Hal

We don't have the same birds here in Germany.Some, but not all. Got a bird that's built, eats, and acts like a Robin but it's all black. Some small finches, but no gold finches. Blue Jays are oversized, and there are all three woodpecker varieties. But, I miss the Blue Birds, Cardinals, red winged Blackbirds, and Gold Finches.

When I was a kid, there was an old abanded house (almost a mansion) with a big Martin house that was an exact model of it. Didn't think anything of it then, but now, i wonder if anyone had ever restored it.

Dave

Great pics Hal, do you ever get to see any Orioles? Another absolutely beautiful bird with a one of a kind song.

Great picture! I enjoy seeing the blue birds at our farm in e. Tx.

I always used deer fat.

Nice pictures!

I get lots of Orioles at my place here in Idaho Falls, Id. Lots of big shade trees. No bluebirds, though. Here we have Mountain bluebirds, all blue and no red on them. I'd love to see one of your Eastern Bluebirds sometime. I've been a bird watcher since 1972 or so. It's been a great enjoyment to me.
More people should do it.

I called my former co-worker and he get's his suet from Wal Mart for 99cents. He also puts out mealworms as the blue birds and wood peckers like them. Hal

Here's the martin house I built back in the mid 1960's. Hal

My co-worker had the Orioles until he decided to remove the tree. He never saw them after that. I had a Pielated woodpecker behind my property until they built it full of houses. Hal

Blue birds typically survive on a diet of insects, they tend to leave the northern climates as things freeze up and the bugs die off. However, they seem to be one of the earliest species back in the spring (at least here in Michigan). Houses facing open areas will get the most use, and they are pretty territorial so the houses need to be spaced out a little bit to get multiple broods in the same area. I have had them nest in a parts tractor before.