HOW THIS PROJECT STARTED AND FIRST MONTH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2006

I have just begun to feed birds in my back yard in a daily and systematic manner, and have kept records only since December 1, 2006. This FIRST report here is only a month long report, but I hope to add these each month.

Feeders: I began the month of December with 3 feeders and all of them were standard wild bird seed. However, rather quickly we added:

• a sunflower feeder
• two suet cake feeders

As the month went on I added:

• a second smaller sunflower feeder (just the right size for finches but too small to be of use to the starlings, grackles, rock doves and cardinals.
• a thistle feeder
• a corn feeder for the squirrels – a wheel that can hold four ears though I normally only have two on it.
  
• Another central item is my bird bath which I sweep out each morning and fill with clean water.

The results have been most pleasing. On a daily basis I have:

• mourning doves
• pigeon doves
• cardinals
• Eurasian tree sparrows
• common sparrows
• starlings
• common grackles
• house finches
• downy woodpeckers
• dark-eye junkos

That group is in my yard every day and in significant number. In any category there are never fewer than ˝ dozen, and in the case of starlings and doves in can be in the dozens.

There are other visitors which either are less frequent or in smaller numbers.

Almost daily is the northern flicker, both male and female. In November I had a robin that came daily, never once ate at the feeders or on the ground, but did drink at the bird bath. It came on December 1st and I figured that was it for the robin, but then again, much to my surprise it showed up on December 24th!

For a while I had a pair of Carolina wrens living in an old abandoned sparrows nest under the roof of my back porch. I would see it in the nest, but only one time feeding on the ground in the yard. They have now gone and I haven’t seen one in about two weeks.

There started out being one blue jay which came nearly every day, but for a long time never ate. It would come, land in the yard and sit in the trees, but never eat or drink. Finally “it” began to eat now and again, at the feeders and on the ground. A few days ago “it” became a “them” when two showed up, and this morning (Dec. 31st) for the first time there were three. However, two of them seemed to be mainly fighting with the one.

There have been two short visits from a red-bellied woodpecker, but haven’t seen it in the past week and one visit two days ago from a red-winged blackbird.

This is my family home and since my parents built the home in 1949 we have had squirrels. My mother claimed to be able to tell them apart and even named them. I can’t tell them apart. At first I thought there were three of them, but now I count them each morning – a very difficult task since they never are still very long and figuring out just how many there are is not easy. However, one morning I was able to count 7 in the yard and on many days 5 or 6. Today they were rather inactive and I have only seen 3 so far.

I have no plans to add any feeders. (I do put out occasional left over house hold food that I think they might eat.) But I have been advised that blue jays love peanuts. However, I don’t know how to feed the jays nuts without the squirrels taking them all and would appreciate any advice. In general, if any one reading this can advise me on how I might attract other birds.

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