The Off Topic Topic

[KRonn]

Ugh the grackles are back.  From what i can tell, all they do is shit everywhere and make a bunch of noise.

I have bird feeders up for winter feeding so in a couple weeks I'll have to decide whether to stop filling them for a while as the grackles, starlings and other birds migrate back for the summer. All those birds go through too much seed but it usually seems to level out a bit later when there's more natural food to be had.

[mongers]

Ugh the grackles are back.  From what i can tell, all they do is shit everywhere and make a bunch of noise.

Those are your 'blackbirds' right?

In unrelated bird news, my various sparrow visitors have recently been bothered by a sparrow hawk turning up around the feeders. 

Today saw a wren and a goldcrest turning up, two of our smallest birds.


Also how does America do with tits, there are some particularly nice ones that visit my garden. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

Ugh the grackles are back.  From what i can tell, all they do is shit everywhere and make a bunch of noise.

Those are your 'blackbirds' right?

In unrelated bird news, my various sparrow visitors have recently been bothered by a sparrow hawk turning up around the feeders. 

Today saw a wren and a goldcrest turning up, two of our smallest birds.


Also how does America do with tits, there are some particularly nice ones that visit my garden. 

Nah, I don't think grackles are included in the "blackbird" group, although they are mostly black or at least dark colored.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle 

*googles "tits" at work* NO, I MEANT SOME SORT OF BIRD TYPE

I have bird feeders up for winter feeding so in a couple weeks I'll have to decide whether to stop filling them for a while as the grackles, starlings and other birds migrate back for the summer. All those birds go through too much seed but it usually seems to level out a bit later when there's more natural food to be had.

Do they still operate in essentially horde fashion when they're up there? 

[ulmont]

Also how does America do with tits, there are some particularly nice ones that visit my garden. 

We call them "chickadees" and they live everywhere.

Nah, I don't think grackles are included in the "blackbird" group, although they are mostly black or at least dark colored.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle 

Both grackles and blackbirds are in the Icterid family, but no closer than that.

[mongers]

Also how does America do with tits, there are some particularly nice ones that visit my garden. 

We call them "chickadees" and they live everywhere.

Nah, I don't think grackles are included in the "blackbird" group, although they are mostly black or at least dark colored.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle 

Both grackles and blackbirds are in the Icterid family, but no closer than that.

Thanks for that.

My favourite tits are long-tailed tits, they always seem to hang around in family groups of 3-5, have a nice bouncing flight and make a cute squibbing call.

[KRonn]

Also how does America do with tits, there are some particularly nice ones that visit my garden. 

We call them "chickadees" and they live everywhere.

Nah, I don't think grackles are included in the "blackbird" group, although they are mostly black or at least dark colored.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grackle 

Both grackles and blackbirds are in the Icterid family, but no closer than that.

Chickadees are way cool. They seem to be the least shy birds. I often can walk within a few feet of my bird feeders and chickadees will still feed, at least for a bit. Other birds scatter as soon as I enter the back yard.

Speaking of grackles, I saw one today so maybe they're starting to migrate back for the summer.

My feeders are squirrel proof. When a squirrel manages to climb the slim metal pole to get to one of the feeders hanging on the arms of the pole, an outside screen closes down, blocking the feed ports. I gave up using anything else because of squirrels. The exception is a finch feeder hanging off my shed. The seeds in it are so small and the feed ports just big enough for a bird's beak, and squirrels never try to get at it.

[mongers]

Seems that old world tits are somewhat more colourful and varied as compared to the new world cousins?:

Long tailed:


Great:


Blue:


Your Chickadees look more like our coal and marsh tits,
Coal:


Marsh:

[Ed Anger]

I feel robbed. FALSE ADVERTISING OF TITS

[mongers]

I feel robbed. FALSE ADVERTISING OF TITS

Here have some huge melons as compensation:

[KRonn]

"Your Chickadees look more like our coal and marsh tits,"

Yep, very similar. I often get Goldfinches and occasional House Finches (red on head and parts of wings and body)  at my feeders. I get those mainly from the finch feeders I have setup - they like that kind of seed. Juncos and Chickadees sometimes feed from those along with the other feeders with regular bird seed.

At times I get some unusual birds, like downy woodpeckers or yellow bellied sapsuckers. Those are cool looking birds.  I used to put out suet feeders for those type birds to attract them more. Even though I tried to make them difficult for squirrels to get to, those critters would still usually find a way to knock them to the ground and raid them. Damn squirrels will eat anything.

[Eddie Teach]

Boobies are cooler than tits.

[mongers]

"Your Chickadees look more like our coal and marsh tits,"

Yep, very similar. I often get Goldfinches and occasional House Finches (red head, parts of wings and body)  at my feeders. I get those from the finch feeders I have setup - they like that kind of seed. Juncos and Chickadees sometimes feed from those along with the other feeders with regular bird seed.

At times I get some unusual birds, like downy woodpeckers or yellow bellied sapsuckers. Those are cool looking birds.  I used to put out suet feeders for those birds to attract them more. Even though I tried to make them difficult for squirrels to get to, those critters would usually find a way to knock them to the ground and raid them. Damn squirrels will eat anything.

Once or twice a year we get a common woodpecker at the feeders, but generally mostly just garden birds.

Oddly squirrels don't seem so much of a problem in this neck of the woods, but there's plenty of the buggers on back roads and cycle tracks I use; the other day one nearly had me, as one instinctively try to steer away from them as they kamikaze under the wheels. 

[katmai]

My god this forum has become this?!?

[Eddie Teach]

Mongers has always been like this, he just found someone to indulge him.

[katmai]

Looks like I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue.