R2D2s are back

[Ken Garlock]

Actually, the Purple Martins are back and singing away. Why R2D2? The way the Martins sing and chortle, they remind LOML and me of the Star Wars droid, R2D2.

The Martins are really fun to watch, they only eat bugs that they catch while flying. As a result, they are the most accomplished fliers of the small bird world, if not the entire bird world. They ride the air currents and just sail and sail.

This spring we erected our 5th Martin house. I told LOML that we had enough already, but she went ahead and got a fancy one of 2 stories. On top of that our daughter bought another story/layer that attached to the existing two stories for a total of three. The whole 3 story apartment must have weighed in around 35+ pounds. The base for the supporting pole is 3 feet in the ground with 5 bags of sackcrete to hold it in place.

Most any time the hummingbirds will be arriving, then the 5 feeders go up as does the sugar bill. They are also fun to watch because they are very territorial and play 'king of the hill' at the feeders.

[Joe Pelonio]

Right now we're enjoying the junkos, chickadees and the occasional varied thrush. We have a feeder, birdbath and all. We dread the Starlings though. One or two of those darned things always seem to find a way of getting into the attic space and then into a wall causing me to have to cut a hole in the sheetrock to get them out. We never did get the one that was there last year, it's probably dried up in a wall still.

Around here the Purple Martins are limited to Seattle and west, my Mom gets them in Port Angeles but we're too far inland, sort of between Seattle and the Cascades.

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Most any time the hummingbirds will be arriving, then the 5 feeders go up as does the sugar bill. They are also fun to watch because they are very territorial and play 'king of the hill' at the feeders.

We have hummers here year-round, and LOML makes sure the feeders never go dry. I'd guess we go through about a gallon of sugar water a day. I think we own stock in the C&H Sugar company by now. She mixes it up in each individual feeder (I think we have about 5 of them), and ends up spending quite a bit of time daily handling the birds. Then of course, she complains about never having enough time to do other things. I'm still trying to convince LOML that it's be more efficient to mix up the hummer juice in a 5-gallon container, but getting her to change her process is about like getting me to go to the barber.

No martins here that I'm aware of, but we have a pair of resident hawks, several owls, bats, a boatload of mourning doves, and the usual assortment of nondescript brown tweety birds.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

Too early for Hummers here, but there's a lot of "hot birdie action" outside goin' on. The house finches are already nesting outside our girls' windows behind the shutters, too. Lot's of bluebird action, too...

[Jim DeLaney]

Right now we're enjoying the junkos, chickadees and the occasional varied thrush. We have a feeder, birdbath and all...

I've got all those, plus doves, cardinals, jays, sparrows, nuthatches, redwing blackbirds, robins, finches, and three varieties of woodpeckers.

So far this winter, I've gone through 320 pounds of mixed bird seed, 200 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds (squirrels get a lot of those), and 40 pounds of nyger thistle seed. Feeding all those birds is very entertaining, but gets a bit costly, too! We often just sit for hours, watching the birds.

Once in a while, a Coopers hawk comes by to take a bird off the feeder - Hey, they gotta eat, too!

Oh yeah, the latest addition is a pair of mallards that come by a couple times a day to glean under the feeders.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Too early for Hummers here, but there's a lot of "hot birdie action" outside goin' on. The house finches are already nesting outside our girls' windows behind the shutters, too. Lot's of bluebird action, too...

Jim,
Do you have bluebird houses out. I put out houses for bluebirds last spring. I saw several bluebirds checking them out, but they must not have passed inspection. None moved in. The tree swallows loved them though. The same thing this year. The bb visited & then moved on & the tree swallows moved in.
We also have a goose building a nest by the pond.

[Robert Mickley]

the wife feeds the birds, Only thing I recognize are the woodpeckers, cardinals, bluejays, morning doves and the chickadees. Geese? If you want geese I can send you one or two, must have been a 100 or them out in the pasture this morning