Amazing Hummingbirds

Michie

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you have well behaved cats :)
mine is an avid hunt it all. i was thinking of putting a collar on her with jingle bells so it would help warn the birds. was it you that mentioned eons ago that there are special safe collars for cats?
Yes. That was me. Never put a collar on a cat that is not a safety collar. :thumbsup:
 
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Michie

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what makes them different? are they easy for the cat to take it off on his own? can they be found at grocery stores or just pet stores. sorry for so many questions
Cats can get their jaws hooked into the collar. Get hooked on anything & strangled or trapped. The elastic or snap prevents all that. You should find them at your local per store or a farm store like Rural King.
 
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Anygma

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thanks, i'll have to look next time i have a chance. i want to give bird and extra chance to escape and also help identify that our cats are not stray when they wander by neighboring houses.

we've put our name down to get day old chicks this evening. hope we can get some this year. other year the farmer was saying he was all back ordered and couldn't take any more requests. we go through so many dozen eggs a week, chicken will be worth it even just for the eggs although we're going for dual purpose birds :) it's gonna get quite lively in our yard with all those birds around :)

are there any hummingbird houses? if so, do you have any?
 
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Gwendolyn

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Oh my gosh!!! That is so precious and very special. Sometimes we see hummingbirds around my house, so I would like to put a feeder out. Maybe I could be lucky enough like the lady in the picture :)

I love wildlife so much. We get a lot of wildlife in our backyard but we never try to train them because we live in a suburban area and we do not want to make them feel like ALL people are safe (because that is not the case). I get red squirrels, chipmunks, black/grey squirrels, brown rabbits, all manner of birds (hawks/crows/sparrows/chickadees/wrens/starlings/cardinals/bluejays/etc.), ducks, turkeys (!!), frogs, raccoons, bats, and deer. There is a very small ravine in my backyard and the animals love it.

in the winter, the deer come into our backyard to eat the euonymus bushes. Sometimes they are desperately hungry because their habitat is disappearing :( When they get desperate, they stay at the back fence and do not move even if we come outside because they are hoping we might give them some food. Mum takes pity on them and gives them some carrots/apples sometimes.

The funniest thing was seeing the turkeys wander by. Why in the world are there wild turkeys in a developed neighbourhood? So funny.
 
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St_Barnabus

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I just had a physics lesson yesterday. My feeder is shaped like a lantern with the narrow part at the bottom. In the afternoon, I saw that the water level had dropped about an inch and wondered if the birds had found my feeder; however, this morning when the temperature was lower by about 30 degrees, I saw that the level had risen about 1-1/2". Who would think that there would be this much contraction/expansion with the temperature outdoors?

When I looked on line, there was a challenge posted that said to form a piece of metal into the shape of a donut. Will the donut hole shrink or expand when put in a heated area? :confused:
 
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AMDG

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Who would think that there would be this much contraction/expansion with the temperature outdoors?

Now you know why a person always is told to fill-up on gas in the cool of the morning--not in the heat of the afternoon.
 
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AMDG

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Gee, in my ripe old age, I never heard that before.

Really? First I heard of it was from my Grandfather (God Rest His Soul). He was a chauffer. Now I hear it from just about everyone--especially during the gas rationing in 1973 and 1979.
 
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St_Barnabus

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They're probably used to having a big feast at your house. Mine haven't smelled the good stuff yet. Ah, the males are so colorful! But that's the case with many birds. My fav is the cardinal, but the female is not quite so vivid, and I just love their song!
I was thinking about putting up a finch feeder, wondering if the nasty sparrows will leave it alone. The price of finch food is not worth it for sparrows. Do you have any advice re this?
 
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Michie

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They're probably used to having a big feast at your house. Mine haven't smelled the good stuff yet. Ah, the males are so colorful! But that's the case with many birds. My fav is the cardinal, but the female is not quite so vivid, and I just love their song!
I was thinking about putting up a finch feeder, wondering if the nasty sparrows will leave it alone. The price of finch food is not worth it for sparrows. Do you have any advice re this?
I love sparrows. But I've rescued orphans so I got to know them better.

When I buy seed I simply expect others to join in. Birds are like cats... they spread the news. :)

Squirrels... I try to get squirrel proof feeder (but that is a joke). :p

So living in the woods, I just expect community feeding. There is really no way to detract certain birds from a feeder.

I've got a lot of acreage so I have a ton of yellow finches that feed naturally around here. I really only feed in the winter.

That male hummer last Sunday... flew right in my face as if to ask: Where's the feeder woman?! ^_^
 
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freezerman2000

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I have two feeders...the hummers are just now getting interested in them.
I love to watch them quibble over the feeding ports!
One question,though...in the heat of summer, is there anything that will keep fire ants out of the nectar? Vaseline on the hanger works for a bit, but melts after a short time.
 
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Michie

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I have two feeders...the hummers are just now getting interested in them.
I love to watch them quibble over the feeding ports!
One question,though...in the heat of summer, is there anything that will keep fire ants out of the nectar? Vaseline on the hanger works for a bit, but melts after a short time.
I have feeders that are ant proof. You may see a few crawling on them from time to time but none enter the nectar. If you have a birding store, they should be able to direct you. Rinsing the feeders after filling helps too. Any nectar outside the station will attract bees, etc.
 
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St_Barnabus

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So living in the woods, I just expect community feeding. There is really no way to detract certain birds from a feeder.

Shucks!

I had a feeder a few years ago and bought the expensive sunflower seeds for the cardinals, but the scrappy birds would congregate in swarms causing the shy cardinals to back away. I want to teach them karate, but they don't understand sign language. The mess under the feeder was not very attractive either, so that project died pretty quick. Nectar feeding seems clean in comparison.

Me and the robins had a tug-o-war for a few weeks while they tried to build a nest under my back porch metal awning. I had at least eight corners barracaded with materials tied to the rafters, and would you believe it tried to nest over the porch light? I have never seen anything so determined to overrule me. You'd think busting the nest several times would let them know that predators were around. Nothing frightens them, I guess.

The next battle is with my new plants. I put in some pansies since frost won't bother them, and these blankety-blank birds pull them right up out of the ground for nesting materials. How sad that I can't enjoy the flowers yet, for they are all covered with chicken wire. Why bother?
 
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Michie

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Shucks!

I had a feeder a few years ago and bought the expensive sunflower seeds for the cardinals, but the scrappy birds would congregate in swarms causing the shy cardinals to back away. I want to teach them karate, but they don't understand sign language. The mess under the feeder was not very attractive either, so that project died pretty quick. Nectar feeding seems clean in comparison.

Me and the robins had a tug-o-war for a few weeks while they tried to build a nest under my back porch metal awning. I had at least eight corners barracaded with materials tied to the rafters, and would you believe it tried to nest over the porch light? I have never seen anything so determined to overrule me. You'd think busting the nest several times would let them know that predators were around. Nothing frightens them, I guess.

The next battle is with my new plants. I put in some pansies since frost won't bother them, and these blankety-blank birds pull them right up out of the ground for nesting. How sad that I can't enjoy the flowers yet, for they are all covered with chicken wire. Why bother?
^_^

Ah nature!

You got to remember, nature is not as pretty & perfect as we'd like.

Last night I got a planter dug up by a raccoon!

Argh!

After awhile you just got to try to adapt in ways that make them lose interest.

Don't forget the baby powder! Works on flowers too. You could probably sprinkle some where you don't want nest building too.
 
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freezerman2000

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I have feeders that are ant proof. You may see a few crawling on them from time to time but none enter the nectar. If you have a birding store, they should be able to direct you. Rinsing the feeders after filling helps too. Any nectar outside the station will attract bees, etc.

thanks, I'll look into it
I've got some hi-temp axle grease that may work in the mean time..a glob on the hook should do it,I hope!
 
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tadoflamb

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I was thinking about putting up a finch feeder, wondering if the nasty sparrows will leave it alone. The price of finch food is not worth it for sparrows. Do you have any advice re this?

Get an 'upside down' or 'bottoms up' feeder. They're thistle feeders with the holes beneath the perch which takes advantage of goldfinches preffered natural upside down feeding position while eliminating the more common and aggressive House Finch and House Sparrows as well.

I have a mesh thistle feeder which works just about as well. I have a cage around which seems to intimidate the House Sparrows but allows the goldfinches to feed freely.
 
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