Hee. I’d never noticed that before, but yes, they do.
Kengisays
Nice shot. I spent many hours last fall trying to get a decent shot of one of our house finches but got nothing but red and brown blurs. I see them for a few seconds in our front bushes, but they flit away before I can get the shot setup. They don’t seem interested in any of the food which keeps the other birds in place.
Kengi, have you put out black oil sunflower seeds? Finches of all kinds are crazy about them.
Kengisays
@4 Yes. I always have them in at least one feeder as well as occasionally adding them to the ground food. (I don’t like putting too many in-shell seeds in the ground food too often.) The ground mix always includes medium and small sunflower kernels.
The house finches rarely use the hanging feeders, and don’t seem to be interested in where I put the ground feed. I suspect they are grabbing some of the seed which falls from the hanging feeders off the ground, but I don’t have a good view of that area from my front window. I just catch them briefly as they perch in the bushes next to the hanging feeders.
I also see them in our large backyard flitting around, but they rarely perch for very long.
The only other finch we seem to get around here (near the Wisconsin-Illinois border) is the American goldfinch. They love the bags of Niger seed (so long as the seed is fresh).
Hmmm. I have two large hanging trays, which the finches love, but they prefer the deck railing and large table on the deck by far. They could be shy because you don’t have a large population of them, or that’s just one of those mysterious bird things. I have very shy birds too that I never get shots of, like starlings, although there are a gazillion of them around. Other people can walk right up to a starling and get a shot though.
Kengisays
I really should find room for a hanging tray. I haven’t bothered with one since I have a nice area under trees for ground food.
When the dark-eyed juncos came back south for the winter I told myself I’d get a good shot this year, but, after a month of trying, I gave up for awhile (and never got back to trying). They haven’t all flown back north yet, so I may try some more this year. They were different in that they gave me plenty of opportunities, but I just never could get a good shot. Always slightly out of focus or motion blur.
I’m using a point-and-shoot camera so focus is always an issue. And the ground feeding area is under evergreen trees so it’s a bit dark and I have to use long shutter speeds. But the juncos seem to have an anti-focus field surrounding them. (Or my camera just has problems focusing on the dark grey colors in dim light.)
Those juncos are fast little buggers. I had a hell of a time getting a photo of one this year. Most of mine came out blurry too, and I can’t excuse myself on the basis of gear. I was just too bloody slow.
AlexanderZsays
For some reason I got a double notification for this and the Superstition posts.
Yes, my fault, Alexander. There was a glitch, and it took a while to fix.
dakotagreasemonkeysays
The finches only seem to hang out in the early spring, and we see them for a little bit in the fall. If there is a good amount of sparrows, that makes them more comfortable. We have a considerable amount of sparrows that over winter with us, so the finches do feel safe to come and feed.
Brother Ogvorbis, Fully Defenestrated Emperor of Steam, Fire and Absurditysays
Thought about you bout an hour ago. Because of avian theropods.
I saw two crows up in one of the trees on the site. One had a ~6 inch heavy wire — coathanger thickness(?) — in its beak and was prying bark off of a large branch. The other crow kept darting in and snatching grubs out of the area under the bark. No idea if they switched later (was on the way to a meeting with the park’s boss about some printing), but it was really neat and I, of course, had no camera, not even my cell (which is charging in the car).
I saw two crows up in one of the trees on the site. One had a ~6 inch heavy wire — coathanger thickness(?) — in its beak and was prying bark off of a large branch. The other crow kept darting in and snatching grubs out of the area under the bark. No idea if they switched later (was on the way to a meeting with the park’s boss about some printing), but it was really neat and I, of course, had no camera, not even my cell (which is charging in the car).
Ohhhh, I’m so jealous! I’d love to see something like that. They are so clever. I’ve had more “why in the eff don’t I have my camera” moments than I can count.
“Even if the branch is slanted, you sit straight. You just do” 8-)
Hee. I’d never noticed that before, but yes, they do.
Nice shot. I spent many hours last fall trying to get a decent shot of one of our house finches but got nothing but red and brown blurs. I see them for a few seconds in our front bushes, but they flit away before I can get the shot setup. They don’t seem interested in any of the food which keeps the other birds in place.
Kengi, have you put out black oil sunflower seeds? Finches of all kinds are crazy about them.
@4 Yes. I always have them in at least one feeder as well as occasionally adding them to the ground food. (I don’t like putting too many in-shell seeds in the ground food too often.) The ground mix always includes medium and small sunflower kernels.
The house finches rarely use the hanging feeders, and don’t seem to be interested in where I put the ground feed. I suspect they are grabbing some of the seed which falls from the hanging feeders off the ground, but I don’t have a good view of that area from my front window. I just catch them briefly as they perch in the bushes next to the hanging feeders.
I also see them in our large backyard flitting around, but they rarely perch for very long.
The only other finch we seem to get around here (near the Wisconsin-Illinois border) is the American goldfinch. They love the bags of Niger seed (so long as the seed is fresh).
Hmmm. I have two large hanging trays, which the finches love, but they prefer the deck railing and large table on the deck by far. They could be shy because you don’t have a large population of them, or that’s just one of those mysterious bird things. I have very shy birds too that I never get shots of, like starlings, although there are a gazillion of them around. Other people can walk right up to a starling and get a shot though.
I really should find room for a hanging tray. I haven’t bothered with one since I have a nice area under trees for ground food.
When the dark-eyed juncos came back south for the winter I told myself I’d get a good shot this year, but, after a month of trying, I gave up for awhile (and never got back to trying). They haven’t all flown back north yet, so I may try some more this year. They were different in that they gave me plenty of opportunities, but I just never could get a good shot. Always slightly out of focus or motion blur.
I’m using a point-and-shoot camera so focus is always an issue. And the ground feeding area is under evergreen trees so it’s a bit dark and I have to use long shutter speeds. But the juncos seem to have an anti-focus field surrounding them. (Or my camera just has problems focusing on the dark grey colors in dim light.)
Those juncos are fast little buggers. I had a hell of a time getting a photo of one this year. Most of mine came out blurry too, and I can’t excuse myself on the basis of gear. I was just too bloody slow.
For some reason I got a double notification for this and the Superstition posts.
Yes, my fault, Alexander. There was a glitch, and it took a while to fix.
The finches only seem to hang out in the early spring, and we see them for a little bit in the fall. If there is a good amount of sparrows, that makes them more comfortable. We have a considerable amount of sparrows that over winter with us, so the finches do feel safe to come and feed.
Thought about you bout an hour ago. Because of avian theropods.
I saw two crows up in one of the trees on the site. One had a ~6 inch heavy wire — coathanger thickness(?) — in its beak and was prying bark off of a large branch. The other crow kept darting in and snatching grubs out of the area under the bark. No idea if they switched later (was on the way to a meeting with the park’s boss about some printing), but it was really neat and I, of course, had no camera, not even my cell (which is charging in the car).
Dakotagreasemonkey @ 11:
Gad, I always forget about the sparrows. We have such a large permanent population, I tend to relegate them to background.
Ogvorbis @ 12:
Og! *hugs*
Ohhhh, I’m so jealous! I’d love to see something like that. They are so clever. I’ve had more “why in the eff don’t I have my camera” moments than I can count.