GOLDFINCH ALERT!

[Jennie@ifish]

My first one of the year!

WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I get more excited about these birds than any!

Last year, they showed on April 23rd! This year, the 22nd!!!

WHOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Rueben4life]

I share your enthusiasm! I don't keep a log, or have a bird feeder anymore. I just look with my ears for spring noises. I havent seen any yet but more and more familar noises are beginning to appear.

[corkyking]

I'll pass this on to my wife - we're just up the coast from you so they are on the way.

Saw our first hummer 3 days ago.

[Cool Texan]

Time to break out the BB gun before you lose all your sunflower seeds. :grin: :shocked:

Oh no...almost a Chromer!!

[Fshklr]

Jen,
Gotta love them G-finches, had em show up last weekend but in fewer numbers than you have there. Seems the blue jays are hanging here quite heavily.

[skein]

Hey....does this mean I can post pictures of birds I don't recognize and you budding ornithologists will tell me who, what, when, where, and why?

Too cool. Maybe I should start with a kingFISHer.

But, to get back on track, one of my all-time favorites is the Cedar Waxwing. Mostly I see them in central Oregon in the juniper trees, but they are soooo elegant! Anyone else like 'em?

This is fun!

Skein

[Silver Hilton]

Yup, me. Lots of them along the Snoqualmie, where I fish most.

[Rocky]

Hmmm we have had Goldfinches around here all year.
they dont migrate do they?

[RogueFishr]

these birds are flying yellow pigs! We have had them here for a couple weeks now. i didn't know what they were. We have 2 feeders and they are emptying them daily. When I get this new cat (against my will) I think I will move the bird feeders down to about 2 feet off the ground. It can then be a combination bird feeder - cat feeder :grin:

RF

[corkyking]

these birds are flying yellow pigs!

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">too true! We go through more than two 50# bags a year - I just confirmed the number with my wife and she says that on the "good years" we go through 4 or 5.

I'm afraid though that my favorite bird is the camp robber. They always keep me company when I'm in the boonies.

[Jennie@ifish]

We have more jays than usual too.
Bill keeps looking at his shotgun.

NO, BILL, NO!

They are so gorgeous, but what a nusiance!

We also have our first pidgeons and purple finches.
I do love this time of year, Springer or no springer!
Jen

[Miss B Haven]

Hmmm... no Goldens around our place. We do have those pesky (but pretty)red headed little finches that keep trying to nest in my Pacifico Marlin Sign!
My favorite bird around the place was a Lime Green and Chartruse/yellow Parakeet (a large one too!) that was hanging out with a flock of plain old vanilla (brownish-grey) finches for a whole spring and summer at our place. They didn't seem to notice he was ummm... a "little" different than they were. Toni swears that she's seen some of those finches around since that had some bright green markings on them. :grin: (I think she was seeing some wild parakeets that are around from time to time)
Not to many hummers around yet this year. To chilly maybe? Been a grey spring so far! :depressed:

[Fshklr]

Lots and lots of Hummers so far. the competition is fierce at the 3 feeders with the males..seems to be 5 males battleing for Feeder domination and lots of females as well. 5 males have shown up last month and have seen Reds, Greens and a new Orange 1 this year. Lots of misc. finches and tweety's as well. Even had a wood****** trying to squeeze into a small opening in a birdhouse yesterday..never seen one try to nest before. Gotta love spring! :grin:

[Jennie@ifish]

Talk to me about Niger Thistle.

Talk to me about where to get CHEAP thistle! :smile:

Can I grow my own? I'm going to need it!

Jen

[Rocky]

We buy the 50lb bags of thistle also and according to my wife its not very cheap and she says that the thistle you get for bird seed you cannot (I guess you could) grow cuz it has been steralized (sp). They also like the small black oiled sunflower seeds and she says they are cheaper than the thistle.

Ron

[corkyking]

The first one showed up tonight. Only one so far - a scout making sure that we have food out.

I don't know where to find an inexpensive source of Niger thistle theed. We pay about $80/50# if you find it cheaper pls let me know.

[McDuck85]

A sure sign of Spring at our house. Photos are great. I'll have my camera ready when they decide to visit. Thanks for the "heads up".

[BonkBonkBonk]

we used to have a 'jay come and steal our dogs food while he was standing in front of the glass door in salem, that drove rusty nuts!

[garyk]

We saw our first Goldfinch on the 26th. We always count on seeing them when the mustard weed blooms.

Cool birds to see last night was those erie sounding winnowing snipe doing their courtship flight - was finally able to pick them out against the sky at dusk for the first time.

[willametteriveroutlaw]

You can save money by mixing your niger thistle 60/40 with chopped sunflower seeds. The finches don't seem to notice that much.

[Jennie@ifish]

What a good idea~! Thank you!
Have you looked under the feeder to see what they toss out?
Jen

[Spoiled Daddy]

I put up two bird houses for my girls and they were promptly taken over by... squirrels. They ate and dug out the holes so they could get in and out and have now moved in.

The girls both like the idea of having little baby squirrels around in a few weeks, so I am letting them stay. We are even putting up a feeder this weekend to feed both the birds and squirrels.

SD

[Carver_OR]

The Cedar Wax wings is one of my favorite bird also. I put in a small garden pond that attracts more birds than the feeders at times. I also mix my feed.

Get the binoculars quick..Oh its gone.

Pat