Birds Today - Clayton, GA

Been feeling pretty good these two weeks but I will be admitted for my 6th Chemo cycle at Emory next Friday. Only two more cycles after that.

Today, I put out my wildlife camera and focused on a bird feeder to see what shows up in about a half an hour.

I got mostly female House Finches, one male House Finch, a couple of Doves, and a Carolina Chickadee. The House Finch is similar to a Purple Finch but I think these were House Finches. Bill is welcome to correct me if I am wrong.

Attachment 7404Attachment 7405Attachment 7406Attachment 7407Attachment 7408Attachment 7410

I am still seeing lots of birds in the hot weather but the House Finches, by far are dominating. Also see some doves, Gold Finches, Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and Tree Swallows. Also, the hummingbird population is exploding!

The same at my place.
Birds are off breeding, searching for insects for the nest.
In these parts, Nature has out foods our feeders can't compete with.

One staple is my many Cardinals. They too are territorial during breeding, so just a few around. Today saw the first ugly young Cardinal, so soon they will all be back at the feeders.

I don't have Tree Swallows, but have Cave Swallows who nest on the dock.
My Gold Finch exceed my House Finch. Gold Finch breed late, so soon they will be in the woods searching for insects, not feeder seed.

Hummingbird are also territorial. They also search for insects to feed the young. Breeding is over and they are bringing the young around. In a normal year they leave territory and look for food - my home. More folks around here now feed them (I gave them feeders at Christmas), but some don't keep them up. Many will end up here (I hope). I have already gone from a few feeders to more. Soon, as they gather, will bring out the collection of huge feeders so it don't work me to death.

Summer bird feeding is fun, but less. Right now a Tanager is on the suet.
I got in some real suet (beef fat) and have the feeder half that and half my peanut butter mix. Right now the birds are just eating the peanut butter, but that could change? I find it an interesting experiment.