# What wild birds do you feed in winter?



## jasper01 (Jan 19, 2019)

I am not sure if this has been asked in the forums before. It is very cold and snowy here in Northern Ontario. We always feed a mix of sunflower seeds and wild bird seed from October to April. In winter we always have blue jays, chickadees, white and red breasted nut hatches, hairy and downy woodpeckers, and purple finches. Depending on the time of winter we also get flocks of snow buntings, pine grosbeaks,
and mourning doves, When late March comes and it is almost spring we get huge flocks of migrating birds such as red winged blackbirds, grackles, sparrows, sand hill cranes and juncos to name a few. There is always someone at the feeder. One winter a white tailed doe and her yearling fawn came to eat the spilled seeds.


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

I feed birds and numerous mammals all year long. I'll tell you more about it later. You could keep this thread and I will certainly post to it if you want to keep it, but there is a nature thread that has a large number of posts about birds and other wildlife. Check it out and after you decide which thread you would like to use I will make my post. Also great to talk to another wildlife lover.

The natural world https://www.talkclassical.com/42883-natural-world.html?highlight=nature,+natural


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

We make balls of fat and seed from cooking leftover for the birds in our garden. We also have the hedgehog who lives there for two years I named him Sonic but surprising Sonic is a Mama hedgehog; we have built a little house for her and her babes and we give her milk and food she likes it will come into our house if we leave door open. Even sits in my lap if I go outdoors to the garden.


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## jasper01 (Jan 19, 2019)

I did not know there was a nature thread, so lets leave this one here.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Just put out the traditional half coconut crammed with suet-soaked seed mix. Been mildly interesting weather here in the depths of Oxfordshire. Our offering should be welcomed by any **** or wagtails armed with a chisel.....

Oh my God, I've had the word **** censored!!!! Good thing I didn't say **** like coconuts!

Ok, we feed paridae, clear? Also relieved that Sula leucogaster isn't endemic to our little corner of England...:devil:


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

CnC Bartok said:


> Just put out the traditional half coconut crammed with suet-soaked seed mix. Been mildly interesting weather here in the depths of Oxfordshire. Our offering should be welcomed by any **** or wagtails armed with a chisel.....
> 
> Oh my God, I've had the word **** censored!!!! Good thing I didn't say **** like coconuts!
> 
> Ok, we feed paridae, clear?


Oh my what a great idea with coconut! Thank you I must to music practice now but I will try to get a coconut in the way home.

was t i t s censored?


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Zofia said:


> Oh my what a great idea with coconut! Thank you I must to music practice now but I will try to get a coconut in the way home.
> 
> was t i t s censored?


The very word indeed. Oops! Puritanism is back in vogue, it seems. Must go and cover the legs of all my tables, lest I be aroused to unspeakable levels of erotic frenzy.......:angel:


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## jasper01 (Jan 19, 2019)

haha..i think I know what bird name got censored. Somewhat similar to what we call a chickadee.


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

jasper01 said:


> haha..i think I know what bird name got censored. Somewhat similar to what we call a chickadee.


it was "t i t" they are small bird like finches? I like the blue t i t much beautiful bird.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

The Amazon forums never allowed t**s, f**s (slang for cigarettes), f*g***s (meatballs) and one or two others. Didn’t expect it to happen here!


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Zofia said:


> We make balls of fat and seed from cooking leftover for the birds in our garden. We also have the hedgehog who lives there for two years I named him Sonic but surprising Sonic is a Mama hedgehog; we have built a little house for her and her babes and we give her milk and food she likes it will come into our house if we leave door open. Even sits in my lap if I go outdoors to the garden.


Zofia, sorry but milk is not good for hedgehogs!

Advice from the RSPCA is:

Feeding hedgehogs
Food and fresh water will encourage hedgehogs to return. Leave out foods like tinned dog or cat food (not fish-based) and crushed dog or cat biscuits. Specialist hedgehog food is also recommended and can be bought from wildlife food suppliers.
Never feed hedgehogs milk as it can cause diarrhoea; instead provide plain, fresh water in a shallow bowl.


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

LezLee said:


> Zofia, sorry but milk is not good for hedgehogs!
> 
> Advice from the RSPCA is:
> 
> ...


Thank you we know but we add the milk to water as she was very skinny. One of her babies had already died when we started she puts on weight we go back to just water.


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

LezLee said:


> The Amazon forums never allowed t**s, f**s (slang for cigarettes), f*g***s (meatballs) and one or two others. Didn't expect it to happen here!


I think that word is derogatory? To the homosexuals in America I've heard it on Youtube.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Yes, they’re all perfectly innocent words over here and not everyone realised they were offensive to Americans. Censoring t**s seemed to be a bit unnecessary though!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

LezLee said:


> The Amazon forums never allowed t**s, f**s (slang for cigarettes), f*g***s (meatballs) and one or two others. Didn't expect it to happen here!


I thought the latter was German for Bassoon!?!?


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## BobBrines (Jun 14, 2018)

Birds of the genus Paridae are called t i ts and chickadees in Europe, but the common one here in Central USA is the tufted titmouse, and that passes the censors.


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Zofia said:


> Thank you we know but we add the milk to water as she was very skinny. One of her babies had already died when we started she puts on weight we go back to just water.


I will look into this but there are other healthy high fat products.

The following lists safe foods and non-safe foods.

https://www.hedgehogcare101.com/hedgehog-food-list/


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

BobBrines said:


> Birds of the genus Paridae are called t i ts and chickadees in Europe, but the common one here in Central USA is the tufted titmouse, and that passes the censors.


:lol: Who would have thought a bird thread would be so funny! I am in Pennsylvania, USA and we also have tufted titmice. In addition in the Winter: chickadees, juncos, mourning doves, cardinals, blue jays, English sparrows, wrens, the occasional raptor, owls. I love to feed the mammals (even more than the birds). In Winter: squirrels, skunks, opossums, shrews, occasional rabbit


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

When I first moved into this flat in an over 55/retirement block I put out some bird feeders, the house manager told me to remove them as any seed dropped can encourage rats! So now I just have a bird bath so they can drink and bathe. I do throw out some bird food onthe lawn at weekends when the house manager is not here.

We see Magpies, Pigeons, black birds, robins, and occasional crows, jays and on rare occasions a green woodpecker has been seen feasting on an ants nest, grey squirrels are frequent visitors, not too happy with them, they dig up spring flowering bulbs almost 
as soon as I plant them. so not many crocus, tulips or daffodils survive their depredations.

The above mentioned green woodpecker at the edge of the lawn


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Can anyone identify these birds? This is from a book of paintings by David Reid Henry who painted birds from all over the world. There's no information at all as to what they are or where it was painted. We think it's most likely Asia or Africa.


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Dorsetmike said:


> When I first moved into this flat in an over 55/retirement block I put out some bird feeders, the house manager told me to remove them as any seed dropped can encourage rats! So now I just have a bird bath so they can drink and bathe. I do throw out some bird food onthe lawn at weekends when the house manager is not here.
> 
> We see Magpies, Pigeons, black birds, robins, and occasional crows, jays and on rare occasions a green woodpecker has been seen feasting on an ants nest, grey squirrels are frequent visitors, not too happy with them, they dig up spring flowering bulbs almost
> as soon as I plant them. so not many crocus, tulips or daffodils survive their depredations.
> ...


You so lucky to have seen one so close! Many Thanks for sharing. I hope you have a park or something somewhere where you can hang up a few bird feeders and watch. :kiss:

After to going to the county seat building for the first time, my father and I saw a good-size man-made pond with duck and swans. Well we were carrying several bags of bird food in the back of the car for our own house. So we put some in a large container and walked toward the pond; wondering if they would all just fly away. We hadn't even gotten very close when this amazing number of ducks and geese started walking towards us! LOL! There were so many of them it was a little bit alarming at first. :lol: Apparently this was the place to come if you want to feed ducks, geese, swans and other birds.

Maybe you can find a similar place near you.


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

LezLee said:


> View attachment 112509
> 
> 
> Can anyone identify these birds? This is from a book of paintings by David Reid Henry who painted birds from all over the world. There's no information at all as to what they are or where it was painted. We think it's most likely Asia or Africa.


My Mother says she would request another picture please but the might be "swifts".


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## Zofia (Jan 24, 2019)

maybe?

limits owo


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

That beak looks like either a thrasher or wren....

I hope this is not considered advertising. From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. A fabulous site for twitchers.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/search/?q=thrasher


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Getting closer?

https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/...-breasted Thrasher - Ramphocinclus brachyurus


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I feed garden birds year-round and keep a weekly census for the British Trust for Ornithology. We generally get good numbers of ...ahem...Paridae and finches, tree sparrows, nuthatch, assorted corvids. And a sparrowhawk regularly hurtles through the garden with predatory intent. A one-hour watch generally logs 12-14 species in summer, 15-18 in winter. It's a simple pleasure but deeply therapeutic.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

LezLee said:


> View attachment 112509
> 
> 
> Can anyone identify these birds? This is from a book of paintings by David Reid Henry who painted birds from all over the world. There's no information at all as to what they are or where it was painted. We think it's most likely Asia or Africa.


It reminisces of a Bananaquit or a Kiskadee from certain aspects but the beak just doesn't fit in anyways. You are probably right with your Asia/Africa estimation.


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