I'm watching my resident Cardinal couple at the bird feeder...

[Misunderestimator]

When I lived in upstate NY, I had all sorts of birds... chickadees, painted buntings, cardinals, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, all sorts of finches... now all I get is these two cardinals. But I adore them. I think the female is so much prettier than the male... but maybe that's just me. :)

[demnan]

1. The beauty of the female cardinal

I've often admired that beautiful soft dun color with a hint of red. They are a very handsome couple and faithful too!

[I thought so.]

3. The green female cardinal.

When I was a kid they had a nest in my friends bush right by the window. It was such a good show. In Ohio the male sings at dawn. It sounds like UREKA! UREKA!. Those were better days.

[Misunderestimator]

5. Green? I've never seen a green cardinal.

The females I've seen are a very subtle shade of red. Got a pic?

[I thought so.]

8. Sorry.

It was 50 years ago.

[gpandas]

2. i have a bird feeder with one-way

clear plastic that fits in the window, and allows me to observe birds very close-up. so far this year i have had blue jays,grackles, and cardinals. the sparrows should be coming any day. any way nto keep the squirrels out?

[Misunderestimator]

4. I found that mixing capucin with the feed works really well with squirrels

You can get it at a pet food store. Other than that, all those fancy squirrel guards that are extremely ugly anyway, don't work on those clever little bastards.

[Misunderestimator]

16. CAPSAICIN that is... and I hate that editing time limit thingy. n/t

[Misunderestimator]

19. I must have had Capuchin Monks on the brain... n/t

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. Get one of these....

http://www.drollyankees.com

reprehensor and I made a day trip out to Mineola, Texas a couple years ago, and there was a neat little nature shop there showing the video that Droll Yankees has made of various clips of squirrels trying to get into these feeders.

There are hilarious sound affects added, and we laughed until there were tears rolling down our faces.

The feeders can only accept the weight of a bird. Anytime anything heavier (ie: squirrel) grabs hold of the bottom bar, it starts SPINNING and throws the offender off. It's so damned funny watching these squirrels try to hang on then knocked off into a nearby bush!

If you have a Wild Bird Unlimited or similar store near you that sells birding supplies, ask them if they have the Yankee Flipper video. You won't be sorry!

[gpandas]

15. sounds funny,i'll check it out n/t

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. I saw my first female cardinal at our feeder yesterday, but I had

to look her up to see what she was! I didn't realize the females were a different color!

What an interesting shade, sort of orangey beige depending on how she shook her wings...and then that amazingly ORANGE beak!

We had another visitor at the feeder last weekend. Our first squirrel! Our suburb is new, and doesn't have that many large trees, but our particular subdivision is older, so ours are a little bigger. He was just munching away on the peanuts in the feed mix. What a cutie! I have pictures on the camera, but have not downloaded them yet.

Several months ago at a girlie fu-fu store, I saw a cute idea-- they'd taken a china teacup and saucer, attached them, then put them on a pole and filled the cup with birdseed. So I bought a cheap broom and did the same.

The birds love it, and now that the pond is there, our backyard has become a wonderful wildlife sanctuary! We'll probably have herons coming to visit too to steal my fish when I fill the pond. I need to get a really large heavy broken pot for them to swim under before I sentence them to death by wading bird.

FSC

[arwalden]

9. I Love Bird feeders Too... Ours Has A Trap-Door That Snaps Shut...

over the feeding trough if anything over 6 ounces tries to climb onto the perch. Whenever a squirrel shows up or BIG aggressive bird tries to land there, they get NOTHING.

We've got a few cardinals that show up. They LOVE the sunflower seeds, and scatter the millet out of the feeder for the other birds to scavenge off the ground.

-- Allen

[Kat45]

10. Cardinals are so pretty. I love those birds.

Where I live, I have to content myself with the urban birds of the neighborhood: sparrows, starlings, pigeons, crows. The occasional cardinal here is a real treat.

[RiffRandell]

11. I had a nasty visitor at mine yesterday...

a rat! UGH!!!! I have never had a rat at my feeders before. My husband was out of town and when I told him he said, "are you sure it wasn't a chipmunk?" I said "I know what a chipmunk looks like!!!" I'm so creeped out----I think I may take the one he was at down for a bit and just leave the hanging tube ones. Any advice?

[Misunderestimator]

12. Capucin... Birds aren't affected by it, but it burns the heck...

out of the mouths of the critters.

[RiffRandell]

13. Thanks.

I'll look for it.

[Misunderestimator]

14. Ok... I'm a total idiot... and distracted to boot.... It's CAPSAICIN

[djeseru]

17. Guilt.

I'm feeling sooooo guilty. I've had to stop feeding my birds (we just adpoted a cat and are about to move this summer), and now all the cardinals, jays, and doves are having their little ones, showing up here to try to feed them, etc. Have you ever been griped at by angry blue jays? Lotsa guilt!

[Misunderestimator]

18. Oh yeah... I can definitely relate to that...

they get used to the food and complain LOUDLY if you don't keep up your end of the bargain. :)

[djeseru]

20. The rows of doves...

...that line up on the power lines behind my yard, just to stare. Very unnerving!

I will miss my cardinals here though ~ they were greybacks, but one group had a single whitish feather off the right wing on the males. Could always tell they were from the same family.