Backyard bird watching

[ProfessorM]

most blue jays I have seen in years this year. Won't take them long to find it. I filled mine, I have 3 , and they were there within a half hour and I hadn't put seed in them for a good year. It was like they were watching me.

[Raven]

fastest eating sunflower seed bird
is the rose breasted gross beak

or maybe its the longest...
dunno

but the females sit there forever
with a beak thats PERFECT for splitting seeds
and they never leave

[2na]

Raven, I do get the suet out too. 2 springs ago I kept every yellow rumped warbler in Truro fed til the bugs showed up. I would have a dozen sitting around it taking turns - never saw one before or since. I use the sparrow crop as a gauge as when to stop. I think the birds have to be given a chance to learn to feed on their own, but if they make it through winter I like to give them an energy boost until other food shows.

Yeah Johnny, those bags work perfect for the suet. They'll get crappy after a while, let me know if you want any more - I find enough of them on the beach.

Paul, I put a scrap of ply on a couple of sawhorses in the middle of the feeding grounds and throw seed on that too. I have 2 seed feeders and a bag of suet within 15’; I'll sit in the middle. The birds are accustomed to me so they barely spook. Mucho relaxing. The chickadees, pine warblers and red-breasted nuthatches will land within arms reach. I've wanted to try to hand feed them, but I think that would take too much time to get them to do it.

[FishermanTim]

Chickadees are probably the least wary birds when it comes to you and the feeders. If you are filling the feeders, they will usually be the first ones there, and if you place seeds in your open hand held as high as possible (or as close to the same height as the feeder) they WILL eventually fly onto your hand and feed.
I've done this a few times in the past.

As for feeding, I feed the birds regularly during the fall thru to spring when I wean them off of my offerings and let them fend for themselves. It's about the same time that the spring insects make their appearance, so they food supply is consistent enough.

My favorite bird based on their call is the mockingbird. They will incorporate many sounds in their call, including machines and man-made sounds. I've heard them mimic cats and dogs as well as lawnmowers and car alarms.
The one that made the cat sound was funny because it was poised at the VERY TOP of a tree near a local bus stop. When I heard the sound, I thought I was hearing things since I could clearly see that there was no way for a cat to climb that high (plus the leaves were off the tree), and when the bird flew away it finished its call in mid flight, at which point I turned to a fellow transit traveler and said "Unless cats can fly, that was a mockingbird!"
They got a kick out of it, almost as much as I did!