The TJTwitter

[Love4himies]

Congrats on getting the oriole fed, klm , great shots of him.


Hazel, can you take the feeders in at night and only put them out after you get up?

[hazelrunpack]

There's usually a lot of spillage during the day. The deer come almost every night to clean up but I'm not sure if it would be enough to tempt the bear to brave the fence and the dogs. That's something I'm gonna ask the DNR warden when he calls back... I'm hoping I can at least hang suet. And I hope that the nectar feeders are safe because they're inside the chain link fence and away from the other feeders...

My thistle feeders are still MIA, so they, at least, won't be an issue!

[Chris21711]

Holy Hannah Hazel, he came back this morning too ....my g/f's SIL lives in Muskoka which has lots of bears and she has a foghorn that she sounds when she sees a bear around, they skedaddle pretty quick. Have you thought of getting something like that?

Maybe you could hang the suet inside the fenced area high enough that the Pack cannot reach it

[Frenchy]

was he laying down in that last picture ? waiting for his meal trying to look like a setter

[hazelrunpack]

Originally Posted by Frenchy

was he laying down in that last picture ? waiting for his meal trying to look like a setter

Yep, lying down

I'm hoping I can safely hang the suet outside if I bring it in at night, Chris. The trouble with moving it inside the fence is that there are always small morsels of suet that get dropped during the day and I don't want to tempt the bear inside the fence with the smell of suet. If I can't hang it outside, I may just stop putting it out...

An air horn! Now there's an idea!

[Chris21711]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

Yep, lying down

I'm hoping I can safely hang the suet outside if I bring it in at night, Chris. The trouble with moving it inside the fence is that there are always small morsels of suet that get dropped during the day and I don't want to tempt the bear inside the fence with the smell of suet. If I can't hang it outside, I may just stop putting it out...

Safely is the key word Hazel, I don't know how safely you could do that.......Could you not afix a plastic plate under the suet feeder to collect the crumbs....Pepe rigged a plate onto my niger seed feeder to collect any spillage which in turn saves waste.

An air horn! Now there's an idea!

Apparently it works well for her, two blasts and they boot it.

[hazelrunpack]

I suppose I could rig some sort of plate hanging from the underside of the suet cage... That's a good idea, too!

[hazelrunpack]

I set up the blind (with a good view of the bear path and dogs in the yard to act as sentinels, and finally managed to get a good shot of the indigo bunting!!



If I'd known all it would take to bring him down was a platform feeder, I would have put it up long ago!

[Dee-O-Gee]

So be honest Hazel...how long did you have to sit in the blind to capture such a beautiful picture of the Indigo?

What a wonderful picture Hazel.

[hazelrunpack]

He showed up early, maybe 15 minutes into my wait--but you can see he's suspicious the way he's looking toward the camera and he left after that one shot. He checked out the blind a couple of times later, but didn't land on the feeder--he knew something was up. He's a very cagey fella.

[Tundra_Queen]

Hazel, can u hang the bird feeder from the corners of your house? You know like where Christmas lights would normally go? I know u can buy a pully system for hanging pots so up can lower them and raise them...u could do that with bird feeders too I would think.

And even though that bear is on the other side of the fence u do know it could crash it if it wanted too and they can also run 30mph too if my memory is right. So be careful! When the bear is around can u smell it? Hubs says there is a distinctive smell to them sort of musky.

[Love4himies]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

I set up the blind (with a good view of the bear path and dogs in the yard to act as sentinels, and finally managed to get a good shot of the indigo bunting!!

Attachment 66665

If I'd known all it would take to bring him down was a platform feeder, I would have put it up long ago!

I hope Mr Hazel was at home, just in case

I just can't believe that these feathers are actually black , beautiful pic

[hazelrunpack]

Originally Posted by Tundra_Queen

Hazel, can u hang the bird feeder from the corners of your house? You know like where Christmas lights would normally go? I know u can buy a pully system for hanging pots so up can lower them and raise them...u could do that with bird feeders too I would think.

We have to hang them all outside the fence or the dogs eat themselves sick on the seed husks that fall out of them. And now I'd be uncomfortable hanging them anywhere near the house for fear the smell of them would encourage the bear to come over the fence to check them out.

And even though that bear is on the other side of the fence u do know it could crash it if it wanted too and they can also run 30mph too if my memory is right. So be careful! When the bear is around can u smell it? Hubs says there is a distinctive smell to them sort of musky.

Oh, ya...they could get over it pretty quickly. Luckily they haven't had the courage! I hope they never get brave.

And yes, they do have....scent. When hazel first smelled it my first thought was, "Dang! I hope that's not me!" Musky, rancid, hot scent...don't know how they can sneak up on anything with a nose!! Oh, except for hubby, who says he can't smell it.

I smelled it really strongly when we were cleaning up the feeders after the raid, then again two nights later as I was bringing in the feeders (I brought them in really fast ), and not since...

Originally Posted by Love4himies

I just can't believe that these feathers are actually black , beautiful pic

It is hard to believe when you see them in the sun like that. I got a lot more pics today--when I get a chance to resize them, I'll post a few more

[TeriM]

We got to see some very cool owls on our recent camping trip .

[hazelrunpack]

That first owl is such a cutie!!!! What kind is s/he?

[TeriM]

Haven't got a clue . Apparently there was a momma teaching her two babies how to hunt (was close to dusk). Whatever they were they were huge . The owls I've seen around here are more cat sized but these guys could easily carry a cat .

[hazelrunpack]

The great horned sure could... Was the first one about the same size?

[TeriM]

I think the first one was the baby and the other (more in the trees) is the momma. The baby was actually facing the other way and then did the full swivel around with the head. Very cool but also kinda creepy .

[hazelrunpack]

So that's a baby great horned? Cute little bugger! Urm....big bugger

They kinda creep me out, too, when they do that! Halloween birds.

[Love4himies]

Originally Posted by TeriM

We got to see some very cool owls on our recent camping trip .

Attachment 66694

Attachment 66695

Oh my, they are very cool

[Love4himies]

Hazel, do you think is an Indigo Bunting? It was trying to eat the seeds from the long grass, until I scared it trying to get too close

[hazelrunpack]

It sure is the right size and color, L4H! Aren't they gorgeous?

[hazelrunpack]

Females:

[hazelrunpack]

Juveniles:

[hazelrunpack]

Males:





The adults are beginning to molt, so they're starting to look a bit tattery.

[hazelrunpack]

The brilliant males:

[hazelrunpack]

And some more-subtly-colored but no less beautiful females:

[hazelrunpack]

[hazelrunpack]

Two adults and a juvenile (which is the one with the mohawk )

[hazelrunpack]

First a couple of pics of one of the females: