Project Feeder Watch

[helmsdale]

Father in Law had a brood of owl's around. Everyone thought they were adorable when they were real little, but then they grow up... and the like chickens... 4 hungry growing owls can really kick the shit out of your chicken numbers!

[wmoebis]

It is ridiculous the price of some seeds! If only wheat brought those prices 😂

Usually in the summer I stick with canola for the Gold Finches. I did splurge on some Nyjer seed this time around to see what I can catch though. I do mix lots of stuff up with random grains. The Blue Jay looks like it might be taking some peas and some days wheat seems a popular choice.

Instead of splurging on suet cakes I’m planning a trip to Olds College to pick some chunks up there to put out. That way I can steal some out of the freezer for myself!

Why does the college have suet cakes? Going for coffee when your in Olds? I'll buy!

[Blaithin]

Why does the college have suet cakes? Going for coffee when your in Olds? I'll buy!

They don’t have suet cakes, just suet. And lard. The meat shop is quite handy to get specialized things from. Even if they don’t usually stock it, if you ask usually they’ll keep what you want back when they’re butchering.

Can either make my own suet cakes or just give them a block of fat to eat. Not like they really need the seeds in the fat, there’s seeds in the feeders.

We’ll see what day I get in there! I’m hibernating now because of the snow and roads.

[farmaholic]

Then I got some chickens...
.

That's one ugly côckerel, but that black chick is intriguing.

[Guest]

That's one ugly côckerel, but that black chick is intriguing.

oh my goodness !

[farmaholic]

oh my goodness !

What?

[woodland]

Hmmm interesting to see what everyone else has flocking to their neighbourhood.

Had a bunch of pelicans scooping jackfish out of the power plant cooling pond this spring and fall. Always had a couple around but there was more like fifty this year. Last year we had six turkey vultures hanging around here taking care of dead stock and wildlife. They wouldn’t let you get close enough to get a picture and never came back this year. On the other hand the pigeons have returned after a brief hiatus due to “watching” them down the barrel of a 12 gauge which needs to occur again.

Lots of folks in the area looking at the four legged wildlife through a scope and I’m helping them as much as I can. The deer are a nuisance on the road but the elk are absolutely destructive on the crops, bales, and silage pits.

[woodland]

You’ll quake in terror if I ever get started on my cats then.

And everyone liked my old lady crochet skills in that one thread!

Here’s my kitty cat from last winter. The dogs chased it but I don’t think they would’ve won if he stood his ground😉

[burnt]

Here’s my kitty cat from last winter. The dogs chased it but I don’t think they would’ve won if he stood his ground😉

Whoa, that's quite the visitor! A cougar, i presume?

[farmaholic]

Whoa, that's quite the visitor! A cougar, i presume?

Lynx?

[dalek]

There’s a store here dedicated to bird feeding. Nothing but feeders and gourmet bird feed, even custom mix. Toronto people seem to love it

[burnt]

The lady of the house here draws a nice variety of birds with numerous feeders around the yard. We have a lot of mixed trees around our buildings, providing plenty of bird habitat.

Jays, some cardinals, tons of chickadees, the usual sparrows, Nuthatches, cedar Waxwings, finches of many sorts, among others.

But the most unusual was in the very harsh winter of 2015 when these guys showed up on our front porch one day. The snow was deep enough that they walked level onto our porch and stood right outside the front door, cleaning up sunflower seeds that the jays kicked out.



Maybe they were coming back for a visit after I came upon them while moving the cows the previous summer:

[woodland]

Whoa, that's quite the visitor! A cougar, i presume?

We had cougars a few years ago and they took down a weaned calf. The paw prints were bigger than my whole hand. The coyotes wouldn’t touch the carcass afterwards even. They’re bigger with shorter tan coloured fur than this guy.

[woodland]

Lynx?

That’s what I figure it is. He’s been spotted a few times by others in the area. Quite impressive to see these big cats run............ as long as it’s away from you😉

[Blaithin]

Got the barn site set up yesterday. There’s usually lots of birds around because of the bales so I’ll probably end up with more out there than at the house!

This morning there was some happy Chickadees at the feeders and the flock of House Sparrows on the ground.

I’ve got three small piles of barley silage at the base of the trees. On this side so the cows don’t think it’s worth trying to stretch through the fence for! Sprinkled some BOSS on top this morning just for extra yums. Probably have to take some binoculars to the barn so I can count and see what’s all there.