Binoculars are a great way to get close up views of the birds and animals that we attract to our backyard.  We have been able to identify several different species that looked similar to the other birds we have attracted, but the binoculars helped us to see the subtle differences that we couldn’t see at a distance.  We currently use a Bausch & Lomb 8-24 x 50 pair of binoculars.  They have rubber protected eyepieces and a zoom knob that lets us zoom from an 8 to a 24 power.  Although this zoom is a nice feature we find that we get a better picture when using the 8 power.  (The 24 power tends to be blurry closer up).

The binoculars are a little cumbersome because of the size, but we have gotten use to them and we don’t carry them into the field for bird watching.  They would be a little too heavy on a strap around our neck.  Our On-Line Nature Mall has a wide variety of binoculars to choose from.  Small field size to larger models.

As I mentioned in our Attracting Birds blog we have several mammals that live nearby and visit our backyard.  The largest is deer who roam in small groups throughout the neighborhood.  They were cute until they destroyed a hemlock that I had carried from my parent’s house as a very small sapling.  It had grown to about 8 feet tall and then the deer discovered it.  Had I known of their taste for hemlock I would have surrounded with a tall fence in the winter.  Now I am trying to nurse it back to life.  We have also seen them come to our bird feeding area and eat the birdseed that we have placed on the ground.  We usually try to chase them away because we are trying to feed the birds not them.  This year we have resorted to spraying the area with a liquid fence type product.  It smells terrible for about a day, but it seems to work.

We also have raccoons, opossums, squirrels, and chipmunks.  We don’t mind feeding the squirrels and chipmunks because they can be fun to watch, but our real problem is the raccoon who comes at night.   He shakes the squirrel proof hopper feeder and the squirrel proof tube feeder to empty all of seed out to snack on.   He used to knock them on the ground every night until we chained them to the wooden supports of an old treehouse.   The squirrels can’t get in those two feeders, but the raccoon just bullies them and shakes them until the seed is on the ground.  We now only put out as much as the birds can eat in a day so the raccoon finds them nearly empty which doesn’t seem to deter him.  Maybe that’s why he shakes them so hard.  He should try anger management.

We have enjoyed feeding birds in our backyard for many years.   We offer food throughout the year feeding them extra during the winter and spring.

Since our home is in a rural area feeding birds can be a challenge when you also find other animals attracted by the food.  We have two squirrel proof feeders which do exactly as they promised.  In our squirrel proof tube feeder we offer sunflower seeds, a very popular item.  We have seen little black capped chickadees and much larger red bellied woodpeckers at that feeder. Some of the other birds that come to that feeder are cardinals, titmouses, and nuthatchs.

We also have a squirrel proof hopper feeder that we fill with a general seed mixture that contains millet, cracked corn, and sunflower seeds.  It’s fun to watch the squirrels when they get on the hopper feeder trying to get to the bird seed.  They usually wind up hanging off of the feeder or sliding off the roof to the ground.

An old stump provides a natural platform feeder and we also spread seed on the ground.  This is where the squirrels usually wind up.  So we also provide dried corn, a favorite of the squirrels and the blue jays, and occasionally add stale bread, fruits and nuts such as apples oranges, raisins and peanuts.

We continue feeding the birds in winter by also offering suet cakes and plain suet, a favorite, among others, of the downy and red-bellied woodpeckers in our area. 

Attracting and feeding birds has been a hobby of ours for many years.  We have lived in our current home for over 25 years and have been attracting and feeding them since we moved in as we did in our last home.  Our family cats use to be a problem attacking the birds early on, but our current ones are house cats so they are not a danger to the birds that we bring to our bird feeders.
 

Our yard is surrounded by mature trees, both evergreen and deciduous.  Also included in our landscaping are several well formed forsythia shrubs and butterfly bushes.  These provide shelter and shade to the birds that we attract and the butterfly bushes occasionally attract hummingbirds.

We use several types of feeding methods to attract birds to our backyard.  We have a squirrel proof hopper feeder and sunflower seed tube feeder.  We also use a large stump as a low platform feeder and place food on the ground.  During the winter months we also place suet feeders in several locations to continue to attract and feed birds when they most need it.  We also have a birdbath for drinking and bathing.

We live in a rural area where our backyard touches on non-developed hills.  So besides attracting birds we get our fair share of squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, and every once in a while deer.  The squirrels and chipmunks come out during the day and eat the food on the ground and stump, but can’t get into the squirrel proof bird feeders.    The millet we also place on the ground still attracts the ground feeding birds and if they get there early enough they get a share of the sunflower seeds and corn.

Even with these nuisances we enjoy attracting birds.  We like trying to identify the birds we bring to our bird feeders and on rare events we get seldom seen (in our area) migratory birds.  One hard winter we were able to attract four pairs of evening grosbeaks.  Their yellow was a very pretty sight against the snow.  This winter during a large snow storm we swept off the ground and stump and started putting food out.  We had to do it three or four times because of the storm, but before we knew it we had attracted somewhere between 60-80 birds.  We were able to identify 18 different species during this time, two never before at our feeders, one type migratory and one type that usually stays in marshes (none of which are nearby).  We didn’t mind the extra work or extra seed because is was a fun thing to do during a snowy winter day.