Haven't seen my favorite Cardinal.....

[WILCO]

In about 2 weeks. He's always been in one of several trees and I love watching him flutter about while singing. Sometimes I'll grab the binocular and get a real good look at him. He's always just so beautiful with his bright red feathers. Everytime I hear or see him, it's a real pick me up. It'll be pretty crappy if the local grass lions got him. :(

[FISH4BUGS]

We have 4 female and 24 or so "baby" turkeys that come daily for meals. We put out cracked corn for them and they love it. I say "baby" because they are almost as big as a small female at this point. We started with some 32 babies, but nature is cruel sometimes.
We also have birds, cats, deer, bear, coyotes, skunks, possums, and all kinds of critters around. I believe in peaceful coesistence except for woodchucks. Genocide is not good enough for them. The woodchucks will suffer from acute lead poisoning if you know what I mean.
One day the critters are there.....then they are not. I think it is good not to know. If a barn cat disappears, you always wonder what happened. If you find it flattened in the road, you KNOW what happened.
Maybe the cardinal just went to another territory. Happens all the time. We have bird feeders and get all kinds then they move on.
Something will take its place.

[Bad Water Bill]

A neighbor kept a yard tiger at his place. In one week it destroyed 4 cardinal nests. 16 young and 8 parents suddenly went A W O L.

It would also be seen carrying home baby rabbits.

Unfortunately I live in Chicagoland so the yard tiger survived for years till the neighbor took their killer and moved.

[runfiverun]

yeah cats do that.
the cardinal could also have been run off by a more aggressive bird like a magpie,or a starling.

i'm trying to remember where i was the first time i seen a cardinal, it had to be in north dakota, no wait it was in Idaho he was with some blue birds.

[popper]

They mate for life, live ~ 10 years and appear to relocate in 4 years. Hopefully they just moved. Now jays are another story.

[WILCO]

and appear to relocate in 4 years. Hopefully they just moved.

That's interesting, as he's been in the area for 3 years now.

[Four-Sixty]

Has anyone else felt there is a decline in all bird activity?

I have many trees in my yard and like the birds very much. Lately, I hear none it seems and seldom see any. I'm in the middle of Georgia, have they migrated somewhere?

[firefly1957]

Two summers ago I had a lot of Indigo buntings in the yard and they vanished a couple weeks later I notice lots of blue feathers in the woods 100 yds north of the house looking around I found a hawks nest, They have to eat to.

Last winter one of those darned feral cats got a short ride from a hawk or owl I so do like a fresh snow to see what has gone on in the yard overnight! After the cat hit the ground it ran into the road were it was chased by three canine (coyotes?) I hope they got it!

[DCM]

DCMs wife here AKA "the bird lady".

We've had the same pair of cardinals for at least 8 years nesting in our yard.
I don't know where you live, but here in WI they're here year round.
Usually seem them very early in the morning and early evening, that's when they seem to sit and eat the longest.
They love peanut pieces, black oil sunflower seeds and safflower. With the safflower you won't get the squirrels, but you'll get quite a few mourning doves if they are in your area.
They prefer eating off of flat feeders (better if you have cat problems) or the ground and they like thick 6 foot tall or taller bushes to nest in (won't use bird houses).
This year we had a nest in my bridal wreath bush (new pair) and in our willow (old pair).
We have a problem with neighborhood cats too.
Can't catch them with a normal trap, they're too well fed, can't shoot with a gun, too close to neighbors, have thrown bricks at them and shot at them with airgun. They'll stay away for a while.
Problem is these guys kill for fun, they just leave the dead birds and baby bunnies lying around.

[WILCO]

DCMs wife here AKA "the bird lady".

Welcome aboard "Bird Lady"! [smilie=s:

Thanks for the input. We have the same problem with the grass lions here. Can't tag them because of too many snoops and kooks.

[popper]

Tree Rats Must Die! I could send you a train load of grackles and another of mocking birds if you pay the freight. Grackles are 'open season' anytime. Unfortunately the mocking bird is the state bird. I sure miss the meadowlark and cardinals.

[DLCTEX]

I have a pair that nest in my Honeysuckle vine arbor. They haven't been successful at raising a family in the past two years and I blame the extreme heat. Eggs in the incubator won't survive 110*+, and I suspect they won't in a nest either. I have to cover the outside mirrors on my vehicles to keep the male from fighting his reflection and making a mess perching on the car between attacks.

[Blacksmith]

We had a banner year for Barn Swallows the last nest just fleged. They raised three broods this year.

[fecmech]

For the past couple of years I've had a male Cardinal pecking at himself in one of my upper kitchen windows, he's evidently a slow learner. My wife feeds the birds and we have quite an assortment that come to the yard year round. We also have Red Tail hawks that make occasional passes through, usually in the winter when times are a little tougher and pick off a smaller bird.

[Freightman]

Saw a pair yesterday training there young, also have a lot of Blue Jays and dove, White wing, Morning, and ring neck. The Blue Jays keep the Grackles out mostly, but some parts of town the Grackles have taken over and they are a mess.

[WILCO]

I FINALLY SEEN MY CARDINAL TODAY!!!!

Went for a morning walk and upon my return, I heard a happy little tune in the backyard. To my surprise, it was my cardinal in the little backyard tree. He was a brilliant red and I watched him for a minute or two before he flew off. [smilie=p:

[x101airborne]

Haye, good deal! Glad to hear all is well.

I am a cat killing fool. No apologies. Feral cats account for more than 70% of all wild bird depredation in Texas according to Texas A&M. I am a conservationist!

[Bad Water Bill]

I had a kitty cat in the neighborhood. Yes it wore a collar and had the proper tags on it. It took out 4 complete cardinal,mourning dove and a couple robbin nests in one summer that I knew about. I do not know how many times I saw it coming back to its home with a live baby rabbit in its mouth. Finished killing it on the door step.

The birds have not come back even tho that neighbor moved 4 years ago.

[bruce drake]

If I see a cat in the woods and I am armed, it disappears. I too am a conservationist.

[WILCO]

Haye, good deal! Glad to hear all is well.

Thanks! Keep up the conservationist work.

[WILCO]

Seen my cardinal yesterday in the morning! Just love that little guy. Here's one of my favorite cardinal pictures via the internet:

http://www.birdsgallery.net/gallery/cardinal/cardinal_3.jpg

[starmac]

Did you guys know cardinals make REALLY good catfish bait??? LOL

[Bad Water Bill]

What do you have against my state bird?

Keep it up and I will send Girty up there with a load of global warming to spread all over your logging trails.:bigsmyl2:

[DLCTEX]

My wife thinks I'm bad when I see a flat cat on a country road and say "there's a good cat".

[JWFilips]

Wilco,
I aways feed the Feral cats.... I have 14 Male Cardinals and possibly double the amount females or juveniles. They all eat within 20 ft of each other. Most times the Cardinal steal the food from the cats bowls within catching distance! Well fed cats are watchers! Up here , I keep the predators fed and the Birds are just entertainment! Now as to the Doves, well sometimes they succumb to my predatory instincts !

[texassako]

We saw our first cardinal at the feeder today. They are in the woods around the neighborhood built on an old pasture, but it is the first one we have seen in 10 years at the house. I wish I had the camera out since it was in the middle of our little snow storm. They look very bright against a bunch of white snow.

[MaryB]

Neighbor lets her cats roam outside so a lot of birds don't make it. I don't like it but she is elderly and I don't say anything to keep things friendly. Coyote got one of them last summer.

[Love Life]

I had neighbors who let their cats roam. They liked to eat the quail in my yard. Oddly, the cats disappeared and my quail population returned and was robust.

I'm all for people who have animals, but keep them in your own dang yard/property.

I'm glad your Cardinal came back, Wilco. I love to watch my birds as well.

[sav300]

Wilco,thanks for the pic of a cardinal,very nice.

[fatnhappy]

I have a red cardinal that sings to his bride every morning from our back porch. They keep a nest in one of my spruce trees so I see him with great frequency. He looks like a Christmas ornament on a winter's day.

Yeah, I have a soft spot for the tough little guy.

[WILCO]

I have 14 Male Cardinals and possibly double the amount females or juveniles.

Wow Jim! It would be a Cardinal overload for me, to see that many at once! [smilie=l:

[WILCO]

I'm glad your Cardinal came back, Wilco. I love to watch my birds as well.

Thanks Love Life. Bird watching gives me great joy.

[WILCO]

Wilco,thanks for the pic of a cardinal,very nice.

You're welcome Sav300!

Here's another one:

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Virginia/cardinal_byOwnby1.jpg

[WILCO]

Yeah, I have a soft spot for the tough little guy.

It's easy to do once they capture your heart!

[JWFilips]

Wilco,
This winter we have a bumper crop! But it has been bad in the northeast. They don't really flock but they usually show up in pairs or family groups. In the Spring & summer they are very territorial and they only show up a few families at a time. Not sure what happens in the winter but for the past 4 winters we have been happily over run by them. I have switched most of my feeders to oil sunflower seed exclusively ( gets expensive) but now that they are on the dry cat food kick it really is expensive! On cold mornings we have counted 12 + Males in the back yard. Near impossible to count all the females & similar colored 1st year juveniles. They do squabble but seem to tolerate the large grouping. We have see the largest amounts just before the sun comes up and just after it sets & also just before a heavy snow is about to hit.

[WILCO]

Impressive Jim!

[TXGunNut]

They winter around here, mostly south of here. I enjoy watching them while passing the time in a deer stand. Green jays are pretty amusing as well. Saw a robin a week or two ago, we only see them for a few weeks each year.

[beagle]

I have a perfect "cardinal factory". Below the house is a cedar thicket and below that the river. I feed the birds and it's not unusual to see 8 or 9 male cardinal waiting (sometimes impatiently) for the feeders.
Of course, this is a cat free zone except for the wife's old calico and I keep her honest so the cardinals have a pretty good home here./beagle

[TXGunNut]

My cat isn't much interested in birds, barely even watches them. He's quite the mouser though, prefers mice over his dry cat food. Sometimes I suspect he uses his leftover food for bait, lol.

[MaryB]

I get hundreds of grackles in spring, to the point that I have dumped the shot out of a shotgun shell and fired it once a day to keep them out of my trees. They defecate all over my truck, picnic table, deck...

[JWFilips]

OK , I got home from work today at 5 pm Went out and filled the bird feeders A few minutes later here is what I saw in the one feeder area I think they know something we don't know Sorry but I shot this through the kitchen window!
132911
We counted 11 males and 8 females but I could only get 7 males in the shot + one female

[WILCO]

I'm on Cardinal overload!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TCFAN]

We get a few Cardinals here in the Ozarks...............Terry

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Misc%20photos/DSCN0101.jpg (http://s755.photobucket.com/user/TCintheOzarks/media/Misc%20photos/DSCN0101.jpg.html)

[JWFilips]

I'm trying to figure out why when I post a photo it never comes up full size here. Must be something to do with my settings. Does this forum limit photo size? Seems like 800 pixel is max for me (?)
I cropped out a lot of the extra photo area to see if the photo will show larger but it still is the same size. There is actually another female in the tree.
132937

[TCFAN]

JwFilips if you click on your photo it comes up full size........Terry

[JWFilips]

JwFilips if you click on your photo it comes up full size........Terry

It does come up to 800 pixels but the file is 2000 pixels. So it should come up much larger. I guess there must be a view size limit on the forum. Maybe one of the mods would know

[x101airborne]

I saw my first Painted Bunting the other day at my feeder. That was my all time goal! Never saw one in 37 years down here, but I really don't look for em while counting cows.

I do try to control the Grackle population as much as I can. If I can kill 6 or 8 and freeze them, I use them on my Gator lines in the fall. Skewer a whole grackle with a tuna hook, outstretch his wings and add a quarter of a nutria rat under it. It will flop in the breeze and the gators then have sight and smell attractants.

[Handloader109]

We have been putting out feed for the past couple of years. The tree is just outside of our bedroom window. Seen a couple of pairs of Cardinals, but what we like to watch are the variety of woodpeckers. They love the suet. We've seen at least three species, from small to huge. And they can be funny hanging upside down pecking the feed. Good stuff

[fatnhappy]

I had a cooper's hawk at the feeder this afternoon

[Minerat]

Make one of these, but put a piece of clear plexiglass in place of the wood opposite from the entrance (the other small side). For some reason the cats around here fit the bill of curiosity catches the cat. I can't catch them with a have-a heart but this wood box is like a magnet to them. I've been know to deliver them to a pound 40 miles away if I'm headed out of town.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/outdoor-recreation/woodworking/build-rabbit-box-trap

We don't have cardinal's here that I know of but have a couple of blue jays that show up every spring. Had to have a cat collection week, a couple of years ago after finding what was left of 3 babies. We have a leash law here so wandering cats are fair game for trapping....live.


DCMs wife here AKA "the bird lady".


Can't catch them with a normal trap, they're too well fed, can't shoot with a gun, too close to neighbors, have thrown bricks at them and shot at them with airgun. They'll stay away for a while.
Problem is these guys kill for fun, they just leave the dead birds and baby bunnies lying around.

[rockrat]

Thanks for the link to the plans for the trap. My cats are too well fed to bother the birds, but they sure like to look at them. Grandad use to love watching the Cardinals at his feeder. Neighbor cats got two of them. Man, it was war then. He loved the CCI Mini-caps in the green box. Fairly quiet in the long barrel 22 he had.

[WILCO]

Seems my Cardinal is A.W.O.L. again.............

[sav300]

ok,cardinals yes,blue jays yes, What is a cackle ? google here I come.
Sorry ,crackle. Found em on google.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I remember the first time I was a western tanager and it blew me away. They have a yellow body, black wings and a red head. We used to see them twice a year as they migrated thru but I haven't seen one in years. I think one big problem are the crows. When they went on the protected list it spelled doom for many baby birds of all kind. Crows in this area are as common as sparrows. I once saw one trying to kill and eat a grown pigeon. I tried running him off but he only flew just out of reach and came back as soon as I walked away. There ought to be an open season on those flying rats. There is a good reason why the cardinal is the state bird of six states. They are beautiful.

[bayjoe]

Would you be interested in a pair of woodpeckers that like pecking on the side of the house at 6:00 am ?

[bdicki]

I remember the first time I was a western tanager and it blew me away. They have a yellow body, black wings and a red head. We used to see them twice a year as they migrated thru but I haven't seen one in years. I think one big problem are the crows. When they went on the protected list it spelled doom for many baby birds of all kind. Crows in this area are as common as sparrows. I once saw one trying to kill and eat a grown pigeon. I tried running him off but he only flew just out of reach and came back as soon as I walked away. There ought to be an open season on those flying rats. There is a good reason why the cardinal is the state bird of six states. They are beautiful.
Amendment filed 6/26/15;effective 7/1/15

§485. American Crow.

(a) Shotgun, Falconry, and Archery Seasons, and Bag and Possession Limits.

(1) Season: The first Saturday in December and extending for 124 consecutive days.
(2) Daily Bag and Possession Limits

Bag Limit: 24 crows per day
Possession Limit: double the daily bag limit


(3) Area: Statewide: see closure area (d) below


(b) Crows may only be taken by shotguns 10 gauge or smaller using shot shells only and incapable of holding more than three shells in the magazine and chamber combined, bow and arrow, and falconry. The take or attempted take of any crows with a firearm shall be in accordance with the use of nonlead projectiles adn ammunition pursuant to Section 250.1 (http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/current/uplandgamebirdregs.aspx#250_1), Crows may not be hunted from aircraft.
(c) No person shall kill or cripple a crow pursuant to this section without making a reasonable effort to retrieve the bird, and retain it in their actual custody at the place where taken or between that place and either: (1) their automobile or principal means of land transportation; or (2) their personal abode or temporary or transient place of lodging; or (3) a migratory bird preservation facility; or (4) a post office; or (5) a common carrier facility.
(d) Crows may not be taken in the following areas:

(1) Within the boundaries of the Trinity and Mendocino National Forests south of Highway 36.
(2) North and east of a line beginning at the mouth of the Eel River; south along the Eel River to the town of Alton; east on Highway 36 from the town of Alton to Highway 89 west of Chester; south and east on Highways 89 and 395 to Interstate 15 near Hesperia; south on Interstate 15 to Interstate 10; and east on Interstate 10 to the California-Arizona border.


(e) See Section 472(d) (http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/current/uplandgamebirdregs.aspx#472d) for the take of American crows causing depredation.

Amendment filed 6/26/15; effectuve 7/1/15.

[WILCO]

There is a good reason why the cardinal is the state bird of six states. They are beautiful.

Amen!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-roR6ld13Rfo/UCIkyRzYHYI/AAAAAAAABHc/dKerCMIrCLg/s1600/il_fullxfull.82617290.jpg

[Bad Water Bill]

He made his home in my grape vines this summer.

Very careful going in and out of the vines.

[Mtnfolk75]

We usually see the Western Tangier for about 6 weeks or so starting around the 1st of June. 3 or 4 years ago after a really winter, we saw them well into fall. They are beautiful birds, we at 6,000 feet here.

[sav300]

Wilco,thanks for the pics.very nice

[WILCO]

Wilco,thanks for the pics.very nice

You're welcome! I simply grabbed them from the internet.:p

[Big Boomer]

The Mrs. had me put up a couple of bird feeders a few years back that she keeps supplied during the colder months, especially when it snows here in south-central Ky. Robins abound here along with mourning doves, sparrows, finches, cardinals, purple martins, western meadowlarks, wrens, etc., along with the despised starlings, blackbirds, crows, grackles, etc. We have a few red-headed woodpeckers that will not back down from the blackbirds and starlings. One peck from him and they back off.
A few years back we heard some loud whacks against our windows and at first couldn't figure out what it was and what was making the unsightly mess on the windows. Then one day we found what we took to be a dead robin on the back deck. Couldn't figure out at first what was going on but as it turned out he was just out cold from attacking his own image he saw in the window. A little later he came around and flew off.
We have hawks and peregrine falcons that prey on the birds from time to time but they primarily keep the place free of mice and voles. A neighbor who farms found a baby peregrine falcon on the ground that had fallen out of his nest and put it in an open cage and the mother continued to feed the chick in the cage until it was grown. The falcon stays in the cage at night and is habituated to our neighbors, flying at will during the daytime but coming back to the cage in the evening. They shoot blackbirds and starlings with a .22 rifle and feed the falcon in the cage. One day it will probably just fly off. We see it periodically in our yard chasing the birds but not seriously. Big Boomer

[Traffer]

I used to live in a house with an upstairs window that overlooked a neighbors yard about 75 yards away. They had a feeder. In the winter the Cardinals would Que up for the feeder. One pair would go in while several others waited. Until they all had their feed. One day I counted 10 Cardinals waiting for the feeder. Makes one in awe of God. I have seen that hawks are a greater threat to Cardinals than kitties. I used to hate kitties but do so no longer, but still would not ever own one. Unless dogs ceased to exist, then maybe. I don't like to see large hawks prowling in town. But I guess they get a lot of rats in big cities. Cardinals have been known to live to be over 28 years old in captivity. Their songs delight my soul.