Will They Eat It All?

When I worked at Wild Birds Unlimited, we told people repeatedly that birds wouldn't eat many of the seeds in the commercial bags of seed. We told them that they wouldn't eat seeds like milo, wheat, oats and others. We didn't have those seeds in our mixes. I have several Eurasian Collared-Doves around. They are large birds. I figured there was nothing they wouldn't eat. So, I bought a bag of mixed seeds from Wal-Mart and started putting it out. The ingredients are oil sunflower seed, millet, corn, milo and wheat. The Eurasian Collared-Doves are around the feeders most of the time. I've even had White-winged Doves there, thinking they would eat just about anything too. Well, about 3/4 of the way through the bag, the advice we gave at WBU was absolutely correct. Milo and wheat are covering the bottom of my tray feeder and my ground feeder. I got my binoculars out this morning and watched the doves eating and saw them picking through the milo and wheat trying to find some of the other seeds. I do have quite a bit of milo sprouting around my feeders giving it a nice green look! No doubt the rats and mice are enjoying the milo at night. Maybe the screech-owls and snakes are enjoying the rats and mice. So, no more mixed seed from Wal-Mart unless it doesn't contain milo and wheat. It's a waste of money.

Interesting Bird at the Feeders

Yesterday morning, I looked out at my feeders and noticed a bird hopping around under my tray feeder (on legs) and around my ground feeder (a piece of plywood directly on the ground). It was too big to be a sparrow, but not quite big enough to be a robin. I have seen robins around because of the water not too far away from my feeders. So, I grabbed my binoculars and looked. It was a Hermit Thrush. I'm not sure exactly what he was doing around the feeders, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Maybe he was going for some of the insects that are attracted by the seed.

I am seeing more and more Eurasian Collared-Doves all the time around my feeders. They have even gotten over to my mom's feeders. About 15 years ago, my grandmother told me about "a dove with a black ring on its neck." She was sure it was a Spotted Dove, but I wasn't as convinced. I just wonder if that was one of the first ones that escaped captivity and started a population here.

I wonder about the goldfinches. I worked for years at Wild Birds Unlimited. We would tell our customers to put a finch feeder out around Thanksgiving. It seems to me that even in the ten years since I first started working for WBU that they have arrived later and later and leave earlier and earlier. It also seems that we have fewer numbers of them around as well. I know finches of all species can be very sporadic in their seasonal movement. Some customers would be covered up with finches one year only to have a few the next year. But it sure seems like there is a trend with them to me. I just wonder if they're going the way of the Purple Finch, nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos and Pine Siskins as far as not as many coming south. I remember as a kid having my feeders covered with Dark-eyed Juncos and now I'm lucky if I see one or two a year. Maybe in the next ten years, if the trend continues, we'll have fewer and fewer American Goldfinches in the area to have them replaced with Lesser Goldfinches that might be moving more northward.

Other birds seen at my feeders yesterday were: American Goldfinch (4), Blue Jay (1), House Sparrow (20+), Chipping Sparrow (5) and Carolina Chickadee (3).