July went by pretty quickly. It was so much like June. The rain was the same. The nights a bit chillier, the days slightly warmer. Except for the last week of the month. The days have hit the 80’s (F).
The mornings start of with a chorus of mockingbirds and woodpeckers, singing praises to the sun. Shortly there-after they are joined by the chickadees & nuthatches, whilst the crows caw in the distance (they nest somewhere up the mountain). Finn hears the calls & gets out of bed to put out the feeders. He even mentioned that he heard someone trying to mimic his “Mess Call” whistles.
The chickadees are the first to greet him. Followed by the hummingbirds. Often times each species will sit upon the feeder before he even gets it on the hook. It isn’t that we want them used to humans .. they just appear to know who he is & what he is doing for them. They appreciate the help. We even have a “Super-Soaker” for the local cats who think bird feeders are also cat feeders.
The grosbeak clan are the ones I see gathering on the North side from the Living room picture window, as I drink my coffee. The Rosebreasts precede the Evenings. We have 3 distinct, feeding areas – Back, North & Front, which stay up year-round. The only things that change are the food groups available, this completely depends upon the needs of the guests.
The crows begin to gather. Sometimes only one or 2, other times the whole family is perched in a nearby tree. They LOVE mixed seed, and Finn puts out plenty for them. We have a family of 10 that have called our home “Theirs”. Our neighbor feeds them as well … so they know they are quite welcome. Our neighbor’s cats are not to pleased about it though … the crows will chase them from one side of the house to the next … bellowing & swooping. Nothing comes of it. Everyone has found their space here.
The grackles which were so prevalent in June moved on for the middle part of July. They came back on the 29th. What used to be up to 50 or 60, are now great mobs of up to 200 … blackening all 3 sides of the house. Did you know that up to 5 grackles can feed off 1 suet block at a time? I didn’t , until the other day.
The last week on July has seen a couple wonderful things though … There are breeding colored female evening grosbeaks, and the hummingbirds are showing off with their acrobatics. Perhaps August will be the time we put out the other hummingbird stations.
A NOTE ON HUMMINGBIRDS: Please DO NOT buy food which has the red dye in it for them. It really is not very healthy.
RECIPE: Just use a mixture of 1 cup of granulated sugar to 4 cups boiled tap or bottled water (depending on if you have city water or not – city water has too many additives, such as fluoride & chlorine). Boiling the water will get rid of anything “Live”, which would feed of the sugar. “And” change the water every week … more, if it is quite hot. Bacteria love sugar water, I bet you don’t want to get them sick.
Food Consumption: Suet has slowed some, with the absence of the grackles, sunflower seeds are about the same, hummingbird food hasn’t changed, mixed seed is also unchanged & thistle is “STILL” too expensive to purchase (poor finches)
In Order of Quantity (unless noted otherwise) …
July:
Birds: Common Grackles (from the last week of the month), Grosbeaks – Evening, Red-Breasted & Pine, Black-Capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches, Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers, Crows, Purple Finches, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Catbirds, Mockingbirds, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Indigo Buntings, House Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Ravens, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, Brown Headed Cowbirds, Baltimore Oriels, Robins, Starlings, Sharp-Shinned Hawks (our population supervisors), Northern Goshawks, Black & Turkey Vultures
Animals: Red & Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks, Mice, Raccoons, Moose with babies