Giving back to Nature for Xmas

[snagged in outlet 3]

16 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

Have not seen a whole lot of birds in the yard. I hope that this shelf feeder will get more visiting the back yard a bit more. Yes those are yard sticks. Cheaper than wood slats and easy to measure !

If it were that low in my yard the deer would clean it out.

[dan hufferd]

44 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

feral cats

I used to know a guy who would shoot cats at night with a bow 😁

It is a great way to "become the arrow"or so I am told.

[Johnsfolly]

25 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

If it were that low in my yard the deer would clean it out.

If that becomes a problem, my ground blind is just behind it. Baiting deer is legal in Maryland and I have permission to hunt there if needed .

[BilletHead]

Just another prime example of a non native invasive species reeking havoc on the natural ecosystem. Feral cats do not fill a niche. We have bobcats that do a fine job. 

  BilletHead

I have a bird feeding story for later.

[Terrierman]

One of the best things I own is a clear plastic bird feeder that's attached to the kitchen window.  Go through a lot of sunflower seeds - it gets filled every other day.  There is also a platform feeder across the driveway but it's basically abandoned in favor of the up close and personal bird show.

Don't forget they need water too!  When it's cold enough to freeze all their natural watering holes, the bucket by the well house gets a lot of action, as do the shallow birdbath/waterers.

[Johnsfolly]

10 minutes ago, Terrierman said:

One of the best things I own is a clear plastic bird feeder that's attached to the kitchen window.  Go through a lot of sunflower seeds - it gets filled every other day.  There is also a platform feeder across the driveway but it's basically abandoned in favor of the up close and personal bird show.

Had one of those when I was a grad student. We lived in an old house converted to have two apartments upstairs. The owners lived below us. They were in their late 70's so we never had to heat our apartment. I had the bird feeder on the window and one day the wife of the owner was walking in the garden below the window when the feeder came off and crashed right next to her. Just missed hitting her on the head and nearly scaring her to death. Needless to say we were no longer allowed to have a window feeder .

[Johnsfolly]

41 minutes ago, Terrierman said:

Don't forget they need water too!  When it's cold enough to freeze all their natural watering holes, the bucket by the well house gets a lot of action, as do the shallow birdbath/waterers.

Will keep this in mind. So far it has been raining at least one or two days a week and rarely been below freezing. The birds have been fine so far. My creek fishing has been a bust due to the rain !

[BilletHead]

              The BilletHead's used to feed the birds many moons ago. We have an arbor with multiple feeders. Some supposedly squirrel and raccoon proof, not so much the coons would tear them up big time. During the coldest part of the winter we would go through 50 lbs. of black oil sunflower seed a week! The shelled seeds would get deep and had to be shoveled off every few days. If you didn't it would mold and make the birds sick as some of them were ground feeders digging through the stuff. We did not mix other grains, hen scratch or commercial blends because less desirable birds would show up. It got so bad I decided to trap the raccoons. This is a fact I used a live trap and caught 22 raccoons in 21 nights. One night a pair went in side by side and I got a double. We did put out suet cakes and made up some peanut butter blends with sunflower seeds and stuffed and coated pinecones. Besides the seed hulls the ground got white with bird crap. It looked like a roost.  Now we do nothing but am still kind of feeding other critters .

    I have a place I take larger cleaned animals way out back in a pasture to be cleaned up by natures clean up crew but have a closer place North of the house for smaller hauls of game parts about fifty yards away. I would actually have this right behind the house within sight if it wasn't for Sadie dog. So i have a trail cam on this spot. I started by just dumping game carcasses. Then I tied a strong cord between a couple trees and hang from it. I have had up to 200 pictures a night. One of those nights a bobcat was there for five hours batting the squirrel hide and head around like a kitten playing with a toy. Even deer are inquisitive. There is a scrape not five yards from the bait station. Deer could care less. Five and six coons at a time. One picture i did not keep had a skunk, two coons and one possum at once. Here is just a few,

BilletHead

[Flysmallie]

I hate feral cats or the neighbors cats or whatever. Not only do they kill birds they also dig and crap everywhere, destroy plants, drive the dog crazy, use the deck furniture for scratching post. Rocks, dogs, BB guns, small dishes of antifreeze.....whatever it takes. I keep my dog in my yard. All you have to do is keep your cat out of it. 

[MoCarp]

Interesting posts, Ihave fed birds most of my adult life, a blend of seeds and feeder types bring a variety of species. Shelled sunflower chips help keep things less messy and hemp seeds are a nice add, if you attract birds you will attract predators, place feeders away from ambush points and only the stupid and weak will get taken.. nature’s way

As far as shoot the “feral” cats killing the 5 year old kids fluffy vs the chewed up old tomcats is a ID issue, I’m not a cat person but setting out antifreeze will kill non target animals....if you have a cat issue a live trap will catch most encourage niebors that you saw an owl almost get their kitty and soon it will be an inside cat, if fluffy comes home with an arrow in it you can count on making the news, hunters get a bad rap these days so don’t be “that guy”

ether way it’s a blast to feed birds and squirrels