Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Thistle Mania!

I don't know about any of you but boy am I going through a ton of thistle. I have up to 15 goldfinches at a time at my feeders and they and the juncos eat so much of this expensive food that I am filling it up twice a week. I wouldn't mind it so much if they were a little neater and didn't spill it on the ground. These two dining partners are looking at the blue jay in my tree who is jaying up a storm for everyone in the yard to hear.
Luckily I have a couple of juncos who will do clean up for me.


9 comments:

Shelley said...

Great shot of the finch & junco together! Especially seeing that junco on the perch - he must've been especially hungry as usually juncos are only ground eaters!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I've got the exact same situation, Kallen, except ours are mostly Pine Siskins and Goldfinch. They are eating me out of house and home. AND--they are so messy. Thank goodness the birds on the ground can eat up the mess they spill. Do you know of any feeders with a drip pan below????

Hope you have had a good day.
Hugs,
Betsy

Dawn Fine said...

I really like that photo of the lone junco...it looks like a watercolor painting.

Ruth said...

I have never seen a junco at my thistle feeder. They do prefer to feed from the ground. Lately the finches are ignoring the thistle seed and are going for the black sunflower instead.

Mary said...

And they do a great job! They hop around the patio all day long picking up niger seed.

A New England Life said...

You've got me on that one. That's one feeder I don't have out, but should! Maybe I'll make the treacherous journey to the feeder hook today to hang it up.

Where is all the snow anyway? All we have so far is flurries. They cancelled school for this? I'm sure I'll be eating my words soon enough.

KGMom said...

We put thistle out for the first time this year. It is very popular.
Here in central PA, we get loads of juncos, sparrows, red finches, cardinals, and a few pine siskens at our feeders.
Of course the ever present doves do ground clean-up and the squirrels CONSTANTLY try to raid everything. . .except the thistle!

Kim said...

Shelley, the juncos in my yard love all the feeders. I guess I have so many of them that some prefer the ground and some prefer the feeders.

Betsy, I am happy to hear you have birds to do clean up for you as well. It is a necessity it appears. ;o)

Dawn, I liked that photo too. My son said it looked like a cartoon to him.

Ruth, my goldfinches have suddenly taken a strong liking to BOSS too. Maybe it has more fat and they are preferring it due to the cold.

Mary, I saw the pics in your yard and can't get over the golfinches you have as well. I am glad to see they are tidy and cleaning up after themselves. ;o)

Sharon, we have had about 3 inches of snow. What happened to the foot that was supposed to be dumped on us?? I bet you will be getting some of this real soon, but it's nothing like they said it was going to be. I am not complaining but it's very weird.

KG, you yard sounds a lot like mine. The doves in my yard do like the thistle though, the spuirrels on the other hand hate it which is okay with me!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I've never seen juncos take thistle seed before. Cool.

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