Spring Time Wildlife Watching

With spring right around the corner here in Georgia, some of the native birds have started building nests again. I have a family of what I think are finches that every year without fail raise a new batch of chicks on the columns on my front porch. This year I was surprised to see a plump mourning dove also building her nest out there. My office looks right out at them all so I get a front row seat to watch these chicks mature and fly off on their own every year.

I thought it might be fun since we've got members from all over the world, to talk about what spring looks like in your area, what kind of animals you get to see, and if anyone else is like me, with those visitors that come back every year. Other than having to pressure wash the porch every year, this is an exciting time!

Yesterday we hit a very unusually-warm 74*, but after the recent frigid temperatures, it's going to be a while yet for spring here. We still have a little snow mounded from the recent 10-11" we got. :D But believe me, I'm ready for spring! As are all the birds, I'm sure. The daffodils have all emerged, but not flowering yet. Both my neighbor & I feed the birds- they feed year-round, while I mostly feed them in the winter, to help out the local residents without making them too dependent on me. I usually have robins nesting in my yard, but not yet. Recently, in the midst of the bitter cold, I saw a flock of robins, which surprised me...I normally don't see groups of them at all, just hunting for food solo. I enjoy all the various birds here, but I'm slightly partial to the colorful cardinals.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Yesterday we hit a very unusually-warm 74*, but after the recent frigid temperatures, it's going to be a while yet for spring here. We still have a little snow mounded from the recent 10-11" we got. :D But believe me, I'm ready for spring! As are all the birds, I'm sure. The daffodils have all emerged, but not flowering yet. Both my neighbor & I feed the birds- they feed year-round, while I mostly feed them in the winter, to help out the local residents without making them too dependent on me. I usually have robins nesting in my yard, but not yet. Recently, in the midst of the bitter cold, I saw a flock of robins, which surprised me...I normally don't see groups of them at all, just hunting for food solo. I enjoy all the various birds here, but I'm slightly partial to the colorful cardinals.

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Robins is what I have not finches, I'm just a moron lol. We also see the occasional cardinal come through and our cats are immediately glued to the windows over that bright red. Typically we only see them during the fall when they're passing through though unfortunately. It's funny that you say you feed during the winter. I was reading something recently that said that you should do that because migrating birds will get use to your feeders being a safe place to grab a bite before continuing wherever they're going.

Not sure how true that is, but it was interesting to think about.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Robins is what I have not finches, I'm just a moron lol. We also see the occasional cardinal come through and our cats are immediately glued to the windows over that bright red. Typically we only see them during the fall when they're passing through though unfortunately. It's funny that you say you feed during the winter. I was reading something recently that said that you should do that because migrating birds will get use to your feeders being a safe place to grab a bite before continuing wherever they're going.

Not sure how true that is, but it was interesting to think about.

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I think that's true about migrating birds. I can remember in a prior year, when I was more attentive (started feeding birds earlier, in late fall), I had so many amazing birds here that I had to look them up -never having seen them before (or some, like orioles, that I recognized, but again, they don't live here)- and they'd be around only for a short time, like you said- they were obviously migrating. Whereas robins, blue jays, blue birds, cardinals, woodpeckers & various smaller birds are local residents.

Anyway, if the winter brings snow (& we don't normally get a lot here, but we did this year) it keeps many birds from finding food, plus they need more calories when it's cold- this year was really miserable for them, I'm sure. It was pretty hard on people too. When I'd fill the seed basket & put out suet, they took turns & picked it clean pretty fast. The robins don't normally eat seeds or suet, they like worms & bugs. I also have various shrubs around my house that produce berries that some birds eat too- they're not edible for humans, only for birds, so I'm sure that helps too. If you want to encourage cardinals, they like black oil sunflower seeds. Woodpeckers love suet- but some other birds like it too. The various little finch-types like the smaller safflower seeds.

BTW, in the summer, instead of feeding birds (when there's plenty more natural food) I tend to put out water for them when it's hot & hasn't rained for a while. That helps them too.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

BTW, in the summer, instead of feeding birds (when there's plenty more natural food) I tend to put out water for them when it's hot & hasn't rained for a while. That helps them too.

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Oh I know! My wife movies into our front room to use as an office and I’m debating on putting a bird bath right in front of her window so I’m not the only one enjoying the wildlife.


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I love to watch birds taking a bath...especially when it's been a while. They get done & sit there, then go back in again 'cause it felt so good the first 3 times. :rofl:

I havn't seen any birds lately but I've been seeing a lot of lizards! I have no idea what species. I'll have to take some pics next time I see one and maybe someone on here knows. They look a lot like some of the "sagebrush lizards" on here so maybe that's what they are: http://www.californiaherps.com/ident...izards.id.html I often see my cats going absolutely bonkers trying to figure out how to get outside to get to them, they usually notice them before I do.

We aren't allowed to have bird feeders with our HOA, stupidest thing. I do have a fountain on my back porch though and see a lot of them in the summer. They also like to hunt for bugs in my compost bin.

In the summer time I love to go up to the mountains a couple hours from here and look for ants and reptiles. There are so many different kinds here, it's amazing.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

I havn't seen any birds lately but I've been seeing a lot of lizards! I have no idea what species. I'll have to take some pics next time I see one and maybe someone on here knows. They look a lot like some of the "sagebrush lizards" on here so maybe that's what they are: http://www.californiaherps.com/ident...izards.id.html I often see my cats going absolutely bonkers trying to figure out how to get outside to get to them, they usually notice them before I do.

We aren't allowed to have bird feeders with our HOA, stupidest thing. I do have a fountain on my back porch though and see a lot of them in the summer. They also like to hunt for bugs in my compost bin.

In the summer time I love to go up to the mountains a couple hours from here and look for ants and reptiles. There are so many different kinds here, it's amazing.

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So many lizards, so little time! ;) You're making me miss California- :P (not HOA's though, never had one, never will)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

So many lizards, so little time! ;) You're making me miss California- :P (not HOA's though, never had one, never will)

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HOAs suck. There is basically nothing anywhere near here without one. One of the many reasons I want to move in a year or two. California has some really great qualities but oh boy does it have it's flaws.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

...In the summer time I love to go up to the mountains a couple hours from here and look for ants and reptiles. There are so many different kinds here, it's amazing.

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I believe you're the first person I've ever spoken to that actually looks for ants. ;) When I lived in So Cal, I always had the feeling they were looking for me? They once entered my dressing room, climbed up the door frame & ate holes in a new blouse I had hanging there! :O Another time, they came in & killed a sweet little gecko I had, mostly on their way to eating his mealworms. :tears:
But they missed me, at least- I got away.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I believe you're the first person I've ever spoken to that actually looks for ants. ;) When I lived in So Cal, I always had the feeling they were looking for me? They once entered my dressing room, climbed up the door frame & ate holes in a new blouse I had hanging there! :O Another time, they came in & killed a sweet little gecko I had, mostly on their way to eating his mealworms. :tears:
But they missed me, at least- I got away.

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Oh no!!! That sounds horrible. I have been fortunate not to ever have bad problems with them despite not using pesticides. I've had minor little outbreaks trying to eat cat food, but sprinkling a bit of cayenne around the place they were coming into the house managed to get them to go away.

I can thank ants canada on youtube for my ant interest. I can sit there and watch his ants for hours :P they are really interesting little creatures. Some of his paludarium setups are out of this world :O blows almost any of the other naturalistic enclosures I've seen out of the water.

Spring around here is daffodils starting to push up. We just got done with a week of temps between -10F and 20F, and this week it's been in the 60's, so the snow is gone and the air is freshening up. We're not done with winter by a long shot, but spring is definitely around the corner. I feed the birds all winter and usually have the same ones every year - house finches, goldfinches, English sparrows, juncoes, wrens, the occasional titmouse, four different kinds of woodpeckers, starlings and grackles (ugh), blue jays and cardinals. Right before a storm last month there were ten PAIR of cardinals in the yard, which is a record for me. We've also got mourning doves, but since the Cooper's hawk found out about the feeder, the doves have made themselves scarce this year, since they are one of the hawk's favorites. Of course in the spring the turnout is a little different. And I've had several surgeries on both eyes, so now I can SEE them, which is a blessing.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Oh no!!! That sounds horrible. I have been fortunate not to ever have bad problems with them despite not using pesticides. I've had minor little outbreaks trying to eat cat food, but sprinkling a bit of cayenne around the place they were coming into the house managed to get them to go away.

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This reminds me of when I lived in Memphis, and the apartment complex I lived in was infested with pharaoh ants. Teeny little things but they were everywhere. One day I poured myself a bowl of raisin bran (brand new box!) in the dark and started eating. It tasted okay but it occurred to me that the stuff in the bag looked a little crumbier than usual. By that time I was so paranoid about finding ants in stuff that I turned on the light and really looked at the bag, and of course it was full of ants. Since I'd already eaten about half the bowl without noticing anything "off" about the taste, I tried to keep eating, but I just couldn't.
The complex finally got rid of the pharaohs by dusting boric acid everywhere, but they were replaced by bigger ants (about half the size of carpenter ants) that were biters. The managers finally gave up on trying to keep the tinier ants out because at least they were keeping the biting ants at bay. And that's when I started putting everything into plastic containers. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Oh no!!! That sounds horrible. I have been fortunate not to ever have bad problems with them despite not using pesticides. I've had minor little outbreaks trying to eat cat food, but sprinkling a bit of cayenne around the place they were coming into the house managed to get them to go away.

I can thank ants canada on youtube for my ant interest. I can sit there and watch his ants for hours :P they are really interesting little creatures. Some of his paludarium setups are out of this world :O blows almost any of the other naturalistic enclosures I've seen out of the water.

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I don't use pesticides either, but I've had to find some "harmless" ways to offend them. There was a non-toxic spray on the market (in CA) that had wintergreen & (I think?) rosemary oils in it, not much else. Worked miraculously- killed some ants, repelled all the rest, & smelled good doing it. Said to be pet & kid safe, kitchen safe, etc. So of course it disappeared from the stores...:rolleyes: I think one of the big pesticide companies is now marketing something similar now? I've tried using diatomaceous earth too, it helps somewhat, but not like that spray did.

Where I live now, the only ants that ever enter my house are leaf-eaters whose routine trails get flooded out when we have lots of rain- they travel on the water pipes under my house, so they take wrong turns into the bathrooms first, then the kitchen. They take a while to re-train, but at least they aren't there to munch my food or clothing.

I do make a habit of keeping most foods in glass, plastic or metal tins that seal tightly.

I never heard of "ants canada" but I can see how that could be fascinating.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Oh no!!! That sounds horrible. I have been fortunate not to ever have bad problems with them despite not using pesticides. I've had minor little outbreaks trying to eat cat food, but sprinkling a bit of cayenne around the place they were coming into the house managed to get them to go away.

I can thank ants canada on youtube for my ant interest. I can sit there and watch his ants for hours :P they are really interesting little creatures. Some of his paludarium setups are out of this world :O blows almost any of the other naturalistic enclosures I've seen out of the water.

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I'm not sure if it's the same youtuber but I went down a rabbit hole for about a week on one guy. He would give these histories of his different paludariums and would call the colonies the "golden empire" or something to that effect depending on the type of ant. SUPER interesting stuff.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I'm not sure if it's the same youtuber but I went down a rabbit hole for about a week on one guy. He would give these histories of his different paludariums and would call the colonies the "golden empire" or something to that effect depending on the type of ant. SUPER interesting stuff.

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Yep, that's the guy.