Backyard Feathered Visitors Nanaimo Birds

Juvenile Flicker and Parent

Last winter my wife got a bird feeder to attract birds which she thought might also prove interesting subjects for her hobby of photography.

The feeder proved a constant source of enjoyment as birds we knew, and some we didn't started to make our feeder one of their regular stops over the winter months.

We had never seen Pine Siskins before we hung out the feeder and they have proven to be daily visitors and put on quite the show. There are at least a dozen of them and some of them have some real attitude when it comes to defending the feeder, and not just from other birds but their own flock mates as well. Some of the bullies spend more energy driving off others than they get from the food they eat.

I figured that come the end of March or so, that would be the end of our visitors as natural food became available, but I did keep putting food out and to my surprise they still are coming on a regular basis.

Some of the birds I would expect such as the house sparrows that nest under our eves became constant visitors of the feeder but to my surprise many other varieties have stayed around as well. The above photo shows a young Flicker and it's parent at the feeder and in spite of it's size the junior bird actually gets fed by it's parent even though it is standing right on top of the food.

Regular visitors right now still include House Sparrows, Purple Finches, House Finch, Chickadees, Siskins, Flickers, the occasional Towhee and several Nuthatches and Grosbeaks.

We have found that feeding the hulled, cracked sunflower seeds is a good choice of feed, as it appeals to a wide variety of birds, and there is no waste which means nothing accumulating on the ground to attract rodents.

If summer ever gets here in full gear, I suspect some of the birds will take to the woods but for now we enjoy the show which starts at first light and continues until early evening.