Feeding Wild Birds

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Interesting afternoon. The hen turkey and four 'hen pheasant sized' poults came in this afternoon along with another hen and four smaller poults. Both hens and all poults were intermingling and getting along fine when one of the transmitter hens showed up. She started chasing the smaller poults, and both mothers started fanning and then kicked her butt chasing her into the back of my property. Love 'my' turkeys.
 
Great black backed gulls and herring gulls shredded this Cheetos bag to the bone in a matter of seconds.
 

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sourland said:
Interesting afternoon. The hen turkey and four 'hen pheasant sized' poults came in this afternoon along with another hen and four smaller poults. Both hens and all poults were intermingling and getting along fine when one of the transmitter hens showed up. She started chasing the smaller poults, and both mothers started fanning and then kicked her butt chasing her into the back of my property. Love 'my' turkeys.
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Haven't seen a turkey in wks, no poults with any hens that we've seen all spring and summer. Hummingbirds are still voraciously feeding. Feeling kinda guilty not filling the seed feeder, just can't stand the Starlings and Cow Birds getting it all. Not even putting out the suet blocks. Maybe the end of September. Better variety in winter. Also not one Goldfinch this year and this is supposed to be our state bird? WTH! I have a theory but it will send me into a ranting rage. :mad:
 
As you may know, I have been putting out fruit to help the fruit eating birds get through winter. The birds that visit the most for the fruit are the Whitebacked Mousebirds (Colius colius).

'Mousebirds belong to the Order Coliiformes, the only bird order confined to Africa.'

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They are called Mousebirds because they are easily mistaken for mice by the way they move and scurry along tree branches and under bushes, especially with their long thin tails dragging behind them.

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They are not that great at flying and have been described as clumsy in the air.

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(All photographs were taken by me, in my garden.)
 
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Mousebirds will also graze together on the ground.

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Looking through my window blinds.

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After they have eaten fruit you will see them perched with they bellies facing into the sun. I think this has something to do with helping to digest the sugars in the fruit? They stay still in the sunlight for a few minutes before continuing to eat and forage.

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(All these photographs were taken by me, in my garden.)
 
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'Studies have shown that Mousebirds, clustering together at night to share body heat, reduce their nighttime energy expenditure by 13% if two birds huddle, 31% for four birds, and 50% if six or more birds are in the huddle.'

I consider myself very lucky to have witnessed this, on a very cold winter’s day, happening in my own garden. There were about five Mousebirds huddle together while two remained outside the huddle to be on guard watch duty. It was raining and the wind was blowing quite strongly.

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The feathers on their bellies looks like fur and I would imagine it therefore acts like fur would?
 
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