.... fill a deck railing? About 25! They normally prefer to be on the floor of the deck or on the ground underneath [which is about 10 feet below] but sometimes they line up, shoulder to shoulder, along the railing and clean up what's left of the seeds.
I agree with Judith - you must spend a fortune on bird food! I know I do, but I don't have nearly as many birds as you do. I love the sound of mourning doves.
@timandelke it's funny elke, people think that and so did I when hubby first started putting the seed out there, but we've been doing this for a few years now and there's none at all. i have no idea why. now that i've said that, i hope things don't change! lol
Gosh what a variety of birds you get, these look lovely all lined up. We have collard doves here which just have a lighter ring colour around their necks, they are a grey/brown colour, but not these birds. I wonder if they are called mourning doves because of their black spots, like the black arm bands people used to wear when mourning?
I love the group shot, Anne! You get the most amazing number of birds. 25 is alot at one time. I find it interesting that different types of birds all seem to descend at the same time. Like where are the grosbeaks now that the mourning doves have arrived? Do they take turns?
@busylady@sparkleplenty1 thanks ladies! yes, we're buying less this year because the grosbeaks are not here in the great numbers they were last year but we're probably still using about 8 lbs of black oil sunflowers seeds a day. If it's really cold or snowy, we put out more. I've only been putting out the peanuts for a week or two, and only a handful at a time, so no cost there, to speak of.
@lauriehiggins thanks laurie! yes, they're pretty good at taking turns, but the deck is big enough that they can come at the same time too, if they really want to. Kala keeps the larger birds away when she's on the deck [a couple of hours a day]. the jays, then the grosbeaks are mostly likely to appear earliest. the woodpeckers and smaller birds come and go all day. the mourning doves seem to come later in the morning or in the afternoon. i'm planning to do the cornell bird count this weekend [the one christie was talking about] so i'll be paying more attention to times and numbers.
@karens68 haha, the squirrels are too fat and lazy ... just my humble, biased opinion ... they're not my favourite visitors ... ;-) my favourite part of the day is when our dogs put the run on the squirrels. i'm easily amused.
Nice shot! I'm with @digitalrn - I don't think I've seen that many at once, either. We have a pair that will come to our feeders, but I never see more than the 2 of them.
