Friday Feeder Day........

The behaviors of birds that I have observed vary per kind of bird.  The downy and the redbellied woodpeckers do not share any space on the suet feeder.  The downy pair do yield when the redbellied shows up to eat.  Juncos don't like to share their space with each other.  Juncos push others away and stay at least 8 inches or more from each other while feeding.  The junco will sit all around the feeder and wait its turn at the feeder.  Sparrows just don't care who is around.  They will eat shoulder to shoulder without any problem.  They will sneak in and eat next to a junco as long as they stay a distance from the junco.  The white breasted nuthatch isn't picky with who they eat with as they don't stick around long enough to know who they are next to at the feeder.  They fly in quickly and take off immediately once they secure a seed.

The cardinals eat separately.  A male and a female can eat at the feeder together, one at each level.  Cardinals wait their turn and fly in quickly to pick up one sunflower seed and then fly off to eat it on a branch of a tree or bush.  The sparrows prefer eating on the ground but do like a huge pile of seed.  The starlings of course come in with large numbers and flood the feeder.  They even eat cat food at the  automatic feeder by our porch door.  They leave a mess while they eat, dirty birds.  The morning doves and Eurasian doves haven't been around for quite a while but they will be back in the spring and summer to eat on the tabletop of the feeder.  They will feed all summer if I keep something in the trays. The purple finch rarely comes to my feeder and hopefully the kestral never returns to feed on the birds.