Saw a Hermit Thrush this week & bird feeding ideas....
I think the fall migration might be starting. I saw a Hermit Thrush the other day. I was watching out my bedroom window at all the robins in the yard and I spotted a bird - smaller than a robin, no red breast, and gray on its back with a speckled/striped breast. I studied it for quite some time. It was feeding on the ground - kind of like a robin - but eating insects and it stayed near the woods. It was smaller than a robin and its back was plain and grayish. I looked it up in my field guide and at first was confused. Was it a Hermit Thrush? Then, I saw it again the next day up in a tree - only this time it looked more brown than gray. Yep - I think I confirmed it - a hermit thrush - very plain face. Now - where is it from - according to my field guide - Canada or the upper US. - definitely not from Cincinnati.
Oh yea! Try this for an interesting suet recipe. I made some corn meal mush for my husband's breakfast and with the hardened leftovers of mush mixed some bird seed it it. I then put it in my suet feeder. Boy did they love it! I greased the bird feeder pole with Crisco to keep the squirrels off and it worked! I saw chickadees, titmice, white breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker and cardinals.
I also tried this - I took two toasted bagels, spread peanut butter on them and then rolled them in birdseed. I then took some ribbon and tied them up in the trees. The next day they were gone! I'm not sure if any birds ever got to try it but I'll bet what ever ate them had a tasty treat! Have fun feeding the birds!