Hummingbirds Have Left, But the Blue Jays Have Returned

MIGrandma

Lives in the middle-of-the-mitten.
Joined
Aug 12, 2009
I am always so sad when the hummingbirds leave at the end of the summer. I love feeding them, both here at home and at our place up north, during the summer. I haven't seen one since we got back from vacation on the 15th so I'm pretty sure they've left. But, just this morning I heard a Blue Jay again. Hadn't heard one here all summer. We have a birch tree outside the kitchen window and we put ears of corn on the tree for them and I just saw one get a piece of corn.

I hope we have Cardinals this year. I saw ONE last year and he didn't stick around. We generally have a pair every year. When we rented a cabin in Nashville last winter I loved washing dishes, as I could look out the window and see a dozen or more Cardinals in the tree! So pretty!

Anyone else feed the birds? We put out suet cakes, and bell cakes, the corn, and I keep finch feeders filled. We had loads of pretty yellow finches all summer, now I haven't seen them so I'm not sure if they moved on, or if they are just able to find other food now that fall is here. We usually have them in the winter too. We have a few different varieties of woodpeckers, occasionally see juncos and chickadees, and one year I had a red breasted grossbeak. I also leave all my perennial flowers in the garden alone, and don't trim them back until spring. Lots of seeds there for the birds to enjoy.

If you feed the birds, what kinds do you have?
 
We feed the birds as well. Although for a while I was mostly feeding the squirrels. :rolleyes:. I did get a couple of the Yankee clipper squirrel proof feeders and they really work. Anyway hummingbirds are still here. I get goldfinch and all the ones you mentioned along with some not so desirable ones like doves and magpies. They are too heavy though to sit on the feeder so just eat it off the ground
 
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I only feed the humming birds and "mine" left weeks ago but I did have a couple more pass through after. I haven't seen any in a week.
I have blue jays and cardinals year round, I don't feed them but I have a back hedge row that all birds love.

At our place up north I don't feed any because we have bears and I have to do what I can to keep them away from our place.
 
We feed the birds as well. Although for a while I was mostly feeding the squirrels. :rolleyes:. I did get a couple of the Yankee clipper squirrel proof feeders and they really work. Anyway hummingbirds are still here. I get goldfinch and all the ones you mentioned along with some not so desirable ones like doves and magpies. They are two heavy though to sit on the feeder so just eat it off the ground

We don't have many squirrels out here in the country, maybe too many large, open fields. See a lot of them in town though, and at our place up north. We used to put ear corn on holders in the trees up there to feed both the squirrels (love the black ones most!) and chipmunks. That is, until our neighbor said he shoots them because they cause so much damage. :( We haven't had one get into either of our campers up there, but I'm sure they would do a lot of damage if they did get in so we decided to stop feeding them.

I do have doves here, and I love them. I love the sound they make. And I agree with you about them being too heavy for the feeders, so they just clean up what's on the ground, I don't mind that. :)

I only feed the humming birds and "mine" left weeks ago but I did have a couple more pass through after. I haven't seen any in a week.
I have blue jays and cardinals year round, I don't feed them but I have a back hedge row that all birds love.

At our place up north I don't feed any because we have bears and I have to do what I can to keep them away from our place.

We have bears up north too, so when we're staying up there I just bring the hummingbird feeder in for the night. I forgot once and a bear destroyed it. We have a lot of blackberries, so I know the bears come in to eat those too. That's one of the main reasons I won't let the grandkids sleep in a tent outside!
 


We have bears up north too, so when we're staying up there I just bring the hummingbird feeder in for the night. I forgot once and a bear destroyed it. We have a lot of blackberries, so I know the bears come in to eat those too. That's one of the main reasons I won't let the grandkids sleep in a tent outside!

Our bear comes to visit us during the day, and he doesn't mid that we are there. He just sits by the edge of the woods and watches us, hoping we will leave him something.
We have been leaving our garbage can out during the day and forgot to take it at night once and that was all it took. He got a great meal and now he comes back looking for more.
Now we leave nothing out even during the day.
 
Our bear comes to visit us during the day, and he doesn't mid that we are there. He just sits by the edge of the woods and watches us, hoping we will leave him something.
We have been leaving our garbage can out during the day and forgot to take it at night once and that was all it took. He got a great meal and now he comes back looking for more.
Now we leave nothing out even during the day.

We've had our property up north for 10 years now and I've only seen the bear once in person. It was the first spring we had the place, we were staying in the guest camper (hadn't moved our camper up there yet) and I saw it out the window on the lane by the neighbor's property line. I opened the door and he took off running. I stepped up onto the picnic table to try to get a better picture of him but he was all for getting out of there when he saw us.

We captured his photo that same summer on our critter cam on our trail in the woods. Our neighbors live up there year 'round so they do see bears more often, so I know they are there. And we have bear hunters in the area in the fall too, some of their dogs have come onto our property then they ask if they can come on and get them and of course we let them. One time I was sitting at our picnic table when one of their dogs came up to me and just sat there letting me pet it until its owner came and got it (they all have tracking devices on them). :)
 
We have only had the property for a year, but we knew it was bear country so we've been prepared to see one. We have found bear tracks and scat but our cameras never picked him up. We had always put the garbage in the shed at night so we figured he wouldn't be coming around us. Then one night we forgot and the next morning dh walked out of the camper and there he was at the garbage can. He just took the bag and moved into the woods, sat there and ate LOL.
He came back later that day and was just watching. My ds yelled and he went away. He kept coming back, and even came out of the woods while we were all watching him. I have great video and pics. He still kept coming back that day, dh finally had to shoot his pistol (not the bear) to scare it away.
That night we had him on video coming back again. For days and night he kept coming back. He is a young one but not really skittish. We haven't been there much since so not sure if he is still coming around.
Early bear hunting ends Monday I believe, I really hope nobody got him. Of course regular season starts after so he still is at risk.
 


We leave peanuts in the shell on a side table on our back deck for squirrels and blue jays. The blue jays swoop down and grab one and quickly fly back to their trees, but the squirrels often will munch right on the table. And when we're sitting on the deck, a squirrel will often approach and start begging.

Blue jays can be very nasty. About 20 years ago one built a nest in the shrub right outside our front door. The Daddy jay would sit in a nearby tree and freak out if anybody approached the front door. It almost attacked my sister-in-law when she attempted to get a close look at the nest. Even if we just opened the main door from within while the storm door was closed, the Daddy jay would threaten us. It got so bad we had to use the back door for about a month until the little birdies left the nest.
 
We have year round blue jays and cardinals, but we also have seasonal hummingbirds. We have two kinds of hummingbirds presently. I assume that they are en route between one point to their winter habitats.

We also have squirrels, bunnies, and this year we have deer! I assume they're here because they were moved out of their normal homes from development.
 
The timing of this thread was funny as when you mentioned hummingbirds, I'd also noticed that DH had washed out our hummingbird feeder and had it upside down drying. (He makes his own syrup, in fact a week or two ago he almost set the house on fire when he had some on the stove but dozed off in the sunroom forgetting it was there, the rest of us woke up to acrid smoke throughout the house and my pan was ruined! :p ) So yes, we feed them and enjoy them all summer. Haven't seen any in a week or so.

We also have many other beautiful wild birds - lots of cardinal pairs, purple finches, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows, mourning doves, goldfinches, blue jays, to name a few. Being a city girl at heart, I grew up not really knowing many birds other than pigeons. DH taught me about birds, as his grandmother taught him. At one time I kept a book next to our back slider so I could learn them as they appeared. Now I know them pretty well, and I enjoy the setup we have off our sunroom, which are feeders and a bird bath. We keep a fountain going in our pool as we've found a few dead birds in there, that seems to keep them away.

We do have lots of squirrels which isn't too fun with a terrier in the house, lol. (Surprisingly, though, he is good with our hamster!) I really can't fathom having a bear around. There was one that hung around the dumpsters at a place we used to stay in the woods in NH and it worried me a bit, lol.

Oh, and we also have a lot of seagulls. One day we found one in our yard that couldn't fly and seemed to be in distress so we checked him out. Turns out he was all caught up in fishing wire :( I'm actually surprised he was even alive. So DH held him on our railing while I went and got my tiny scissors, and we spent about a half hour or more very carefully cutting it away. (And boy, did he stink like fish!) It was really bad, all tangled up, some was even in his mouth and under his tongue and down his throat, I wasn't sure I could get it all, but I did. Once we were done we brought him down to the beach and let him go, watching him fly off was very satisfying!
 
We have a pair of great horned owls that roost in our trees in the fall and winter.They take over a squirrel's nest in our neighbor's tree.We get so much enjoyment out of hearing them hoot.Even better when the owlets appear!
 
We have a hawk family living in the neighborhood that has taken alot of the squirrels and chipmunks here. Early in the spring they are everywhere and by the end of the summer you don't see them anymore. I do have one chipmunk left that I know of living under my shed. Mt terrier is determined to get it, but I won't let that happen!
The hawks have also taken some of the bird population too.
They live in the trees behind the house across the street from me so I think if I put out any songbird feeders it would be like putting out an easy feast for them. They will perch themselves in the trees that border my yard and just wait. They are beautiful but I hate that they eat all the other animals here. I've never seen them catch a bird but dh has.

I have found that in my older age ;) I enjoy watching and identifying, or at least trying too, birds.
The Cornell Labs Merlin ID app is great.
Dh and I saw a couple ringneck quail the other day while out driving. Very exciting, first time I have ever seem those kinds of birds.
 
I am always so sad when the hummingbirds leave at the end of the summer. I love feeding them, both here at home and at our place up north, during the summer. I haven't seen one since we got back from vacation on the 15th so I'm pretty sure they've left. But, just this morning I heard a Blue Jay again. Hadn't heard one here all summer. We have a birch tree outside the kitchen window and we put ears of corn on the tree for them and I just saw one get a piece of corn.

I hope we have Cardinals this year. I saw ONE last year and he didn't stick around. We generally have a pair every year. When we rented a cabin in Nashville last winter I loved washing dishes, as I could look out the window and see a dozen or more Cardinals in the tree! So pretty!

Anyone else feed the birds? We put out suet cakes, and bell cakes, the corn, and I keep finch feeders filled. We had loads of pretty yellow finches all summer, now I haven't seen them so I'm not sure if they moved on, or if they are just able to find other food now that fall is here. We usually have them in the winter too. We have a few different varieties of woodpeckers, occasionally see juncos and chickadees, and one year I had a red breasted grossbeak. I also leave all my perennial flowers in the garden alone, and don't trim them back until spring. Lots of seeds there for the birds to enjoy.

If you feed the birds, what kinds do you have?

We feed the birds, and whereas the hummingbirds have left you, they're down here in our yard. We have 5 hummingbird feeders, which we're refilling every few days now. And what are these Blue Jays of which you speak? I only see one if I go visit my Mom in Massachusetts. Lately we've had black and white warblers (my favorite), yellow-breasted Chat, Nashville warbler, Golden fronted woodpeckers, American Coot, green Heron, and White Pelicans. I love bird watching.
 
We leave peanuts in the shell on a side table on our back deck for squirrels and blue jays. The blue jays swoop down and grab one and quickly fly back to their trees, but the squirrels often will munch right on the table. And when we're sitting on the deck, a squirrel will often approach and start begging.

Blue jays can be very nasty. About 20 years ago one built a nest in the shrub right outside our front door. The Daddy jay would sit in a nearby tree and freak out if anybody approached the front door. It almost attacked my sister-in-law when she attempted to get a close look at the nest. Even if we just opened the main door from within while the storm door was closed, the Daddy jay would threaten us. It got so bad we had to use the back door for about a month until the little birdies left the nest.

I need to do the peanut thing. :) Reminds me of my Mom, she used to put peanuts all along the outside windowsill in her living room and the Blue Jay would come and get them. If she didn't have any out there he would sit on the sill and just wait for her to put some out. :) I wish we had more squirrels here at home, we have them up north but rarely see one here. I used to love going to Bok Tower in Florida as they have tons of squirrels and you used to be able to feed them, they were very tame and were climb right up your leg if you were standing, or onto your lap if you were sitting, and take the peanuts right out of your hands. They don't allow that anymore though. :(

We have year round blue jays and cardinals, but we also have seasonal hummingbirds. We have two kinds of hummingbirds presently. I assume that they are en route between one point to their winter habitats.

We also have squirrels, bunnies, and this year we have deer! I assume they're here because they were moved out of their normal homes from development.

We are over-run with deer, and since we farm they have an abundant supply of food. It's nothing to see 20 of them eating in a field, drive a little further and see 20 more.

We had a bunny in our yard this spring, for several weeks. And we saw one baby too! :) But they both disappeared, not sure if they moved on or a hawk got them as we have a lot of hawks too. And bald eagles as well.

The timing of this thread was funny as when you mentioned hummingbirds, I'd also noticed that DH had washed out our hummingbird feeder and had it upside down drying. (He makes his own syrup, in fact a week or two ago he almost set the house on fire when he had some on the stove but dozed off in the sunroom forgetting it was there, the rest of us woke up to acrid smoke throughout the house and my pan was ruined! :p ) So yes, we feed them and enjoy them all summer. Haven't seen any in a week or so.

We also have many other beautiful wild birds - lots of cardinal pairs, purple finches, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows, mourning doves, goldfinches, blue jays, to name a few. Being a city girl at heart, I grew up not really knowing many birds other than pigeons. DH taught me about birds, as his grandmother taught him. At one time I kept a book next to our back slider so I could learn them as they appeared. Now I know them pretty well, and I enjoy the setup we have off our sunroom, which are feeders and a bird bath. We keep a fountain going in our pool as we've found a few dead birds in there, that seems to keep them away.

We do have lots of squirrels which isn't too fun with a terrier in the house, lol. (Surprisingly, though, he is good with our hamster!) I really can't fathom having a bear around. There was one that hung around the dumpsters at a place we used to stay in the woods in NH and it worried me a bit, lol.

Oh, and we also have a lot of seagulls. One day we found one in our yard that couldn't fly and seemed to be in distress so we checked him out. Turns out he was all caught up in fishing wire :( I'm actually surprised he was even alive. So DH held him on our railing while I went and got my tiny scissors, and we spent about a half hour or more very carefully cutting it away. (And boy, did he stink like fish!) It was really bad, all tangled up, some was even in his mouth and under his tongue and down his throat, I wasn't sure I could get it all, but I did. Once we were done we brought him down to the beach and let him go, watching him fly off was very satisfying!

I would enjoy your sunroom!! I just love watching birds. Never got interested in them until my 40's but I so enjoy them now, and the sounds they make and songs they sing. :)

So glad you were able to help that seagull!! We have them here, even though we have no water around. In the fall when we are plowing fields they appear out of nowhere to eat the worms/bugs etc. that get turned up by the plow.
 
I would enjoy your sunroom!! I just love watching birds. Never got interested in them until my 40's but I so enjoy them now, and the sounds they make and songs they sing. :)

So glad you were able to help that seagull!! We have them here, even though we have no water around. In the fall when we are plowing fields they appear out of nowhere to eat the worms/bugs etc. that get turned up by the plow.
Ha! Weird that seagulls come that far inland. It was also weird that this guy ended up on our lawn just looking at us, as if he knew we could help him. I always find it amazing when I see stories about whales and other sea creatures allowing humans to cut lines they're caught up in, off. I saw a few stories and videos this summer. This guy stayed pretty still - although I thought I'd pass out from the smell of his breath! :faint:

You should see the set up my in laws have, they get all kinds of beautiful birds and wildlife. They live near a cranberry bog next to woods so they have a nice assortment! You can even fish in the bogs during the summer.

Speaking of which, if anyone has an Ocean State Job Lot near them, they sell a package of 8 suets for $6.99. They make nice gifts. I picked two up already, one for DH and one for FIL. I haven't seen them before, and I doubt they'll last very long.
 
I feed the birds in the winter, but in the summer my plants and flowers feed them. I'll have to keep an eye out for hummingbirds to see if they are still around. What I have been noticing a lot lately are goldfinches. They seem to like the seeds on the zinnia flowers. Sometimes they are too heavy and the zinnia stem branch for that flower they are on bends or breaks!
 
I feed the birds in the winter, but in the summer my plants and flowers feed them. I'll have to keep an eye out for hummingbirds to see if they are still around. What I have been noticing a lot lately are goldfinches. They seem to like the seeds on the zinnia flowers. Sometimes they are too heavy and the zinnia stem branch for that flower they are on bends or breaks!

Maybe that's what our finches are doing now too, eating the zinnia seeds, as they haven't been coming to the two feeders at all. I love it in the summer when they are bright yellow, so pretty.
 
The timing of this thread was funny as when you mentioned hummingbirds, I'd also noticed that DH had washed out our hummingbird feeder and had it upside down drying. (He makes his own syrup, in fact a week or two ago he almost set the house on fire when he had some on the stove but dozed off in the sunroom forgetting it was there, the rest of us woke up to acrid smoke throughout the house and my pan was ruined! :p ) So yes, we feed them and enjoy them all summer. Haven't seen any in a week or so.


Does he know he can use the microwave to do that :stir: :D. That's how I make mine
 

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