Sunday, February 15, 2009

Junco feeding at thistle seed feeder

Yesterday I was able to get a better shot of the Dark-eyed Junco that has learned to eat Niger Thistle seed from the feeder (7 feet above ground level) where for years I have seen only Goldfinches, Siskins, and an occasional House Finch feeding. He looks so "out of place" there, and I haven't yet been able to determine if there is more than one Junco doing this, or if it's just this one individual that has learned to do it.

2 Comments:

At 11:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! I never saw juncoes at my thistle feeder before last year. Now, they crowd out the goldfinches. Everyone says they are ground feeders, and they never go for the sunflower seeds in the feeder -- they eat what is spilled on the ground. But, there they are on the thistle feeder. Strange!

 
At 3:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

After moving into a new home, one of the first things I did was put out multiple feeders with various seed; sunflower,thistle,millet,suet, etc... I even threw seed on the ground for the ground feeders.
The Dark Eyed Junco was the first to hit the feeder. I now have a flock of about 35 that are the first to the feeders in the morning and last at night and the thistle feeder now seems to be a favorite for them. They even hang on the suet feeders. I guess they are true opportunists.

 

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