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Barnyard Buddies:  I am so excited I have a pair of Cardinals  |
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Mnhorsemom
Farmgirl in Training
44 Posts
Kathy
Battle Lake
minnesota
USA
44 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 5:23:49 PM
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I live in the northern half of Minnesota and since I moved here 13 years ago I have not seen a cardinal. Well, earlier this fall I saw a pair several times and I am thrilled that they are still here. I keep feeders with various seed and I really hope that come sping they will have a cardinal family and they will all live here happily ever after!!
Farm House Formulas Battle Lake, MN |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 5:25:58 PM
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I just love cardinals! We had a pair in our oak tree when I lived in IL. Just loved seeing the red during the winter months. Please post pictures of them if you can get some.
The Rustic Cottage Etsy Shop http://therusticcottage.etsy.com
Picture A Day Blog http://rcpicaday.blogspot.com |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 5:33:16 PM
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Cool! We have about a bazillion that live in our Bradford Pear Tree. They are so pretty. My grandmothers favorite bird id the cardinal so I think about her everytime I see them
Jewelry, art, baskets, etc.
www.willowtreecreek.com |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 5:39:57 PM
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Today when the baby woke up from his nap, he was staring intently at the window. There was a mama cardinal fluffing herself up and getting comfy on a branch. She was a fidgety thing and kept moving around doing some sort of ritual . We just kept watching from the window and I kept telling him, "Mama Bird came to visit us", "Look at that silly Mama Bird"...when next thing I know I hear
"SSSSSilmamabud" and giggles! Wow! Talk about some first words! I am very grateful to cardinals today!
with a happy heart |
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Beemoosie
True Blue Farmgirl
2077 Posts
Bonnie
New York
USA
2077 Posts |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 05:48:04 AM
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Good for you, Kathy. Is it black oiled sunflower seed that they love so much?
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?" - 'Brother Dave' Gardner |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 06:24:51 AM
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I love watching the birds. Yesterday I went & bought a LARGE seed & nut wreath. My husband laughs but he likes watching them also.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 06:32:42 AM
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Don't you just love cardinals? We have a pair that come to the feeder outside the dining room window. They are most patient- waiting for the chickadees and titmice to eat before they get their own meal. Hmmmm- maybe ours are just extraordinarily polite!!
Karin |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
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windypines
True Blue Farmgirl
4547 Posts
Michele
Bruce
Wisconsin
USA
4547 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 06:57:01 AM
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| You are so lucky, we have had some, but few and far inbetween. They are so fun to spot!! I have not seen any this year. enjoy Michele |
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country lawyer
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 07:27:10 AM
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Glad to hear that you have cardinals! They are so beautiful. We have tons here, so sometimes it's easy to take them for granted and forget what stunning birds they are. By the way, did you know that cardinals have dialects? Isn't that strange? For example, the birds in the south have a slightly different than the birds in the north. Just like people! The cardinals teach their offspring their own dialect. Nature never ceases to amaze me.
"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."
James Taylor
www.ragstoroses.blogspot.com
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Patsy
True Blue Farmgirl
592 Posts
Illinois
USA
592 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 07:33:59 AM
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Janice, it is black oiled sunflower seeds that they love. We have a ton of cardinals here but I still get a thrill when I watch them. Mine are getting pretty brave. They wait on the branch just above the feeder and talk to me if I let the seeds run dry. It is like they are saying,"Hurry up, we're hungry!"
Blessed are those who love the soil,
Patsy
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 09:55:07 AM
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you'll have them attracted more to the black sunflowers. at least that's what really draws them to my feeders.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~ |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 06:37:28 AM
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It's no wonder that cardinals are almost EVERY state's "state bird"! I love them, too, and we have several nice couples that come around in the early evening, and morning, and make the sweetest songs. We keep a nice mixed feed in one feeder, and the sunflower seed in the other, along with suet, and a thistle feed for the others. Last year, the cardinals did some nice planting arrangements for me and I had great volunteer sunflowers EVERYWHERE!!!
Still, my favorite bird at our house is the titmouse--he just seems so ornery, and I love those big black eyes!!!
Just think of all of the roads there are...all of the things I haven't seen....yet. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 06:56:41 AM
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We feed the birds in our yard, and we have several families of Cardinals. After awhile, they become individually recognizable. Some have more black, some are more orange....and they fight with each other over their women, and feed their babies mouth to mouth. If we let our feeder go dry, or if the raccoon is a pig the night before, I hear them fussing at us through the window, and they wait patiently in the branches while we fill the feeder again. I love them.
What I would love to have are bluebirds. Every once in a while I see some, but they are scarce in our part of the area. My daughter has a pair in her yard, and they are beautiful too.
Bramble, I loved your little ones first words!
Ephesians 1:17 |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Jan 19 2007 06:57:31 AM |
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country lawyer
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 07:55:32 AM
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Jpbluesky, I love bluebirds too! I am honored to be a bluebird landlord. I put up a house and they came! I feed them mealworms and they come to the feeder when I call them. The male is Roger, the female is Irene. They have been with me for almost three years. We usually have three batches of babies each year out of our bluebird house. I try to follow the schedule so I can watch the maiden flight of the babies leaving the house. It is an incredible experience to see this. Oh, the bluebird stories I could tell! Have you put up a house for them? I followed the suggestions to a tee for positioning of the birdhouse and all that. Within two weeks of my putting it up, I had residents. They are here year round. Fun!
"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."
James Taylor
www.ragstoroses.blogspot.com
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Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 09:16:42 AM
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I, too, love bluebirds. My FIL put up houses all along the edge of his garden (aka horse ring) and the field behind our houses. They are so timid here, but in very cold winters (long, long ago!) they came right up to the living room window underneath which they ate from the beauty berry bush. Sometimes I've seen them cleaning up my garden in the field, usually swooping in ahead of me, then in fear, flying off. They delight my soul.
The cardinals are very well behaved, usually coming to eat when the other birds are finished. They eat off the ground (sunflower seed) and the feeder, which has cherries and peanuts mixed in.
There is a Redeemer. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 9:26:00 PM
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Rebekah - what a fabulous story! I am not believing it.....they come when you call? That is so great! We had a bluebird house on our tree, made in North Carolina, for 8 years, and no bluebirds. The chickadees enjoyed it, though. So we took it over to my daughter's yard, and right away a bluebird family found it. They flit in and out and drink at her birdbath; I need to tell her that she can get them to be more used to her presence. She has a more open field-like yard than we do (ours is more wooded) and there is a golf course in the vicinity, which I hear bluebirds like as they are open meadow birds.
As long as I have fed all the birds in our yard, and I walk out quietly to fill the feeder, they always skitter to the branches. The closest I have come to being near them is when I sit in the sun. I sit still and near the feeder, and after awhile they will come and eat in my presence.
Ephesians 1:17 |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2007 : 04:54:55 AM
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This is going to make me sound like such a curmudgeon, but I got to where I hated cardinals. We had a male here who would see his reflection in the windows and repeatedly attack his 'rival.' That could cause some heartstopping moments in the morning quiet! At first it was just the familyroom window. Then it was the upstairs hallway window. Then it was my truck mirrors, an aluminum and brass flower pot, anything that was reflective. He'd bang and bang all year round! Soon he had a female, and pretty soon she was banging too! Fortunately she was never so aggressive. We would have had to block out our windows from the outside (and the hallway one was WAY too high for that) to get him to stop. It went on for YEARS. We did have one peaceful year or two and then it started up again. I don't know if it was the same bird or an offspring, but MAN he was aggressive!
Used to make me feel bad to see little bits of blood on the truck. He figured that bird needed killing, and he was doing all he could. Of course, he was leaving his other 'evidence' on my truck too. 
After the first year, we nicknamed him Headbanger Bird. We'd be having our morning coffee or tea, and then *WHAM!* we'd spit our coffee, wipe our chins and say "Well, looks like Headbanger Bird's back."
We've had several peaceful years now, but every time I hear a cardinal out in the yard I kind of wince. Give me robins, give me flycatchers, give me barn swallows and the common sparrow! But no more cardinals, please!!!  |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2007 : 05:52:46 AM
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These bird stories need to be in a book! It could be titled "Headbanger Bird and other Bird Tails".
We have house wrens that drive us a little crazy. They love to nest everywhere, especially on our porch. They come to roost at night, and if they are not soundly asleep yet, we will scare them when we go out on the porch and they fly, which scares us to death in surprise. I have found if they get to sleep deeply enough, I can come out on the porch, and walk right up to their little bed and they do not even know I am there. I could get them back if I wanted to! But I love to see their little fluffed tails sticking out of the moss. They have little families in my Christmas Cactus, and five little open beaks will cheep when I walk by the plant. Daddy and Mommy both come to feed them.
By the way, I have heard that Cardinals mate for life.
Ephesians 1:17 |
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Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2007 : 08:29:17 AM
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Mary Ann, we had a cardinal for a couple of years who banged at our bedroom window... it is awful. Selfishly, I was glad when he left us for our neighbor. 
Rebekah, you must be the "bird whisperer". I envy you your bluebird pets!
There is a Redeemer. |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2007 : 07:39:08 AM
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quote:
Mary Ann, we had a cardinal for a couple of years who banged at our bedroom window... it is awful.
Yeah, that one in the hallway made for some mighty early mornings in the summer.  |
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newheart
True Blue Farmgirl
471 Posts
Margie
Owings Mills
Maryland
USA
471 Posts |
Posted - Jan 22 2007 : 05:36:47 AM
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Mary Ann, I have a beautiul Orchid plant that blooms in my kitchen window and a big Red Cardinal pecks at the "window" allllll Daayyyy long, drives me nutso.....
Newheart..
Love of friends and family makes the world go round..and always a little Chocolate.
margie
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 09:56:17 AM
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| Margie, is this how they came up with the expression "birdbrain?" |
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Barnyard Buddies: I am so excited I have a pair of Cardinals |
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I am so excited I have a pair of Cardinals
