Feeding Chickadees Seed by Hand

WendyMay · Mar 9, 2022

You need to see this. For the past week, my lady has been training the Chickadees in our yard to eat seed from her hand. We usually feed them from our feeders, but in order to train these birds, it's necessary to remove the feeders so there is no more food source. Once the source is gone, both the Chickadees and Nuthatches will be more than happy to refocus their efforts at the new food source - which is the palm of your hand. Or her hand. Whatever hand is available. Which would be, in this case, hers.

It was so nuts. As I was taking this video, a Chickadee landed on my head and then a Nuthatch landed on my back. These birds have become so friendly that they follow us around while we're walking on the lawn and in the woods. Also, I'll tell you which food they like best. It's definitely the peanuts. They grab those and then take off. Check out the video I just uploaded and then take a look at the photos I took. Enjoy!

WendyMay · Mar 9, 2022

Hanging Bird Nesting Boxes in the Woods

I've been doing tons of work in the woods lately. I recently cut down a bunch of new dead trees, cut the wood up into fireplace sized logs, and then split all of those logs and stacked them right in the trails. I'll wait until next September or October to haul them up to my wood shed near my house. To do that, I'll use my Polaris Sportsman 850 ATV and my Polar HD1500 trailer. Both of these things are awesome at hauling firewood through trails and fields. Surprisingly though, as much as I've cut in the woods this autumn, I don't think I have much more firewood than a half cord. I thought it'd add up to at least two cords, but cords are pretty big, I suppose.

Anyway, I cut a new trail a few days ago and have been working on cleaning it up some yesterday and today. I just got back inside from cutting up a few spruce trees that I dropped yesterday as well as cutting up some dead cherry tree branches. The trail is looking good. The ground is covered with the softest green moss and there are pines everywhere. It's so nice, actually, that I hung some bird nesting boxes yesterday. I had to carry my heavy ladder a few acres into the woods to do this, but so be it. Now the chickadees, nuthatches, and other small winter songbirds can build their houses and nests in these boxes.

Funny thing happened yesterday. After I spent the morning lugging our swinging bench up into our new beautiful area so we could watch and feed the birds, I decided to cut down a rather large white pine tree that was standing next to the bench. The tree was dead and leaning right over it. I intended on cutting the tree and pushing it away from the bench, but the lean was apparently too great. As I cut, the tree began leaning the wrong way. I kept on cutting and pushed at the same time. I didn't have enough strength to hold the tree back and it ended up falling right on the bench. I was so mad. I can't believe it happened. I'm usually so good at doing these things the right way, but being alone, I wasn't able to muscle the tree where I wanted. The bench was bent up, but I sort of unbent it and now it's usable again. We'll need to keep our eyes open for a new bench. Perhaps one that someone is throwing away or wants to get rid of.

Check out the pictures down below of the bird nesting boxes as well as my wood piles. Pretty cool, right?

By the way, when hanging these bird houses in the woods or around your house, I believe you're suppose to face them north east. This is so the hot sun doesn't get them too hot. Birds and their eggs don't like that type of heat too much.