Scooterboy

Lainey

Always amazed at the number of cardinals you have, Dave. We see two at a time, male and female.

I'm fairly certain saw a purple finch at my feeder today. It was much prettier than the house finch.

dlq04

My neighbor, 1/4 mile away gets them as well. Between the two of us, they have found their northern home. Here's a shot from a few years ago. We estimate 3 dozen every winter.

Kyras

I wish I had cardinals in Loveland, CO. My second cousin has them in Deland, Florida. You guys have them.

zeroptzero

When my cousin visited here from Southern Italy he was amazed squirrels could walk around without being killed. Over there they wouldn't allow them to do that, I didn't want to know hat they did with squirrels there, so I didn't ask.

zeroptzero

That's amazing, any idea what attracts them to that part of Michigan ? I thought they would be further south, but I guess not.

valentine

I have a lot of cardinals but not as many as you have, Dave. This year I've had a lot of woodpeckers, ladderbacks, yellowbellies, nuthatches and so on. I love seeing them. I've always had a lot of squirrels and I enjoy their antics but we have neighbors next door who I affectionately call idiots that don't like the squirrels and sit on their porch and shoot them. Grrrrrrr

robb

In fairness to my Dad the squirrels drew first blood he didn't start out hating squirrels.

dlq04

We don't mind the squirrels since they can not get into our feeders.

valentine

I feed peanuts to the squirrels and enjoy seeing them scramble to get them before the blue jays snatch them all away. My neighbors do not have any birdfeeders and are not at all wildlife lovers. They have a huge (about the size of a small black bear) Bernese Mountain Dog that barks incessantly, terrifies my puppy and is never walked, socialized with people or animals and I feel quite sorry for it. The poor dog is just put out into their fenced in yard several times a day and left all alone. They kill anything they don't care for, cut down trees that cause too many leaves, etc. I am forever thankful for the strict rules in my state about cutting certain trees or there'd be no trees on their lot at all. I haven't figured out why they moved into the middle of a forest but I try to get along with them the best I can. The reason they kill the squirrels is that they leap from trees onto their roof and look down at them. It scares them. I thought at first the squirrels were getting into their attic, but no -- they were just looking at them. Squirrels get on my roof all the time but they've never even attempted to get into the attic (which has screening over any openings). We have foxes, coyotes, possums, coyotes and raccoons, an occasional mink and they're scared of them all.