Dave, I did better with the thistle bags vs a thistle feeder, but they often prefer the plain old sunflower seed. I only put a little at a time in the thistle bag as once it's wet, it's rather nasty, gets clumped up. I don't waste it though. I dump in the on the ground hoping a ground feeder will eat it.

 

We have 3 thistle feeders, one a foot from a kitchen window and the other 2 hang in a heavy shrub area in the middle of the yard. The one in the heaviest cover gets the most action. Makes sense so they don't get blind sided. Still alll 3 get a fair amount of traffic. We've found the feeder itself usually needs a good cleaning if they start avoiding it.

 

I have noticed them on the regular seed feeder.

I keep the feeder clean and with fresh seed.

We will see what relocating will do.

 

Both a Red breasted Grosbeak and a Towhee showed up today.

 

I just put out my hummingbird feeder. I had been hanging it from a dead tree and tethering it so the winds wouldn't make it swing and empty. That tree bit the dust during a storm and has been taken away. I don't know what I'll do with the feeder now. It's just sitting on my deck but that's not going to work when it's windy.

 

Val told me she saw a hummingbird in the top part of her birdbath this morning. She was so excited. She feeds them but had never seen one taking a bath. I guess it is shallow enough to attract them.

 

My feeders (2) are out. No sighting yet. I also have a birdbath near the more popular feeders. The birds do use it to drink, no bathing that I've seen. We'll see what the hummers do. The goldfinch are really hanging out at the feeders chowing down on sunflower seeds.

 

In this area we have turkey vultures. The ones on your photo look so much bigger than the ones we have seen around here. Are they different or is it just the same bird with a slightly different name?

 

We have had a pair of these visit our feeder a number of times this spring. The female has the blue head and the males head is all red.

 

Dave, what do you do about all the thistles that grow up under your feeders. I stop putting out thistle seed as I could not keep up with digging out the ones were not eaten but grew.