My anti squirrel method is to keep pebbles in a bowl by the back door. When a squirrel comes I throw the pebbles and shout. Because the pebbles shower into the bush all around it they are very afraid. So we don't get too much of an issue with their greedyness.

However this would not be an advisable method with any glass or other breakable around.

This raccoon was so incredibly fat... Like, morbidly obese levels. Someone's been feeding him. He's probably got horrible health issues and actually approached me entirely fearlessly when I went to bring the feeder in last night because he was actively draining it a second time. It was seriously wild! I blasted him with the hose and hope he never tries that again. I do not like raccoons within feet of me, in the slightest.

Horrid creature. They are rather too big and rather too clever.

I think this blue jay has learned this noise from Zulu. I dunno what precisely it means but it's CUTE! (Link)

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Edit: I think he's doing it for more peanuts. He came up to the window and started doing it again. I've made a friend. :)

Oh my gosh! 🥹 That's so adorable.

Ohh, I'm so tickled to finally have found the birding thread! Hello!!

Ok, a little about me. You can call me Walker or any nickname based off my stable name. I use he/him and I'm 27, rapidly approaching 28. I'm an undergraduate student starting my senior year in the fall, pursuing a BA in Biology with an art minor. I was casually into birds as a kid because I lived in the country but my passion for birds as an adult was truly ignited within the past couple of years. I started assisting with research on Canada jays (aka gray jays) as a volunteer field researcher in 2023 and I started actively birding the next year.

I live in a teeny tiny one bedroom apartment in a downtown area in a Maine, USA city with a population less than 20,000 and do not have any feeders or anything (yet) so usually I go out looking for birds in nature areas around me, although they do still come to me sometimes! I once had the pleasure of observing a merlin eating a hairy woodpecker (sorry to those of you who might find that gross, I was fascinated) practically in my "backyard". I enjoy keeping track of the birds I see and submitting checklists to eBird.

I was recently in Utah to attend the Association of Field Ornithologists' 2025 conference in Ogden and would looove to babble about the birds I saw (and/or heard) while I was there (42 species overall and I was there for five days including travel) but I might have to make a reply dedicated solely to that! Because, a. I'm retired, and, b. this is already kind of long. I do want to mention that I was presenting a research poster alongside my professors and two recent graduates!

Just a few more things about me to finish this off:
- I have a 5yo longhaired Dachshund who is my baby boy
- I have 2 tattoos and neither of them are birds
- My other passions include art, writing, horror, early 2000's Toyota sedans, nature generally, hiking (mountains), and music.

I feel inclined to share the babies I have hanging about at the moment.

I've begun teaching two of my pigeons to home, or at the very least free-fly.

And in doing so, I've attracted quite a few new feral residents.

Have truly enjoyed sitting with them almost every day, they're are starting to get very comfortable with me, some even eating from my hand.

^ all 4 on the right, and the darker pigeon are regulars. The rest came for the food, and left never to be seen again...

^ And here, the cleanest one, closest to me is my bird, spud. The other 3 are the other local ferals I've been watching lately, the other two whiter ones are young juveniles.

^ And this is a total bonus photo I managed to get of my other pigeon gathering stuff for his nest mid-flight. (ignore the half mowed lawns... Its too hot to do them all in one go at the moment XD)

Kiwi, your pigeons never fail to make me smile. I LOVE seeing them! <3 Your boy looks so goofy with his stick, lol

Welcome, Oakmoss and Sleepwalker! You can babble about birds whenever, 100% why it's here! <3 I've studied ornithology for a while for zookeeping so I, too, like to chatter away. :)