We have feral chickens and at least one of the hens has figured out that if she flies up and grabs onto the seed feeder she can spill some of the seeds onto the ground below and then feed on them there. In fact, in the past one of the chickens knocked the feeder down and cracked it. We had to put Scotch tape to keep it together. I'm wondering if anyone has ever observed other larger birds spilling seeds from feeders in this manner - maybe Wild Turkeys or American Crows? They are the only larger birds that I can think of which might frequent yards and which might feed on bird seed. Maybe Northern Bobwhites as well? I used to have a tube feeder when I lived in Greensboro, North Carolina some years ago and on one occasion I had not filled it in awhile and it was empty. Normally, Northern Cardinals would feed on the seeds that the smaller birds (primarily House Finches) dropped. I had just re-filled the feeder and there was a Northern Cardinal eating seeds that a House Finch was dropping. But apparently the House Finch wasn't 'working' hard enough and fast enough for the cardinal. The cardinal flew up to the feeder and chased the finch away and was clinging to the perch on the feeder as best he could and pulled seeds out one after the other and dropped them on the ground and then flew down to eat them. Barry Jernigan Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________