Backyard Birds, Feeders, Food

List your feeder birds..

Seattle — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:26:54 GMT

I've just started feedng the birds in the last couple of weeks (except the goldfinch flock). I'm pleasantly suprised by the large variety so far. If we get a little snow later on this winter my population will grow. I've never purchased one of the big blocks of seeds before but they are eating off of that more than the loose seed in the feeder. Here's my list so far:

Black cap chickadee

chestnut backed chickadee

mountain chickadee (1)

house sparrow

song sparrow

fox sparrow

white crown sparrow (on the ground under the feeder)

red breasted nuthatch

stellar's jay (4 at once - they can clean out a feeder in a hurry)

downey woodpecker

northern flicker (red shafted)

junco

spotted towhee

varied thrush

Am.goldfinch

house finch

Anna's hummingbird (last month)

Roufus hummingbird (last summer)

Hand Feeder

birdboy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:07:29 GMT

I have very many titmice and chickadees at my feeder. so can anyone tell me how to get them to eat from my hands.

Favorites

birdboy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:24:29 GMT

Hi whatbird, I have been asking opinions on the forems lately, and I have another. what is your favorit bird and bird group and explain why. my favorite bird is the chickadee because they are just as interested in you as you are in them, my favorite group would be the clingers (woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, ect) because the are miny acrobats, and are interested in every thing.

If birds thought, the clingers would be optomistick and commical.

SEEDS!!!!

birdboy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:47:45 GMT

I was just randomly wandering, what seeds, and what store do the people on whatbird use.

P.S. how much is the cost.

How can I attract more birds.

nono0606 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:20:05 GMT

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what I could do to make more birds come to my feeding station. I have had my feeders up all year I usually get siskins and Goldfinches in the summer but in the last few months I have been getting little visitors to my feeders. Anyway here is a picture of my feeding station.

Birds eating ash from the BBQ

paulsiu — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:34:05 GMT

I notice birds are eating the ash from the ash tray underneath the charcoal grill. Is this bad for them?

Paul

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Matt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:37:23 GMT

Has anyone attracted YRWAs to their feeders? I don't recall seeing any pictures of them at one.

Bird protection from predators and other dangers

paulsiu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:49:50 GMT

Recently, I notice a large bird landing near the feeder. My thought was that the really big blue jay was back. Several blue jay fly by my feeder occasionally, but cannot use the tube feeder because they are too big. The bird just sat there for 5 min or so. Finally, I went outside to take a picture of it and it got alarmed and flew away. When I examined the picture, I notice the spots and realized it was probably a hawk of some kind. This explained why all of the squirrels immediately disappeared and no birds came to the feeder. This make me think about the steps I can be taking to protect the birds.

1. Windows Strikes

The feeder is situated 40-50 feet from the house, but I have had a few birds strike the patio window. One dove actually died. I have put gel decals all over the patio window. Since then I have not had any more strikes. Failing that, I was going to put up a string of foils.

2. Cats

There is a stray cat that wonders across my property every couple of days. The feeder is 8 feet off the ground and hangs off a branch. The chain is about 3 feet long. I don't think a cat will be able to get to the feeder.

3. Hawks

The feeder is siting under a tree. 10 feet away is a elderberry tree. The feeder sits at the edge of my yard. Beyond my yard is a wetland with a large number of tall grass (about 3-4 feet tall). Recently, the grass have been dying off so that I have seen more and more of the wetlands. I have seen flocks of birds coming to my feeder suddenly fly into the grass.

I was wondering, have I made the necessary precautions?

Next question. I like to install a ground feeder next. One possible location is on my patio. However, this is about 20 feed from the tall grass. I am worry that if I put the feeder there, it will be vulnerable to hawks. My alternative is to locate the feeder to the edge of my yard (where my other feeder is). This mean it will be a few feet from the tall grass,but I worry that the birds feeding there will be vulnerable to cats hiding in the grass.

Should I put up some pictures to clarify?

Paul

Mega large number of birds today

paulsiu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:31:21 GMT

For a while there were few birds, but today, there was a mega flock of birds. Birds flying everywhere. The yard has several flocks that pop out of the tall grass. The feeder was nearly full this morning but is almost empty now. I was curious to see if these birds outburst are weather related?

Filling pumpkin half with cracked corn

paulsiu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:59:36 GMT

I read this book "The feedwatcher's guide to bird feeding". One of the article talked about cutting a pumpkin in half and then filling it with cracked corn for the wildlife in the area until the pumpkin disappears. Wouldn't this result in rotting cracked corn?

Paul

Cleaning seed hulls

paulsiu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:25:12 GMT

Hi,

I has a feeder filled with black oil sunflower seed hanging from a branch on the tree over a section of the lawn. This of course result in hulls being left all over the ground. I tried sweeping up all of the hulls from the lawn, but it's hard to get them all. Do I have to clean up every possible bit or is having some hull on the ground ok?

With high concentration of birds, I am worry about the spread of disease. How does one reduce this? Do I hose the area down? On another note, is there some safety pre-caution for the human (namely me) cleaning the mess?

Paul

Red-breasted Nuthatch behavior?

Adore707 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:47:26 GMT

Are these birds generally unafraid of people? Today I was able to approach one in a bush near a large window in the front of my house. I noticed the bird chilling out and I thought he (or she) was injured because it was there for about 2 minutes without moving much and I started to creep closer and it didn't leave. I was able to take some pictures and I even came so close that my camera wouldn't focus. Anyhow, the bird eventually left but didn't seem to mind me much hanging around.

Suggestion for ground feeding birds

paulsiu — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:45:27 GMT

Hi,

Recently, a group of birds started showing up on my porch. They turned out to be Junco's. The Junco do not go to the feeder. I like to feed them, but if I put out food on the ground, the squirrel show up right away and eat it all. Currently, I have been tossing thistle seeds out there because they appear to be too small for the squirrels to be interested, but I rather feed them something cheaper.

Would a wire cage ground feeder work? Where would I buy one? Everyone seems to sell those tube feeders. Secondly, where would you put it. My thought is to put it on the porch over a rubber mat for easy clean up. However, there are a lot of squirrels. At night, I have notice a rather large racoon, a skunk, and an opossum. I was wondering how likely the cage will be over turned?

Paul

no snow birds?

birdboy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:16:43 GMT

I have noticed that no one ever calls dark eyed juncos snow birds any more, I'm 14 and thats what I have always called them, why doesn't anyone call them snow birds?

A sad event, a bird hit my window

paulsiu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:00:51 GMT

Two day ago, a mourning dove crashed into my patio door and died. I went out to the hardware store and got a large number of gel stick on and put them all over the patio window. Hopefully, they will notice the gel thingy and avoid the window.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Paul

is this wrong?

birdboy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:31:32 GMT

today I found an injured snowbird, probably flew into my window, it couldn't stand up or fly it just kinda floped, my dad said let it be, because it would die tonight. I whanted to be humane so I took it out of its pain in the means of pellet gun, was this the wrong thing to do, should I have let it be?

P.S. I know this post will cause argument but it was an instant death.

Do I need to bleach my feeders?

paulsiu — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:16:03 GMT

Hi,

In various manuals, it indicated that one should soak a feeder in bleach to kill off the germs.

I have been running them through the dishwasher using a high heat dry cycle. Is this enough or do I actually need to use bleach?

Paul

How often do you change out your suet

slc1856 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:10:17 GMT

I don't get a lot of activity at my suet feeders. I made a batch of homemade suet about two weeks ago.

It still looks OK, but I wasn't sure if I should just change it out every so often.

Anyone have a recommendation?

Nothing !!!!!

thekiwi — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:54:06 GMT

Something strange is going on I have noticed over the past 3 weeks, there has been fewer birds around until there is eventually no sign of them.

In my backyard the suet has not been touched in about 2 weeks and the seed in the feeders hasn't been touched either.

If I go outside I can't see or hear any birds around. I have noticed that even the animal population is very small. I have maybe seen 1 snake all year. A few deer grazing at the side of the 395 interstate.

I went up to the woods and swamp yesterday saw 1 chipmunk about 5 titmouse and that was it.

Has anyone else noticed similar trends.?

Injured Golden Crowned Kinglet

Kimber — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:11:22 GMT

Hi there! Wondering if you can help me. I am a very amatuer birdy girl. Today I watched a little golden crowned kinglet perched on my lilac tree. It seemed a bit dizzy; at one point, it swung upside down and then fell right off the branch onto the ground. It lay there for 10 minutes not moving, so I went out to see if I could help it somehow. When I approached, it flitted to a low branch and stared at me as if to say, "What?" I went back inside and saw that it had flown away. Phew.

What is the right thing to do when a bird falls to the ground and doesn't recover? It was a chilly windy day here in Ontario; 6 degrees and rainy. I was going to pop it in a shoebox with holes in the top and give it time to recover...is that the right thing to do? I didn't want my barn cats to eat it!

Thanks so much for your help!

Kimber

how to discourage pigeons

Choppy Nuances — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:47:06 GMT

Forgive me if this question has been asked before. I am new to feeding my local birds...

Is there a way to deter great flocks of pigeons taking over your feeding stations? Are there foods they don't care for? ways to locate food where they won't go? I have only been feeding for a month or so, and slowly but surely, every pigeon from miles around heads to my yard daily.

Not only is it difficult to feed the birds I'd most like to feed (quail) because of the competition with the pigeons. I think this is also beginning to annoy my neighbors, who must endure bird crap in their yard from where the pigeons congregate on the wires between our yards.

I stopped spreading seed for the quail because more pigeons got the seed than quail. I was hopeful I could continue to provide suet, hung low for the quail as well as high for the songbirds. But the pigeons seem to have developed a taste for suet too, which I had not ever observed before. So I feel like there is very little I can do for the quail at this point. I am out of options, and will have to give up feeding just as it is about to get cold here, if I cannot figure something out.

I have provided water for a long time, and will continue to do that. Pigeons will still come, but wont stay for long usually.

At this point, if I stop feeding for the ground birds entirely, I am just hoping that the pigeons will learn to stop hanging out for food. This could take another month or so for them to unlearn...

I rent my house, and most of my neighbors own. So I *really* don't want to be in bad standing with my neighbors and worse, have complaints made to my property managers over this.

all ideas welcome and appreciated!

Jen

show me snow

birdboy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:59:54 GMT

I am really excited for the winter birding season, so let me see your winter bird pictures. and please lable the birds at the pick.

Recommended on-line bird seed source?

junco brentwood — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:07:50 GMT

I think I have placed my last order for Duncraft seed. I ordered two different blends, and in each bag, the hulled sunflower seed was basically pulverized to a powder which is just going to clump and clog the feeder. Very disappointing. I did not have this problem with their seed last year, but, the past few bags have been a problem. Is finding a source for Cole's seed the best option, or, does the forum have other suggestions?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, since due to my work schedule it is so much easier for me to order on-line and have the seed delivered. Thanks so much! I am in Nashville, TN.

amazing

Matt — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:33:39 GMT

Just got this from a birding friend. Amazing...

http://gimundo.com/videos/view/the-hummingbird-helmet/

Dark-eyed Junco

WrensFriend — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:40:07 GMT

This bird recently showed up in my yard - first time I had ever seen one - it was very grey ( no picture uploaded) - although the pictures I got that day were not great - he does look like he's solid grey on top.. The pictures I have from today show a different coloured bird - almost brown.. Is there variance in the colour of Dark-eyed Junco's or is this bird just odd..