Bird Feeders - People...not the Equipment

DanChamberlain

I am now a "bird feeder". We built our house 8 years ago and the trees are now getting mature enough that we are seeing quite a number of birds. A couple of years back, I started feeding the hummingbirds and of course, that's great fun. But after doing some landscaping with flowers and grasses and decorative mounds, I placed a couple of finch feeders. Not satisfied, I put a little log cabin bird feeder on a corner of the deck. These little rascals eat a lot! Do they think this stuff just magically appears? My God, you'd think they discovered America for crying out loud! Proud little buggers and crap? How do little birds defecate so much. I think I'm gonna put Imodium in the feed!

jbp-ohio

I have one in the front yard that holds 5# bag of seed. Only fill it when there is snow on the ground and the Starlings & Grackles have went south, otherwise 5# wouldn't last a day...

sakodude

jbp-ohio wrote: »

I have one in the front yard that holds 5# bag of seed. Only fill it when there is snow on the ground and the Starlings & Grackles have went south, otherwise 5# wouldn't last a day...

Same problem here except they don't ever seem to leave. They run all the song bird out and will clean out a feeder in short order. Took my feeders down for that reason.

Sako

Big Al1

The cat LOVES bird feeders!!

jbp-ohio

Big Al1 wrote: »

The cat LOVES bids feeders!!

I put ours where the cats can watch from a window. They don't go outside. There are enough robins and doves around to keep them occupied without food in the feeder.

1965Jeff

Humming bird dogfights are very entertaining, we have a male that perches by the feeder and dive bombs all interlopers. The chattering noise he makes would make a drill sgt. blush.

airhead

When we first moved to FL some 20 years ago, we put up a feeder. My wife commented on the number of birds we were feeding over the winter: cardinals, jays, etc. Then I reminded her that we are "south for the winter."

Sparrows and starlings are not the problem, but a couple of squirrels can empty a feeder in short notice.

NN

I have feed out.

rbsivley

I have four seed feeders and 4 hummingbird feeders. For some reason I don't get a lot of sparrows or starlings. Mostly Titmouse, chikadees, purple finch, cardinals and gold finch. Plus, I have the immigrant bird from South America that comes thru twice a year. They'll go thru a 25 lb bag of sunflower seeds in no time. They're fun to watch to me and my cats don't hardly miss with them. The hummingbirds are running late this year. I've only seen a few so far.

mkk41

What goes in , must come out! Neighbor has a bunch of bird feeders. They eat their fill , fly to the big walnut tree in my yard and poop all over my truck!

I hate birds!

HAWKEN

I had to put up several hummingbird feeders. A dominate bird will lay claim to a feeder and will run off any interlopers that dare to try and feed at his place. The keeper of the checkbook made me put up two bluebird houses and those kamakazi birds continue to attack their reflection in the mirrors on our vehicles, AND, they crap all over the mirrors and side of the vehicle. I had to put pillow cases over the mirrors to keep them away. I hope they go North or South, or anywhere else........Robin

NCFUBAR

There is a definite food chain at my wife's feeders. You got the bottom feeding tree rats and dove who eat the stuff that falls on the ground. You have the smaller ones likes sparrows, wrens and such. Then come the cardinals and other song birds. There are a couple bluejays and mockingbirds that run off everything with their crazy attacks. THEN you have my favorites ... a pair of red tailed hawks that will sit on the weather vane at the barn and run EVERYTHING away, not that they eat seed from the feeder ... they eat those eating the seed. Every so often they'll hit something in mid-air and a poof of feathers. Even the barn cats stear clear when those two are around.

breamfisher

I work for the state fish and wildlife agency. One day I got a call from a man who had a problem. He had put several bird feeders out on his property, and had had a grand time watching the birds come to feed.

Until the hawks came in.

He bemoaned how the hawks were hitting birds at the feeder. And was not impressed when I expressed how much I would enjoy watching that. He then relayed that the day prior he went out and a hawk left a half-eaten cardinal. I repressed the urge to tell him to wait until the hawks were done eating, that way they would leave no scraps. He wanted a way to keep the hawks away but keep the other birds coming in. Alas, I had no solutions for him.

NN

NCFUBAR:

Interesting.

The mockingbirds do not visit our feeding area even though they are in the yard and the hawk
that feeds on the smaller birds is something other than a Redtail, though Redtails fly through
on occasion.

My personal nemesis is the red bellied woodpecker because it scatters so many sunflower seeds
before it gets the one it wants.

I have cracked corn on the ground in summer to try and keep the squirrels out of the sunflower
seeds. It works somewhat and if it doesn't, I relocate that squirrel.

bklysen

Relocation of squirrels around here often involves a shovel. Or a plastic bag and a dumpster, temps permitting.

I have too many feeders to count and whatever the hawks take (Coopers mostly around here) make no dent in the finch/sparrow, etc. population at all. I sort of police the yard, so to speak, and the species that I like get a pass, the non-indigenous violators usually end up on the ground and the hawks find 'em post haste. Within minutes some times.

One day we were sitting on the back patio enjoying a beverage when a hawk torpedoed through and grabbed a House Finch off the phone wire...THWACK...a little shower of small feathers, a pretty cool thing to see actually. Happens quite a bit, actually. Based on the numbers of feather prints on my windows, I'm guessing more have died trying to go through glass in evasive maneuvers than get taken by talons though.

I suppose if I raised chickens or such, I might be a little less enthused.

NCFUBAR

Ned, actually the mockers tend to stick with the "other stuff" non-seed food the wife puts out. They really seem to hit the plate feeder where she has old fruit ... I think they are going for the bugs also. They are at their worst when the female is on nest in the camellia bush. The funniest thing is when they dive bomb anything, especially the cats, when they get to close to the bush.

My nemesis is also a woodpecker that drills the gutter every morning just at dawn. He's getting gravel for his gizzard but it sounds like he's got an MP5 with a happy switch at 0-Dark-30.