Bird lovers I have questions

[Marthe48]

Should I just put out straight sunflower seeds? I am wondering if there is a bird seed mix that all of the birds will eat and more of each kind in the mix?

I have feeders up and fill them with a birdseed mix, which contains sunflower seeds. I also put out straight sunflower seeds. I have several squirrels who visit my yard and after they eat the sunflower seeds, raid the feeders and dump a lot of seed out of the feeders.
The ground feeding birds eat some of it, but there is so much they leave, not sure if any critters will come along and clean that up. It seems like the sunflower seeds are the most desirable.
I don't fill the feeders every day and I try to hold off putting fresh seed out until the areas under the feeders aren't as seedy. I had been scattering all of the seed on the ground, to slow down the squirrels and chipmunks, but with winter and snow, I turned to the feeders. Also, even with a fence, neighbor cats come in and I want to give the birds as much of a chance as I can.

Thanks for any advice

[Phoenix61]

1. Depends on what birds are around.

I’ve got lots that like finch food. I used to have ones that liked meal worms but they seem to have left the area. Didn’t realize it until I looked under the feeder and saw where they had thrown the worms on the ground. Also, different types of feeders attract different types of birds. Cardinals are persnickety. They need a large enough perch to eat going forward. Seems they don’t like to sit sideways. I’ve squirrel proofed the bird feeders.

[Marthe48]

4. I have several kinds of birds and feeders

I have wrens, finches, cardinals, nuthatches, 3 kinds of woodpeckers. I bought a couple of new feeders. within 15 minutes of putting one out, the birds were on it. I'll get a bag of finch food.

I tried a few things to squirrel proof, but don't have a lot of places to put the feeders. I figure putting the sunflower seeds out is a diversionary tactic to keep the squirrels off the feeders for a little while. Yesterday, I put the sunflower seeds on the seeds under the feeder, figured the birds had a better chance of getting fed that way.

Most days, the squirrels eat and then cache a lot of the sunflower seeds. So greedy!

[Mike 03]

2. I'll be interested to see what others say. It might be regional.

My sisters, mother and I all feed birds and we deliberately avoid mixes containing sunflower seeds. They just aren't popular with our birds, although the squirrels do like them.

Birds here prefer finch blends, or no-waste nut/berry mixes. In the summer, I try to put out some thistle seed which seems to be popular with the very small finches.

And the blue jays LOVE peanuts in the shell.

(This is mid to northern AZ).

But I'm fascinated to know what others say! Maybe we'll learn a thing or two.

[Marthe48]

5. Thank you

I'm in s.e. Ohio. I will order some finch food. I put some thistle out once and it wasn't a hit.

[Botany]

3. Do you really want to help the birds?

The most important feeding of our native song birds is in the spring and summer with
insects from native plants that they take back to their nests for their young. And then
having native plants that produce seeds and fruits that the birds eat in the fall and winter.

One problem with "feeding the birds" in the winter is that you are also feeding all the non
native birds too. House sparrows, starlings, pigeons, Mexican finches and so on. I stopped
feeding birds around my house because I was getting too many "trash birds."

If you do want to feed in the winter put the feed in a squirrel proof feeder and put out
suet cakes inside wire feeders .... make sure the suet cakes have hot pepper mix in 'em too.



A real bird feeder.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. we must be lucky - none of the birds you mentioned are in our area

or at least in our yard. Biggest pigs at the feeders are blue jays (not all that frequent), mockingbirds and cowbirds.

We take our feeders in early spring (so the bears are not attracted), but have lots of berry bearing flowering shrubs, and lots of flowers - birds have plenty to eat in our area!

[Botany]

11. I have come to like the blue jays ... they are native and very smart too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae

[Marthe48]

14. I love the blue jays

Sometimes I have 6 or 8 at a time. When I come out to put fresh seed, I can hear the jays making a kissy sound when they see me. I like all the birds. One of the nuthatches stays near the platform feeder while I fill the feeders and jumps right on as soon as I walk away.

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. they are fun to watch, but are pretty pushy at the feeder with smaller birds

and yes, they are smart!

[Botany]

20. Years ago in Canada we had a Canadian Jay (Corvid too) who would come into camp and ....

.... take fishing lures and then hang them from trees and shrubs around camp so we had to
come and take 'em down when we got back in the PM. And the Jay would watch us and laugh.

[Marthe48]

8. I put seed out all year around

The environment here is putting all of the critters under pressure. Several neighbors who fed birds are gone, trees and shrubs are cleared out, so I'm making my yard as friendly and safe as I can for as long as I can. I welcome any living creature that comes in, but wish they'd be less wasteful. :/

I could get bulk fresh suet from a local meat processing plant. Last time, I stopped and the guy gave me 20 lbs. for free. I shared it out with a couple other people who feed the birds, but it wasn't very popular. I have a tiny bit hanging this year, and it isn't getting eaten. I also put out fruit like apples, grapes, blueberries, strawberries and oranges, if I have them. The robins, cardinals and mockingbirds love them. And the squirrels too.

Thank you for the tips.

[Botany]

12. My background is ecology ... do not feed year round if you can plant native plants and they will ...

.... feed the birds.

You want the native plants that will have bugs and stuff so the birds can feed these protein
rich packages to their young.

BTW Doug's book is the bomb shizzle ... as is his latest Nature's Best Hope

[Marthe48]

16. My yard is overgrown with shrubs

and I have 2 large maple trees and 3 giant sweetgum trees. I wish I could plant more, kind of past that. But my neighborhood is somewhat rural, so I hope the birds can get the other things they need in the nearby woods and fields.

Our soil is very sandy here, and between that and the trees, my yard is scruffy to say the least. It is more a combination of greenery than just grass. Haven't had a lawn company come out for years, so in the summer I have lightning bugs. Some of the yard is quite shady and damp, other parts grassy, and other parts bare and dry. I keep the water dishes full, too. Even in this cold weather, I saw a blue jay take a bath one day and a mockingbird 2 days later.

Doug who? Thanks for your comments.

[Botany]

19. It depends what kind of shrubs they are ... native or non native.

Sorry Doug Tallamy

If you can plant native plants that are adapted to those different conditions.

having lightning bugs is a good thing ... they are getting scarce.

[Marthe48]

24. Most of the plants and trees in the yard are original

Holly, privet, flame, flowering crab, serviceberry, lilac, wild grape, mulberry, and redbud, that I can think of. We planted an ornamental cherry in 2002, and an apple tree in 2017. I get some bees, but last spring, not nearly as many as this spring. The grass has violets, free-range grape hyacinths, dandelions, just a nice mix of green plants. It looks like some of the birds are generational visitors. I love seeing parent birds trying to teach their fledglings how to forage.

The people we bought it from said the yard was a jungle and they cleaned it out, but they didn't pull the roots, so several things, like the flowering crab regrew. Really pretty in the spring.

A little further out from my neighborhood are cultivated fields and I think that they are using the roundup type weed control. I am seeing fewer and fewer bugs of any kind. My daughter lives in this same county, but several miles away. She still has plenty of different insects and an isolated pond full of frogs.

Thanks for sharing the author's name. I'll see if I can get a copy.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. We've used the Wild Birds Unlimited Choice blend for years - brings all kinds of birds

we also get the suet cakes - they don't melt in warm weather - the peanut one - which all sorts of birds love - a few warblers, woodpeckers, nuthatches..

The squirrels sit under the feeders and eat the stuff the birds toss off or peck off above!

[Marthe48]

10. I'll make a note

I hope I can get it locally

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I've been watching/feeding birds this year more than ever before.

It has become my primary Covid entertainment.

I put a squirrel baffle on my feeder pole to discourage possums. I had never seen a squirrel up there even after having it up for several months. The pole has several arms so it can accommodate different types of feeders.

I've been trying out new seeds and blends to see which ones are favorites. The finches and sparrows seem to prefer a blend of small seeds including nijer and canary millet. Blue Jays and woodpeckers like peanuts. Some of the jays seem to prefer peanuts in the shell. Suet cakes are popular with the smaller birds and woodpeckers.

I mix all the varieties I have to scatter on the sidewalk and that attracts the widest variety of birds. The squirrels like this and favor the black oil sunflower seed. Everyone seems to get along with very little argument.

This weekend I'm setting up a dedicated squirrel feeding station which will include ears of corn, sunflower seed and peanuts.

[Marthe48]

13. I got ears of calico corn near Halloween

Last edited Sat Jan 16, 2021, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

It had some of the prettiest colors I've seen in years. I put the whole ears in a basket on the picnic table and watched as the squirrels rearranged it day by day until the basket was empty and the ears were scattered in the yard. Other years, I've gotten field corn dried on the cob and stabbed part of a clothes hanger through the cob and hung it. Sometimes he squirrels have been able to dislodge the cob, hanger and all, and carry it to a place they like.

When I put oranges out, I cut them in half and stab them through thick twigs on the shrubs. One year, I had a squirrel who loved the oranges. They kept disappearing and I didn't think much of it. I looked up one day and saw almost a dozen dried up oranges cached on different branches in the sweetgum tree.

I usually put out peanuts, but haven't been able to get what I need for the birds.

Thank you for your input. I will make a note of your seeds, too.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. Squirrels and oranges. That's not a combination I would have thought of.

[MoonchildCA]

17. I use a variety of different foods and feeders.

Last edited Sat Jan 16, 2021, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I have noticed with the mixes, unless I purchase a supreme blend, half of the seed will be left. I think the cheaper blends are full of millet, or something most birds don’t like, so you get more bang for your buck buying a premium blend.
Black oil sunflower seeds are a huge hit here. I put some in a regular feeder, some in dispensers that are for clinging birds only. On those, I only get finches, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and titmouses. On the ground, I get lots of sparrows, redwing blackbirds, towhees, and California thrashers.
I also put out nijer seed for gold finches. It takes them a couple weeks to find the source, if I haven’t put it out for awhile. It’s pretty expensive.
I’ve just discovered suet nuggets. Many birds really enjoy those, and it’s good winter food.
Also, the bird bath is a great attraction, even for birds that don’t visit the feeder, especially here in California, where we have a drought.

[Marthe48]

18. I keep water handy

All of the critters like them. In the summer, I fill small bowls and nestle them in the myrtle. The cardinals and robins love the water

[Bayard]

22. We have numerous feeders

We keep filled with sunflower seeds. A niger seed feeder, and suet cakes in a cage. We especially like the ones outside the kitchen window--Bird Central. We don't get trash birds for whatever reason--tons of cardinals, blue jays, finches, nuthatches, tit mouse.

We were just talking the other day about how we never see sparrows here, when they've been such a nuisance elsewhere.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. I feed them golden safflower.

It's a little more expensive than sunflower seeds but it leaves less of a mess, and the squirrels don't seem to like it much (though they'll eat it if they can't find anything else). It attracts a variety of birds, including house finches, chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches, even downy woodpeckers.

[Marthe48]

26. I'll make a note of that

sounds like a good alternative

[Marthe48]

27. I want to be a bird in your yard!

It sounds like a bird haven!