Bird Feeders NF

[fishing n autograph]

Hi All,

 

I have always enjoyed feeding the birds and bird watching. I used to do it when I was younger and living at my parents place. Now that I have my own place I've decided to put up a bird feeder but no birds have shown up. I live smack dab in between 2 conservation areas and several green spaces, but my neighbourhood is relatively new and there are no trees in my yard or the adjacent yards. How do I attract the birds to my feeder?????

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Dave

[Ramble]

Time. They have to figure it is there, and then they will start coming. sprinking some on the ground where they can see it is also an option. But if it piles up on teh grass in can mess ur lawn up. Its also messy to clean up, not to mention would probably get burried by the snow. How long have you had it up for?

 

-R-

[Mary Penny]

Dave,

 

Just be patient. When I first put up my feeder it took a couple weeks for the birds to find it. Now it looks like a shopping mall on black Friday. Once they do find it, they will always come back. Enjoy!

 

Mary Penny

[lew]

Bird feeders are an excellent hobby Dave and I've had them in the yard for years, and like the others have said, just start putting the feed out and they'll find it eventually. I shovel out the snow on the ground around the feeder and put food there as well as up high on the feeder as alot of birds prefer to eat off the ground.

 

We get cardinals and lots of blue jays plus all the small birds like chickadees & sparrows and I also have many many mourning doves that live here all winter long and I've counted as many as 47 doves in the yard at one time.

 

Course I also get pigeons that show up, but one day last winter I looked out the window and there was a red tailed hawk in the yard finishing one of them off for his lunch. All that was left of the pigeon was the 2 wings and a blood splatter.

 

Best of luck with your new hobby.

[nofish4me]

Just black oiled sunflower seeds is the best allround bird feed.

No trees anywhere near my feeder, it gets busy just the same.

Edited December 7, 2008 by nofish4me

[OhioFisherman]

Trees make it easier but just hanging the feeder from a hook or treated 4x4 post in the ground will also work. Like mentioned it takes a little time for them to find the food stop, once they do they will become used to it.

 

LOL I have 4 feeders in my back yard along a row of pine trees, all hold between 2 and 3 liters of bird seed, they can empty them in a day. Pretty normal for me to go thru 50 pounds of bird food a month. TSC sells it cheap in 40 and 50 pound bags.

 

Make sure you have them high enough of the ground 4 feet or more, they can become cat feeders. Nice thing about trees nearby like pine the birds can go on them the cats have some trouble getting to them.

 

TG gave me a hint last year also plant some sun flowers, different for me though country with over 4 acres of land plenty of room to do stuff like that where it`s out of the way.

 

I let about 1 1/2 acres of my back yard return to a more natural state starting about 8 years or so ago. Just saw no need to cut over 4 acres of grass and I like to see the animals. I cut a path 20-30 feet around the edge but the center is animal zone. Didn`t plant anything, but stuff started growing on it`s own. Blackberries, wild strawberries, bushes of some kind and starting to get some small trees in it now. All kinds of small animal paths entering the field a safe place for them as I don`t hunt, just enjoy watching them.

 

Rabbits, Pheasants, Deer bed in the field at night, just flat land that was a farmers field. LOL maybe I am reducing urban sprawl?

[pigeonfisher]

We have been wooing the birds as well this year. Plenty of Cardinals, a couple of woodpeckers, some coopers hawks come around once in a while, we have had another larger hawk which we didn't get the chance to identify.

 

We love having the birds coming by all the time.

 

I agree with the black oiled sunflower seds. In Ontario i would also suggest throwing some peanuts (full shelled) about the back yard for the blue jays!

[Bernie]

Birds love niger seed too. It's a little bit expensive though.

I have a woodpecker family that stays around the cottage. They have become quite tame.

Feed them a mix of peanut butter and lard. Boy do they love it.

Mom has one at her place that taps on her kitchen window when it's time to eat.

[bigugli]

It's all about patience. I remember how upset some of the younger cubs would get after putting up their bird feeders. I'd always get a phone call from some young child, and he'd be just a sobbing, thinking he had done something wrong, expecting the birds to show up the moment he put the feeder up.

 

The birds will come in time. Snow will speed up the process as it buries a lot of the available food on the ground. Make sure you keep the cat in the house.

[Terry]

if you build it

they will come

 

 

but once you start feeding birds in the winter(a whole other discussion), make sure you keep feeding them

[jjcanoe]

had a Perigrene Falcon and a red tailed hawk visit my feeder over the last 2 winters looking for squirrels and birds. Been trying to get a video or a pics but so far it has not happened

 

jjcanoe

[Burtess]

I have a feeder on a pole with a suet cage mounted just below it. Squirel baffle below that. I usually fill it with black oil sunflower seeds and millet, in a ratio of about 5:1. Most song birds love the sunflower, and the millet is for the finches/junco/doves.

The birds will take a while to find the feeder but as long as you keep it filled, they will return regularly. Our birds seem to come in waves, and they all come together. We live on a ravine and are lucky to be spared the sparrows, almost never see them. So far this year we have carolina wrens, juncos, cardinals, bluejays, chickadee, gold finch, white breasted nuthatch, downy and hairy woodpeckers, a male redbellied woodpecker, and an army of grey and black squirels that clean up the ground. Have not seen the coopers hawk yet this season but I'm sure he will visit.

 

Burt

[pikeie]

 

thats a great pic of a hairy woodpecker! i just love the look of all woodpeckers.

i was out looking at some of our bird feeders the other day and as i got closer i saw a pair of

pileated woodpeckers on the tree we have some feeders on. and down below there was a hairy and a downy woodpecker

feeding on suet out of our feeder! was really cool to see the 3 species togeather. didnt have a camera at the time but i still stood and watched for

close to a half hour till they all took off!

[ctdd2006]

Birdfeeders!? They're illegal! We can't have them cuz they attract the bears!