That’s a great idea. Thanks for sharing it. I will do that this winter.Something I used to do often in winter, before I sold my house, was put all the clothes dryer lint deposits outside on a table or someplace the birds could see it ...
usually near a feeder.
They always gathered it up, and took it for their nests.
So beautiful, I love hummers, sadly I have not seen any in the past week, but I know they are also fed by many of my neighbours.We have large flocks of them. We set up a few feeders. Watching them is a real treat. We have nesting hummingbirds all around us. They become very possessive over the feeders: zipping in and out and making the cutest sounds.
View attachment 334799View attachment 334800View attachment 334801
I do that as well.Something I used to do often in winter, before I sold my house, was put all the clothes dryer lint deposits outside on a table or someplace the birds could see it ...
usually near a feeder.
They always gathered it up, and took it for their nests.
It’s too early here also. Those pics are from last year. We don’t get them here until May-ish. We do track their migratory flight from the Gulf of Mexico though. The hummers are the most entertaining bird of all the ones we get.So beautiful, I love hummers, sadly I have not seen any in the past week, but I know they are also fed by many of my neighbours.
So sorry for your loss. If nobody is feeding them, they leave quickly and it’s true that the food attracts unwanted animals. We store ours in the garage which is quite a ways from the house.My husband used to love feeding the pigeons in our back yard. It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie scene, "The Birds." Every morning and afternoon there they were there sitting on the fence, waiting, waiting. There was a great flutter and feathers flying everywhere and then they were gone. After my husband died, I never went outside to feed them, and they were gone forever. I think they sensed that he was never coming back. When this happened the rats never came back as well. Good riddance to them, they were disgusting.
The jays love peanuts as do the squirrels. At our old house we used to feed them nuts with the shell on them. The jays are the only birds that act like you’re trying to steal their food. Plus they are really loud. My husband once asked his father how he could stand the noise from city traffic and his answer was how do you handle those squawking blue jays. Lol They can be excessively loud.I bought a 5 Pound Bag Of Peanuts for squirrels but Cardinals and Blue Jays hit it harder than the squirrels.
I only put some out every few days ... and 5 pounds of peanuts is a lot of peanuts that last a good long while.
On the back of the package it states, "This product is only intended for feeding wild birds and wildlife."
It's a great source of protein, fat and crude fiber for them.
Our chippies loved the peanutsI bought a 5 Pound Bag Of Peanuts for squirrels but Cardinals and Blue Jays hit it harder than the squirrels.
Same hereA bear tore up my metal suet feeder like it was plastic
I had to look up pine siskins. I’m not sure we get those. They look so similar to gold finches.Yes, we've been feeding birds during the year, provided indications are that bears likely won't come in for the suet or sunflower seeds. At our feeders, we get mostly chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, pine siskins, Stellar's jays, and red-shafted flickers. Very occasionally a red-wing blackbird. (Ravens also come in, but only to raid our compost piles.)
We've also at times put up a hummingbird feeder, although in the last few years they'll come into our side garden or onto our deck for red-colored flowers.
Some years ago our MaineCoon cat liked to hunt a bird now & then, but he's always been far more interested in catching mice. On the basis of evidence, the cat's ratio of mice killed to birds, overall, has been roughly 15:1 (maybe even 20:1). Two or three years back, he occasionally caught a hummingbird on the deck... seemed to be just a phase, as apparently he's quit doing it.