Feeding the Birds

[ossian]

Do you feed the birds in your garden or park? I put out sunflower seeds for them and love to see what comes to the feeders. Generally it is the same birds who come back to the feeder - tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins, robins. But larger birds like starlings and blackbirds also appear. Pigeons wait below the feeders to catch what falls to the ground and make a pretty decent job of clearing up the crumbs.

The starlings are a pest as they have been nesting in the roof for years and have caused a fair amount of damage. And the pigeons are messy. I could do without those.

Occasionally we get a sparrowhawk in the garden who waits to prey on the smaller birds leaving me to remove the remains once he has had his fill.

And, of course, squirrels muscle in too. But unless they start to destroy the feeders, I leave them to get on with it.

Sadly, we no longer get yellowhammers in the garden. They were pretty common at one time and I could have up to 7 feeding at one time. However, now they have gone. Possibly as I no longer put out maize based food. They seemed to enjoy that and fed from the ground.

Anyway, I would love to hear from others who feed the birds.

 

[ossian]

And not to forget........



Him!!!! Notice the bits of green plastic on the tray where he had chewed my feeder to bits!

 

[Ameriscot]

We have bird feeders in our garden and put in bird nuts. Occasionally we see a red squirrel.

Got some good pics I can share when I get home. On my phone now.

 

[Redd]

Beautiful pictures. I too Love feeding the birds and get a variety of colour here as I am in the country.

A tip for those raiding rascals known as squirrels. Get some petroleum jelly and grease the pole the feeder sits on half way up.

Mr. Squirrel will start to climb, hit the jelly and slide down. Works for me.

 

[Ameriscot]

Redd our squirrels are red and are endangered, so the rare time they get into the bird nuts I'll allow it.

These are from our back garden"

 

[Bobw235]

I do indeed feed the birds. I have a number of feeders set up on two poles and it's not unusual to see cardinals, finches, nuthatches, titmice, chickadees, wrens, juncos and of course sparrows. We sometimes get bluejays. In fact last night I topped off the feeders because of all the snow.

 

[Bobw235]

A few final shots.

 

[Bobw235]

Beautiful pictures. I too Love feeding the birds and get a variety of colour here as I am in the country.

A tip for those raiding rascals known as squirrels. Get some petroleum jelly and grease the pole the feeder sits on half way up.

Mr. Squirrel will start to climb, hit the jelly and slide down. Works for me.

I have a squirrel baffle that is a long tube with a hole in the top. It attaches to the center pole from which the feeders hang. It's wide enough that they can't get around it and hollow so they crawl up inside, but have nowhere to go.

 

[ossian]

Beautiful pictures. I too Love feeding the birds and get a variety of colour here as I am in the country.

A tip for those raiding rascals known as squirrels. Get some petroleum jelly and grease the pole the feeder sits on half way up.

Mr. Squirrel will start to climb, hit the jelly and slide down. Works for me.

You must have fun watching the squirrels sliding down that pole. I may try it just for that.

However, this is what I do to keep them away.



I put two hanging baskets together and protect the feeder from the squirrels and larger birds.

 

[ossian]

Great birds, Bob. What are the red ones and the yellow ones? I can tell they are finches but not ones that we get around here.

 

[Bobw235]

My nemesis is the house sparrow. They arrive in flocks and descend on the feeders and crowd out the other birds. Flying rats they are.

 

[ossian]

Redd our squirrels are red and are endangered, so the rare time they get into the bird nuts I'll allow it.

These are from our back garden"

Ameriscot, you are so lucky to have reds. I would have thought that they greys would have colonised your part of Scotland too. I hope you have built a barrier! :bigwink:

 

[Bobw235]

Greta birds, Bob. What are the red ones and the yellow ones? I can tell they are finches but not ones that we get around here.

The red ones are the Northern Cardinals. Yellow ones are Gold Finches. We get quite a few each year. The males have just brought out their bright yellow plumage.

 

[ossian]

The red ones are the Northern Cardinals. Yellow ones are Gold Finches. We get quite a few each year. The males have just brought out their bright yellow plumage.

We dont get cardinals, Bob. But it is really interesting that the yellow ones are gold finches. Our goldfinches are those in my top pics. With red, white black heads.

And house sparrows are in decline here. We get lots around my house, but they are smaller than most other birds and therefore lower in the pecking order. However, generally there is some concern over their declining numbers in the UK.

 

[Bobw235]

Got hummingbirds last year. Can't wait for them to come back this year. I will plan some flowers in the back designed to attract them.

 

[ossian]

And those we certainly do not get, Bob. Lovely wee things.

 

[jujube]

My daughter lives in the pinewoods and has a fox squirrel who considers the birdfeeder his personal property. He sits there and chirps/clucks/squawls if *his* feeder is empty.

 

[Bobw235]

This past year I experimented with making my own "bark butter", made from rendered beef suet, oatmeal, cornmeal, peanut butter and some sunflower seeds. Came out great. The birds love it. I spread it on a rough plank that's attached to the pole. The woodpeckers and nuthatches go crazy for it. Even the bluejays go for this stuff.

 

[Redd]

Bob, that shot you took of the cardinal feeding the baby belongs in a magazine. Beautiful and rare as they are usually so wary when the young are about.

Ossian, that is a great idea of the two hanging baskets together to outwit the squirrels.

Here we get the black and grey squirrels, both nuisances. But I do admit to throwing peanuts on the ground for them to make up for the petroleum jelly pole.

Hummingbirds will be back soon here too. Last year was a constant whirl of activity. I suspend the feeder directly over a red mandevilla vine and to attract them spray a floral body mist perfume on the wood above the feeder.

 

[Bobw235]

Bob, that shot you took of the cardinal feeding the baby belongs in a magazine. Beautiful and rare as they are usually so wary when the young are about.

Ossian, that is a great idea of the two hanging baskets together to outwit the squirrels.

Here we get the black and grey squirrels, both nuisances. But I do admit to throwing peanuts on the ground for them to make up for the petroleum jelly pole.

Hummingbirds will be back soon here too. Last year was a constant whirl of activity. I suspend the feeder directly over a red mandevilla vine and to attract them spray a floral body mist perfume on the wood above the feeder.

Thanks Redd. Was fortunate to be home at the time, recovering from surgery. The feeder was right off my back deck and we have a window a few feet away. Enjoyed seeing this important moment. Often I'll hear the young off in the trees and bushes. The adults will bring food to them from the feeders.

 

[ossian]

Bob, that shot you took of the cardinal feeding the baby belongs in a magazine. Beautiful and rare as they are usually so wary when the young are about.

Ossian, that is a great idea of the two hanging baskets together to outwit the squirrels.

Here we get the black and grey squirrels, both nuisances. But I do admit to throwing peanuts on the ground for them to make up for the petroleum jelly pole.


Hummingbirds will be back soon here too. Last year was a constant whirl of activity. I suspend the feeder directly over a red mandevilla vine and to attract them spray a floral body mist perfume on the wood above the feeder.

In Scotland we are quite lucky as we still have large areas of the country populated by reds. The greys have colonised the central and southern part of Scotland, but the more remote parts of the South, West and the Highlands have retained the reds. They are monitored closely to ensure that the reds survive, so there is hope for them.

A couple of years back, I was walking after a storm. The wind was still very strong and close to my home I saw an albino squirrel. It sat on a fence and let me get quite close to it. Eventually it got bored of me and scampered along the fence and up into a tree. I have never seen another albino. But we do get the occasional blacks. But I have not seen them.

 

[Ameriscot]

Ameriscot, you are so lucky to have reds. I would have thought that they greys would have colonised your part of Scotland too. I hope you have built a barrier! :bigwink:

We don't see the reds often, but the greys are the enemy here! I can't even remember the last time I saw either one.

 

[Ameriscot]

Great shots, Bob!!

 

[Bobw235]

Great shots, Bob!!

Thanks Annie. I'll have to get some new ones this year, possibly from up on my hill with a telephoto.

 

[Ameriscot]

Thanks Annie. I'll have to get some new ones this year, possibly from up on my hill with a telephoto.

I sometimes set up my telephoto on the tripod at the patio doors in the back which overlook the feeders. I'm ready to wander around outside and get some new flower photos (as if thousands weren't enough!), and to see if we have some new baby lambs down the road for cute photos.