Feeding The local Birds

Used to feed birds. But then we got outside cats and all we were doing is feeding birds to our cats. The birds would search around for seed dropped on the ground and the cats would ambush them.

But once we went with cats, mice disappeared, which was a good thing. The bird seed on the ground also attracted a lot of mice.
 

Last edited:
We had to stop feeding the birds due to our cat and outdoor mice. Since our cat was 18 years old, she could no longer catch them.

The thing we had to worry about before were hawks. Occasionally they’d catch the little ones.

We keep all our bird seed in 5 gallon bucks outside under the veranda. We don’t hang our feeders near the house. The feeders are on the edge of forest where they have protection from predators.

We have no wild feral cats around here. Only bobcats. I enjoy watching the birds and hearing them sing.
 
The other day I heard a bird hit the window so automatically got up. It was approximately -11 Celsius and very windy. Sure enough there was the Junco. I immediately picked the Junco up off the veranda and kept it warm. Soon I became cold so stepped inside the house and left the door open.

To make a long story short, I took care of this bird for about 45 minutes. Foolishly I put him/her in a box. Minutes later I checked on the bird and the wind had taken the box. The good news is that the heat pump stopped the box from blowing away and the bird was properly balanced and standing up.

That’s when I knew this bird would survive. Tens minutes later, at dust, it flew off. My husband thinks their name should be Jumpoes instead. They do jump around an awful lot.

I don’t have a photo but do have one of a purple finch we had. Not related to the story at all.




IMG_3853.jpeg
 
Last edited:
PeppermintPatty said:
To make a long story short, I took care of this bird for about 45 minutes. Foolishly I put him/her in a box. Minutes later I checked on the bird and the wind had taken the box. The good news is that the heat pump stopped the box from blowing away and the bird was properly balanced and standing up.
Click to expand...
He's/she's a happy bird.

21cgv9piTIOdIl1kxfwZQA.png
 
Holy smokes Dennis. You are very talented. Thats pretty much what this story looked like. The bird didn’t want to leave my hand. I had to gently push him/her off of me. If it weren’t so dark I wouldn’t have. I just wanted this bird to be able to fend for itself before nightfall struck.

You are multi talented. Thank you for the picture. I can’t wait to show my husband. That looks like the bird, our heat pump and the size box I had. That was ‘brilliant.’
 
We slice homemade bread on a tray and always have lots of crumbs. I throw those out in front where I can see the little wrens gobble them up. I think they like sourdough best. I put a peanut or two out for the squirrel to find. No rhyme or reason so he won't start expecting it.
The other day I threw out the un popped and half popped corn kernels. The squirrel likes those too.
 
we've been feeding the birds..long time..when my husband was alive he made the homemade suet...bark butter..and cakes...
I am doing good to keep feeders filled...
he'd built special feeders for woodpeckers...up the pole they go inside a caged area with their suet ...
course the squirrels have their feeders too..
when you put out the buffet..can't choose who comes..
Just enjoy
 
hearlady said:
We slice homemade bread on a tray and always have lots of crumbs. I throw those out in front where I can see the little wrens gobble them up. I think they like sourdough best. I put a peanut or two out for the squirrel to find. No rhyme or reason so he won't start expecting it.
The other day I threw out the un popped and half popped corn kernels. The squirrel likes those too.
Click to expand...
Squirrels love corn. I like finding others who love interacting with nature.
bingo said:
we've been feeding the birds..long time..when my husband was alive he made the homemade suet...bark butter..and cakes...
I am doing good to keep feeders filled...
he'd built special feeders for woodpeckers...up the pole they go inside a caged area with their suet ...
course the squirrels have their feeders too..
when you put out the buffet..can't choose who comes..
Just enjoy
Click to expand...
We have a squirrel baffle but when the snow was 4 feet high, that baffle was useless. The squirrels jumped from the banks to the caged feeders and got in. I’d let the dogs out and these squirrels would jump and run away. Maybe they feared me. I don’t mind the squirrels. As long as they aren’t scaring away the birds.
 
I love to watch the birds feed, sadly we seem to have fewer than in previous years, we mostly get sparrows and the occasional finch. The feeder is placed away from the house. The older I get the more empathy I have for birds, dogs and cats, wild animals. I have an outdoor cat but love to watch the birds, she killed a bird and I was devastated, I dug a hole, placed it in a box then into the hole. I have 4 bells on her collar and am thinking of putting on more, as I have only had one fatality, that I know of I am hoping they are a determent.
I see eagles quite a lot, so majestic and in the spring I love to watch the canada geese with their goslings, but they too seem to disappear quite quickly. I have seen families with 9 babies reduced to a couple within two weeks, I know this is nature but it is sad.
 
We have a large tubular feeder we use for seed. That takes care of the sparrows. For crows and squirrels it’s a handful of nuts or bread/cereal tossed out on a patio. A few years ago I was walking back to the car in a market parking lot when I had an accident, dropped a large container of bluberries. I felt responsible to clean it up, but out of nowhere appeared a dozen seagulls. Problem solved in seconds. (-8
 
RobinWren said:
I love to watch the birds feed, sadly we seem to have fewer than in previous years, we mostly get sparrows and the occasional finch. The feeder is placed away from the house. The older I get the more empathy I have for birds, dogs and cats, wild animals. I have an outdoor cat but love to watch the birds, she killed a bird and I was devastated, I dug a hole, placed it in a box then into the hole. I have 4 bells on her collar and am thinking of putting on more, as I have only had one fatality, that I know of I am hoping they are a determent.
I see eagles quite a lot, so majestic and in the spring I love to watch the canada geese with their goslings, but they too seem to disappear quite quickly. I have seen families with 9 babies reduced to a couple within two weeks, I know this is nature but it is sad.
Click to expand...
Our cat used to kill them also. I felt like I was setting them up to be murdered. I’d be devastated when the hawks started killing them off. We considered putting bells on her collar but we didn’t. She was an indoor outdoor cat who climbed a lot. We were worried that she’d hang her self. When she got older she really enjoyed watching them. It gave her something to do. We lost her last autumn. She was 18.

My cat used to kill things and bring them to me as a gift. 🫣 Some things you never get used to.
 
ElCastor said:
We have a large tubular feeder we use for seed. That takes care of the sparrows. For crows and squirrels it’s a handful of nuts or bread/cereal tossed out on a patio. A few years ago I was walking back to the car in a market parking lot when I had an accident, dropped a large container of bluberries. I felt responsible to clean it up, but out of nowhere appeared a dozen seagulls. Problem solved in seconds. (-8
Click to expand...
Haha. What you just described happened to me. It was a bag of sunflower seeds dropped in the parking lot. Luckily I had a hand broom and dustpan in the car and the seagulls and crows cleaned up the rest.
 
We are asked to not feed the birds in my community. We have within the community preserved areas of wetlands, ponds, large trees and a lot of birds and wildlife. The birds stop in our county on their way to or from Canada each year. I absolutely love to see these clouds of birds passing through our area.
Our bottlebrush trees attract the hummingbirds, so I am able to watch them from my screened patios in company of my cats!
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Haha. What you just described happened to me. It was a bag of sunflower seeds dropped in the parking lot. Luckily I had a hand broom and dustpan in the car and the seagulls and crows cleaned up the rest.
Click to expand...
I had another educational experience — previously reported. Parked the car in a lot in front of a convenience store, and there was a truly tragic sight, a poor pathetic crow dragging a broken wing and hopping along in front of the store. I went in the store, bought a pastry, broke off a chunk and threw it to the doomed crow. He grabbed it and flew up on the roof. (-8

Read later that crows use the same broken wing trick To lure predators away from their nest, and I’ve seen pictures of another clever strategy. Unable to crack the shells of walnuts in a tree, they dropped the shells in a nearby crosswalk, waited for passing cars to break the shells, and when the light changed flew down and grabbed the nuts.
 
Gary O' said:
One winter, up at the cabin, the nutcrackers took over all the feeding stations

They became the bullies, not letting the chickadees or nuthatches a place at the table

They were the early risers

View attachment 334527
Click to expand...
Our squirrels are becoming bullies. They’ve made tunnels in the snow to charge out from from when flocks of bigger birds come by; pigeons, mourning doves, crows. I’ve never seen nuthatches get competitive. They are so darn cute. I love the little beep beep they make.
 
How I could I forget that we also have hummingbirds, there are only about 2 or 3 that come to my feeders, strangely enough I have also seen the other birds at their feeders, they must be thirsty though I do have water out there.
 
The spring Robbins moved thru a couple of weeks ago and hit the Holly Berries hard.
Than they set around for couple of days drunk and then continues north.

Soon the Hummingbirds return and the fighter pilots fight over the Feeder. The
squirrels go after the other bird foods and that's a mess on the ground with the cats
hunting the song birds on those areas where the seeds fall.
 
RobinWren said:
How I could I forget that we also have hummingbirds, there are only about 2 or 3 that come to my feeders, strangely enough I have also seen the other birds at their feeders, they must be thirsty though I do have water out there.
Click to expand...
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.
IMG_2045.jpegIMG_6767.jpegIMG_6766.jpeg
 


Back
Top