Bird Feeders

Janet Bugby asked:


Sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, great tits, robins, doves, greenfinches and blue tits are the wild birds you are most likely to see in your garden in the UK. If you would like to attract any particular species you can encourage them to visit your garden by providing their favorite food.

Some wild birds, including thrushes and chaffinches are more likely to search beneath bird tables for food. If your garden borders on woods you may have woodpeckers, marsh tits, coal tits and nuthatches visiting your bird feeders. Wild birds belonging to the thrush species such as fieldfares, mistle thrushes, song thrushes and redwings love fruits and berries so add these to your bird table to attract them.

Some wild birds, such as treecreepers and wrens are insect feeders so will not be interested in the foods you provide on your bird table or feeder. To attract these birds let an area of your garden grow wild with native plants and flowers. These will then attract the insects that are insect eating birds food.

Attracting Finches To Your Garden

Many people love to see finches in their gardens and it is easy to attract these lovely birds if you provide their favorite food. Finches love thistle seeds which are best placed in a specialised thistle feeder. The seeds are tiny and thistle feeders enclose the seeds in a mesh which finches, with their long beaks, can easily reach through.

These types of feeder also prevent the tiny seeds from dropping to the ground which would be a problem if you placed thistle seeds in a conventional feeder designed for larger seeds. Seeds spilled ion the ground will also attract predators such as squirrels. Commercially prepared thistle seeds have been treated to prevent germination. You could also put out some sunflower or millet seeds on your bird table as finches also enjoy these.

Provide Fresh Water for The Birds

You can also attract wild birds by giving them a source of fresh water or bathing and drinking. This can be as simple as a shallow pan of water on the ground but make sure you replace it regularly. A bird bath is an attractive alternative and if you incorporate a dripper or other means to agitate the water the sound will attract the birds. This is particularly valuable in the winter months when water can be a problem for the birds.

If you place a small heater or agitator in the bird bath to keep it ice free the birds will have a source of fresh water all year round. Place the bird bath in a quiet area of the garden away from your bird feeders as wild birds need quiet when they bath. They also prefer a place underneath branches or other perches for a quick escape route from any lurking cats or other predators.

Feeding Wild Birds in Throughout the Year

Wild birds require different nutrients depending on the season. In the winter feeding is especially helpful as natural food sources may be scarce. They need high energy foods during this time with high fat content. Feed them twice a day and remove any uneaten food regularly.

In the spring and summer they will need high protein foods such as raisins, seeds, mealworms, sunflower seeds etc. You can also buy specially prepared summer mixes for insect eating wild birds. Fruit can also be put out for the fruit loving birds. They will enjoy chopped up apples and pears, grapes and bananas.

During the summer do not put out fat, bread or peanuts as they can be taken back to the nest and harm the baby birds. Home made fat balls are also a bad idea in the hotter months as they will become rancid very quickly.



Glenda

Larry Jordan asked:


Attract goldfinches as well as purple and house finches, pine siskins, and redpolls to your backyard with a nyjer seed bird feeder. You can choose one of the new wire mesh thistle feeders or one of the traditional thistle tube bird feeders. Then there’s always the old thistle sock bird feeder.

Nyjer, nyger, niger and thistle are all names used to refer to a small black seed cultivated in India and Ethiopia for over a thousand years. The true niger seed comes from the Guizotia abyssinica plant which is an annual herb grown for its edible oil and seed. It is NOT a type of thistle and is not a weed. As a matter of fact, it is now grown in the United States.

Niger seed probably got confused with thistle because goldfinches are known to eat thistle seed and use the downy fluff from thistle plants for their nests. In an attempt to differentiate these two terms in the mind of the public, the Wild Bird Feeding Institute trademarked the name Nyjer in 1998. I don’t think that this was successful however because most people still think Nyjer seed is some kind of thistle and a noxious weed if allowed to grow.

When you purchase Nyjer seed, many companies still use the word thistle on the package which has the unintended result of confusing the public even more. This bird seed is imported from India and Ethiopia and by USDA regulations must be sterilized, not to keep the niger seed from spouting, but to keep other noxious weeds that are incidentally mixed in with the niger seed from sprouting. You can now get non-sterilized, American grown niger seed right here in the United States.

Because Nyjer seed is so expensive (over a dollar a pound in 2008) it is important to feed this seed in specially designed feeders. A good Nyjer seed bird feeder will allow several birds to feed at once without excess seed being wasted. The thistle tube bird feeders should be your first choice in my experience. Small slits in the polycarbonate tubes of these feeders only allow the finches to pull out one seed at a time. This limits the amount of wasted seed.

The Nyjer seed bird feeders made of wire mesh would be my second choice. These feeders allow flocking goldfinches to feed wherever they land, plus some hold large amounts of Nyjer seed. They are probably best used with a seed tray below to catch spilled seed.

A thistle sack bird feeder is an inexpensive choice as far as the initial cost of the feeder goes. Made of durable, fine mesh nylon, these feeders allow as many hungry finches to feed as can comfortably hang on the thistle sack. They now are available in black which makes the beautiful goldfinches really stand out. These mesh bags will cost you more in the long run than the other types of Nyjer seed bird feeders because of wasted seed.

Which ever feeder you choose, you are guaranteed to have flocks of Goldfinches visiting your backyard!



Kim

simple serenity asked:


I hank my bird feeder off the fasha of my house but I have a privacy fence the animals crawl onto and eat all my bird feed. I have no were else to put the feeder any ideas?

Samantha