We used to feed year-around but the bears got to be a problem so now we only feed in the Winter.

We also feed meat scraps and such-like to the seagulls year around.

This morning I put out a dish of bread crusts soaked in ham juice and Heathcliffe was all over it as soon as I set it down.

Then I put out our usual tray of bird seed mix with some extra black oil sunflower seeds and a handful of stale walnuts.

Got back inside and looked out the window and Holy Frijoles! It looked like Atlanta Hartfield on a busy day. Most of a dozen crows on final or taxying up to the tray, bluejays and chickadees stacked up in holding patterns and mourning doves waiting for a gate.

I love watching birds that glide in for a landing, like crows and gulls. It looks so effortless and they always nail the landing.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I love watching birds that glide in for a landing, like crows and gulls. It looks so effortless and they always nail the landing.

Well, I imagine they get lots of practice.

We have a so-called "squirrel-proof" feeder that we pretty much stock year-around. Mostly commercial songbird mix, but it attracts pretty much everybody. When freshly-filled, we get the immediate mass attack. I don't know what kind of communications network the birds use, but it is very efficient.

The presence of birds and food attracts other critters too, of course the aforementioned squirrels, who usually have to pick up their treats from the ground, but the chipmunks have no trouble getting inside the mesh barrier that keeps their bigger cousins out. We get visits from foxes (no bears here) and other predators including a magnificent GH owl, and a red-shouldered hawk. I think those chipmunks are Mother Nature's Twinkie.

I feed the birds, nothing crazy cuz most of the neighbors do also.

The staple here in WI starts with ‘black oil’ sunflower seeds, after that a suit block. I really never buy any of the ‘mixed’ seed, much goes to waste.

I’ve backed off the Niger seed, or thistle, mostly high expense, goldfinches are main consumers.

I bought a bag of peanuts in the shell, most of the suit eaters like them. I have a ‘peanut cage’ I put them in.

We have a lot of wild turkeys, as in previous years, I bought a 50lb bag of ‘cracked corn’ for $12.50, they love it. A few of the other ground feeders will eat the corn, I just throw it on the ground.

We don’t have that many squirrels, so I let the few we have alone.

When the weather is stormy or cold, the bird numbers at the feeders seem to go up.

I support an entire ecosystem. The birds eat the sunflower seeds and what falls on the ground gets eaten by squirrels, rabbits and the occasional deer. A bear checks in from time to time but I have not seen him since early summer.

We also feed them. On occasion a Cooper's Hawk will swoop in and pick off a mourning dove or chipmunk, which I find pretty cool. This has been going on for 20 years and I am wondering if the hawks teach their offspring about the opportunity at our feeders.

We feed a vast variety of birds year round ... and found our own system adding just enough seed variety on the ground that the birds clean up in one day. This is to discourage any rodents.

During the winter, we make suet/seed "objects" again just enough for only a days worth.

Then there are the hummingbird ... my favorites that we have year round and I baby them as much as I can.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
We also feed them. On occasion a Cooper's Hawk will swoop in and pick off a mourning dove or chipmunk, which I find pretty cool. This has been going on for 20 years and I am wondering if the hawks teach their offspring about the opportunity at our feeders.

A "bird" feeder is a BIRD feeder...............all benefit!

We've also learned if you include sunflower seeds the birds drop them, and the squirrels don't need to try and climb the feeder.

I have a number of birdfeeders that are regularly stocked. Yeah, squirrels and chipmunks are abundant, but our "squirrel-proof" feeders get a lot of attention.

My wife was outside this summer where she had a nice view of the feeders. She made note that a particular squirrel was able to jump about 4 feet to get to a feeder. Had to get a different feeder that was about a foot higher off the ground.

Also, we've had mating Red-tailed hawks in the area. After the chicks learned to fly, we watched them as they confronted game and didn't know how to dispatch them. Adult hawks stepped in and gave them a lesson or two!

So far, we've had 33 different species of birds in the yard grabbing seed!

Six years ago our yearly bird list had 26 birds on it.

This year's list has 13 ,
Something's going on.
And
B.t.w.

Bird seed costs.

I have lost count of the different bird species we have had visit over the years, but I have also had squirrels, chipmunks, possums, coons, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, deer, skunks, cats, dogs, terrapins, voles, mice, rabbits, groundhogs, and my most unusual guest - a snapping turtle who was just passing thru and stopped long enough to sample the sunflower seeds on the ground. (Needless to say, I live in the middle of the woods).

We are an equal opportunity source for all wildlife. I haven't seen any homeless dudes, but we don't have any of those around as of yet!

Deer swing by a couple of nights a year to drink the bird bath water.

On my early morning walk I take some rolled oats. I scatter them on the sidewalk when I see birdies. They like those oats!

I used to have 4 finch feeders and a shepards hook with a feeder for the Cardinals
and such. They are messy, I think they spill as much as they eat. So my payback was
a colony of mice under my deck. I think I trapped 20 before I got rid of them.
Sorry birds, I can't tolerate mice.

I had rats one year when they tore down a barn about a mile from me. I had to use water to flush them out of the holes they dug.

I feed the doves chick cracked corn. It is funny to see the pecking order and feathers fly when a dominate dove takes over. I made a trough to hold the corn. In the winter time, I may have 60 to 100 doves seating in the trees.

I have a squirrel proof feeder I use for Sunflower seed.

Although the wife started it, I've taken to feeding our birds each week. We have three feeders in our backyard- two tower feeders and an ancient tray feeder with a gabled roof- and a nice stand of trees about. Our backyard is the favorite restaurant stop for the local birds.

I stoked up the feeders each day in advance of the exceptionally cold weather we have right now. Both yesterday and today, we're seeing much higher feeder activity, with multiple birds at each feeder at a time. I've even poured seed on the patio and they are eating it up. As my wife points out, feeding them on the ground presents a danger to the birds, from the local predators, but I haven't seen a single cat outside in the past two days.

Anyway, it makes me feel good knowing I'm helping to support the local bird population. Come spring, they'll reward us with beautiful songs. I wouldn't want to live anywhere without trees close by. I love to hear the birds sing.

My birds arrive in their business hours.

Itty bitty birdies, songbirds, doves, the croze.

My croze on the weekends come to the kitchen window and caw for breakfast.

The sentry has known me since he was a fledgeling and I gained his trust many years ago. He never flys off when I come out with treats.

There is a new GHO that has appeared on the property, hooting at all hours before sunup.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

Anyway, it makes me feel good knowing I'm helping to support the local bird population. Come spring, they'll reward us with beautiful songs. I wouldn't want to live anywhere without trees close by. I love to hear the birds sing.

Living in the middle of the woods, I relate to the springtime songs. I know the experts say they sing to mark territories and entice a mate, but I prefer to believe they are singing out of joy and celebrating the rebirth that nature creates each spring. (I know I celebrate the arrival of spring each year and at 78 years old, I don't think I am marking my territory and searching for a new mate, but you never know about old men!)

Safflower,Suet,B . O. sunflower seed, millet , shelled peanuts,
Oranges and Suger water in the spring for the orioles,
A little bit of cracked corn

And most importantly a bird bath when weather permits.

2022 bird feeder related bonus:
I was issued hearing aids by the VA last summer. Now I can actually hear the birds sing!