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Oooh...my favorite subject! We have a pole system from Wild Birds Unlimited....and a "squirrel baffler" on it. It works! The squirrels do not get to ANY of my feeders on the system. Its an arm system that you can add on to.
When we first set the feeders up I was using seed from Lowes Hardware. We got very few birds and not many pretty ones. The DAY I switched to the food from Wild Birds Unlimited...my feeder was busy with all sorts of birds. Tons of bunting, cardinals, goldfinches, titmouse, blue grosbeak, purple and house finches, wrens, all sorts of woodpeckers, chicadees, nuthatches, and many more. When I first started I took a photo of an indigo bunting, cardinal and a goldfinch (all male) all in one shot....just beautiful.
My feeders are empty now and the birds keep coming to my back deck to complain to me! The only bird I can't get to my house is a bluebird...they must not like crowds.
The only bird I can't get to my house is a bluebird...they must not like crowds.
Lauren
Have you tried meal worms from WBU ? We have had good success with those, but beware the robins. When they find the worms, they will take over your feeder
We don't have any trees around our townhouse at all so its been a challenge to attract the birds in and has taken a couple years to get the variety we have. My neighbor has a big water lily pot out so that provides some water which they enjoy. I have 3 cattail feeders, one triple tube feeder, a kaytee finch station with two hanging things of nijer seed, and a suet feeder. I just took down the bluebird feeder because its gotten really banged up in the last year and really needed a cleaning. I'll probably get it out soon as the house finch preferred it and occasionally got the bluebirds but had a hard time remember to put the mealworms out for them.
So our list of backyard birds we've had visit:
American Goldfinch
House Finch
White Throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Eastern Bluebird (we had two babies visit last summer!)
Great Crested Flycatcher (tried building a nest in a stove vent)
Carolina Wren
Cardinal (one male and female pair)
Mourning Doves (usually 3 or 4 but one morning my patio was swarming with at least 12)
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Chimney Swifts moved in for a couple weeks, they were fun to watch!
Yellow-rumped warbler (hope this one comes back)
Brown Thrasher (occasional)
I've had bird feeders everywhere I've ever lived. I have two tucked away between two large hollies, and just outside my large bathroom window. I've angled the shutters so I can see the birds but I hope I'm not as visible to them. I get quite a mix of birds there.
There's another feeder near the back porch -- it seems to keep the two dogs here in the house 'entertained,' and I don't see much more than sparrows and an occasional oriole on it. But there are plenty of them, poor things.
I have yet other feeders tucked in tree branches in the backyard, and even though I don't get to see the birds much there, I feel better knowing they come to them and find something to eat. The finches seem to love the front of my house, and the crepe myrtles in particular, so I no longer cut the blooms off when they die back. I wait until Spring.
Just this last cold spell, I seem to have evidence of the rabbits coming into the back yard and chewing the leaves of my Swiss chard.
I've always heard that bluebirds love meal worms, and have tried to provide meal worms to my resident bluebirds on several occasions. The wrens loved them, but I could never get a bluebird to touch them regardless of where I placed them. But they love sunflower hearts (their beaks can't really handle the sunflower seed shells) and suet and frequent my feeders for both.
I have two bluebird houses in my yard and have a nesting pair of bluebirds that use one or both through spring and summer. Its always fun to see the eggs hatch and the little chirping faces of the fledglings. And, of course, it is great to see the baby birds who are as big as mom & dad following the parents around waiting to be fed.
I've tried the mealworms...in a special "bluebird" friendly feeder but no luck. And the seed I use has both the sunflower seeds in the shell and the chips. My next door neighbor always sees bluebirds and same across the street. But I just can't get them here!
Still haven't filled the feeders...they usually only take a few hours to notice here.
Lauren
Yesterday I called home while I was at work and my husband was so excited to report that a hawk was at our feeder. Guess it saw all the little critters on the ground (we spill the food onto the ground to feed more) so he or she was happy to just sit there perched for about 1/2 hour just waiting for lunch to show up. My husband said the squirrels and birds just cleared on out once the hawk appeared but once it left he birds returned but it took the squirrels a while to return. Neat.
The beautiful blue bird--an almost illuminated blue--was probably the indigo bunting, a hard-to-see, hard-to-lure bird. We have one in our Falls Lake neighborhood, and it only rarely comes to feeders. Fascinating bird, BTW.
Reviving old thread. Anyone in Raleigh area seeing Yellow Finch. Using nyjer seed (thistle) for years has attracted yellow finches to my feeders including sock feeders. No yellow finches lately. Thanks
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