Community Chat

[shoekitty]

My gorgeous Coastal Scrub Jay! Bobby keeps everyone in order.  Lol.  When he enters the yard everyday, he tattles on the other birds.  He calls for me to come personally feed him, which I do.  When i come and hand him his peanuts, the little birds go back to feeding.  We had a hawk and some huge Ani come by, but they looked and left....thank God.  Bobby is a real talker, so everyone waits until he pipes down.

i do not like all the doves.  But not more than 20 come by, and they seem to eat from the ground. Except one juvinile dove who gets on the fence, waits his turn and then jumps on the hanging feeded as it goes like a merry go round.  He pecks the food out until h e is thrown off.  I call him Butchie.

[esmerelda]

@TaxyLadyGrackles are as bad as blackbirds when it comes to emptying bird feeders.

Has anyone mentioned safflower seed?  Grackles, and I imagine blackbirds, don't like it.  Neither do squirrels.

Yes, the unwanted birds have to eat too; so I fill a feeder like I always would and then I fill a feeder with safflower seed so everyone gets something to eat.

[Spurt]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

I stopped feeding the birds when I started having rats come around. But, when I did feed the birds, I let nature take its course... squirrls, birds of all kinds whatever.  

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@SeaMaiden

My sister feeds the birds and squirrels and hangs feeders outside her dinning room window......but it has started drawing field mice from the undeveloped land around her area......  She just hates to stop feeding the squirrels who have become alomost tame.....and the birds as well....her indoor cat can sit on the window sill and that doesnt even scare the mice.....so she said she is going to have to stop the feeding too....

I have a crepe myrtle tree and occasionally hang a bird bell or bird cake.....I absolutely love the cardinals and primarily put the food out for them....

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@Spurt

i love putting out bird cakes and/or a bird bell, along with seed and suet and all of my dry bread and crackers. my problem is is that the bird bell or cake only lasts about a day, maybe two, before the squirrels take the entire thing away. i am trying to figure out a way to secure it where they wont be able to steal the entire thing.

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@sunshine45

LOL---that's funny about the squirrels stealing the bell or cake...

 

Sometimes Mourining Doves knock down my bird bell so they don't have to exert themselves while they munch on their "feast"....But then the  Mockingbirds, who can be quite aggressive and mean, scare them away..... I don't know what happened to the squirrels in my immediate area, I think they found better offerings at some bigger bird feeders down the block.....

[Spurt]

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@shoekitty wrote:

My gorgeous Coastal Scrub Jay! Bobby keeps everyone in order.  Lol.  When he enters the yard everyday, he tattles on the other birds.  He calls for me to come personally feed him, which I do.  When i come and hand him his peanuts, the little birds go back to feeding.  We had a hawk and some huge Ani come by, but they looked and left....thank God.  Bobby is a real talker, so everyone waits until he pipes down.

i do not like all the doves.  But not more than 20 come by, and they seem to eat from the ground. Except one juvinile dove who gets on the fence, waits his turn and then jumps on the hanging feeded as it goes like a merry go round.  He pecks the food out until h e is thrown off.  I call him Butchie.

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@shoekitty

That is funny and cute about your friend Bobby.....

We have both Scrub Jays and regular Blue Jays here....I always said good thing the Blue Jays are beautiful because the regular Blue Jays are very noisy and sound like teradactyls and wouldn't be welcomed at feeders otherwise....LOL!!! 

[esmerelda]

I have most of my bird feeders on a thin cable between two trees (backyard, edge of the woods) and squirrels can't get to them...even though one cable is attached to the tree that holds a corn cob holder for them.

Two feeders not on the cable but on a tall pole (which the squirrels CAN climb)...one has a wire frame around it and the other closes when larger birds land on it (their weight closes off the feeding ports).  So the squirrels can't eat from them either...although they used to try.

I have a couple of flat trays out and recently found a hot bird food mix to put on them.  Treated so birds don't notice, but it's too hot (spicy hot) for squirrels, raccoons, etc.  

[Havarti]

@esmerelda

Glad to see you also have good luck with safflower.  I suggested she switch to thistle for the small sweet birds (goldfinches, chickadees, etc.) and safflower for the more select species of midsize birds – to eliminate the black birds, grackles, and other big piggish birds.  She is currently serving the equivalent of fast food for animals – with a strong appeal to many outdoor diners.   She needs to convert her bird restaurant to a fine dining experience to draw in birds with a more discerning palate - a more select but loyal crowd of diners.  It will be more enjoyable, the food (while more expensive) will last longer and be more cost effective, and the unwanted birds will move on.  I hope she tries it!

[JustJazzmom]

Thistle or Nyjer seed for finches, sparrows and red wing blackbirds -- yes they manage to take them out of thistle feeder.

Safflower seeds for cardinals, mourning doves and chickadees.

Peanut pieces for woodpeckers, blue jays, grackles and starlings.

Sparrows eat any of these choices.

Mockingbirds? Try fruit like raisins or dried currants on some sort of platform away from the other birds. They do eat holly berries.

Robins will come out on a warmer day and they like juniper berries.

ETA: squirrels do not go near safflower.

[TaxyLady]

Update.  I tried the safflower feeding and it discouraged the blackbirds.  But,  as one poster said, they seem to leave all of a sudden on their own.   I have seen all my regular birds return except the white breasted nuthatch. 

[Lipstickdiva]

My bird feeders are a sore subject between Dh and I.  I had a "feeding station" in the area around our deck.  Dh wanted it moved because the birds were leaving droppings all over our deck and hot tub cover and it was disgusting.

I moved it to the back of the yard.  I just put wild bird seed there and the mess it made was incredible.  I had all kinds of weird grass/weeds growing where that bird seed fell.  So then I started to feed only sunflower seeds.  Problem is, that has made a mess all over the ground with the shells and moving my feeders to the back of the yard has attracted squirrels.  Now where the sunflower shells fall has deadened the grass.    I feel bad because I know the squirrels have to eat too but they have busted the perches off my tube feeders because they are too heavy for them.  I have put out squirrel food and they bypass that for the bird food.  I also have a dog so before I put her out, I have to make sure the squirrels aren't eating and if they are, I go on the deck and move them along.

Sometimes I look in my backyard and there are birds, squirrels and rabbits all happily eating together out there.  LOL

[JustJazzmom]

Sunflower seeds tend to kill plants around them -- they are allopathic in nature. 

Nuthatches @TaxyLady prefer peanut pieces since that are high in fat. If you want to serve peanut pieces, you should use a plastic baffle hung over or under your feeder to discourage squirrels.