I’m not someone who feeds birds.
My mom feeds hers extensively, and I’m pretty sure they think she’s a blond haired goddess because when she’s outside the fly right up to her and land on feeders she’s holding.
I like watching them at home, but I’m a bit indifferent to feeding them.
Until I saw the first robin for the season. LAST WEEK. It’s March, and there’s a foot of snow on the ground easily with a hard ice crust.
I started hearing spring bird calls.
So I folded and bought sunflower seeds, meal worms, and suet for them because I can’t have them starve, now can I?
The first one to arrive was the Downy Woodpecker above.
And some Chickadees:
And then it’s like a memo went out because I’m seeing birds continuously.
I pour seeds on the rail so they’re somewhere I can see them.
It’s fun to watch them, but I’m hoping they won’t think I’m feeding them all year round!
Do you feed the birds? What do you enjoy about it? How do you avoid attracting English Sparrows? Inquiring minds want to know!
I couldn’t afford to keep feeding them. There’s flocks of..sparrows? maybe? flocks of those loud birds that like bushes, and they come and eat it aLL and I had to refill my feeder every 2-3 DAYS instead of once/week. 🙁
Probably English Sparrows… they really like Millet, and that’s a cheap filler in a lot of bird feeds. Invasive species. Try giving straight sunflower seeds or thistle and you’ll get different birds. I loathe the little beasties… they’re nasty to other birds.
I don’t like the bird feed mixes that have millet in them. Straight black oil sunflower seeds, thistle or nyger seed and suet blocks are the best for winter feeding. I don’t feed suet in the summer. Too rich for the summer birds. I’m also careful of the bird feeders that I use and watch for eye problems which are caused by a bacteria infection usually started by House Finches, who are susceptible to it. Good luck.
Feeding Black oil Sunflower seeds, suet blocks and Thistle or Nyger seeds helps to discourage English sparrows. I have had 112 American Goldfinches, 26 Mourning Doves, 35 Northern Cardinals, and over 60 Slate-colored Juncos at my feeders for some of the high counts. I help count winter feeder birds for Cornell University – Lab of Ornithology FeederWatch. FeederWatch is for Citizen Scientists so we can help them with their research. I have been counting for them for 4 years now but they have been counting birds for 32 years. I also follow Julie Zickefoose who has a wonderful book on “Baby Birds” which she illustrates. She also has a great recipe for Zick Dough. A homemade suet. Come and help us count birds and it’s fun too.
Your numbers aaaaare a bit skewed by how much you feed them. It’s a free food bonanza, and they come flocking in for miles, stay, have babies, their babies stay, and so on. *smile* How many generations of hummingbirds do you have?
Your grandmother fed hummingbirds here at the house from the 1970’s and I continued her gift to the birds. Our high of hummingbirds one summer about ten years ago was over 500 birds and 16+ cups of sugar water was eaten each day.