Sunday, July 30, 2006

Why oh why . . .

don't the birds eat from our bird feeders??!

I mean, we've got the goods! We've got two big big feeders and a bird bath. C'mon now! I know they're out there. They keep flying into our windows.

6 comments:

Lee Herrick said...

I'm laughing because I'm asking myself the same question. I have three feeders with birdseed, and I've only seen one bird in the last week. Maybe I have the wrong feed?

I think I have to move them closer to some trees. I even bought a little guide on how to attract them (I'm out of control). Good luck with yours.

David Dodd Lee said...

I went through all this before. What happens is a few birds find the feeder--house finches and house sparrows. Or not even they find it. It really is a question of patience and keeping the feeders full. Use simple sunflower seeds and sprinkle millet on the ground and buy a peanut feeder for the woodpeckers.
In hot summer especially the birds are still. At such times they won't HUNT and so they go to old familiar feeders. The grosbeaks and nuthatches will come. It often takes months for everyone in the neighborhood to know about the new restaurant however.

Oliver de la Paz said...

So patience, then?

I've been keeping the feeders full. One of my feeders hangs in an apple tree near the bird bath.

I'll do what you suggest, David, and I'll spread the seed around the vicinity.

David Dodd Lee said...

Oliver, birds like the millet on the ground. If you want more than sparrows there should be some brush around. The apple tree is good (and if it puts out apples, you might get to see cedar waxwings
eat the fruit once it has fermented; and then they literally stagger around drunk). And the bird bath really helps. But, yes, patience, especially in August.
The birds are lazy in the heat,
and they're mostly done nesting
(not including goldfinches, who nest in August when thistles tend to bloom and bear seeds--in which case a little finch feeder with tiny slots for thistle works), so there might be little action until later in the month, and in September, when they begin to get ready to migrate or begin to prepare for colder weather (even in southern states this happens). If you tend to it through a cycle of seasons you'll get regulars. It's quite wonderful.

Oliver de la Paz said...

Thanks, David.

There are robins a-plenty, and lots of little yellow finches, so I know birds EXIST around here. *wink* I'll spread the millet on the ground and see what happens. It's actually fairly cool up here (70ish).

Meredith and I spotted a woodpecker with a red crown. We also have chimney swallows.

David Dodd Lee said...

Even there, in Washington, this is the slow time of year. I was just
in Spokane in May (I read at EWU)
and watched a male turkey do its elaborate mating dance in some woods out there, and tons of birds outside of the usual magpies (no magpies in michigan). Just fyi, robins don't eat seed, but they'll
use the bird bath. But that woodpecker's probably a downy and there are nuthatches all over out there. Have fun!