Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Spring 2014, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Muddy--all good ideas.....

Safflower seed alone would only feed the birds that love it--not the small birds-right?
So--what would the Junkos and Chicadees and Nuthatches, etc eat?

The Chicken wire cage around the feeder sounds interesting....Hmmmmm...
I DON'T have any Ch. wire though...

HD is currently undergoing a change in packaging of their bird seed.
It will be more containers to keep the birds and mice from damaging the goods.
It is a smelly, disgusting area--anywhere bird seeds gets put--there will be mice and
even Rats--IF the HD is in a city type of an area.
The birds eat well--believe me...the mice chew out the holes--and also the wrapping
around Suet cakes--and the birds eat and eat.

I am not sure--but I think HD may also be cutting back on all the specialized bird seed
and just going for some bagged mixes. I saw that they already had huge bags of
just Sunflower seeds for sale. Will keep checking on it when all the resets are done.

Do you know that all the birds have learned to open the BIG automatic doors???
They fly up there, where the motion detector is--flap their wings--the doors swing open--
and the birds can come and go as they please. Wonder how the mamas teach
their babies to do that? There is a whole population of sparrows that live in the
store year-round.........up in the rafters...

I went outside today to hang up 3 more suet cakes--and sprinkled a bit of seed here
and there in "hidden places"while the Grackles were not looking... HA!
The Black Birds found them in no time flat. They also went for the fresh cakes...

I can try the stale bread--how about whole kernels of corn? I have a sm. bag of Deer corn.
Day old bread can be had in groceries for 50% off. Easy to get that!
How about freezer-burned diced ham?
I threw some Apple and Orange sections out once--and no one went to them.
Development life--maybe...

Too much to think about! My brain has a limit....:o)
Gita

Just took a peek---here is the scene around 2 of the suet cakes...Lost cause!!!!

Edited to say that I am the ONLY one in my immediate area that feeds birds--
OR--does any serious gardening....My house is easy to ID in the summer....

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 2:55 PM