coming from here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1288659/
MidAtlantic bird watching for spring
I have never before had a Nyger seed feeder, because I figured the seed would fall out too easily. I was tickled to pieces to find at Tractor Supply these neat, colorful little balls that, untwisted, become feeders! The bottom half of the feeder becomes a nifty little 'catchall', with a hole in the bottom for drainage, that catches all of the seed that makes its way out, and the birds eat from that as well.
Below are two pictures of my little ball, which the goldfinches and chickadees absolutely love, next to one of my suet feeders (currently occupied by little Mr. Mockingbird,who has made himself a new member of my family). The first picture shows a female downy on the suet, with a goldfinch on the ball. On the second is one of our male downys.
(Poor picture quality - only have the camera on my phone. One day .....
This message was edited Mar 14, 2013 12:23 PM
This message was edited Mar 14, 2013 1:10 PM
Thanks Jen!
Hey sparklinBarb- that looks really nifty!
I had recently purchased a bag of "Finch Food", which has Millet and some other seeds in it--besides Thistle.
Decided to fill the tube feeder with a mixture of both seeds--and opened up the feeding holes to the "open" position.
It just gives then a lower area of the feeding hole where they can get to all the seeds. The "slits" part is now hidden.
I filled up the tube--and in about 1/2 hour--the level had already gone down over an inch.
Figured with nesting time coming--they may wan to have something a bit more than Thistle food.
G.
I saw those too and thought they were nice. I would have bought one but the finches are boycotting us even though we have gotten good fresh seed for them.
Well--maybe it is just MY turn! ....:o)
I have seldom seen Gold Finches anywhere.....but I know my seed was old and the feeder may have been dirty.
This year--both were new and fresh. They sure can eat a lot--for as tiny as they are...
Now--If I could also learn how to attract Hummingbirds--I would be happy. Never even seen them here...
I have a feeder--just don't know where to put it...read somewhere that the feeder should be close to
plants that also attract Hummers. Maybe this year all the newer plants I planted last spring will
be bigger and I can set-up a feeder near them. But--it won't be where I can see them from my windows.
G.
Just picked up some new niger seed this morning
There she goes, new seed....now all the gold finches she has will never come to my house. Darn woman! I bought a new feeder today at Agway. Paid $25 for it and it is like a tube but has adjustable holes and perches and a top that can not fly off in the wind, also it has a tube inside the tube so when the one gets empty they still have the other. Really cool. It holds 2 lb of seed. Definitely for lazy bird people. ☺ Anyhow, I have it set for finches and I am so trying to get more of these little guys.
I am so glad the robins are back but I have not seen them this morning. Better get busy feeding my indoor birds. Have a good day. JB
hee hee
You still have time to attract some, I had to clean out my feeder and I'm waiting for it to dry
If we were not among nice people, I would tell you in NJ terms just what I am thinking. JB
That does it! There is absolutely no sign of any finches at the new feeder yet. BUT, the little darlings are eating out of the regular feeder with the blackbirds. Can you believe that??? Purple finiches of course, no gold. Humpf.
Is there something else I can watch other than birds? This is making me even crazier than I am. JB
JB--You can sit down and watch the grass grow.................:o}
Waaaaaaaaaaa!
This morning I find I have a new addition to my flying menagerie outside the doors - not one, but now a pair of mockingbirds! They're so funny to watch.
I'm trying to entice the bluebirds to come around more often. Do you know of any specific feeder, or location I need to place a particular feeder, that will attract them without signaling to the rest of the hoard of its existence?
Sorry I am no help, I am the most birdless birdwatcher on this thread. I can not believe I bred parrots for so long and I can not even entice birds to my feeders. I will not give up. I have a million plus blackbirds today. They gotta eat too I guess.
Oh, I just love your humor, JB, and your experiences! You are so enjoyable, in all threads I've watched you! I don't have many blackbirds myself, though I'd gladly share some of my gold finches with you. Thank you, though, for your response!
Oh SparklinBarb, how nice of you to say that. I guess you know I am 84 and one of the things that keeps me going is my sense of humor. I can find something funny in almost any situation and I drive my kids crazy because when they were little I would laugh when no one else thought things were funny. They still tease me about my "funny" bone. Anyhow, I would rather laugh than cry and I find it easier to be happy than sad. The line of least resistance keeps me going. Sometimes I get cranky and then I usually get very quiet. So, if you do not hear from me complaining about NO yellow finches, you know I am cranky.
You send those little yellow fellows up this way soon please. Do you believe not ONE *&%$ bird has been on that new feeder yet? How long does it take for them to take to the feeders.
Which reminds me. I saw those adorable ball feeders at Agway yesterday and they are $5.99 there and only $3.99 at Tractor Supply. Pays to shop around. The ones pictured above are the ones I am talking about. I did not realize they actually do come in the shape of a ball and the inside is a sock to fill. They are so cute I would love to get a couple but as it is I have more finch feeders than finches.
Guess I will get busy planting and replanting. See you later all you bird people. ☺
I think bluebirds only go for mealworms. Cornell has an awesome birdwatchers resource site.
I think bluebirds only go for mealworms. Cornell has an awesome birdwatchers resource site.
Have you seen bluebirds around, Barb? They are also specific in their choice of nesting location, They like large open areas.
Yessum, I've got a few bluebirds; they're so adorable! I'd like to learn how to learn to use the man's power tools, and build some houses for them. I've driven down come country roads here, and have seen wonderfully colorful little houses lined along the fence posts. Love them! I'd like to have good homes to entice them to stay. Well, I do see them pretty much year-round off and on, but I'm greedy - I WANT MORE! :o)
I'm pretty much surrounded by open space. The woods here are behind the pasture on one side, all along our maybe 1.5 acre yard (field now), and open areas next door where someone once owned horses, apparently, so they've definitely got the space to soar.
Sounds like you have a nice place for them. I was told recently that a good way to keep other birds out of your Blue Bird boxes is to put in a sky light for them. Apparently other birds want a dark nest but Blue Birds don't care. So if you make your box with a piece of plastic on the top and let some light in other birds will stay out.
Now how great is that, a bird with exquisite taste in home decor? Thanks so much for that info, Holly, I'll work it into my houses (if I'm allowed power tool access, that is)!
Had to come back & add - hoorah, my cowbirds are back this morning - hello Spring! I love listening to their funny little gurgly calls in the trees, and the contrast of the male's black body and rusty-coppery head is beautiful.
This message was edited Mar 17, 2013 8:24 AM
Bluebirds...............dream on JB, you can not even get birds to eat out of your $25 new feeder.
grumble grumble...............blah.
Poor JB, -- but you have fields for bluebirds to soar!
Can you plant sunflowers this summer? Goldfinches LOVE any kind of sunflowers.
Barb that sounds really cute, all the colorful birdboxes. The ones I've seen are pretty simple shapes, cut from maybe inch thick boards? My female roomie used a jigsaw, looked as easy as an electric knife.
Sorry to tell you this- cowbirds are nest bullies, they throw other birds babies out and put their eggs in , for other birds to raise. House wrens too. House wrens are duller and lack the bright white eyestripe of Carolina wrens.
Bah, that figures. I was as happy to see my house wrens' return last week as I was this morning the cowbirds. Figures. But maybe what I have isn't a house wren. The male's got red on his head, neck, back, & looks like some on his wings, too.
That sounds like a house finch.
Wrens are smaller, dull brown, long thin bill, and usually perch with their short stubby tail pointing up.
Ok, thank you Sally! And so my education continues, happily . . .
You would not believe it but we plant sunflowers every year and at one time we raised them to sell to florists. LOL I had birds then. They still come up in the field from seeds of years ago. Unbelievable .
JB, if it makes you feel better, I have sunflowers every summer loaded with goldfinches and for the last two winters they have boycotted me too. I had let some seed get all wet and moldy in a tube feeder.
Thanks Sally, misery loves company.
The purple finches are at the old tube feeder, but so far NOT one bird has tried the new one. ???????
Weird
I got my thistle feeder back up this morning, I'll let you know if it attracts anything
Birds are busy this morning I had 7 white throated sparrows on my deck at once
Contortionist woodpecker at suet feeder and finches getting safflower, no goldfinches yet at the thistle feeder
Poor pecker, he looks like he is in pain. LOL
Saw a handsome steller's jay from the window here in Oregon.
I already mentioned, somewhere above, that I opened up the feeding holes from a slit to the
slightly larger opening. The goldfinches sure were chowing down. no more pulling thistle seed through
the slits!! Yummm...
Well--I filled it up last night and this morning, every time I looked out, the feed was going down...down...
When i just went out to refill the tube again, I saw that most of the seed was laying on the ground.
YUP! The other birds discovered this little feeder and trashed it. They have their own big one. Whassup?
Back to the slit..........
G.
THose tiny seeds fall out too easily if the hole is just a little bit too big. Been there done that.
My new $25 bird feeder that no one uses has adjustable holes so you can change the size of the feed, also adjustable perches so you can accommodate larger birds......all that and we even moved it to beside the regular feeder where all the birds flock. You guessed it NO $%^#@#$ BIRDS EATING FROM IT YET. This is beginning to get funny. I think.
I moved the new feeder, changed the seed from niger to the regular bird seed, adjusted the holes for the bigget seed, adjusted the perches to the larger bird size and now everyone is using the new feeder EXCEPT THE FINCHES. That is who I bought it for to begin with. I think I will mix the niger and regular seed together and see what happens. You are all quiet. Did i drive you away with my moaning and groaning about the feeder? If so I am sorry. but I had no place else to complain. LOL JB
Well--JB---at least you have birds! Maybe the finches have a good supply
of food somewhere else nearby.
Sally--you know a lot of birds.....
I was seeing one that made me get out my opera glasses and try to see it closer..
It was slightly bigger than a sparrow--but definitely a sparrow.
It seemed to be a ground-feerer, and ran around with its tail kind of upright.
It had a striped breast,and a dark streak behind the eye--no white.
The back was kind of dark cinnamon with a bit darker here and there.
looking in my Peterson's "guide to birds" the closest I came was Song Sparrow...
except it had the white streak behind the eye.
This morning--I am thinking I also saw a white-throated sparrow, but it had no white streak
behind the eye....but the area just below the chin was white.
NOT becoming a bird ID'er--but just thought I would ask....
G.
No JB, Not bored. I have been having the same issue with the Finches, too. We use to have them at the feeders all the time and then for some reason they stopped coming to the feeders. I see them around but for the last year or so they avoid our thistle feeder. I have changed feeder location and bought new seed and new feeders.