Better than cable!
Let's hear from those of you who have feeding stations and enjoy watching
birds. (Especially the furry ones with long tails who climb trees instead of
flying. Whaddaya mean those aren't birds!?!)
What kind of feeder(s) do you have? What's in them? Who visits?

55 responses total.

Well, I've got one, but until I mount it where the squirrels can't treat it
as a buffet it'll remain empty.  Still, it is fun to load it up now and then.
It's about 2 feet from the kitchen window, so I get a few birds, then they
see me looming up just a yard away, panic, and vanish.  ;)

Whoops! I haven't filled mine in weeks - *thats* why there are no birds....

I have 3 bird feeders in my back yard.  one is a hopper feeder that I put
white millet, black oiler sunflower seeds, and shelled peanuts in.  I get a
variety of birds, several different sparrows, house finches, cardinals, blue
jays and the list goes on... I could go on writing for a while if I listed
them all.  I also have a niger seed feeder.  It is only for gold finches and
purple finches.  Most other birds cannot eat from this feeder because it is
designed so that the birds have to hang from their feet to eat.. looks cool..
but most birds are too heavy.  I also have a sueit (sp) feeder.  this is
primarily for wood peckers, chickadees and nuthatches.  unfortunately, one
of otter's fury long tailed firds chewed it apart and stole the sueit!!! have
to get a new one and blieve me, it will be all metal!!!

I, too, have 3 feeders. The hopper is on a little post about two feet from
the ground. I throw in different feeds, depending on what's on sale. My
list of visitors contains most of the common backyard types. Traffic
is consistent; the only picky birds seem to be mourning doves, who like it
when lots of white millet falls to the ground. I have one of those clear
plastic deals that sticks to the window, right above where the cats sit.I
fill it with sunflower hearts and shelled peanuts for the chickadees,
nuthatches and titmouses. There's one bluejay, though. . .
Most of the birds have caught on to the fact that it's safe; there are a
few sparrows that like to tease Rick by landing on the sill and looking at
him. He gets all freaked out and begins channeling Yoko Ono.
I put my suet feeder on a fairly thin branch, which has kept the furry birds
away so far. A few days ago, we had an actual redheaded woodpecker there,
along with the usual downy-types.
I'm working on a design for a re-circulating watering station, maybe using
a large fish tank pump. Ideas?

We have four feeding stations and I go though about $200 worth 
of seed a year.  Who said pigs can't fly?  They never visited
our backyard, for sure.

One station is a triple-tube thingie, one tube holds oilers,
one safflower seed, and one a mixed-seed.  Then there is
a finch feeder with thistle hanging off the edge of our deck.
Off the crimson maple tree we have a suet cage (I'll add another
in really bitter weather).  The newest station is one of 
those suction-held window feeders in which I've placed sunflower
chips so there won't be waste on the ground to cause a problem
with plantings.  Sidney, our cat, is in a state of full alert
over this particular feeder.  He sits just inches away, daring
them to light.  They do.  He may need therapy if this vigil
continues and his ego gets dunked too many more times.

I really like feeding birds.  I like the responsibility of keeping
the feeders filled and the seed ready.  Don't know why, I just
do.  It's a quiet way of nurturing, maybe.  My favorite kind.

in addition to the feeders, we also put out food scrapes and bread in the
winter for the animals.

Me too!  Pita which is about to go stale gets smeared
with peanut butter for our squirrels, raccoon, and skunk.

A neighbor of ours used to smear peanut butter on the branches of an apple
tree just outside of her house.  She did this for years & years.  When she
went out, the chicadees would land on her while she was spreading the peanut
butter. 

My wife has feed the birds now for about 10 years on our deck.  She has had
occasional birds land on her, but they will only come within about 5 ft of
me.

well, I got my new suet feeder and hung it up this morning.  Can't waite till
I get some action.  The downey wood peckers frequent that feeder.  They're
one of my favorites, but I have to watch them through the binoculars because
they are somewhat far away.

When I stopped at my favorite bird store yesterday, I talked to the owner and
he said that we will have a very busy winter this year at the feeding
stations.  Because of the dry summer, there is not as much natural seed as
normal.  Get ready!

No problem.  We'll take out a second mortgage.

Mary is right; it's a nurturing thing. Our bunnies are back! They come from
somewhere out back and feast on spillage in the evenings.
There's something peaceful, almost spiritual, about having critters gather
at your place. 8^}

Hey, I'll have to consult with you all when my mystery birds show up
next spring.  Meanwhile I've built a nice little tray type feeder and
put it on a pole in my front garden, with a collar, which keeps out
chipmunks, but not the small and large-type squirrels, which can jump
from amazing distances.  I get more than enough sparrows, chickadees,
titmice and nuthatches, but would like to attract more cardinals and
bluejays.  What do they eat--sunflower seeds?  Guess I won't bother with
suet this winter.  Last time just got downies, and raccoons, and possums
and lord knows what.  There are a lot of very pretty redheaded woodpeckers
about this year, but they are way up in the treetops  (or drilling holes
in my poor toolshed.)

I had a hanging tube feeder by the patio, but a few silly birds flew into
the front window and gave themselves concussions, which made me feel bad,
so I took that away.

The cat is declawed.  Still quite good with mice, but she doesn't seem
very interested in birds.

Cardinals seem to enjoy the oilers and safflower seed.
The Bluejays just seem to enjoy harassing every other
living thing. ;-)

I wish we still had Mike Smerza around Grex.  He was
quite knowledgeable about birds.

The woodchuck that visits my feeder in the summer has been replaced by a
couple of squirells, but they can't get into the feeder, just eat what lands
on the ground.  My bluejays love to eat peanuts so I put shelled ones in the
hopper.  The rabbits will be showing up soon.  We never see them, but we
always see their foot prints in the snow by the house.

Oh my goodness, Nathan!  I completely forgot to look up that bird for you!
I have my book back, if you'd like to describe him again.  (The gray bird from
last summer...if you can remember...)  ;-)

Peanuts?  I can't afford peanuts for birds!  I don't even get peanuts
for myself.  I get pretzels.  Do bluejays like pretzels?  I don't
remember the detailed specifications of the mystery bird, Birdlady.
Will keep an eye out in warbler season.

Bluejays like un-cracked corn, sunflower/black oilers, and peanuts best, but
will eat most any of the larger seeds.
This morning I opened the front door to head for work and PO'd a large group
of crows. They let the entire neighborhood know just how unhappy they were.

We have the weirdest bunch of birds! This morning I awakened to the sound of
a honking goose. Went to the window to see what was up, and found a single
Canada goose trying to chase a squirrel out of the hopper feeder. She
obviously didn't know that squirrels are completely fearless. Silly goose!

I've had six gold finches at the finch feeder all the time this morning and
sparrows like crazy.  Boring old house sparrows.  Nothing fun today, so I let
the dog out to chase a squirrel.  He had fun!

You have finches this time of year?  Are they still gold?  They turn
up at my place (near Ann Arbor) in the early spring, looking drab,
and then turn bright, and then disappear.

We have gold finches which have lost their color and purple finches which
retain their red throughout winter.  The gold finches are sort of a brownish
olive drab color.  Could be mistaken for sparrows at any reasonable distance.

The istem has been linked from Ing 63 to Intro 121.
Type "join ing" at the Ok: prompt for discussion of
doING interestING thINGs, like watchING thINGs with wINGs.

Here in my new apartment, I have a tree that comes within
five feet of my balcony.  May birds have stopped by right
outside the window, including a cardinal and a blue jay.
I haven't seen any birds here lately, the squirrels seem to have
taken over the tree for now.  >8)

Though I haven't yet seen this, two witnesses have reported the feats of a
fat squirrel at my suet feeder. The feeder is a square of cedar with a rope
hanger that goes through the lid at two points, allowing the lid to be slid
up the hanger for filling. (I hope that makes sense.) Anyway, this squirrel
grabs the feeder by the wire mesh and pulls it up to him, holds it lid down,
and slides the lid "down" the rope and breaks off big chunks of suet. Kenn
has set up the video camera by the window. Film at 11:00. 8^}

ref #12: I haven't tried this, but it seems to work for my grandad: put a few
brightly colored static stickers on that big window, and the birds will stop
crashing into it. There are lots of theories on why they crash, but breaking
up the plain flatness of the window seems to stop it.
Could someone here please enlighten me on the behavior of red squirrels? Are
they sort of nomadic, or just fickle? We have one that shows up every coulple
of months, brings friends, hangs out for a week or so, then disappears.

I've put Chinese demon faces in my windows, which keep away both evil spirits
and birds.  My squirrels also come and go.  They are always fighting with each
other, and I reckon the bird feeder is captured and recaptured, and at times
is in no-man's land, and neither side dares to approach.

I'm sure you can see that the birds are kept away, but I'd be very
interested in knowing how you can tell that the evil spirits aren't
still around (or sneaking in the other side of the house).  :) :)

Evil spirits approach from the north, in general. Of course you can't keep
them out completely, but if you make things difficult for them, they may go
to a neighbor's house instead.  It's a zero-sum game, actually, and social
welfare is diminished...but that's Chinese philosophy for you.

The evil squirrels have still not managed to get into my new birdfeeder.

I like feeding birds who wear skirts and minis...I have plenty of feeding 
stations...discos, pubs, etc. one has to take due care while feeding them,
or they might get angry and start munching your brains. Take care.

Well, the latest strategy in depriving long-tailed birds (also known as
squirrels) has taken an interesting twist:

Squirrels are not very fond of hot peppers.  Birds, on the other hand, are
either immune to hot pepper or else they are total chiliheads and don't mind
hot peppers.  So, you can now buy super-hot capsicum pepper powder to mix with
your bird seed.

This could be fun!
Now I just need to come up with a way to keep the loveable little creeps from
eating the wooden feeders. <harumph!>

I have put up a platform feeder on an outside windowsill at the Midas. The
boss hates it, and whines that the birds will poop on his car. Too bad. 8^P
In addition to finches, sparrows, and the occasional crow so far, there's a
new bird in town that I haven't identified. It's a little bigger than a robin,
very dark brown (almost black) with small tan spots and a nuthatch-like beak.
Any idea what it might be?

Grackle?

No, not grackles. We have lots of those. This new bird has spots, and the beak
is thinner.

I added 2 more feeders (for a grand total of 3) in the last week.  They 
are already getting customers.  No squirrels, though, so it looks like 
the hot pepper is working.

Sounds like I'll be trying the pepper for the suet feeder, big chunks of which
are lying about on the snow. grrrr.

My sweetie got me an Audubon Society Field Guide for my birthday!!!!
The mystery bird is a starling.

Traffic has really picked up over the last 2 weeks. The chickadees are getting
pretty bold, and seldom leave when I come out. Saw a pair of red-winged
blackbirds today. Have been hearing a northern flicker, but haven't spotted
him yet.

Had a visit from a new bird that I've since found out is becoming a rarity.
Its body is the shape and size of a softball. It has a longish tail, brown
legs and beak, and is marked pretty much like a common house finch. It is a
brown thrasher, and I've only seen it twice. I hope it decides to stick around
and bring friends; two sources tell me that its numbers are declining yearly.

Spent a big $.99 on a little device that lets you hang a soda bottle as a
feeder. Filled it with black oilers and it has become *the* spot for
chickadees. Now I'd like to find a similar thing for water.

Did anyone get their hummingbird feeders up? I missed the mid-April window.

<birdy is still concentrating on hunting down the person who started the
chickadee campaign>

They want to dump the robin as the state bird and replace it with the
chickadee because "it stays in the winter unlike the wimpy robin".  Hmmph!
The robin is the sign of spring, and it flies south because it's *SMART*. 
<sticks tongue out and says "Nyah" like the mature adult she is>

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss