Diana in OR Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I've been thinking about a bird feeder for several years now. Two weeks ago I finally got around to it. In my tiny suburban yard, I hung a cheapo bird feeder with cheapo bird seed from Wal-Mart. Now my yard is the happenin' place for the neighborhood birds. We've seen several kinds of birds, and have gone through about 2/3 of the 25lb. bag of seed we bought. It's right in view of my kitchen window, so I get to see all these lovely creatures when I'm doing the dishes. Now I want to try to get different kinds of seed to see what other types of birds it will attract.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Oh this is so ENCOURAGING Diana!!! We're leaving 3 acres of tree laden land, with trees that have multiple nests to a bare, grass only, small suburban yard in Stepfordville (lol). I hope that putting up bird feeders will draw some birds. I'm considering taking a small tree with me and planting it...sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genie Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I'm so glad that the people we bought this house from last year left one of their bird feeders for us. It has a birdhouse attached, and it had babies in it when they moved out, so they left it. Otherwise, I don't know if we would have gotten around to getting one. We are addicted now! We have that feeder and we just use wild bird seed in it. It also has a place for suet. If you aren't using that yet, do it! The birds LOVE it. We have a triple tube feeder handing right outside my office/classroom window, so we constantly have a variety of birds visiting. We also put our hummingbird and oriole feeders back out last month, and have regular visitors at those. Oh! And get a tube feeder with thistle (nyger) seed to attract finches/gold finches. Make sure to get one with the tiny slit openings specifically for thistle seed and the finches won't have to fight off other bigger birds. I bought a cheap $3.50 one from Lowes, and it has lasted well, considering the amount of use it gets! We are definitely the happening house around here! Besides the bird feeders, we are one of the only houses for miles around that have lots of trees and grass. (We live in a high desert area.) I had never paid that much attention to birds before, but I'm getting quite good at identifying them. And when one comes by that I don't recognize, I grab my camera, snap a few shots, then grab my trusty Sibley's guide to identify it. It has been so much fun watching the change of seasons by bird species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadiegirl Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 We are huge bird lovers and my husband swears I feed the birds better than us at times!!! We have a variety of feeders for thistle, suet and sunflower. We have all enjoyed our "nature TV" thru out the year as we have seen bluebirds, cardinals, finches, woodpeckers and many more. Oh, and our orioles are back and they are lovers of grape jelly!!! Also, you can use orange slices to attract some.And don't forget our little busy bodies...hummingbirds. It is amazing how many birds you can get to come visiting. My son says they get upset when our feeders are low. I think no matter how small your yard is that they will come if you have flowers,shrubs and trees for them to visit. Try different seeds and different feeders and don't think that the most expensive is the best. My birds are "cheep" and don't look at the price!!!(I couldn't resist!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genie Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Yeah, we've had to start going to the feed store to buy big bags of cheap seed because they go through it so fast. We usually go through a 50lb bag every two or three weeks. My orioles have, surprisingly, not gone crazy over the grape jelly. The finches love it, though! The orioles really like our new (cheap) hummingbird feeder, and tend to prefer it to the oriole one. I was mixing different nectars for each one like you are supposed to, but both types of bird eat out of both feeders, so I'm thinking of just making the same nectar for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partyof5 Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 We have a heavily landscaped yard with all old trees taken down some years ago...just a few newer ones. I wasn't sure the birds would come when we started feeding them this past February, but they did!! Now we are the hub of activity in the neighborhood! I have taken loads of photos and we are now bird enthusiasts, keeping life lists, researching new items for the feeders, and contemplating new feeders in other parts of the yard. We had hummingbirds within an hour of putting our a new feeder for that! It's just beautiful and we have such a great variety compared to what we saw before putting feeders out. We have orioles, finches, cardinals, tufted titmice, nuthatches, two kinds of woodpeckers, and honestly, I'd never even seen some of these before!! Have fun! Consider starting a life list and finding a regional bird guide to help you identify birds...well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Another idea is to contact your county extension service to learn what kind of vegetation (both plants and trees) will attract the birds. And don't forget to leave out a plate or bowl of water for the birds in the heat of the summer. They will appreciate a drink and the opportunity to splash about. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 with the thistle seed and all, but they never found it :-/ So then I put plates of food on the patio, but the plates got water in them and were nasty, lol. So then I found one similar to this: The legs are different, and a little higher off the ground. The birds love it. So does the possum, so dh made a cover for it:D Next, we got a feeder similar to this one: so the smaller birds could have their own place to eat, but I got rid of it the day I saw a RAT inside the cage eating :-o Now we have one like this: which is adjustable so you can keep larger birds and squirrels out, but a squirrel has figured out how to get in it. I don't mind:D If I see any rats, though, it's gone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 We just put one up as well and dd loves it! She sits on the couch and yells to me whenever she sees a bird. We've got a bunch of field guides coming from the library so we can look at them and decide which one will be the best for us to keep on hand. Now if I could figure out how to afford to pay for this! :D We are going through a lot of bird seed. I told dh we will just have to set up an extra grocery budget just for the birds :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 We love our bird feeders too! I was lamenting this week that I'd waited so long to put our our hummingbird feeder this year, but I did see at least one male at it so they've found it. Yeah! When I have the $$ I like to get safflower seed and the no-mess mix from the wild bird store. Right now, though, all I have is black oil sunflower from BJ's and we still get tons of birds. Twice this week in the late afternoon I've seen a raccoon and wondered if it might be rabid. No rats though - ew! As much as I love my birds I might forsake them if I saw a rat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 house finches: I also have white-winged doves and cardinals, of course... Common ground doves visited for awhile, but I haven't seen any in months. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana in OR Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 and cardinals, of course... I'm jealous...we don't have cardinals around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamagistra Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 We just added five more feeders today. We love birds! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I'm jealous...we don't have cardinals around here. I know. I was so thrilled when we moved from Calif to Texas and I could have cardinals again (I'm originally from Virginia):D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 When we moved to my new house in CO last Aug., we had a beautiful yard with trees and flowers, but no birds. We put up a thistle feeder this spring and now we are getting lots of goldfinch. We're planning to put up another type of feeder too. I'd really like to get some orioles. We had lots of birds at our old home because we had a pond and a waterfall. We had a cardinal family live in our yard for years. Unfortunately, we don't have cardinals here either and I miss them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valerie in MI Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 My dd11 has really gotten into birding since we started feeding and watching them beginning last March. Every time we spot a new one she looks for an image of it on the computer. We use Google images and favor the ones at whatbird.com. We bring up the larger view then print it out. She enjoys doing the computer search and picking the image to use. We cut out the little 4 X 5 inch image and put it on the wall around our viewing window in the kitchen using tacky stuff. Some have blue backgrounds and some white and we alternate them. It looks quite nice. We now have 19 images up of just birds seen in our backyard. Valerie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheezie Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I've really gotten into "birds" lately too. I have 2 feeders on my front porch (in a perfect spot so I can them as I relax in my chair ;)) and several scattered throughout the yard. The kids really seem to enjoy them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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