Plan to add some ticks; Need feed advice

[gthang]

I plan to tick some more birds off, but with the current seed we have, we're attracting Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, House FInch, American Goldfinch, Black-Capped Chickadees, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Northern cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch.

I want to attract other birds, such as Creepers (if possible), as well as starlings, Cedar Waxwings, Indigo buntings, scarlet tanager, yellow-rumped warbler, bluebird, robin, redstart, oriole, red-wing blackbird, and crossbills, and many others.

what brand feed do you prefer/use, and what birds does the feed attract?

Thanks for your help.

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Gthang,

Two of those birds are insect-eaters that won't come to feeders at all - Brown Creeper, American Redstart

Several of the others, your best bet is to put out small berries and half-apples - Cedar Waxwing, Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin.

Orioles - half-oranges are by far the best way to attract them, though you'll probably have to wait till spring for them.

Indigo Bunting and Red-winged Blackbird should come for seeds; like the orioles, you may need to wait for spring (depending on how far north & how far inland you are).

Crossbills - very difficult. You need a pine forest to attract them!

Michael

[gthang]

any place where i could get live insects to put in feeders....lol. seriously though, some people have pet snakes, and there must be a food shoppe for snakes...

[streatham]

g-thang - yellow-rumped will also come to suet feeders - but they won't cling to them like the nuthatches etc so in my experience they need to be placed somewhere - not hanging and even that is no guarantee - i had a few hang on in my garden till late november although they are found further north throughout the year they tend to be very local and coastal. i think you'll have to go to the crossbills - if i remember rightly you are in ny. this year there have been irruptions of redpolls and bohemian waxwings in nh, ny, ma, me and a little in ct but no real movement of crossbills or grosbeaks - even in irruption years they are hard to find you really have to keep an eye on local bird reports or have a look and see if there is a guide to NY birding that highlights where you might find them in irruptive years.

[gthang]

well, you're right on the NY thing, but maybe if I can be more exact, maybe 100 miles north of NYC.

anyway, thanks for helping, what about other birds? suppose i already have ticked the ones I listed. what other birds will be attracted to what type of seed.

i know that there are many different "flavors" of seed, and that a certain seed is preferred, while other brids prefer a different type.

what would be a good start?

[streatham]

basically i go for two types - black oil sunflower seeds and thistle (sometimes called nijer or nyger seed) - don't bother with seed mixes - i find the birds just take what they like and dump half of it on the ground - you can feed year round but you will get more action in winter. to be honest though only a limited number of birds are going to come to your feeder - the main advice i can offer you is to get out and start actively looking for birds - the spring migration has started and will be peaking in early/midmay and continuing through to june - and birds of many varieties will soon be found almost anywhere where there's green space - your garden - local parks - local woods etc - just get out there and look as often as you can - early morning is best when the birds have just come in after a nights flying and are singing - helps with both location and identification. luke

[pburgers]

gthang-
Live mealworms can be ordered for mail delivery, as can waxworms, night crawlers, etc. I think if you look in Bird Watchers Digest or Birder's World you may find ads for such outlets, and I know that certain of these insects are available through Cabela's. I would concur with streatham though, in that you will find a far greater variety of birds by going out birding than you will ever hope to see at your feeders. (Don't get me wrong, I feed avidly and very much enjoy it.) Another suggestion I would make to you is this: I don't know cold it gets during the winter where you live, but here in SD it gets bitterly cold, and after I added a heated bird bath to our feeding area the traffic increased about tenfold. It gets to be a pain sometimes cleaning it and keeping it filled, but I guarantee you that when everything else is frozen you will have birds "standing in line" to get some fresh water. Often we have to fill it several times during the course of a day.
Good birds to Ya!
Paul Burgers
Sioux Falls,SD

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Paul,

A word of caution about heated baths - they can be dangerous for birds, attracting them to liquid water when it is very cold. If they get water splashed on their feathers, and it is -30 or -40 out, that water freezes onto their feathers in seconds, before they can preen it off, and can leave them seriously chilled, and/or not able to fly well

Michael

[pburgers]

Hi Michael-
I don't know but what the birds maybe realize instinctively that they should not bathe during periods of extreme cold, but I have never seen them actually in the bath when the temps are bitter, only standing aroung the edges of the bath drinking. On mild (say over about 20F) days they will bathe with gusto.
Paul

[gthang]

obviously, i we even had a birdbath, we would keep it empty during the winter.

Anyway, are there such things as feeders for insect-eating birds?

[Dave B Smith]

If the insects are larvae like mealworms, just a "table" feeder would work.

[Elizabeth Bigg]

We regularly put out mealworms for bluetits and robins - on a window feeder and on a shelf in a small dish. (They don't climb out of a straight sided dish just 3cm deep - though they are not left there for long anyway)!

[pburgers]

As Dave said, I would offer them in a table feeder with a screen bottom.
Paul
SD

[gthang]

anyplace online to checkout table feeders?

I want to attract as many "feedable" birds as possible.
For the non-feedable birds, such as birds of prey and water birds (herons, egrets, ducks, and the like), i will try and get my father to go with me to some swamps in the area.

Thanks for all the input.

[gthang]

OK, I just looked on the bag of bird seed that we use in our feeder, and found it contains the following feed:

White Proso Millets
Milo
Wheat
Sunflower seed

This bird-feed has brought a good number of birds to our feeder, Dark-eyed juncos, cardinals, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, wrens, song and american tree sparrows, white-breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, and house finches.

However, we would like to attract other species. Not just common birds, but also the not-so-common birds.
I was thinking more on the lines of attracting migrating birds, and after all the migraters arrive back home, provide feed to attract certain summer visitors.

If any one can give me advice on what brand of bird seed pros use, maybe that will help us out.

[snowyowl]

OK, I just looked on the bag of bird seed that we use in our feeder, and found it contains the following feed:

White Proso Millets
Milo
Wheat
Sunflower seed

This bird-feed has brought a good number of birds to our feeder, Dark-eyed juncos, cardinals, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, wrens, song and american tree sparrows, white-breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, and house finches.

However, we would like to attract other species. Not just common birds, but also the not-so-common birds.
I was thinking more on the lines of attracting migrating birds, and after all the migraters arrive back home, provide feed to attract certain summer visitors.

If any one can give me advice on what brand of bird seed pros use, maybe that will help us out.
Hi gthang!
My advice would be to stop thinking about brands of bird seed and think instead about types of seed/feed to put out. I like to feed a variety of seed but with each type in a seperate feeder. Most mixes have lot of waste in them, essentially put there as filler. I do buy one fairly expensive seed mix that I put on my platform feeder as a sort of a catch all but even with it there is always wheat left after everything else is gone. The type of thing I mean is, for example cracked corn which I feed on a ground feeder close to some brambles and other cover. The target birds are grouse and pheasnat. some years it worj=ks and some years it doesn't. this year the Blue jays and Crows are eating most of it. If you go to www.birdcottage.com you'll find a list of who likes what, then tailor your feeding to your target birds. I think that Cornell also has a list on line. This approach will, obviously, only work if the birds are in the vicinty in the first place.
Some of them, like Crossbills, you may get one year then not have again for five years. Two years ago we had a year where Crossbills were at the feeders everday but I haven't had one since. Last year it was Purple Finches and this year it's Common Redpolls. Somehow we can never seem to get everyone in the same year. Probably a good thing or i would go broke buying seed! ;)

[Beverlybaynes]

Gthang, you might want to rethink keeping a bird bath empty in winter. Birds need the water all year 'round -- and that's the point of a heated bath. It keeps water for drinking (and bathing in the right temperatures) available all year long. And nothing will attract birds like water!

[gthang]

Thanks for all the help.

When i typed my birdbath post (post #10), i inadvertently left out an "F"

the thread should have read, "obviously, if we even had a birdbath, we would keep it empty during the winter."

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[gthang]

Snowyowl: the link, is it supposed to search for "Bird Houses"?

because i think it's one of those pop-up searchers... especially since it's got no lists of "who likes what"... too many ads too.

or maybe it was a different link?

[snowyowl]

Snowyowl: the link, is it supposed to search for "Bird Houses"?

because i think it's one of those pop-up searchers... especially since it's got no lists of "who likes what"... too many ads too.

or maybe it was a different link?
Sorry, gthang. The link has changed dramatically since the last time I used it.
It used to lead to birdcottage which had a wealth of information on feeding birds.