Why don't birds use my feeder? (1 Viewer)

wolfbirder

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #1

I have purchased a new more sturdy feeder, but the hole in the hard plastic side by the perch must be invisible to them.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I regularly scatter feed on the grass by the feeders and House Sparrows, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks etc devour it. The feeder has been up for a month now so they have had time to discover the hole in the feeder. The House Sparrows are relatively intelligent birds who usually suss things out. We also have Blue and Great Tits that visit the area.

Should I perhaps ink a circle around the hole so try and highlight where the hole is?

 

F

fugl

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #2

Are the seeds visible through the hole? If not, maybe that's the problem.

 

wolfbirder

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #3

The whole tube is see-through so they can see the seed, and there is a small hole in the plastic where they can get the seed. You would think bird feeder manufacturers would have mastered the fundamentals!

The hole is very hard to see, but if the stand on the pertruding perch they will be at eye level to the hole.

 

Z

Zheljko

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #4

Maybe smear something around the hole and stuck a few small seeds in the stuff. They will try to eat these seeds and discover more seeds inside.

(Maybe they think it is the picture of some seeds)

 

wolfbirder

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #5

Will try that, interesting. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

Z

Zheljko

Well-known member

• Jan 13, 2014

• #6

I thought about the informative "bilboards" in our local forest, which show photos of some of recorded bird species. One of them is a Tawny Owl, "perched" in the upper left corner, and depending on tree branch growth it may look as if a live owl is sitting on the branch. I have never seen birds reacting to it, so they obviously have some idea that something may be just a picture.

 

JoeRawles

Feathers Wild Bird Care

• Jan 15, 2014

• #7

Sounds to me like you've bought a specific niger feeder, if the hole is indeed in the tube and is difficult to see. In this case, unless you actually but niger in there, the birds won't be able to get anything out of the feeder. A normal seed feeder should have a (metal or plastic) port cover on the perspex tube with a larger hole for accessing the seeds. I've attached a couple of pics, the niger one has a blue circle around the hole, if this is like yours it's no good for seeds!