Sparrows taking over feeders... (1 Viewer)

OnTheVerge said:

Oops, and I just bought yet another feeder. In addition to the fly through feeder that fattens up the jays and magpies and the suet, that only gets eaten by magpies and the occasional chickadee, I'm adding one of those peanut-in-shell wire "wreaths".

Oh, and no worries about water availability. The birds' first source is a neighbour's leaky gutter but they found the bird bath over the summer and it doesn't freeze, plus the water pan in the front yard (which is new, so hasn't been discovered yet).

Thanks again - pretty excited about my new feeders and set up! I had chickadees scolding me this morning to put out seed and blue jays squawking at me in the back, telling me to put out some peanuts already! Poor guys, the snow and cold is making them pretty unhappy.

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Wonderful!
Your feathered friends will bring beauty to your door daily.

Pictures??

OnTheVerge said:

[...] I'm also going to try the filament on the tube feeder, since that has the most expensive seed in it - sunflower hearts. [...]

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Birds don´t need shelled seeds, they know how to open.

stonechat1 said:

Birds don´t need shelled seeds, they know how to open.

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Absolutely they do, plus the seed stays fresh better.
However, the shells are a mess, especially on an upper floor deck. I'd not want to have a drizzle of empty shells coming down from above if I lived on a floor below.

True But the lady at the bird store recommended a mixture of shelled and non-shelled. Her rationale was the littler birds don't need to exert any unnecessary energy and can get quick calories when the temps drop, thus preserving warmth and energy. It's already been -10 C here and, well, I'm a sucker for those little birds.

A few pics from the backyard feeder...my intended guest and a party-crasher.

OnTheVerge said:

Her rationale was the littler birds don't need to exert any unnecessary energy and can get quick calories when the temps drop, thus preserving warmth and energy.

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People are applying too much human rational to it, I have in shell sunflower seeds and suet (shell-less, lol) at the feeder, guess which one the chickadees (and everything else) are going for?

Feed whole Sunflower Kernel shelled to most birds and they will naturally Try to shell it themselves anyway. What you get as a result is half of the seed being eaten and the rest thrown on the ground. What comes later on the ground will eat it, birds and mice and other animals. The advantage of whole Kernel is it will stay outside even through light rain and not clump up as easy.

Feed birds Sunflower hearts and pieces (basically half kernels) and the vast majority will eat it whole without inviting mice and other unintended guests. Problem is a little bit of moisture and the stuff will clump up rock hard, not good in colder temps and not good if any rain is planned ahead. You will have to be checking the weather and planning ahead a bit more with this stuff.

Feed birds sunflower in the shell and besides the mess for us to clean up it will last no matter what nature throws at it and the little friends with feathers will know exactly what to do with it.

If you go the shelled route don't pay crazy prices for it like most bird stores will charge, find a feed store locally and you can get it much cheaper than you would believe.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

The sparrows seem to have left (perhaps temporarily, as the weather is nicer and they're in the bushes eating berries) so the chickadees and nuthatches are coming back. Unfortunately, the sparrows seem to have taken all the finches (house, cassin's and purple) and juncos with them!

It's a fine line to walk, that's for sure.