Sam Kennedy
New member
I live in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and was hoping for some advice on encouraging the birds in my garden to feed from my hand.
There are two bird tables on opposite sides of the garden, and for the last couple of weeks I've been sitting next to one of them just to let the birds get used to my presence. Obviously most of the birds go to the other feeder, but some birds still go to the table I'm next to, mostly sparrows, young starlings and coal tits.
Sometimes they sit on the fence nearby looking at me, then fly away or go to the other table.
Today I sat outside for 2 hours with some seed and some broken up cheese scone, there was a group of 8 starlings feeding in the garden, and some were watching me for a while, but wouldn't get much closer than about 15ft.
I did have a field mouse climb onto my hand but surprisingly didn't take any of the food, now that I've left the starlings are happy feeding where I was sitting previously.
I was wondering if I'm doing anything wrong, or if there's anything I could do better to encourage the birds to feed from my hand or nearby?
Would the starlings feed from my hand, or are they not known to do that? They seem the least easily startled and get closer than the other birds.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank You
-Sam
(EDIT: Just a note to say, I don't want the birds to be relying on me to feed, there's always plenty of food out in the garden so they can feed at any time in the day)
There are two bird tables on opposite sides of the garden, and for the last couple of weeks I've been sitting next to one of them just to let the birds get used to my presence. Obviously most of the birds go to the other feeder, but some birds still go to the table I'm next to, mostly sparrows, young starlings and coal tits.
Sometimes they sit on the fence nearby looking at me, then fly away or go to the other table.
Today I sat outside for 2 hours with some seed and some broken up cheese scone, there was a group of 8 starlings feeding in the garden, and some were watching me for a while, but wouldn't get much closer than about 15ft.
I did have a field mouse climb onto my hand but surprisingly didn't take any of the food, now that I've left the starlings are happy feeding where I was sitting previously.
I was wondering if I'm doing anything wrong, or if there's anything I could do better to encourage the birds to feed from my hand or nearby?
Would the starlings feed from my hand, or are they not known to do that? They seem the least easily startled and get closer than the other birds.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank You
-Sam
(EDIT: Just a note to say, I don't want the birds to be relying on me to feed, there's always plenty of food out in the garden so they can feed at any time in the day)
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