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summer feeding? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter reg
- Start date
IanF
Moderator
Good question Reg. Opinion seems to be divided on this one. The popular belief used to be that they should only be fed though Winter, but nowadays it seems to be considered better to provdie food and water throughout the year. The cynics say that advice comes from the birdfood wholesalers who would obviously profit from such a policy.
This is the first year that we have provided a food source for the birds continuously throughout the Summer. It's paid dividends in terms of the numbers of birds continuing to visit the garden and also in respect of the far wider variety doing so. The birds don't just sit around in the garden all day, but have obvious feeding times, differing between species. they seem to feed in our garden and then move onto another.
I can't think of any harm being done and everyone benefits. Only thing though is to keep the feeding stations and water supply clean to avid build up/transfer of viruses.
This is the first year that we have provided a food source for the birds continuously throughout the Summer. It's paid dividends in terms of the numbers of birds continuing to visit the garden and also in respect of the far wider variety doing so. The birds don't just sit around in the garden all day, but have obvious feeding times, differing between species. they seem to feed in our garden and then move onto another.
I can't think of any harm being done and everyone benefits. Only thing though is to keep the feeding stations and water supply clean to avid build up/transfer of viruses.
Re Summer Feeding
Hi Reg
Agree with IanF on this one.
Some say(and there is evidence) that tits have fed nestlings on small bits of peanut and it caused death by choking (that is choking not chocolate). However my own thoughts on this are that under normal circumstances what self respecting parent would feed its children food that they knew would kill them. I think this would have been done during times of immense stress i.e. a serious food shortage perhaps due to adverse climatic conditions. Having said that I would suggest providing peanuts in wire feeders during the breeding season just to be sure.
I have certainly found that numbers of finches build up in my garden from April to early June. I think that the birds have fed fairly well in the fields up to spring when natural supplies become exhausted. Our native flora may be in flower but not seeded so they come into gardens looking for food.
Commercial suppliers are obviously looking for excuses to sell a product throughout the year. But I am sure that extra food ensures the birds are fit for breeding and fit for the run up to winter.
I do feed all year.
burhinus
Hi Reg
Agree with IanF on this one.
Some say(and there is evidence) that tits have fed nestlings on small bits of peanut and it caused death by choking (that is choking not chocolate). However my own thoughts on this are that under normal circumstances what self respecting parent would feed its children food that they knew would kill them. I think this would have been done during times of immense stress i.e. a serious food shortage perhaps due to adverse climatic conditions. Having said that I would suggest providing peanuts in wire feeders during the breeding season just to be sure.
I have certainly found that numbers of finches build up in my garden from April to early June. I think that the birds have fed fairly well in the fields up to spring when natural supplies become exhausted. Our native flora may be in flower but not seeded so they come into gardens looking for food.
Commercial suppliers are obviously looking for excuses to sell a product throughout the year. But I am sure that extra food ensures the birds are fit for breeding and fit for the run up to winter.
I do feed all year.
burhinus
reg
Active member
i don't think there can be much harm in all year round feeding.
do the same birds come every day? do you get to recognize an individual birds?
i live in a top floor flat so don't fed the birds in the garden cos i can't really see the garden unless i hang out the window.
we have tried one of those bird feeders that stick onto your
window with suction pad things but it kept falling off and i stopped putting it up as i didn't want it to hit any of the people in the flats below me, if they were in the garden.
do the same birds come every day? do you get to recognize an individual birds?
i live in a top floor flat so don't fed the birds in the garden cos i can't really see the garden unless i hang out the window.
we have tried one of those bird feeders that stick onto your
window with suction pad things but it kept falling off and i stopped putting it up as i didn't want it to hit any of the people in the flats below me, if they were in the garden.
IanF
Moderator
We definitely get the same birds visitng everyday and pretty much around the same times too. Different types seem to feed at different times though, such as the various tits all come around the same time, likewise the Blackies and Goldies etc. Starlings turn up together and leave together.
Maybe I'm the one going nuts but you can recognise individuals by their habits and the way they approach the feeders or the particular branch they take their food to to devour it.
Can't help with the suction feeder though, we've had the same problems and don't bother with that type now.
Maybe I'm the one going nuts but you can recognise individuals by their habits and the way they approach the feeders or the particular branch they take their food to to devour it.
Can't help with the suction feeder though, we've had the same problems and don't bother with that type now.
I have been providing birds with food and water daily for the past two years.I made a quick count of birds seen and photographed this year and have 53 different types.I have become familiar with the same birds that visit enough to recognise some of them.I have noted that the birds have definite feeding patterns.Certain birds of different species seem to coexist while feeding here and there appears to be a schedule they follow.Common Grackle,Brown-headed Cowbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds all arrive here in Spring,feed,nest,raise young together.They all seem to leave once the juveniles can fend for themselves and then do not visit my feeding station until they start to gather for their journey South. Phil
very boring banned member
New member
I have heard warnings over providing false type of food for growing nestlings (instead of insects, the adults carry them seeds): this can result in structural deficiencies like misformed wing bones and partial albinism (causing the bird to be more vulnerable to predators).
I live in taiga, and I only feed the birds when here's snow on the ground. If feeding started earlier, many migratory birds get tempted to try wintering here - doomed -and until snow comes, there's plenty of food (seeds, berries, insects & spiders) to be found in the wild.
I live in taiga, and I only feed the birds when here's snow on the ground. If feeding started earlier, many migratory birds get tempted to try wintering here - doomed -and until snow comes, there's plenty of food (seeds, berries, insects & spiders) to be found in the wild.
Darren Oakley-Martin
________________
i read a while ago that you shouldn't feed birds nuts in spring, (can't remember where) and as a consequence i haven't. the argument was that it makes the adults lazy and that the young are not provided with their natural food source, (in the case of tits- insects) and so they are not provided with essential nutrients. have i been misled?
