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Feeding wild birds from hand... (1 Viewer)

I have tried, with some success.
I used to have a resident Robin (Erithacus rubecula) who liked to follow me round my garden when I was weeding, etc. he/she eventually accepted earthworms from me but generally preferred to hunt the patches I had just left.
Ferry crossings often have attentive Gull sp. in attendance, I have fed Herring Gull on a ferry from Dover to Dunkerque.
Easier still, House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) will feed from the hand in Tea Gardens, certainly on the Isles of Scilly - these birds are genuinely wild but habituated to people (and chocolate cake !) by constant exposure.
Also on Scilly, I have seen a photograph of a birder feeding an earthworm to an Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

So, not easy but equally not impossible

Good Luck
 
Try RSPB Loch Garten....Coal and Great Tits very confiding. A great experience for the kids. I think once a few started doing it, then the other birds just seem to copy the behaviour.
 

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Well Ducks and Geese do it worldwide I guess. I have seen hand feeding Coot and Moorhen as well. With Songbirds in a local park we have Great, Marsh and Blue Tits, Robins and Nuthatches.

Herring Gulls in Germany are happily stealing from hand as well.
 
I will always remember feeding tits in forge valley. Generally, Coal, marsh or willow(can't remember), great... brilliant as a kids d...
 
There are several trails in the Ottawa area where the birds are very used to being hand fed. So much so that if you forget to bring seed with you, you can start to feel a little harassed as the chickadees, nuthatches etc follow you around. I've hand fed chickadees, white and red breasted nuthatches, american goldfinches and even a downy woodpecker on my last visit.

My favourite hand feed memory features a Gray Jay that followed us a long a trail, whilst camping in Quebec. My first Gray Jay, very clear that we weren't the first humans it had encountered!
 

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