What feeders/feed for the Coachella Valley? (1 Viewer)

Hi -

I live in Indio. I have had great success with my hummingbird feeder but have no idea what I should try next. I'm such a newbie that I don't even know what I am trying to attract.

I have seen some sort of beautiful yellow-bellied bird (about the size of a robin) perching on the hummingbird feeder hanger, so I'm sure there's something out there other than hummingbirds.

Any suggestions would be most welcome. Both our backyard and the adjoining golf course are "desert-scaped", i.e. we have a lot of flowers and other plants growing in gravel with drip-irrigation. We do have a water hazard on the golf course right in front of our backyard.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to BirdForum!

Did your yellow-bellied bird look like this?

jthoppes said:

Welcome to BirdForum!

Did your yellow-bellied bird look like this?

Click to expand...

No, its feathers were brownish and its breast was a sort of a soft yellow. It's been awhile since the bird has been around.

marie_D said:

Hi -

I live in Indio...Any suggestions would be most welcome. Both our backyard and the adjoining golf course are "desert-scaped", i.e. we have a lot of flowers and other plants growing in gravel with drip-irrigation. We do have a water hazard on the golf course right in front of our backyard.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Well you're in luck, marie_D! I registered here in May last year because people at the pool next to my place at Palm Valley CC in PD were always asking me what this or that bird was. I knew "road runner". Now I know it's the greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) but I quit feeding them cat food on our patio because they move in, permanently and crap all over the patio furniture. And chase you if you go outside but don't have anything for them! LOL. Don't worry, they don't eat bird feed.

Anyway, like you, I got a hummingbird feeder - which is a no-brainer and its great! I got it for my cats to watch and its about 5 feet outside my bedroom window hanging from a big lemon tree. The cats sit on my desk against the window and hunker down and chatter their teeth when the birds come. At least once a day the bird flies right up to the window and hovers in front of my cats, a foot away, and smiles! The cats, mortified at being "discovered",
try to become the desktop, and just always look embarrassingly at each other after words.

Then I got a regular feeder so they'd have a different "channel" to watch but the first feed I got was half full of millet and whatever birds are here in Coachella Valley must not like it because they only ate the half that was everything besides millet.

Luckily, the next thing I tried was Wagner's, Four Seasons, Wild Bird Food for Songbirds.- 20lb bag at Albertson's (just like below) around $7.00 and about 5 or 6 species, at least, from doves, and little sparrow/chickadee-ish sized birds and also this little, tiny bird no bigger than a hummingbird looks like a mini sparrow, all feed either perched or on the ground underneath. I have a lantern style feeder similar to the one pictured, made of durable abs plastic with the clear plexiglass around the sides and holds about 5 lbs of food and lasts about 1 - 2 weeks. It hangs under an Indian pepper tree, in clear view of the kitchen, about 7 feet off the ground. It's busy all day with, sometimes, 20 or more birds on or around and under the feeder - it drives my cats nuts. Some times I see a Wagner's Four Season's Wild Bird feed that says "fruit" on the label -and that's great also. Have fun!

Click Me! for Wagner's Website

Click Me! for Wagner's Feeder Cam