Low amount of birds feeding in the yard (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

I mainly get house sparrows, the occasional woodpecker and cardinal early in the morning. They will feed from dawn to about 8:30am or so. They eat very little, an entire tube of Sanctuary (premium mixed birdseed) will last 3 months until I need to fill the tube again.

I was sick for a long time, approx 1 and 1/2 years and the suet I put up was too old. The birds ate the suet but after some time they left it alone.

This is where I could use some advice. I'm looking to get my backyard birds back again like before I was sick. I used to have Goldfinches and many other birds feeding all day.

Here's what I did so far:

Put up brand new suet in our maple tree, hot pepper and nut & berry. Put up a thistle tube feeder in our maple tree with Finch Favorite seed inside (thistle and very fine sunflower seed for the finches). I'm hoping that takes care of the front yard.

In the backyard I put up an additional tube of Sanctuary.

Would anyone have advice what to add next in the backyard? I was thinking of a squirrel buster filled with Safflower Seed and maybe a suet in the backyard.

Any advice would be great.

I'll try to post a simple map of my yard.

Dana

Sorry to hear you were sick for so long, hope you are better now!

Have you tried nyjer seed for goldfinches? It has to be fresh though, goldfinch won't touch it if it is rancid! I would recommend suet blocks, and black oil sunflower seeds, this pretty much covers all the regular visitors, at least at my place.

You should consider putting out a birdbath, even during the winter. Birds need fresh water all year around. Good luck!

Hi DownyWP,

Thanks, I'm doing pretty good. Still have some bad days with depression but having more good days than bad.

I have a combo of fresh nyjer seed with tiny bits of sunflower seed mixed in. The mix is called Finch Favorite. Figured I would give it a try.

My friend that runs the bird store I frequent mentioned I may not see goldfinches this winter since their natural source of food around my area (MA) is very hard to come by. He mentioned the finches are more up north in the country where they can find the food they need. Will see what happens with the Finch Favorite, maybe I'll get lucky and get some goldfinches feeding.

I purchased all new fresh suet blocks, 2 for the front tree and 2 for the back yard.

I have black oil sunflower seed in my Sanctuary mix, the mix is old so if I don't get the activity I'm looking for I'll buy some fresh Sanctuary mix. I ran out of peanuts for the squirrels and put out Sanctuary mix for them and they sure love it

I have a heated birdbath that I think is broken. I'll try it out tomorrow and see what happens. Man that birdbath was $300.00! If it is broken I have a friend who's a electronics genius. I can ask him to fix it.

Thanks again!

Dana