Was wondering if anyone else experiences this. Every year, my feeders are VERY busy winter though late summer, with over a dozen species. I have many styles of feeders spread around the yard. They are VERY popular. But with the exception of finches and sparrows, most of the birds ignore my feeders late summer to early winter. I'm talking sun flowers, peanuts, meal worms, suets, cracked corn, no mess mixes, you name it. The jays, blue birds, cardinals, flickers, and others seem to loose interest this time of year here. Could it be that they are off foraging more for food available in the wild naturally? The peanuts thing really surprises me. A hanging basket feeder that I can't keep filled often enough because the peanuts are so popular. Even that gets ignored this time of year. Very odd.
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Feeders go silent in autumn. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter keithdog
- Start date
MeInDallas
Well-known member
This is what is happening. During the fall harvest, birds prefer to eat in the wild instead of feeders. All the fruits, nuts, and grains are plentiful and they will eat that first. Once the cold fronts start coming thru and we get temps close to, or below freezing, expect their return. I always take this time to give my feeding area, and feeders a really good cleaning, and prepare for their return
Ruff
Two birds in one.
I see it happening to me. There's a moderate to big increase in numbers as the summer loving resident and migrant birds are both visiting and then there's a lull as they clear out and head south. I always do have a small number of year 'round birds here though, rarely go more than 2 days with no customers. Then when the true northern birds show up from the boreal forests and above, things get busy again.
