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captaincaveman

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Help needed, I've Put up a feeder with peanuts and a row of fat balls in garden hanging from large pergola about a week ago and no visitors yet. Four gardens away i can see a large group of Blue and great tits along with gold and green finches on a daily basis. We also get regular flybys of magpies, blackbirds, crows etc but nothing landing.

Is it something i am doing wrong or is it about time as there hasn't been a feeder here for years?

Im lucky enough to have fields and a river nearby so get my fix(so far as a newbie), with grey and pied wagtails, long tailed tits, a couple of sightings of a Kingfisher, sparrowhawk, Buzzards and Kestrels and i think(still learning) a group of redwings. Also a short drive locally to Jays, green woodpeckers and numerous waders, also an otter but i just cant get to see them out of my window.

Any help or advice would be appreciated, oh and Hello from a newbie.
 
Hi Cap and welcome to BirdForum. Sounds like a bit more time is needed but also make sure they have some cover. There's a bush a trees near my feeders where they flit in and out of. Try some sunflower seeds as well. You'll soon have some regular visitors.

Rich
 
Hi and welcome!

It does take time for the birds to realise there is a new restaurant around. Maybe you could add a mixed seed feeder? How close is the pergola to your house? If it is quite close, that might put off visitors. As Rich says, nearby cover from trees or shrubs is a good idea.
 
ClarkWGriswold said:
Hi Cap and welcome to BirdForum. Sounds like a bit more time is needed but also make sure they have some cover. There's a bush a trees near my feeders where they flit in and out of. Try some sunflower seeds as well. You'll soon have some regular visitors.

Rich
Click to expand...

Kits said:
Hi and welcome!

It does take time for the birds to realise there is a new restaurant around. Maybe you could add a mixed seed feeder? How close is the pergola to your house? If it is quite close, that might put off visitors. As Rich says, nearby cover from trees or shrubs is a good idea.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies, the house is probably 18ft away, though the pergola is quite bare apart from the vines of a honeysuckle and the feeder itself is a roofed type. The gardens only trees are windmill palms, so do you think its not overgrown or bushy enough?

I wasn't sure if it was due to me or the fact the other garden is really well stocked, would they have an reason to need to leave it?

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try some seeds too and see if that helps?

Im far from short of varieties in the village and surrounding areas for spotting, it would just be nice to see them while working from home and have a soft spot from Goldies and blue tits.
 
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As already mentioned, I think you need to put up a feeder for sunflower hearts. I have hearts, peanuts, fat-balls and suet cake in my garden, but the hearts are the first thing the birds go for. My Goldfinch eat nothing else.

Dave
 
d.steeley said:
As already mentioned, I think you need to put up a feeder for sunflower hearts. I have hearts, peanuts, fat-balls and suet cake in my garden, but the hearts are the first thing the birds go for. My Goldfinch eat nothing else.

Dave
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply, actually had a landing today, on the fat balls from a Starling. :t:
 
When you are putting up a feeder for the first time I would suggest black oil sunflower seeds, it attracts all sorts of birds.
 
emc said:
When you are putting up a feeder for the first time I would suggest black oil sunflower seeds, it attracts all sorts of birds.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i'm actually building a second table for the top of the pergola to add additional types of seeds, it seems sunflower seeds are recommended everywhere, never thought about them before.
 
Welcome aboard Captain, looking forward to hearing what else turns up as the bird bush telegraph begins to operate. Why not join in on the Garden/Yard list thread from January (anything seen or heard in, over or from the garden/house goes on the list, it's all good fun!) ?
 
FWIW Captain Sunflower, seeds apart, I've got a well "shrubed/treed" garden, and have no problems attracting birds to my fat ball/Sunflower/Peanut feeder. However I put up a separate niger feeding station some 7 years ago! I got my "first customers"....2 years later!!!

Cheers
 
Well an hour watch out of the window saw 4 separate house sparrows(3 males and a female) and 5 starlings, mainly on the fat balls, but one starling managed to go onto the feeder that has the nuts in and was pecking away, all the birds were also happily on the ground picking up dropped food, lets hope with addition food types there will be more action.

Do many garden birds learn actions by viewing from a distance, like what has been seen in some Corvids?
 
Richard Prior said:
Welcome aboard Captain, looking forward to hearing what else turns up as the bird bush telegraph begins to operate. Why not join in on the Garden/Yard list thread from January (anything seen or heard in, over or from the garden/house goes on the list, it's all good fun!) ?
Click to expand...

Yes i will do, there are plenty of species here, just at every other garden but mine at moment lol
 
KenM said:
FWIW Captain Sunflower, seeds apart, I've got a well "shrubed/treed" garden, and have no problems attracting birds to my fat ball/Sunflower/Peanut feeder. However I put up a separate niger feeding station some 7 years ago! I got my "first customers"....2 years later!!!

Cheers
Click to expand...

I not doing too bad then, in a few weeks of trying, two species :t:
 
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