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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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seb_seb

seb_seb

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i threaded 6 fatballs on a string and hung it between two branches. It was a success as at some points all balls were occupied.
i want to know if it is advised to continue to put out crushed peanuts,raisons,sunflower seeds etc on the table in the spring and summer.Also, if so what foods are most ideal?
 
I feed my birds all year round and they seem to visit just as much in summer as winter.As a rule they should not be able to obtain whole peanuts as these can choke young chicks.I find though if there is plenty of natural food available they will go for this first rather than my food.

Geoff
 
I feed (the birds) all year round - just make sure that whole peanuts cannot be removed from your feeders in the breeding season, as, if there is a shortage of natural food, parent birds may try to feed them to their young, and choke them. Apart from that, the more feeding, the more birds - go for it.

Tony
 
I feed the birds all year round too. we have done so for the last few years. As Geoff says, once Spring arrives and the young hatch out, you should only feed whole peanuts from behind a mesh to avoid the risk of the young choking.
I even supply mealworms if the Blue Tits are nesting since it certainly gives them a boost.

As for what foods are most suitable, we just supply the same staples throughout the year - sunflower kernels, fat balls, niger seed, mixed seed, peanuts, sultanas, occasional apple and scraps.
 
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I still find it a difficult issue, my very first post was about this!
I fear we are creating a large bird population totally dependant on our goodwill. A very fragile Nirvana.
I just do not know what is best for the birds and other creatures
 
I am in agreement with Paula, if we feed birds all year they could start to become dependant and if say for instance you were to move and the new oupant did not continue with the feeding would this harm the birds?

Is it even a form of domesticating wild birds? a bit extreme, but all thats missing is the cage.

to quote Steve "discuss"
 
When I moved last year, I did in fact stop feeding the birds a couple of months before I went, so they would get used to the lessening of their local food supply. The new owners also had 'plans' for the garden, which I had let lie fallow (ignored) for some years, so the birds would also be faced with a change in habitat for the next nesting season, but there was very little I could do about that.
I've been putting food out for the birds in my new place, but since it's on the edge of farmland, I seem to get very few takers so far - I have hopes for the next nesting season though.
Whatever changes mankind makes to the natural habitat will affect wildlife - the changes in farming practice have adversely affected small birds, so I feel that feeding them is replacing what has been taken away. I don't think they're becoming 'domesticated' - they certainly seem to exhibit a healthy desire to hide when humans and cats appear on the scene.

Tony
 
But how long before they stop seeing you as a threat and come closer, i know over the years i have seen birds that will eventually come to the hand to feed, usually robins.
 
I don't think my summer birdfeeding habits in America will have much relevance to the original question, but here goes anyway. I change the food that I offer when summer arrives. I change to fruit (raisins, apple slices, oranges, etc.) The original thread seems to have changed direction and I want to throw my two cents worth in for that. It is my opinion that birds will feed where there is food. Everything I have read (not super extensively) says that birds are opportunists. If there is food there, they will eat it. If there is not food there, they will move on until they find it. We sometimes forget how mobile and adaptable birds are. We all see proof of that in our yards (gardens). They will adapt to the surroundings. If I am not offering water, they will go and find it elsewhere. Even though chickadees can be hand fed during the fall and winter, it is only because that is where the food is. In spring and summer, they have no interest in hand feeding because of the plentiful supply of food. I may be naive, but it seems that I am no more than a food supply to a bird. If I stop feeding, they will move on. Only my opinion.
 
Here in France bird feeding is not at all widespread, though I have seen and bought fat balls (ooer!) in pet shops. This doesn't seem to affect populations too adversley, as we have plenty of birds about in town in the summer. Without seeming to be cruel, in a harsh winter 80% of Long Tailed Tits die, the survivors lay extra eggs in the spring to compensate. That also means that what you Englanders see as "garden table birds" we see in their natural habitat, i.e. in the wild. However I must admit that as France is a much bigger country with roughly the same population the pressure on green spaces is a lot less. Whenever I visit England nowadays it seems like one huge housing\industrial estate!!
 
One thing that should be kept in mind is that different species have a 'hard time' at different times of the year. For example, certain finches which only eat nuts and seeds can overwinter fairly well even in a harsh winter but struggle in May/June/July in the northern hemisphere when these foods are depleted and are not readily available again until the autumn whereas insect feeders may struggle in the depths of winter but are OK in the spring when the insects reappear on warming days. Of course, birds that can eat almost anything are most adaptable to the shortage of any one foodstuff.

Colin
 
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