Engineeringtech
Member
Hi!. I'm looking for some advice, and perhaps some new friends. I inherited my mother's house in 2018 - perhaps because I took care of her for years (in the same house). First place I've ever owned. My mother didn't believe in feeding birds. She stopped doing it decades ago after she read that it would encourage dependency. She told me If I put one up and for any reason had to discontinue the feeding, they'd die. Is that true?
I'm 69 and in poor health. Rapidly declining vision. I love birds and want to see more of them, but my vision is the issue. A few weeks ago I cleaned it up my mother's old hopper feeder filled it with a variety of new seeds purchased at the local garden supply center and suspended it from a shepherd's hook. The hook wasn't long enough to stick in the ground so I had mounted it at an angle from the back deck. The feeder is about 7 1/2 feet off the ground and about 7 feet from the kitchen window. So far the squirrels have left it alone. I get a few birds. but they are very skittish. If they even see me enter the kitchen (a good 20 feet away), they take off like a rocket. I walk very quietly in my bare feet, and don't make any sudden motions, but can't get to a good viewing distance. There was no opportunity to mount the feeder anywhere else, other than a tree 40 feet from the kitchen window. Too far for me to see.
How do I get these birds to trust me? A friend said they thought there was a film I could put on the window that act like a one way mirror. Anyone here familiar with that?
I'm 69 and in poor health. Rapidly declining vision. I love birds and want to see more of them, but my vision is the issue. A few weeks ago I cleaned it up my mother's old hopper feeder filled it with a variety of new seeds purchased at the local garden supply center and suspended it from a shepherd's hook. The hook wasn't long enough to stick in the ground so I had mounted it at an angle from the back deck. The feeder is about 7 1/2 feet off the ground and about 7 feet from the kitchen window. So far the squirrels have left it alone. I get a few birds. but they are very skittish. If they even see me enter the kitchen (a good 20 feet away), they take off like a rocket. I walk very quietly in my bare feet, and don't make any sudden motions, but can't get to a good viewing distance. There was no opportunity to mount the feeder anywhere else, other than a tree 40 feet from the kitchen window. Too far for me to see.
How do I get these birds to trust me? A friend said they thought there was a film I could put on the window that act like a one way mirror. Anyone here familiar with that?
