Help Get Me Started, Please (1 Viewer)

[Ominous Blue Jay]

Just moved to a house in the mid Hudson Valley of NY and would love to set up some bird feeders in our backyard. We've seen several species of birds flying around in the woods behind our backyard and would love to bring them into the yard and see what else is out there. I'd prefer to have the feeders on poles a short distance from our back deck, rather than mounted on the deck, as I've heard stories of bears mauling deck railings attempting to get at feeders.

Can anyone recommend any specific feeding stations/poles/feeders? We've seen some squirrels running around, so squirrel proof would be good. A hummingbird feeder would be nice too. I see plenty of bird feeder poles online, but was hoping the knowledgeable folks here could lead me to the best options - sturdiest, best designed, etc. Thanks in advance!

 

[KC Foggin]

I hang all my feeders on low branches of all my trees. Not far from my back deck. This way they can quickly fly into the tree branches to hide when a bird of prey is flying around looking for a meal.

 

[Ominous Blue Jay]

Thanks, KC. Unfortunately none of the trees out back have any branches that hang low enough to make that feasible (lots of very tall trees). And we do have hawks and eagles in the area, so I was thinking I'd put the feeders on poles close to the edge of the yard near the tree line. I have a spot that I think would be perfect, on a hill, about 10-15 ft from our back deck, right near where the forest starts along our property line.

 

[Ominous Blue Jay]

I just bought a 92" shepherd's hook pole and have a tube feeder in the garage I can use to get started. What would everyone here recommend I put in it to get started? Sunflower seeds?

 

[Ominous Blue Jay]

First day with the bird feeder out. It's a small tube feeder, which I filled about halfway with shelled sunflower seeds. So far I've seen lots of chickadees, some titmice, a nuthatch or two and a pair of house finches. So I'd say it's going well so far. This feeder is certainly too small for cardinals, robins, jays, etc. to use. So I suppose the next feeder might be a platform or a larger hopper? I'll likely wait a bit longer to be sure bears don't come out of the woods and trash the existing feeder and pole!