I live in a small suburban townhouse in the Midwest United States. There's a shared yard/garden with a tree and a bush by the street and a little area by my picture window that I can landscape myself.
I placed a window bird feeder on the picture window to try and draw birds about a week ago. The feeder was from Amazon and very highly rated, and came with a one way mirror to put behind the feeder so the birds wouldn't see movement directly at the bird feeder area. The window is large and looks into the dining room where I keep my aquarium and is also where the cats (indoor only) like to sit and look outside. I've put a seed mixture that is mostly black oil sunflower seeds with some white proso millet, striped sunflower, and safflower seeds mixed in. I also sprinkled in a bit of a suet mixture containing suet, peanuts, corn, mealworms, and nuts.
Nearby I placed a 20 inch wide, shallow ground bird bath with a gradually sloping depth. I put a solar powered fountain in the middle to make the water move, and a flat rock. I change out the water and wipe down the bird bath each day. I put some seeds on the ground around the bird bath and under the bird feeder, and in a trail leading to the tree and bush by the street.
I've recently added a boxwood bush near the window, but it is still just a little thing. There's also an Iris plant right against the house under the window.
I have never seen a bird go near any of this. All I've seen is a couple squirrels eating the seed on the ground, pawing the window, and trying to jump to the bird feeder - which they can't quite reach. I know there are Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Sparrows, Robins, Cardinals, and Grackles around the neighborhood but none of them have come near the feeder or bath.
Is there something I'm doing wrong here? What else can I do to make this more appealing to birds? How long would it take for them to come to a window bird feeder?
I placed a window bird feeder on the picture window to try and draw birds about a week ago. The feeder was from Amazon and very highly rated, and came with a one way mirror to put behind the feeder so the birds wouldn't see movement directly at the bird feeder area. The window is large and looks into the dining room where I keep my aquarium and is also where the cats (indoor only) like to sit and look outside. I've put a seed mixture that is mostly black oil sunflower seeds with some white proso millet, striped sunflower, and safflower seeds mixed in. I also sprinkled in a bit of a suet mixture containing suet, peanuts, corn, mealworms, and nuts.
Nearby I placed a 20 inch wide, shallow ground bird bath with a gradually sloping depth. I put a solar powered fountain in the middle to make the water move, and a flat rock. I change out the water and wipe down the bird bath each day. I put some seeds on the ground around the bird bath and under the bird feeder, and in a trail leading to the tree and bush by the street.
I've recently added a boxwood bush near the window, but it is still just a little thing. There's also an Iris plant right against the house under the window.
I have never seen a bird go near any of this. All I've seen is a couple squirrels eating the seed on the ground, pawing the window, and trying to jump to the bird feeder - which they can't quite reach. I know there are Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Sparrows, Robins, Cardinals, and Grackles around the neighborhood but none of them have come near the feeder or bath.
Is there something I'm doing wrong here? What else can I do to make this more appealing to birds? How long would it take for them to come to a window bird feeder?
