I used to have 15-20 mourning doves under my feeder every morning when I first moved into this place in 2018. Now I'm lucky if I see 2 or 3 a week. Not sure if it's the Cooper's hawk that moved into the neighborhood last year or if something else changed in their population. Anyone else notice a big drop in certain birds over time in their area?
Had a couple bags of black oil sunflower seeds that I was dumping straight on the ground under the feeder. Mrs. Garcia from next door pointed out she saw a rat digging around at dawn. Switched to a tray feeder with a catch pan and started putting out just enough for the day, about 3/4 cup each morning. Has anyone else had to change their setup because of rodents?
I hung this fancy red feeder on a south-facing hook near my deck railing in Portland because I figured hummingbirds would see it better. For 4 weeks straight, not a single bird touched it, but my neighbor across the street has a feeder in full shade under a maple tree and she's swarmed daily. I finally moved mine under my own oak tree last Tuesday and had a male Anna's sipping within 2 hours. So which matters more for hummers - bright color visibility or keeping the nectar cool? Has anyone else had a feeder flop because of sun placement?
Had this finch mix suet block hanging near my big oak for weeks with zero takers, then I slid it over to a post near the sunflower feeder and suddenly woodpeckers and chickadees are fighting over it. Anyone else had birds totally ignore a feeder just because of where it sits?
I usually just glance out the window and see a few juncos and chickadees. But last Saturday I actually sat down with a cup of coffee and started counting. Hit 50 individual birds in about 60 minutes. That included 12 house finches, a pair of mourning doves, and a flicker I haven't seen in months. Made me wonder if I'm just not paying attention most days. Anyone else ever actually count how many visit in a set time?
I picked up this wooden hopper feeder from a shop near Albany thinking it would last. After two solid days of rain last week the bottom board got all soft and the whole thing just sagged and dumped seed everywhere. The squirrels had a feast underneath but the cardinals and chickadees just fly away now. Anyone else had a cheap feeder fail on them like that and found a brand that actually holds up?
I got suckered into buying a pack of those premium suet cakes from a store in Portland last month... paid $40 for a 4-pack thinking the extra seeds and fruit would bring in more birds. Instead they melted into a greasy mess in my feeder after one warm afternoon and the starlings went crazy over them anyway. Meanwhile I've been making my own suet for $8 using beef fat from the butcher and mixing in cheap birdseed from the grocery store. My chickadees and woodpeckers actually seem to like the homemade stuff more and it holds up way better in the heat. Has anyone else lost money on those boutique bird foods or am I the only one who fell for the fancy labeling?
I did a little experiment last week after reading a study from Cornell Lab of Ornithology that said gray squirrels can jump 8 feet vertically. My $45 "squirrel-proof" feeder has a 6 inch baffle on top. Found out the hard way when I caught a squirrel doing a backflip off my fence to land on top of it. Anyone else have luck with a specific brand that actually works on a 6 foot pole?
I was just out refilling my tube feeder around 4 PM and decided to actually count what showed up before dark. Ended up seeing 27 different kinds of birds in about two hours, including a red-bellied woodpecker I rarely spot here. I've been tossing out black oil sunflower seeds for a few years but never bothered to tally things up before. Has anyone else done a full count and been surprised by how many species visit their yard regularly?
I was out filling my tube feeder last Saturday and this 10 year old from next door came over to watch. He asked why all the goldfinches were fighting over the same perches when there was plenty of space on the other side. I told him that's just how they are, but he said no, look closer - the perches on one side were slightly bigger. I never noticed that before, but he was right. Has anyone else had a kid spot something in your yard that you walked past a hundred times?
I used to just grab whatever seed mix was on sale at the grocery store, but after three months of nothing but house sparrows I swapped to straight black oil sunflower. Within a week I had cardinals, chickadees, and a pair of goldfinches showing up. Anyone else notice a big change when they upgraded their seed?
I was reading this Audubon article last night and learned that blue jay feathers don't have any blue pigment. The color is from light scattering off microscopic structures in the feather, like how the sky looks blue. If you crush a blue jay feather it turns brown because you destroy those structures. Has anyone else had their mind changed by a random bird fact like this?
I read on the Cornell Lab site that goldfinches will clean out a nyjer feeder in under a week during peak migration and that got me to try one last month. Now I'm counting 12+ goldfinches at a time and wondering if anyone else had the same turnaround after giving it a real shot?
Got this thing from a local shop in Portland last month... it keeps the water from freezing even when it hits 10 degrees outside. Birds love it, I see more visits now. But my electric bill jumped about $15 for the month and I'm not sure if that's just me. A buddy says a simple heater plate for $25 works just as good. Anyone else spent money on one of these and felt burned or saved?
I fought against buying one of these for two winters. Thought the birds would just use puddles or whatever. Then we got that brutal cold snap last month and I watched a robin trying to drink from a half-frozen dish. Ordered a thermostatically controlled model with a built-in heater from Amazon the next day. Has anyone else found these things attract way more species than a regular feeder?
I bought a pack of those UV reflective hawk silhouette decals from a brand called Avian Flight last Saturday, figuring $15 was cheap insurance for the finches slamming into my back window. Turns out a study I stumbled on from the American Bird Conservancy says most of those decals only cut collisions by like 10% unless they're spaced super close together. Has anyone else found a decal pattern that actually works, or am I just taping up post-it notes instead?
I had a group of pine warblers stop in my backyard for water around 7am, and then three blue jays showed up and chased them all away. This is the third time this month the jays have bulldozed my feeder area during migration. Anyone else have pushy jays ruining good bird sightings at their feeders?
I ran both a tube feeder and a hopper feeder side by side all last January here in Vermont. The hopper feeder got emptied in two days by house sparrows and starlings, while the tube feeder with nyjer seed barely got touched for a week. Then I switched to straight black oil sunflower in the tube feeder and suddenly goldfinches and chickadees showed up within an hour. Same seed, different feeder design, totally different crowd. Has anyone else found that tube feeders keep the bully birds away better than hoppers?
Last Tuesday I woke up early and decided to sit outside with coffee instead of checking my phone. Within 20 minutes I had a blue jay, two cardinals, a downy woodpecker, and this weird brown streaky bird I couldn't ID. Turns out it was a female red-winged blackbird, never seen one in my yard before. Later that same week a Cooper's hawk landed on my fence and scared everything off for two days straight. Anyone else get those random amazing days followed by total silence?
I was reading this old birding newsletter from Cornell last night, the one my uncle used to get in the mail. Turns out a hummingbird's heart can beat up to 1,260 times per minute when they're active. That floored me, especially since they slow way down at night to conserve energy. I always thought they just slept like regular birds. Has anyone else run into crazy numbers about bird physiology that made you rethink what you see at the feeder?
Bought this expensive tube feeder with special ports to keep out starlings and steller's jays, but the starlings figured out how to perch on the roof and peck at the mealworms through the gaps anyway. Lost the whole $8 bag of dried mealworms in an afternoon and had to toss the feeder because they broke the plastic. Anybody found a feeder that actually keeps those bully birds away or should I just stick to tossing mealworms on the ground?
I used to pull every dandelion and clover thinking they ruined the lawn. Then I left a patch of goldenrod alone last summer and counted 14 different butterfly species on it in one afternoon. Has anyone else changed their mind about so-called weeds?
I bought one of those fancy metal suet feeders with the tail prop for woodpeckers last month. Paid $60 at the local Wild Birds Unlimited store. Figured it would be better than the cheap cage I had. Wrong. The birds took one look at that shiny metal and refused to touch it. I left it out for two weeks with fresh suet and not a single downy or hairy showed up. The day I swapped back to the old plastic cage they were back within hours. So I wasted $60 on something that actually made my backyard worse. Has anyone else had birds reject a feeder based on the material it was made from?
I hung a fresh block of peanut butter suet on a shepherd's hook near my patio last Tuesday, and a big gray squirrel managed to chew through the plastic cage in under an hour. I heard a crash and found the whole thing on the ground, empty. Has anyone found a truly squirrel-proof way to offer suet without putting it in a metal cage that scares off the woodpeckers?
I used to hang those standard tube feeders with the little perches and they'd just attract house sparrows and starlings. But after reading about how finches and towhees prefer to scratch around, I built a simple tray feeder out of scrap wood and put it on a post about 5 feet from my lilac bush. Now I get these gorgeous fox sparrows kicking up seed dust every morning and the cardinals actually stick around instead of grabbing one seed and flying off. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed different birds showing up?