Any keen bird feeders out there?

Babbawah

saver-j wrote: »

I was watching this morning when a couple of starlings flew in to the feeders in our garden and they caused the other birds to fly off. They couldn't get on the feeders though and ended up flying off and the other birds (sparrows mainly, but also blue tits, a robin and blackbirds) came back. So there may be nothing in it, and if anyone else has better knowledge please correct me, but perhaps the neighbouring starlings are keeping them away?

I'm not Bill Oddie . . . but I do like to watch my birds closely.

The starlings seem to prefer the fat balls or fat filled half coconuts in my garden. It seems like a ram raid when they come, all the other birds dissappear only to reappear very soon afterwards.

I don't get the impression that they are scared off by any kind of starling aggression or threat, just that they'd rather be out of the way when this gang of uncouth youths have appeared and started throwing their weight around for a few mins.

I've never seen the starlings attempt to feed from my feeders !

I'm lucky enuff to live in a locality that is ideal for sparrowhawks, when they're around you really can tell the difference !

Babbawah

It's my ambition this year is to get my Robin to feed from my hand.

I've noticed that he appears whenever I have a sit down in my corner of the garden.

I have a distance of 10 fence panels and 10 posts from where I sit to where the feeding stations are. A few years ago I started putting out a small bowl of dried mealworms specifically for the Robin.

After learning that a Robin will happily feed from your hand when it gains trust, I started to place this bowl on an ever closer post of the fence. We started at post 10 and soon worked up the trust to feed off post 1. Practically sat on my right shoulder.

Last year we tried placing the bowl on the love table that seperates the 2 chairs me and the missus sit on . . . . I'm convinced that it's my fidgety missus that kept him away.

This year, as soon as the weather allows, I have a source of live mealworms. Lets see if he can resist them !

cally6008

The starlings here like my feeders I fill them with a mix of suet pellets (white and red), mealworms and general bird seed.

I got some of that niger seed to try. Ugh never again, it goes EVERYwhere.
The birds don't seem to like it either. I'm going to have to give the bird table a clean and either chuck it in bin or on the grass. They haven't touched the feeder that its in

storm35

I love feeding and watching the birds, i have starlings, a robin, couple of blue tits, couple of jackdaws tried, blackbirds and saw a thrush once.

Ken68

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31904842


Favourite British bird, soooo many, robin ,blackbird, swan .






Kingfisher my favourite, I see it all the time flying along the local river.

Gers

JUST seen a robin trying to feed from the hanging feeder - he didn't succeed though I'm not sure if he couldn't manage or the other birds flapped him off the perch - never seen a robin on one before and thought they were ground feeders!

Ken68

Just the one Robin here, no wife, like me lol

Gers

Ken68 wrote: »

Just the one Robin here, no wife, like me lol

It's spring - time to meet a mate... :j

REEN

The gang of mixed tit species has now split up into pairs and a couple of robins have been checking out a conifer! Now hoping someone will take an interest in our nest boxes.

twiglet98

My regular robin can nearly balance on the hanging feeders but prefers the halved coconut shells that I fill with a mixture of seeds, fruit and cereal in melted lard. I put mealworms on the kitchen window feeder and a new robin watches from the apple tree but won't come so close to the house yet.

There's a pair of great spotted woodpeckers each morning, a pair of thrushes, a pair of collared doves, four pairs of blackbirds, umpteen blue, great and longtailed tits, goldfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches, two pairs of dunnocks, but only ever one wren at a time.

A black squirrel has been visiting intermittently for a few months and at the weekend there was a grey attacking the sunflower feeder. Not my favourite visitors!