Birds, if you feed them, they will come

[NotATreacleTart]

I just thought I would share this. A few years ago we bought a bird feeder. I now feel like I am feeding an army of birds from sparrows, robins, blue tits, blackbirds and finches. They are costing me a fortune but are a delight to watch. I live in an urban area.

I had to remove the water bowl from the feeder due to pigeons sitting in it to reach the food despite me having a ground feeding dish. It meant the feeder developed a lean. So I removed it and put it on the patio wall so they still had water. Then the bird bathing began, in the tiny dish, blackbirds squeezing themselves into it.

I have now upgraded and we made a DIY self filling bird bath (using a solar pond pump) because it is like I am running a bird spa! They queue up to get in, edge closer to force the other birds out. Sparrows bathe together in a little group. One blackbird was in there for 8 minutes, preening his feathers. Adorable. Then they sunbathe on the lawn. When I first saw it I thought something was wrong, a paralysed bird with its wings spread, a docile look on its face. No, just soaking up some sunshine.

I may not have a very pretty garden but I have the prettiest visitors. The cats have almost completely stopped coming as I have a cat detector thing with the hose attached. It worked for me.

Or squirrels will, fluffy tailed little bastards

How do you stop rats though? They put a stop to my bird feeding exploits.

Way too many cats prowling about at night for rats. We have cameras so have seen them, and foxes, and hedgehogs.

That’s wonderful OP! I’m in an urban area too and have a window feeder as we don’t have outside space. You get to know the regular visitors!

I love the sound of the bird bath spa!

Same here OP. When we bought our house the back had been concreted over. We put in some Texas lamposts, and planters, and hung out bird feeders. We get sunflower hearts, and they attract a whole different type of bird....it's lovely to see and hear them all day.

We have a dog, but she normally just sits watching them too.

I love our birds. We currently have a big family of starlings that come every day (noisy fuckers), and a lovely white dove who sometimes brings her grey friend.

We used to get lots of blue tits but the cat kept killing them and bringing them to us as gifts

@SunCatt we had starlings visit just once, scared the hell out of me with their noise, swarmed the feeder and then left. I thought a cat was attacking the nesting birds from all the hysteria.

My sister has cats but they have a catio! They are indoor cats due to living in a city with far too much traffic but have a cat flap into an outdoor area.

I like to think I can recognise some of the birds now. Blackbirds are my favourite and have nested this year in a laurel. One of them had a feather at a jaunty angle, I imaginatively named him Mr Feathers. I never realised how much joy they would bring me and the regulars will happily eat or bathe when I am sat out there.

I keep thinking I can deter the magpies and pigeons if I put some wire mesh over the ground feeder. RSPB sell them but they are too small and allow larger birds to put their heads through the mesh and still reach the food. I will get some sunflower hearts and see what they bring into the garden.

OP, we put the sunflower hearts in one part and they attract chaffinches, tits, robins etc. We have the fat balls in a holder at the other end of the garden and the bigger birds go for them...pigeons, starlings, magpies etc. It really stops the fighting

I love my bird feeder but have to now tolerate the huge wood pigeon sitting happily on the squirrel baffle eating his fill out of the feeder. I lowered it to stop him but then the squirrel can jump on it ! Have no idea how to stop him but have decided I prefer the pigeon to the squirrel!!

I've been trying for 18 months. So far the only birds I get are pigeons, magpies and the occasional flock (and I mean flock, up to 50 birds at a time) of starlings.

They land and destroy and demolish everything, shit everywhere, then depart leaving empty feeders.

I tried changing to squirrel proof feeders in the hope that only the little birds would get in, but no, the pigeons can get their heads in. I've tried various foods and feeding at various times of day, but nary a sight of a tit or a robin or even a sparrow .

I'm sick of clearing up pigeon shit, so I think I'm going to rehome my feeders.

Kind of true where I live but the only bird we get is seagulls and lots of them, also get lots of rats, haven't seen a little garden bird in the 20 years I've lived here.

I forgot collared doves, we have those too. I have had a front row seat to all the male pigeons bowing and hopping trying to get a female to be interested. I have witnessed pigeons and blackbirds mating, not with each other obviously

It did take a while to entice the birds into the garden in fact a good year I think before we had a set of regulars. I did consider 2 bird feeders but the mess puts me off having two stations.

Yes the pigeons hog the food here too but the blackbirds have been chasing them off which is funny to watch. They also sit in the water fountain too. I have a squirrel proof hanging seed feeder but it just hangs precariously from the top of the fat ball feeder and eats those. I don't mind it so much.

@TurquoiseBaubles if you can move them to another location in your garden to see if that works. Mine started off in one place and didn't get so much as a sniff, I moved them and word got out

@TurquoiseBaubles

I've been trying for 18 months. So far the only birds I get are pigeons, magpies and the occasional flock (and I mean flock, up to 50 birds at a time) of starlings.

They land and destroy and demolish everything, shit everywhere, then depart leaving empty feeders.

I tried changing to squirrel proof feeders in the hope that only the little birds would get in, but no, the pigeons can get their heads in. I've tried various foods and feeding at various times of day, but nary a sight of a tit or a robin or even a sparrow .

I'm sick of clearing up pigeon shit, so I think I'm going to rehome my feeders.

Could it be the position of your bird table. I removed the tree where I used to hang the feeders from and brought a new bird table, placed in exact same spot. No birds. Tried getting better quality bird food etc, still no birds.

Then moved it to the other side of the garden, nearer some shrubs. The blue tits, robin, magpies etc all now visit. They seem to like hopping in and out of the shrubs before hopping onto the bird table. Also, the blackbirds seem to prefer ground feeding, rather than from the bird table.

we get lots of goldfinches & bluetits & robins on my feeders. And occasional long-tailed tits which are my favourites. The feeder is just under a big open tree that gives plenty of perches. I have a birdbath too, but the silly fat pigeons poo in it too much.

but I only put up a squirrel proof feeder (the kind with weighted slots) because there are two squirrels who delight in eating everything they can, ripping the bark off my trees & digging up young plants. I don't want to encourage them.

We successfully squirrel proofed our bird feeder by putting them on a bungee cord - the birds are too light, but a squirrel on the end of the bungeed bird feeder makes it jiggle all over the place.

I've tried moving my feeders around, but I suspect the big problem is the magpies; there seem to be dozens of them, and I think they've probably destroyed any chance of smaller birds nesting.

No-one in neighbouring gardens seems to feed birds at all (or have many plants come to that = gravel and artificial grass is becoming scarily prevalent) which I'm sure doesn't help.

I wonder would a bungee cord upset a pigeon?