No bird at my feeder

[Okigen]

I put a feeder on my window for 3 weeks now, full of dried mealworms but no bird ever visited. That spot used to be bustling with sparrows during summer. They disappeared for moulting I think; now some have started to come back but kept sitting on a nearby hedge. How do I signal to them that there is food here?? I bought a lot of mealworms 😬

Maybe put some directly onto your windowsill to entice them over?

Wrong time of year. They have plenty of autumn berries to eat.

Sparrows don't tend to eat my mealworm. That would be for robins, starlings, other things.

But my sparrows are currently flocking to a seed mix. Maybe try some of that?

Do they like window feeders? I thought that they are sometimes less popular than the hanging feeders.

Finally, is there adequate cover near the feeder? Sparrows tend to be quite cautious and like a nearby hiding spot.

They'll be back when it gets a bit colder. There's too many berries out there in the wild right now.

Do you mean one of those clear plastic ones you stick on a window? I have one too and no birds have ever seemed to use it. Even when my other feeders that are on my trees have been used.

I noticed late spring/early summer the bird feed in the feeders hanging on our trees (one was mixed seed the other fat balls) got eaten really quickly. I refilled mid July and hardly anything eaten from them since then.

Perhaps try re positioning on a different window, or wait and see if the time of year has much of a difference.

I'm interested to see what happens to ours over autumn and winter.

The only birds that ever use our window feeder are tits. The feeder is on a window that is 3 storeys up and near a tall tree so I’m guessing they feel it’s safe to use. It is lovely when they come though.

Oh that's interesting about it being up so high. Ours is on a ground floor window, perhaps I'll move it upstairs.
How far away is the tree from the window?

It's possibly too early in the year.

Mealworms would mainly be eaten by birds that are ground feeders, like robins, so should be scattered on the ground. Try sunflower seeds in the feeders.

The location may be too exposed for the birds to risk using the feeder, especially if there are cats in the area. The window glass may be confusing them into thinking their reflection is another bird.

Thanks everyone. I'll try a seed mix to see if there is any difference 😅

Update - switched to wild bird seeds. Still no bird on the feeder. I then spread the seeds to the ground underneath. The sparrows' eyesight suddenly improved and they flocked to the ground. They definitely saw the feeder, kind of approached but noone dared to take that huge pile of food.

My mom said she chased them out when they were flying near my newly planted shrub (which has since perished). The experience must have scared them somehow 😭