What's on your bird feeder?

[tug3162 10]

No-one's mentioned greater spotted woodpeckers, we get plenty of these on our feeders, last summer we had a juvenile in the tree in our garden. It was being fed from the feeder, by one of its parents. We have seen one green woodpecker in the area. We get loads of goldfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches, but bullfinches only rarely. We get blue tits, great tits (both species have nested in our garden), and coal tits. Nuthatch is a regular visitor; we also get jays, occasionally. A juvenile goldcrest visited once (to our knowledge) last summer. Robins and blackbirds are regular visitors, but funnily enough we never get starlings or sparrows.

 

Our biggest problem is squirrels - they drive us mad, absolutely mad, mainly because they scare off the birds and eat substantial amounts of expensive sunflower hearts!

[hillsbro 32]

Our biggest problem is squirrels - they drive us mad, absolutely mad, mainly because they scare off the birds and eat substantial amounts of expensive sunflower hearts!

 

Squirrels are cuddly-looking pests, but in Wadsley we had a jay that put one over on them. He would wait for the squirrels to find nuts and bury them, and then as soon as they cleared off he would dig the nuts up with his beak. Clever!

[tug3162 10]

Good story about the jays - very impressive birds. Squirrels are tree-rats, cuddly looking yes, even comical, but defiant and absolutely impossible to get rid of. Not even water puts them off. And they are responsible for putting at risk our native red squirrel population!

[mr_busdriver 10]

Theres a cat that keeps loitering around our bird table, how do we get rid of it?

 

 

We try knocking on the window, it runs away then keeps coming back.

 

What do we do?

[tug3162 10]

Theres a cat that keeps loitering around our bird table, how do we get rid of it?

 

 

We try knocking on the window, it runs away then keeps coming back.

 

What do we do?

 

Exactly the same problem we have with the squirrels! We don't have a cat problem, but we can have three squirrels in our garden all at the same time. We've also had rabbits in the garden and I believe the occasional badger. I don't think there's a solution to the squirrel/cat problem, to be honest - I'm almost resigned to putting up with it.

[stuntqueen 10]

Theres a cat that keeps loitering around our bird table, how do we get rid of it?

 

 

We try knocking on the window, it runs away then keeps coming back.

 

What do we do?

 

Not long ago I had a pheasant on my bird feeder, cats soon dissappeared

[yorkie75 10]

trying to encourage buzzards down but they dont want to know, any ideas???

[sixxsix 10]

Had a fantastic day birdwatching at work (it's pretty slack during the hols.).

The environment close to where I work is a mixture of parkland, cemetery, golf course, small pockets of woodland, rough grassland, suburban gardens and school playing fields and it's on these playing fields that there was an ornithological show the like of which I have never seen outside a RSPB reserve!

After the snow of yesterday and from reading the posts on this thread I thought I'd buy some wild bird food and take my binoculars to work.

As soon as I arrived at work (it was still dark) I spread the bird food round the edge of the playing field and waited with anticipation.

9am. Bloody Magpies! That was it:mad:. About 15 of them were feeding/squabbling for about 15 mins until they flew off to the other playing fields but luckily leaving most of the food behind (pretty stunning birds though when viewed close up). It seems that they ate all the sunflower seeds and left the less nutritious stuff. I'm glad I didn't buy just sunflower seeds.

Between about 9.30am and 11am there was very little activity other than the usual Blackbirds and Crows turning up. I even managed to do some work which is more than I can say for my boss.

Then from 11 till about 2.30, what a show.

At first I saw a flock of about 30 Starlings but spread around the field were masses of Redwings. I lost count at about 60. Mixed in with these were 8 Mistle Thrushes and 2 Song Thrushes with 17 Blackbirds counted spread out around the area. The usual Pigeons, Crows, Gulls and Magpies were still hanging around.

Smaller birds I counted were 3 Chaffinches, 12 Bullfinches, 6 Greenfinches, numerous Sparrows (Tree and House), 5 Great Tits, a squadron of 8 Long Tailed Tits but only 1 Blue Tit (?)! Also, no Robins!

However the best show came in the form of a flock of about 20 Goldfinches which were accompanied by a pair of Goldcrests or Firecrests and stayed for most of the day until the grand finale which happened at about 2.30pm.

All the birds were feeding on the ground close to the school perimeter fence which seperates the playing fields from a public footpath when everyone of them (except the Crows and Magpies) flew up and landed on the top of this 8 foot high fence. It was obvious that something had startled them and I thought it might have been somebody walking their dog but there was nobody to be seen.

It was at this point that every single bird on the fence (about 300) flew into the air in all directions with the Goldfinches heading towards a small woodland further down the valley and out of site.

At the same time I saw a glimpse of a large bird (bigger than a Kestrel, smaller than a Buzzard) come from behind me at breakneck speed and disappear into the woodland that the Goldfinches had just dashed to. At first I thought it might be a Sparrowhawk but from the speed it was travelling, the shape of it's wings and the generally grey colouring of them it was certainly a Peregrine Falcon!

Whether it managed to grab a Goldfinch or not I don't know but that was the last I saw of the Tits and Finches. However the Crows and Thrushes carried on feeding as though nothing had happened.

So, all in all, not a bad days bird watching!

[sixxsix 10]

Theres a cat that keeps loitering around our bird table, how do we get rid of it?

 

 

We try knocking on the window, it runs away then keeps coming back.

 

What do we do?

 

^^^I find that a bucket full of water thrown at them usually does the trick of scaring them off. They seem to remember the experience as well, for if they catch a site of me looking through the window at them they tend to disappear pretty sharpish.

Or maybe that's just my general appearance.

[Cynthia 10]

I live near Meersbrook park so I'm quite lucky for birds. I've got my feeders on a steel pole situated near a perennial fuschia, so they can get some cover if a sparrowhawk attacks. To deter squirrels I mix a solution of vaseline,fiery jack, chili powder & 3 in 1 oil & smear it on the pole. They only try to get up it once:hihi:

 

 

Have just read your solution to your squirrel problem. The squirrels get the hot pepper on their paws then rub their eyes, the pepper gets into their eyes and they are in agony. Not really the best solution.

In my garden I have a bird feeder on a pole, 3/4 up the pole is a metal cylinder approx 18" long, the squirrels cannot get onto the bird feeder past the cylinder.

 

The bird's on the feeder are Blue Jays, bright red cardinals, yellow breasted finches and loads of mourning doves. Up to now my husband has put out 50lbs of seed and the birds are on to the 2nd block of seeded suet.

 

Belated Happy New Year. Cynthia, Canada.

[Becky B 31]

We get blue tits, a coal tit, sparrows a dunnock and a robin. I think a flock of long tailed tits passed through once or twice but didn't stop , and I've seen goldfinches across the road but they haven't ventured this far yet...

 

Compared to my parents garden it's feeble, but I suppose it's not bad for a terrace!

My parents get the occasional sparrowhawk, but they've not seen it as much since the tree had to come down.

[tug3162 10]

Have just read your solution to your squirrel problem. The squirrels get the hot pepper on their paws then rub their eyes, the pepper gets into their eyes and they are in agony. Not really the best solution.

In my garden I have a bird feeder on a pole, 3/4 up the pole is a metal cylinder approx 18" long, the squirrels cannot get onto the bird feeder past the cylinder.

 

The bird's on the feeder are Blue Jays, bright red cardinals, yellow breasted finches and loads of mourning doves. Up to now my husband has put out 50lbs of seed and the birds are on to the 2nd block of seeded suet.

 

Belated Happy New Year. Cynthia, Canada.

 

Good point about the potential agony caused to these creatures - having a pole does not always stop them taking bird food, however. We use a pole for our feeder but the pesky squirrels just jump on the feeder from the tree in the garden or from the garden fence! We use 20kg of sunflower hearts a month - how much of that, I often wonder, feeds the local squirrel population?