What do you feed the birds?

[Mitzi M]

There are many introduced birds here, like the cardinals, that would happily come to a seed feeder, but I believe that there is only one native seed/fruit eating bird left on our island, the oma'o. Most of our native land birds are nectar (and insect) feeders, so as Nancy mentioned, planting and keeping ohi'as is a great low maintenance, longer term feeder option. I've heard that the 'amakihi, elepaio and 'apapane are making a modest comeback in lower Puna where they were once wiped out by avian malaria. I have actually seen and heard several amakihi and one pair of apapane at 200', and they seem to prefer the native trees, especially ohias. I bet Les would know a lot more about all this, as he is such a great resource when it comes to birds.