What do you feed the birds?

[Fishboy]

Assuming you have a feeder, I'd like to ask what you use. I want to attract birds to my garden for all the right reasons, but I've had so much trouble with the seeds that the birds drop on the ground sprouting and growing. I don't have the luxury of space to isolate the feeder in the yard, so I've tried several seed types to meet both the birds needs and mine. Flax seed seems to be the best since the larger birds don't care for the taste. Problem is, it sprouts like the others, so while I'm attracting the right birds I still have the sprouting problem. I've just finished a large bag of shelled sunflower seeds and thought all my problems would be solved. Unfortunately, the seeds dropped on the ground attracted rats and other vermine.

So, what do YOU put out for the birds?

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

[nanasohana]

You know, for some time I bought seed and put it out for the birds in a feeder, and the birds would have it empty in a day or two. I just felt that was too much to keep up. We have an Ohia tree by our lanai and I enjoy seeing the little green birds come forage on its seeds and the other birds seem to find wild grass seeds around us or they find insects etc. in the cinder areas, lawn areas. I like it better that way.

[Hotzcatz]

Some of the smaller birds, cardinals, chickadees, sparrows and such - are coming to eat the cracked corn we put out for the chickens. The chicken feeder is at the window by the kitchen table so they are easy to watch as well as the chickens although the small birds don't lay any eggs in the nest box at the side of the window. Right now, though, Buffy is setting on eggs in the nest box by the window so we have to walk up the back yard to the chicken coop to get eggs. Sigh!

[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.

[LaurelJ]

Fishboy:

a solution to the germinating seed is to microwave seed for 3-5 minutes then cool down before feeding birds

This cooks the seed so it won't be able to germinate. It is a little more work for feeding but does the trick

[Fishboy]

quote:

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a solution to the germinating seed is to microwave seed for 3-5 minutes then cool down before feeding birds

This cooks the seed so it won't be able to germinate. It is a little more work for feeding but does the trick

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That's a great idea, Laurel, thanks. I spoke with a birder friend today who recommended that I not feed the birds during the summer while there's plenty of food around. This is a good idea also, but I'll keep the humming bird feeder out all year. There's a few hummers around our house all year and they're great to watch.

Thanks to everyone for your kind responses.
Brian

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

[Les C]

Birds? Did someone say "birds"?

Brian, are you asking about feeding birds in Hawaii, in Washington?

[Fishboy]

quote:

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Birds? Did someone say "birds"?

Brian, are you asking about feeding birds in Hawaii, in Washington?

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LOL, yeah, birds Les. Nice to hear from you. I'm in Washington, but I'm wrestling with the whole idea of maintaining a feeding station for wild birds. I don't see an ecological need to supplement the food stocks available to wild birds during the summer and fall seasons, and have asked for advice from this forum.

On the one hand, it's cool to watch juncos, chickadees, and grossbeaks out our kitchen window, but the feeder makes such a mess in the garden underneath that there's a trade-off; kind of a pleasure\pain deal.

On the other hand, I'll put the seed and humming bird feeders out during the winter. I feel strongly that our humming bird feeder has increased the survivorship of year-round resident species and is responsible for our having several more birds than "usual" around all year.

What do you think?

Mahalo nui loa,
Brian and Mary
Lynnwood, WA\Discovery Harbour

Edited by - fishboy on 09/06/2007 01:32:46