Food & Drink How do I get birds to eat out of my bird feeder?

Keep an eye out for rats, doing that! They love food on the ground.

I'm going to look for a non-germinating seed mix next year, because we've had no end of weird crops growing out of our lawn where the feeder is. Not that I hate wheat specifically, just don't want a front garden full of it...

 

Funny you mention that - at the start of lockdown the neighbours and I had the exterminator round...

 

Not just on the ground, they climb up too.

Bloody good climbers. When we were in NZ there was a bit of a downpour and I saw the things climbing about it the tops of trees.

Had to temporarily stop feeding as a couple of rats have been round but then we do live near woods and fields so it is what it is. I think they're cute little buggers but I don't want to encourage them as one of the neighbours has them hanging about under their decking. The old cat half heatedly chases them and they do scarper off though.

 

I was in the same mindset, until the exterminator told me they eat mice. The b*stards!

 

I'm a bit biased as some of my friends had them as pets when I was in my teens/twenties. I know they're not like the wild ones but they have to be one of the most affectionate, clever and funny pets you can have.

 

That's CATS you're thinking of adidan, they're the affectionate, clever funny ones ... RATS is the ones what take over the world after WWIII, James Herbert wrote their biography after they time travelled back and told him about it.

 

Yeah they are. Little sods.

I moved into my ex wife's farm house in Dorset for a couple of years. She used to breed bengals and savannahs, so nothing would come near. They would get torn apart. Any way, once she got rid of the cats (we had one left but there was only so much one cat confined to half of the house could do) we were overrun with them. We had to keep the cereal in the fridge, as you would literally step into the back room of the house and see them all do a runner. Sometimes you'd see their fat asses hanging out of the cereal box.

Now we had a big cat, but we couldn't let her in that part of the house as she figured out how to open the windows (very clever bugger she was) and would get out, then sit two storeys up and just look at you. F****r lol.

But yeah it was so bad we had to abandon ship at one point because of the fleas. Ended up bringing in an exterminator.

 

So after a month of having many little flappy friends, most of them seemed to have left. I wonder where they went? Still there's a few sparrows/chaffinches/wrens sticking around, as well as a blackbird and a couple of pigeons.

One thing I've found very...spirit lifting if that the little birds seem to share the food. One will fly to the feeder, then fly to a friend and 'kiss'. Animals. Better than people.

At least I don't have to buy over 5kg/week of seeds now. Hungry little buggers.

 

Thought I'd post a little update as I was privy to something quite interesting this afternoon.

The birds are back. There are two adolescent pigeons in addition to the adult pair. The happy family pick at the seed I chuck on the grass. Meanwhile, the small bird brigade has swelled to...probably 40. It's quite a sight to see them all take off at once into the hedges. I have to say, the little birds are surprisingly powerful - I hear them flitting around in the bushes each time I go to refill the feeder.

I was watching them this afternoon for a minute, when what I assume to be a Sparrowhawk comes hurtling out of nowhere. I'm sure it got its target - the flock has disappeared. Probably back tomorrow.

 

Will have to work out what the birds of prey are here, either sparrowhawks or kestrels or some such.

The red kites are glorious although some of the shine has been taken off since I learned they mainly like to eat worms

 

An upsetting update today.

I was pottering round the house whilst reinstalling Windows 10 (see 'Ruining Life' thread ) when suddenly I heard the army of small birds chirping like crazy, while there was a dull 'thud'. Curious, I headed over to the window to look, out, only to see a stricken pigeon and a peregrine falcon about a metre away. The falcon turned round, jumped up and administered the fatal blow by landing violently on the pigeon, like a small meteorite. I dug out my P1000 and took a few photos - I would've used my nicer camera, but I needed the zoom:











I'm not sure if it's one of the adults or one of the juveniles. I'm a little sad as the juveniles are only a few weeks old at most and the pigeon family had been happily minding their own business. Anyway, after a while, the falcon flew off with the plucked carcass - quite a sight to see it take off, carrying another bird.

Rest in piece, little pigeon. You'll be missed.

EDIT: I was right in my initial assessment - it's a male sparrowhawk. Peregrine falcons have all black eyes.

 

Nah, a few pigeons to keep falcons healthy - carry on nom nom

 

Update for the sake of it:

• The falcon sparrowhawk has returned a couple of times (that I know of). The first time, he left empty clawed. The second time (yesterday), he managed to nab a sparrow. I tried to get a picture while he was plucking the feathers, but opening the window scared him off, taking his kill with him.
• I have a blue tit that visits from time to time!
• I swear I saw a robin this morning. Dunno if it's their season now or not.
• I found a dead sparrow about a fortnight ago. Buried him under a bush.
• Occasionally the garden is devoid of birds. I wondered why this was, then one day spotted one of the neighbours' cats hiding in the bushes.