Bird table...... birds avoiding it....

Gosh, some of you have some very exotic birds! I never put bread out for the birds in fact I think they have a veritable feast, they have suet pellets,suet blocks,peckish birdseed, mealworms,fat balls and now the sunflower hearts. I might try the plate thing on that bird table Sharon. It’s quite amazing how much pleasure I get from just watching the birds, the ones at the front garden I can see quite well but at the back garden I sit on the sofa with my binoculars and watch them and get really excited if I see a robin a blue tit or a longtailed tit ?but recently in the last few days I’ve seen very little activity in the back wild garden but the sparrows are still very prevalent in the front garden...?

I’ve joined a corvid lovers Facebook group as I’m fascinated by them. The Americans and Canadians in the group have a huge array of different corvids: Blue Jays etc. And many have crows that bring them thank you gifts for their food.

We only have a suet feeder. Mostly starlings and crows though!
Occasionally a Northern Flicker and Cedar Waxwings, but not very often. Once the weather warms and insects return I will stop feeding them.

I've got hoards of birds busily feeding here, as always. I refill two hanging feeders in the mornings and the special Niger seed feeder every three or four days.

The fat blocks last longer, maybe about a week. I clean and fill the bird bath every day too. The feeders are on long wires, hung from a tree, so squirrels can't reach them. Still, I use the clear feeder 'baffles' as they stop rain reaching the seed.

I buy sacks of sparrow mix and sunflower hearts from Peckamix. Wood pigeons clear up anything that's dropped.

I think we have more people feeding the birds round here than there are birds.
Apart from over fed pigeons, there seem to be plenty of them.

I replaced an old bird table with a new one just like you have in your main picture Shinamae
The birds didn't notice. I put a heavy plate on it under the roof and put suet pellets and mealworms. They love it. The plate's always empty the next day. I also put fat balls in a hanging feeder and tie it securely around one of the supporting poles.
I would move the table a bit further away from the fence so the cat can't get on it.
Don't feed bread as it will bloat them and has no nutrition anyway.

I bought some mealworms, hoping to attract the robin and perhaps blue tits and put them in a little wire tray hung on the bird feeder.

Who should I see hanging upside down scoffing them? The squirrel, he couldn't get them down fast enough. Any that fell on the ground were pecked up by a fat pigeon.

Forgot to mention I also bought some sunflower hearts today and a feeder so hopefully that might attract some different birds,if not apparently blue tits like sunflower hearts anyway....

Well I have got an apple today cut it in half and put it on the bird table but are blackbirds not ground feeders? Hopefully they will try the bird table anyway, fingers crossed. ?

Namsnanny

I don't know if the Blackbirds like pears or not, but we have apple trees and deliberately leave fallers for them. BUT they never eat them!
The do love the Pyracantha berries though

I, like you shinamae have noticed interesting habits in the birds that visit my garden!

I find you have to cut the apples in half for them. Wouldn’t’ve thought they’d struggle with the skin but it dies seem to make a difference. Or maybe windfalls aren’t sweet enough. My blackbirds are very spoilt!

Namsnanny we have a pyracantha outside the kitchen window and the blackbirds love it, there's also a perfect little nest just within sight, I'm really hoping they'll come back to it this year.

My bird feeder bent and got damaged in the wind recently so we bought a more robust bird table, like you Shinamae we're having problems getting the birds interested.

I don't know if the Blackbirds like pears or not, but we have apple trees and deliberately leave fallers for them. BUT they never eat them!
The do love the Pyracantha berries though

I, like you shinamae have noticed interesting habits in the birds that visit my garden!

Birds are very fickle aren’t they? I used to have a couple of blueberry bushes and blackbirds would often strip most of the fruit before I got a chance at it, but you scatter blueberries on the grass for them and they won’t touch them!

I read somewhere that ducks should not be fed bread - the suggestion made was that they enjoyed greenstuff such as lettuce. So we and our grandchildren took at bag of lettuce pieces to feed the ducks - and they definitely didn't appreciate it!

GD thank you but I don’t really want to take the roof off because the birdseed is quite expensive and if it gets wet....? also I have no apples at the moment would a blackbird be happy with a pear?

In situ about 4 foot from the ground because apparently Robins like their nests quite low down......

I will definitely keep you informed about the robin nest. Did not know about putting an apple out for the blackbirds, I will do that in the wild garden bird table because like I say at the front all I get is sparrows....??

Birds will often ignore a new bird table (and even hanging feeders) while they “suss it out”, especially a roofed one. I’ve never known it take months though. We had one that was thus ignored and so DH took the roof off. Bingo!
shinamae I will be interested to see whether robins take to your nest pocket. I’ve used similar nesting pockets before and they’ve been universally ignored. I do hope you get some takers.

Is it simply because it's 'new'? Birds can take a little while to get used to something so they may be a bit suspicious at first but might get used to it after a while.

Maybe the birds are moulting? They seem to disappear when they do. I’ve had the blackbird in the garden this morning eating his daily apple but no other birds at all.

Sparrows are very occasionally going on the front bird table now but they still much prefer the fat balls and seem to fight amongst them selves when they’re on them. I get very frustrated I think why aren’t some of you going on the bird table? ??

Have ordered this for the Robins....

moggie57

Birds get used to the old one.I would out it back.maybe its the colour too.birds prefer green/brown

I had to throw the old one away that’s why I’ve ordered these two new ones they are from a reputable site so hopefully birds will accept them and use them...Looked out this morning and the Robins were there again ?

The birds do seem disinterested in the fat balls this year but have you noticed they are much more solid now, as they don’t put them in individual nets any more. Which of course I agree with but when I broke the fat balls up by bashing with a steak tenderiser in the bag, they finally ate them.
I get the suet now, which they love, along with peanuts, mixed seeds and meal worms.
My little birds in the back are very tame and become very excited when they see me in the kitchen in the morning, chattering and hopping about the shrubs, until I go out with their food.
If I’m busy and try to do it later, a little Robin sits on the edge of the table, staring intently at the kitchen window, almost tapping his foot, looking at his watch and saying, “what time do you call this” . I always say out loud “ok! ok! I’m coming”
I agree with others, the birds may have to get used to the new feeder and also I’ve found they are happier if the table is next shrubs or trees.

I spent quite a bit of money on good birdseed and of course I have to keep replacing it as it can’t stay there forever.... as obviously it will go off in some way.

bane of my life while they're not visiting. With the awful amount of rain we've had even my "weather proof" feeders had admitted rain which had sent the food mouldy It's costing me a fortune not to feed the birds