Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Thursday, April 28, 2016

I Need Some Feathers In My Life

As much as I love living in the Pacific Northwest there's one thing I miss from my life in Texas and that's feeding birds. I love birds.

I gave bird feeders a try when we first moved here but found it a miserable experience keeping the seed dry during the rainy winter months. Wet bird seed is not fun to deal with. I've yet to find a feeder I think would work well here.

I don't think I've ever lived anywhere that was as free of birds and animals as where we are right now. I never see a squirrel and only a few birds. I think I could change that with some effort but feeding birds is not something you should do on a whim. It's a real commitment.

There are 3 crows I see from time to time. I'd like to make friends with them. Sometimes I see them when I'm out on the patio. Of course I hear them before I see them, they're quite noisy. I'd love to train them to come to my patio for those big unshelled peanuts but I'm not sure my neighbors would appreciate a bunch of crows descending on them.

For a few days I had a tiny Junco that gave thought to building a nest in my nice pot of ivy. I watered it so she'd know if she moved in there she'd be living in a swamp. She never came back.

I do have several robins and sometimes I hear doves calling but I'm pretty bird deprived and I don't know what to do about it.

Bob takes great interest when he sees a bird on the patio but he doesn't want me putting up feeders. He doesn't like the mess, and birds are messy.

I'd also love to be friends with a few squirrels. I'd be happy to feed them but they would have to agree not to make a mess.

There surely must be a way to deal with this but so far I've been unable to come up with a solution. Do you have bird feeders? In Texas I had two dripping bird baths in my back yard. Birds love dripping water and it was entertaining to watch them playing in the water.

Have you seen any feeders that will keep bird seed dry. I welcome any ideas you might have.

10 comments:

  1. Have you considered a hummingbird feeder? Basically it is sugar water that you can make yourself (1:5 ratio). Hummingbirds are so tiny, they don't leave the "mess" that larger birds do.

    It's the only bird feeder that I have, for all the reasons you listed. Although I am a true bird lover!

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    1. The last hummingbird feeder I had leaked but it's the only one I've ever had that did that. Good suggestion. I'll look into that again.

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  2. I second what Carole wrote about hummingbirds and I would suggest going to a local birdseed store to find out what kind of birds are common where you live and then buy seed specifically for them. I use white safflower cakes for juncos, grosbeaks, even cardinals and finch socks of thistle for the finches and cakes made for woodpeckers which draws in three varieties all day long. It never dawned on me to try to keep the seed dry though I do have a saucer disk over the finch sock more to keep out squirrels. I gave up using seed mixes because of the waste and mess of picky birds. Less mess when you use seed specific feeders.

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    1. This just may be the key, specific kinds of feed. The mixes do make a mess because they waste so much. I'll research this and surely I'll be able to come up with things like cakes. Some finches stay around here the year around but socks of wet thistle seed are not good. I do love goldfinches. I know I can do cakes for the woodpeckers. There's a tree right off our patio. Great ideas. I never thought of using cakes. It's been 12 years since I've fed birds so they probably have all kinds of new products now.

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  3. I have a bird feeder on a shepard's hook in the yard, I have yet to notice a mess. The lawn mower disperses any shells from the sunflower seeds. I love watching the birds too.

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    1. My favorite feeder is a wood tray with a screen bottom. I used to have those kind of feeders and Bob mowed over what the birds dropped but I can't do that here.

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  4. The only feeder we have now is a suet feeder. We get quite a variety of birds coming to it, but they stay up high where the cat can't get to them. that was a problem with ground birds under seed feeders. I was also thinking that you might attract birds with a small water feature on your patio - something you could plug in if you have an outside outlet.

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    1. Glad to get this good report on suet feeders. I will definitely try that. I've never used one. The water feature is an excellent idea. I have a plug on the patio. I should be able to come up with something out there. Little birds should enjoy that. Thanks.

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  5. I think Linda had a good idea with the suet feeders. I've never tried them but seems like you would get less mess and easy to hang up. I don't know how them hold up to rainy weather. You'd have to try it and see. You could even get to the point where you make your own with the bird feed for the local birds. Let us know if you try.

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    1. I am definitely going to try feeding suet. I have enough trouble cooking people food around here, can't imagine what Bob would do if I started making suet for birds!

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