So here's a question for you birding experts out there. Does bird food go bad in the feeder? Why would birds avoid one? We've got two feeders that were left here at the house when we moved in. One on either side of the deck.
Initially last fall, the birds were hitting them both pretty equally. Then, last month, one was empty and the other 3/4 full. We didn't see many birds, so I thought they had all just gone for winter. The one feeder stayed 3/4 full for like a month or more. Then I thought with all the snow and cold weather, I'd put some food in the other feeder. I filled it up and then it was down to this low amount in just 2-3 days. The birds swarming this one while they still were avoiding the other one that's only like 10 feet away on the other side of the deck.
I decided maybe the food went bad? Anyways, I poured it out onto the snow, and then re-filled the feeder with fresh food. They seems to be hitting it a little more now. I then decided to switch the feeders locations. We'll see if that changes I suppose.
Any way it was nice to start seeing the birds again, and I've been hearing and seeing a lot more out there in the last week. I've seen a lot of BlueJays and even a Cardinal, which I was surprised at. We did have a few days of 30-40F degree weather. It seems very early in the year for all of them to start coming out this far north, but maybe we'll have an early spring.
Predators, like a cat, wild or domesticated. That is usually one of the biggest reasons, although, your birds came back, so it could very well be old food. Birds are smart and won't eat moldy or old food, much like us. :) Unless you are a ravenous teenager.
I bought new food that they don't LIKE. I had to change it out with another feeder and put straight sunflower seeds in it. Of course, this really attracts them. Especially the cardinals and bluejays. Well, all of them seem to like it. Your cardinals don't migrate. We always had them all winter long, but, if there is enough out in the woods for them to forage, they won't hit the feeders. I have four feeders and countless birdhouses. They are pretty fun to have around.
PS.. Every once in a while, especially in the spring when it rains a lot, I will clean the feeders. Nobody likes eating from a dirty dish. :)
Yes, well after a few days of testing, it appears that it was definitely a case of "food gone bad". After moving the feeders, they were all over the other feeder in that same location previously ignored, and then started hitting the other one with almost as much gusto as the other one once I cleaned out the old food and replaced it in the other location.
Our cats are very spoiled indoor only toy predators, although at least a couple would likely go for mice if located.
I'm not much of one for cleaning, but suppose I will have at it now and again. The weather here in Vermont is a LOT more wet, humid and mold conducive than dry, dry Colorado was.
Oh, yes! New England in general is. I now look for easy-to-clean ones when I am buying them.
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Right? I've found a couple people reporting it could have gotten wet and spoiled. I'll give it an even better cleaning and see how they do.
Hi @ksteem
Yes, birdfood can go rancid and then the birds won't touch it. If it gets damp in the feeder it might also start growing mildew which they will avoid. I'm not sure if this was the case with yours. If you suspect that, then it's best to wash them out with warm water and an animal friendly disinfectant or you may have a repeat of this with the new food, especially with mildew spores.
The bird photos are lovely, are these Tits? I don't know the birds in your region that well, so please excuse my ignorance.
I would still love to see a Cardinal, such lovely looking birds.
I bought some bird food yesterday for our birdfeeder, this post has just reminded me to go fill it up. Should be nice for Lory to do some bird watching with the binoculars from the verandah.
Have a great weekend.
We did have some pretty good rainstorms in the late fall and that side not as protected as the other, could very well have gotten pretty wet. I'll give it a good cleaning to be sure. I'm no expert, just learning but I think these are Chickadees.
They are very cute little birds, they remind me very much of the Longtailed Tits I used to see in the UK. Very acrobat little birds. We don't have a South African equivalent I don't think.
I'm keen to hear about the comparison between the two feeders now that you've cleaned the non favourite out and moved it to a better location.
I wonder if something traumatic happened at the abandoned feeder, like predation (since bird feeders also feed birds of prey), and it took the birds a while to get over it.
Could be, but they did start visiting the other one after I switched from one side of the deck to other. They are nearly identical with very minor differences. I'm leaning more towards the spoilage on this one. Good thought though, I'll keep an eye out for predators.
Ah, yes, that does kind of "spoil" my theory. Birds have such keen eyesight, though. Maybe there was some tiny little discrepancy between the two. Itty bitty little mold spores or something.
In my humble experience, when they stop visiting a certain feeder, something usually scares them away.
Someone else mentioned predators. There are bobcats in the area, but haven't seen tracks near the house. They did start hitting the feeder after I switched them. Thinking it was more likely the spoilage in this case.
All possible. It could even be something we don't think of. Like, say, air currents, nearby objects, etc.
I had plans to put up something more sophisticated in the backyard to photograph birds but with our four cats, I don't want to do that to the wild birds :)
Funny isn’t it? The birds are smart! Seems they didn’t like the smell of that one so they left it alone. From the sound of it in the other comments it was probably bad food. I’m trying to finish up a few small projects with our son, one of them being a little bird feeder and bird house! I think it would be cool to get those out now while it’s still wintry, give the birds some time to see it and explore it although yesterday was such a breath of fresh air in the Boston area!
Birds are very intelligent so I think they know that the food was a little past its prime, why the two were placed at the same time so one was consumed first before the other, so these birds follow each other if one tasted the food from the first and then went to eat from the other container it must not have found it the same, so other birds observed that she left and so made the decision to follow her.
I really don't know much about this haha so I'm just saying what I think, I thank you for seeing my post.
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Cardinals don't migrate. They are your neighbors all year long.
Fresh seed seems to solve whatever the problem was. Love watching the birds and helping to feed them when winter comes.
How cool. Thanks for that info! First one I've seen up here, can't wait to get some photos. Never did see one at our house in Colorado. Good to know they will be around.
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-cardinal
Range map of Northern Cardinal
Cool thanks for that! Strange they don't have Colorado in the zone though. While not a lot of them I know several people that regularly spotted them there in the middle of the state and many that reported there on ebird.
Nothing stays the same or written in stone. Colorado is their border area. I would think they would expand and contact their range according to conditions. Their beaks are made to crack open seeds. They like sunflower seeds.
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