Bird feeders

[Rocky Top]

I have bird feeders all around my place with all kinds of birds feeding all of the time. Will this chase away Martins? This is my fifth year and only one pair of Martins. I have in place Martins decoys and I played the Dawn song and daytime chatter CDs

[chickadee]

bird feeders will not bother your martins. i feed other birds as well. and have never had a problem.

[Mike1624]

Chickadee is absolutely right. I feed year round and my big feeder complex is only 30 ft. from one of the houses. A side benefit that I've observed is the extra traffic gives the Coopers Hawk more choices to make and takes some of the pressure off the Martins. Because there are frequently large numbers of redwinged blackbirds and common grackles on the ground, this time of year, the hawks seem to get confused about a specific target and miss everything.

[Siberman]

I usually feed black sunflower seed and suet cakes but they unfortunately attract sparrows and starlings . I keep the thistle seed out year round but stop filling the other feeders when the first martin reaches Texas .

I use the sunflower seed in my repeating trap during this time . I catch the occasional cardinal or small dove but it's easy to release them .

Everyone but the S&S have adapted to eating the dry dog food during this time . Every afternoon I have a small flock of cardinals , several blue jays , tufted titmice and a red-bellied woodpecker sitting on my back fence waiting on me to feed the dogs .

[MamaBruff]

Siberman, I never thought of dry dog food! That dang safflower seed is popular with NON S&S, but is $11 for 6 lb. I really have to cut my costs this year...

[chickadee]

mamabruff, that is a good point about it helps with the hawks. i have noticed that to. siberman, i also feed black oil sunflower and suet cakes. it does bring in the sparrows and starlings. but i do not take mine down. i hate to make the song birds pay for the trash birds. so we sit on the deck and the feeder is about 25 feet away. and we are able to shoot all kinds of trash birds that feed on the ground under it. so it is a win win here.

[MamaBruff]

You're right, Chickadee, to remind me that it helps with hawks... there are pockets of timber nearby, and I have seen Sharpies and Coopers quite regularly. I think I will take KathyF's advice and move my seed feeder between the Martin house and the side of the yard facing the timber. A split second's warning can make a difference. (But I'm not going to feed the S&S, no sir-ee!)

[chickadee]

siberman, I forgot to mention i have never seen a starling around here that does not rob the dog food left outside at the neighbors house. let alone any song bird that would eat it. this is new for me. you are lucky to have it that way. i could see the fat and protein in the dog food. would think your starlings would be all over that. mamabruff, i wish i did not have to feed them and could feed just the song birds. the safflower is expensive. and not all the birds I like eat it. i wish sibermans way would work for me.

[DakotaLady]

I feed birds all winter and spring. Once I see the hawks coming through my yard trying to take out my songbirds I stop feeding them and the hawks seem to move on.

I hate to have the hawks around when my martins come around. The martins are so dawg gone loud that it will surely attack my colony. Once my martins leave I begin feeding my birds again.

[MamaBruff]

I can see your theory also, Tangula... (Loudspeaker)"Bird buffet for accipiters on aisle 3, easy pickin's"... Also much like using a floating headlight fish attractor at night; the bugs come, then the minnows, then the bigger fish...
Hmmm.

[Rocky Top]

I have bird feeders all around my place with all kinds of birds feeding all of the time. Will this chase away Martins? This is my fifth year and only one pair of Martins. I have in place Martins decoys and I played the Dawn song and daytime chatter CDs

Guess what I got a pair of Martins today I hope they moved in. Some of you were talking about Hawks, when I mow my pasture I usually have one flying overhead just waiting for the field mice to run out. The Hawks will dive down just behind the tractor and scooped them up. I don't know what kind they are but they are the larges ones we have a round here and they don't seem to be afraid of my tractor.

[DakotaLady]

MamaBruff you are a hoot. You had some good analogies there. I just think once my garden plants start blooming and reseeding there is plenty of food for the songbirds until fall.

Prior to having martins I fed birds all summer long and it would make me sick watching the hawks sit on one of my arbors and wait for the little birds at the feeder. If I saw him I would go out and chase him away but the devil was not really afraid of me by the end of summer.

Rocky Top, that is wonderful that you got got your martin pair back again. Hopefully this year you will get a few more pairs.

When I was a kid we lived on a farm and I would see that while cultivating the fields there would be many hawks out looking for baby bunnies. I got to the point that if I saw a baby I would run out pick them up and let them run around the tractor cab until I was done cultivating the field. Once the hawks left I would let them go back in the field they came from. I know it is the circle of life...but I had a hard time seeing these tiny helpless bunnies get carried off by these big ugly birds.

[MamaBruff]

Yay Rocky Top! You got your birds!
They probably got held up by the weather like so many martins this year. Hopefully the SYs will get there soon too and you will have another pair to keep them company.

[Siberman]

It might help to have a Siberian Husky in the yard . Loki tries to catch anything near his food bowl with no success ( except for the occasional skunk or possum ) . Most of the birds here just take it in stride but the S & S are terrified of him .

Good dog !

[Siberman]

Siberman, I never thought of dry dog food! That dang safflower seed is popular with NON S&S, but is $11 for 6 lb. I really have to cut my costs this year...

Be careful and watch the protein / fat content . I've got a Bluejay that weighs about 5 pounds .