c/backyard-birdwatching

My grandpa was right about putting out water for birds in winter

Last December my grandpa told me to keep my bird bath filled even when it's freezing out. I thought it was pointless since everything was frozen solid anyway. He showed me how to add a simple floating solar heater that kept a small hole open. That one spot brought in like 30 birds a day while all the other frozen bird baths in the neighborhood were empty. Anyone else had luck with winter water setups?

Finally got a house finch pair to use the nesting box I set up last spring

I spent like 3 weeks debating between putting the box on the side of the garage facing east or facing south. Everyone online seemed split on direction and I was overthinking it bad. Ended up going south since that side gets morning sun but afternoon shade from the big maple tree. First clutch hatched 4 days ago and I'm honestly way too excited about it. Has anyone else dealt with birds rejecting a box just because of the placement?

Finally saw a pileated woodpecker after 3 years of trying

I've been putting out suet cakes every week for the last 3 winters hoping to attract one, and last Thursday a big male showed up on my dead oak tree at 7am. He spent a solid 15 minutes hammering away at this one spot near the top, and the sound was way louder than I expected from those little woodpeckers. Anyone else have a yard bird that took forever to finally show up?

PSA: Don't buy those cheap hummingbird feeders on Amazon

I wasted $35 on a 4-pack of hummingbird feeders from Amazon and every single one dripped nectar all over my deck. The red flowers fell off after just two days. Anyone found a feeder that actually holds up?

PSA: Stop putting sunflower hearts in every feeder

Had a guy at the bird supply shop tell me I was wasting money on sunflower hearts because they leave shells everywhere. He was right. Switched to whole black oil sunflower seeds last month and the messy hull problem is gone. Anyone else get roasted by a store employee and actually learn something?

Had a blue jay scream at me for 10 minutes straight until I figured out its secret food trick

I've been trying to attract more blue jays to my feeder in Des Moines but they'd just fly away whenever I went near the window. Finally tried putting out whole peanuts in the shell instead of the mixed seed I was using and now they show up like clockwork at 7 AM. This one jay with a missing tail feather sits on the railing and screams until I come out and toss a handful. Anyone else have a bird that demands specific food like it's a restaurant order?

Tube feeder vs platform feeder, picked the wrong one for cardinals

I set up a tube feeder last month after reading it keeps seed dry, but the cardinals in my Nashville yard wouldn't touch it. Swapped to a platform feeder a week ago and now I'm getting 5 cardinals a day plus a pair of blue jays. Anyone else have birds that just refuse certain feeder types?

Those $5 suet cages at the discount store are junk - nearly lost a bird yesterday

Bought a cheap wire suet cage from a bin at Tractor Supply in April, looked fine. Yesterday I saw a downy woodpecker with its leg stuck in the mesh after the wire bent. Had to go out and carefully cut it free with pliers. The bird seemed okay but flew off shaky. Check your cheap cages for gaps wider than your pinky nail, gaps can trap feet. Anyone else had close calls with flimsy feeders?

Bought a $40 heated bird bath and it cracked in two weeks

I saw the cold weather coming and picked up a heated bird bath from a local home store. It was around $40 and seemed solid enough, but after the second freeze it developed a hairline crack. On the third cold morning I found the basin split clean in two, water all over the ground. The birds had been using it every day too, which makes me feel worse. Has anyone found a heated bird bath that actually holds up through a real winter?

My neighbor told me to put out a shallow dish of water instead of a birdbath. She was right.

Tbh I thought she was crazy. I had this fancy ceramic birdbath I spent like $40 on at a garden center. But she said the birds around here prefer something shallower, like 1-2 inches max. So I grabbed an old pie tin, filled it with rocks and a little water, and set it on the ground. First day I got a pair of robins splashing around. The birdbath barely gets any action now. Has anyone else tried the pie tin trick with good results?

My cheap bird feeder fell apart after one storm last Tuesday

I had this plastic feeder from the dollar store hanging in my backyard in Springfield for about 6 months and it was doing fine until that thunderstorm rolled through. The bottom tray just cracked right off and spilled all the black oil sunflower seeds onto the ground. The doves and sparrows cleaned it up quick but now I need something sturdier that can handle rain. Any recommendations on a mid-priced tube feeder that won't fall apart on me?

Appreciation post for the blue jay that showed up during a tough week

Last Tuesday I was sitting on my porch feeling pretty down about a work problem, and a blue jay landed right on the feeder about 3 feet away. It just sat there for a good 5 minutes, looking at me like it was checking in. Has anyone else had a bird show up at just the right moment like that?

That crow at my feeder changed how I feed the whole yard...

There's this one big crow that started campin' out at my platform feeder in Durham about 3 weeks ago. He shooed away all the cardinals and chickadees I used to watch every morning. I finally moved the feeder up against my back fence instead of near the oak tree where he roosts. Now the little birds come back and the crow still visits but only picks up scraps on the ground. Has anyone else had to rearrange their setup just to get peace back in their own yard?

My blue jays taught me a trick about peanut storage

I kept finding soggy peanuts in my tray feeder after every rain storm last month in Atlanta. Then I grabbed a cheap 8 dollar mesh suet cage from the hardware store and stuffed dry peanuts in there instead. Anyone else notice their birds go through them twice as fast when they stay dry?

Shoutout to the guy on birdcall who made me rethink my feeder setup

I was at the local bird store last weekend and overheard this older fella telling the clerk how he stopped using mixed seed because the starlings just bullied everything else away. He said he switched to straight black oil sunflower and it completely changed his yard. So I tried it myself and sure enough, the cardinals and chickadees show up way more now without the messy hulls everywhere. Has anyone else had good luck just sticking with one seed type?

Tried that mealworm feeder for 3 weeks and nothing came near it

I put up one of those mesh tube feeders filled with dried mealworms right by my back fence in Portland, thinking the chickadees and nuthatches would go crazy for it. After 3 weeks not a single bird touched it, I even moved it closer to the bushes. Turns out birds around here are picky and they won't eat dried ones unless you soak them first, who knew. Has anyone else had a bird feeder totally flop like that?

Neighbor Gerald swore by dish soap for killing aphids on my sunflowers. What a disaster.

Gerald lives three houses down and has been birdwatching for like 40 years so I figured he knew his stuff. He said just mix a few drops of Dawn with water and spray it on the aphids that were killing my sunflowers. The aphids died alright but then the soap residue stayed on the leaves and petals for over a week. Next thing I know the goldfinches and chickadees that usually hit those sunflowers stopped coming around completely. Took me two solid weeks of rinsing the plants every morning before the birds finally came back. I lost a bunch of seeds too because the flowers didn't develop right. Has anyone else had a backyard remedy backfire like this or am I just bad at following directions?

PSA: A blue jay scream changed my whole morning routine

Was making coffee at 5:30 AM last Tuesday when a blue jay started screeching nonstop outside my kitchen window. Turned out a Cooper's hawk was perched on my neighbor's fence. Now I leave the window cracked every morning just to hear the alarm calls. Anyone else use bird sounds to spot predators before they hit your feeders?

I used to just scatter seed on the ground like a chaos goblin (now I actually use a platform feeder and my yard is a bird sanctuary)

For two whole years I just tossed sunflower seeds and millet directly onto the grass. I thought feeders were just for show, honestly. Then last spring a pair of mourning doves got into a weird territorial scrap over a single kernel right by my patio door (it was like watching a slow motion soap opera). My neighbor actually yelled over the fence "you're wasting half that seed to squirrels" and I was like, wait, he's right. So I grabbed a basic tray feeder from the hardware store for like $12 and now I get blue jays and cardinals every morning. The doves still visit too, but they have to share the platform like civilized birds. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized your setup was completely wrong?

Vent: Why does everyone keep calling sparrows 'finches' when they have completely different beak shapes?

I spent 20 minutes last week explaining to my neighbor that the brown bird with a thick cone beak at her feeder was a house sparrow not a house finch, and she still posted a photo online calling it a finch, so does anyone else get annoyed when people mix up these common backyard birds or am I just being too picky?

My neighbor made me feel bad about my bird feeder setup

Old man across the street saw me filling my tube feeder with cheap mixed seed and told me I was basically feeding the squirrels and house sparrows, not the cardinals and finches I wanted. He showed me his black oil sunflower feeder and how the birds changed overnight, and I gotta admit he was right after watching my yard for a week. Have you ever switched your feed and seen a totally different crowd show up?

Spent $40 on a fancy heated bird bath that cracked after the first freeze

Bought one of those ceramic heated bird baths from a garden center in Denver, worked great for three weeks until a single night below 20 degrees split it right down the middle, has anyone else had better luck with the metal ones?

The blue jay that figured out my suet feeder lock

Last Tuesday I watched a blue jay spend 20 minutes pecking at the latch on my new suet feeder until it popped open, and he flew off with the whole cake. Has anyone else had a bird outsmart your feeder setup like that?

Tried to ID a bird from memory and got humbled by a recording

I was sitting on my porch in Nashville last Tuesday, heard this really unique call coming from the oak tree. I was dead sure it was a wood thrush based on the flutey sound. Spent 20 minutes trying to confirm it on my phone app, but the recording kept matching a Swainson's thrush instead. Turns out my memory of the song was wrong, and I had to re-learn the difference in pitch. Has anyone else confidently misidentified a bird by ear like that?

My neighbor in Portland said something about the robins that I still think about every spring.