Bird Feeder. up close and personal

[Beekeeper]

Just out of interest and for other reasons, i hung up a bird feeder as close as possible to my kitchen window, the idea being that apart from a close up view of whatever was feeding from it, i would hopefully not miss anything, whereas the other feeders are dotted around the garden and half the time i can t see whats going on and even if i do, chances are i have to get the Binns to look through for a decent view.

The feeder has been there a week now and until today, not one bird, i did notice the local Robin yesterday milling around, then this morning in the space of five minutes, loads of Blue Tits, one Great Tit and one Coal Tit who seemed to want the entire contents for himself, he even chased the Robin off when he came to investigate, as i am home for the best part of the day tomorrow it will be interesting to see just what else is around.

Ian

[Dave66]

Hi Ian

I tried this in the summer. I hung a feeder in front of my living room patio doors and sure enough the birds didn't mind one bit.
Enjoy tomorrow

Dave

[SheffieldLass]

I don't have to hang my feeders up close to the house, the birds peer in the windows all the time .. well, they look for insects etc round the frames, sit on the cills, wander around the base of the patio doors. Many times I go up to the windows and see a little face looking back at me ... here they are not bothered by humans at all. And I can be within a foot or two of my feeders outside and they will still use them. The tits are the most fearless, but the tree sparrows are also very tame, and of course the robin, though the latter does not usually hang around my windows. More likely to be at my feet instead. And I have a nice mossy roof, and the single storey porch has all sorts of birds searching for food on it, which is just below my bedroom windows, so I have lots of very close up views there too.

The only thing to be aware of is that by putting the feeders up close to a window that you are not encouraging window strike. In particular don't site a feeder where it can be seen through from the outside, for example bay windows, or when there are windows on two sides of a room. I do have to be careful where I put my feeders as both the living room and kitchen are double aspect.

Melanie

[Beekeeper]

Thanks Dave and Melanie, (Only ever known one girl by that name, its one name i really like) anyway off the point, i appreciate your advice, shouldn't be a problem with bird strikes as the windows are usually not that clean Haha so no bird with reasonable eyesight could fail to see its a window.

As it happened, its been one of those days where i just couldn't be at home, everything went wrong so i am looking forward to tomorrow when i am at home nearly all day, it should be interesting.

Ian

[AndrewB]

Sadly my birds all scatter if I so much as open the kitchen window never mind the back door! I actualy now avoid using the garden unless absolutely neccessary in order not to disturb them!

However there was one memorable moment last year when the back door was open in summer. A female blackbird landed on the bottom of the doorframe, came inside, hopped around on the kitchen floor for few seconds and flew off

[SheffieldLass]

Well today I got a bird strike ... a female great tit dived into the window as it took fright when a crow flew low over. The sparrowhawk is a regular, so they are always alert for that, and I presume this bird mistook the crow for a bird of prey. She landed in the snow dazed. I usually leave them where they are to recover if they are not too exposed, but thought she might succomb to the cold so decided to move her somewhere a bit warmer. Though we were in the middle of a power cut, and the house hasn't yet got proper heating anyway .... so not much warmer than outside. But luckily there was still a bit of hot water in the hwc so she was given a tepid hot water bottle to sit on, placed just inside the back door, with the door half open freezing the house out, where she recovered. But silly bird, instead of leaving via the back door decide to investigate the utility room instead. And found she couldn't get out the window there, I could hear her gently tapping the window ... but she wisely hid behind a tool box on the window cill and pretended she wasn't there whilst I opened the window. After a few minutes she exited, very cautiously via the open window.

[Beekeeper]

lovely story Melanie with a happy ending.

Ian

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

Personally i would never have any feeders too close to windows, the birds see the reflection of trees and other scenery in the window and they just think its an extension to the landscape and they fly straight into the window at full speed and quite often you find them on the floor dead.

We used to have our bird table fairly close to the house because of a rogue cat that would aerial jump at the feeders and attack the birds if it was further away where the cat felt less threatened, whilst the bird table was fairly close to the house and windows we got numerous bird strikes on the windows, some were fatal.

I know its great to watch wildlife close up but you have to be fair to the birds and protect them the best you can which means keeping them as far away from windows as possible, our bird table and bird bath is now in the middle of the lawn away from windows and away from ambush spots where the pesky moggie used to hide in wait. We probably get more birds now to be honest even though we have always had large numbers in the past, binoculars is the best way to see any wildlife up close in my opinion.