Feeding birds

[geezer1]

Go easy on me it my first thread.
When feeding birds in my garden, is it best to feed the same thing i.e bread,fatballs,suet,sunflower seeds etc or is it best to vary the diet as we would with humans or is it best to stick to what the birds are used too.

[tigertom]

Hi and welcome to WAB I in general put out more a less what you do along with other treats from time to time such as soaked dried fruit and apples cut up in to small Pisces blackbirds and thrush's love these as do starlings and kitchen scarps from time to time as well but would leave out puting bread out as not that good for them.
I dont think birds get fussy about getting the same food every day like we may do
MIKE

[billybirder]

I think you have to experiment to see what draws the birds in your area. But at the same time, if you encourage birds to visit your garden for a particular food - say suet or sunflower seeds, and then you stop.. well maybe that's not so friendly! Also you sometimes have to persevere until the birds discover what you have put there, so too many changes is probably counterproductive!

[AfternoonLemon]

Good advice above, particularly about not stopping feeding once you've started, I would say. As soon as birds locate a food source, they will return to it, and perhaps form their movement around your garden, so suddenly stopping won't help at all!

Some great 'dos and donts' here too.

Depending on the type of birds you're hoping to attract, I'd suggest starting off with one or two feeders with a general seed mix, located close to bushes/trees as cover. I'd also think about scattering some fruit (apples etc), or sultanas, for blackbirds. These can be placed a bit more in the open I find, as they are slightly larger and more confident birds.

Also include a dish of water, again reasonably close to cover but not in an 'ambush' position.

This shouldn't cost you too much initially, and you should find visitors fairly quickly!

[davecatt]

Hi geezer1 welcome to WAB.

The main thing to concentrate on at this time of the year is high calorie foods such as suet,bacon fat,peanuts and any seeds with a high oil content.

Every calorie counts in winter, also bear in mind that the birds will be burning valuable calories in the process of seeking and digesting food. Suet and soft fats dont take much effort on the birds part,I only feed birds in winter (personal choice,opinions differ on the subject) but when I feed peanuts I give them a quick wizz in the food processor, just enough to break them down so the birds dont have to spend too much effort in eating them but not too fine for obvious reasons.

Dave

[artdemole]

Meal worms are like by robbins but taken very quickly by starlings.Sunflower seed is popular.Stay away from GRAIN seed unless you like wood pidgeon and collard dove....Welcome to Wab....

[geezer1]

Thanks for the replies. So long as i know by feeding what i am i'm doing no harm
cheers

[luckyoldme]

We had nothing visiting our garden when we first started putting out bird food, but follow the excellent advice given thus far (a variety of food, consistently put out around the year, and a supply of water), and you too will benefit from an amazing and maybe surprising variety of visitors. We live in suburban Reading just a couple of miles from the town centre, yet we've had 20+ different species in our garden, including a Goldcrest, Blackcaps, Reed Bunting and Great Spotted Woodpecker plus the usual suspects. Hope you get similar success and lots of enjoyment. Good luck!

[geezer1]

I'm already getting a variety of birds,blackbird,robins,starlings,a couple of blue tits and goldfinches and a solitary wren. I was just making sure that feeding suet,fatballs,peanuts,dsoaked mealworms,soaked brown bread and sunflower seeds wasn't going to get monotonous for the birds.