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EXPLORING NATURE

Photo from Metro Creative

EXPLORING NATURE

EXPLORING NATURE: FEEDING BIRDS

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Lots of people enjoy watching birds — and also feeding them.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 50 million North Americans feed birds, dispensing more than a million tons of bird seed every year. They spend some three billion dollars a year on bird food. Wow.

If you want to attract birds to your place, a good place to start is putting up a seed feeder.

When it comes to feeders, the choices are many. I personally use a plastic tube feeder with three portals and feed black-oil sunflower seeds in that feeder. I hang up a cloth seed sack filled with thistle seeds to attract goldfinches in the winter.

At one time, I hung up a big green metal feeder with a pressure bar at the feeding portal. Big birds would close the portal, but small birds could feed in peace.

Window feeders with suction cups will let you see birds up close, and tray and platform feeders are good for attracting doves and other ground feeders.

Hopper feeders hold several pounds of seed and don’t require frequent filling.

Since I have aggressive squirrels around my place, I hang my tube feeder from the house eave so it is harder to get at. I also will squirt hot sauce on the seeds to discourage the squirrels.

Experts say it is best to place feeders nine feet below an overhang of any kind. On pole-mounted feeders, they recommend threading a toy Slinky up the post, attaching it to the feeder and then trimming it so it is about one foot off the ground. In theory, what goes up must come down and the squirrel will just bounce around.

Some folks surrender and offer squirrels their own feeders far away from bird feeders and stock them with dried corn cobs, peanuts and low-cost seed blends. My guess is the squirrels will just grow fatter eating from all the feeders.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666