More Questions and Answers

Q. I bought a feeder like this one and haven’t had any birds yet, when will they come?

A. The thing with birds is, they’re unpredictable, when these questions come in by phone or e-mail I refer them to the Magic Eight Ball, it’s more accurate. “Magic Eight Ball, will the birds visit Mary’s feeder this week?” Magic Eight Ball says, “My sources say no.” If our government can use one than so can I.

Sometimes you get lucky and birds find your feeder within minutes, sometimes it may take weeks. I can’t tell you when, but I can give some tips to help them find it quicker.

Hang a new feeder in the open, but close to cover so birds can escape a hawk attack. Feeders placed right in the trees may be slow to be found. The feeders right in our large maples are our most active in winter, once the leaves come out they are rarely used. The best trick I’ve used to get bird to a new feeder is to screw or wire a large dead tree branch with lots of small branches still attached for perching. I’ve done this to inactive feeder locations and had birds on the feeder before I got back inside the house.

It’s also a good idea to scatter some seed on the ground, in winter you can just beat the snow down, in summer you may want to put out a pie plate or tray so the seed doesn’t get lost in the grass.

The type of feeder also makes a difference, hopper feeders and especially the green octagonal gazebo seem to get birds almost instantly. The problem is they’re not always the kind of birds you want to attract. If you love grackles and want to attract more, by all means go out and get the largest green gazebo you can find, then fill it with mixed seed, if it’s during the spring or fall migration you’ll be able to count a few hundred birds in your yard. Grackles can detect these feeders from space, they swarm it with all birds on one side so it tips and the contents spill on the ground for their flock mates.

It’s often the uncommon types, like the small bird selective feeders that take the longest attract birds, they are less active but worth it if you want to give the little guys a quiet place to eat.

If you’ve notice a little flurry of activity at a feeder then for no apparent reason, (like migration), there is no activity, the seed may have “bridged” over the hole. That is the birds got all the seed they could reach and the remaining seed is stuck, the feeder appears full but there are no birds on it. Note the level of the seed then give the feeder a few taps, if the seed level drops, this was likely the problem, especially common with nyjer and hulled sunflower.

A similar problem happens with mixed seed, the birds take all the seeds they like from the ports, when they can’t see the ones they like they move on the neighbours. Check inside each port, the seed is likely yellow, the colour of most of the undesirable seeds. You could shake the feeder and spill some of the yellow seeds on the ground where they are desired by ground feeders, but next time I’d just fill it with black oil sunflower only.

Also remember, there are times of year when natural seeds are abundant, given the choice between feeders and fresh seed the latter usually wins out. Right now I have no Goldfinch on my feeders, but our thousands of dandelions are extremely busy, giving beautiful photo opps for the patient.

Once a bird or two starts at your feeder, and likes what they find, the word gets around quickly. Smart birds will follow the even smarter chickadees, Blue Jays announce to the whole neighbourhood when they find a choice feeder station. There is no better advertising than word of beak.

Q. My hummingbird feeder is leaking.

A. This is more of a complaint than a question, but I still hear is several times a week. Usually people think there is something wrong with the feeder and are looking to buy a new one, but if you get another one the same, it’s likely to leak too. I haven’t used an inverted bottle style hummingbird feeder yet that didn’t leak at least a little.

It’s the air space that’s at the top of the nectar that is the culprit, when it warms up in the daytime, especially if the sun shines directly on the feeder, this air expands and forces the nectar out the bottom. That’s also why it likely didn’t leak when you first put it out, the days weren’t as warm.

Here’s a little demonstration you can try with the kids...fill your feeder about half way with cold water, leave it upside down (you may have to place it in and empty dish for support), put it in the fridge for an hour. Take it out, invert it and place it in or over a dish. As the feeder warms up and the air expands it should start to leak.

On a hot day this air can expand a lot, I’ve had the air in my lawnmower gas can expand so much and create so much pressure the bottom got round and it tipped over. The pressure doesn’t have to build up in the feeder because there is an escape out the bottom, it’s just the nectar is the first thing to get expelled.

If the feeder is dripping a steady drip, even when it’s cool you likely have a crack in the bottle somewhere and it’s loosing the vacuum needed to keep the nectar in the feeder.

A leaky feeder will also attract bees, even though the bee guards are in place. They usually go to the lowest spot on the feeder where the nectar drips off. Ants also find a leaky feeder much faster than one that doesn’t leak.

Solution: Use one of the saucer style feeders with a built in ant moat, no leaking, no bees, no ants and easy to clean. They might not be as pretty as some of the bottle styles but isn’t it the birds that are the most beautiful?