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Bird Feeder
updated: Jan 02, 2013, 3:32 PM

I'd like to put up a bird feeder, and wonder if anyone has suggestions on what food and type of feeder is best around here. I am in San Roque. I don't see many kinds of birds, but am hoping the right feeder will be patronized by full-time as well as migrating birds! Also, is there a way to prevent the fallen seeds from 1) sprouting, and 2) attracting rodents?

Places People Are Talking About:

La Cumbre Feed

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 359393	2013-01-02 03:44 PM
I use a combination of nyjer seeds in socks and a wild finch mix. I purposely don't use seed mixes containing sunflower because the jays will dump out all other seeds just to get the few sunflower seeds in the feeder. La Cumbre feed has good wild finch seed. You may consider bringing feeders in at night to prevent rodents from emptying them. With the above feeders I get goldfinches all year. In the winter the migrating siskins and white crowned sparrows. If you have a bird bath, then you may get some interesting migrants too.
COMMENT 359394	2013-01-02 03:45 PM
The suggestion is to not put up a bird feeder unless you plan to keep it there stocked with food forever. This is because the birds become dependent on it and when an owner tires of it and stops filling it, it affects the bird's ecosystem. Or only keep food in it only occasionally, so no dependency is established.
COMMENT 359396	2013-01-02 03:47 PM
Don't put it up at all. Attracts vermin and other undesirables. It's not the neighborly thing to do.
COMMENT 359399	2013-01-02 04:08 PM
OP here. I did not ask for advice on WHETHER to put a feeder up, I asked for advice on what kind of seed to use, what birds I might expect to see, and how to deter rodents. 393, thank you! Your answer was totally helpful. La Cumbre feed, great idea, I forgot they'd have seed. I will never understand why people inject their opinion when it is 180 degrees out of alignment with a question, and in general, strikes a total bummer tone.
COMMENT 359402P	2013-01-02 04:18 PM
How about one or more hummingbird feeders? Get good feeders (La Cumbre Feed and Seed); mix one part white cane sugar to four parts water. It may take a while for the hummers to find the feeder(s). Hang a thin, red ribbon on the bottom of the feeder until they come around. http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html
PAMSB	2013-01-02 04:18 PM
Eddie: I have multiple feeders up (Las Positas/Modoc area) and have for close to 20 years. Love La Cumbre Feed and buy all my seed there. Try the "No Mess" seed for literally no mess...more expensive, but well worth it. Mount your feeders up high enough and the rodents can't reach them. Enjoy!
PAMSB	2013-01-02 04:21 PM
Also, running water is the key to attracting birds. A fountain is a nice addition. We have ours on a timer and it automatically fills from the sprinklers.
COMMENT 359406	2013-01-02 04:22 PM
Don't worry Eddie their opinion is just that and unfortunately only loosely based on fact. Birds do not become dependent because someone puts out a feeder and rodents only frequent feeders if they are already in the area. You will need to clear the feed that drops daily to keep it from sprouting since all good seed should sprout if it is "planted" in the ground. SB does have a known rat problem and rats will visit feeders that have the larger feed. Best to stick with a finch feed there are plenty out there. Stay away from sunflower and other large seeds. Good luck!
COMMENT 359417	2013-01-02 05:21 PM
I've found that when you ask for advise you're bound to get a slew of opinions too. Take what is useful and disregard the rest. Above all, as Aqua once said as a reminder to herself, "do not feed the trolls" as they're likely to bite.
COMMENT 359420	2013-01-02 05:32 PM
The rats grow big and strong on any seed you choose. Your choice.
STRAY	2013-01-02 05:35 PM
After much trial and error over the years, I've discovered the following. Purchase a feeder that has a "roof" to protect seed from the rain, and a "floor" to protect seed from falling to the ground which attracts vermin. Home Improvement Center sells a variety of feeders. Purchase more expensive, already husked sunflower seeds which attracts a variety of local and migratory birds, and what little falls to the ground is eaten by birds intimated by eating at a feeder. While cheaper, the waste from black sunflower seed in their shells end up in your rain gutters, on the ground, etc. Lemos Pet Supply has a variety of seed. Thistle/Nyger socks attract pine siskins and lesser goldfinches, which generally avoid the feeder above. Hummingbird feeders (1 part sugar/4 parts water) posted outside a window make for year round enjoyment. Birds in the wild live relatively short lifespans (a year or less), so one hardly worry about dependence. Lastly, in neighborhoods that are more wooded like Hope Ranch, accipiters (hawks) will eat birds arriving/departing your feeder. We have far fewer blue jays and woodpeckers than we did when we lived in Mission Canyon. Buy a bird book, and have fun.
COMMENT 359423P	2013-01-02 05:38 PM
I agree with a few here un that if a person asks a question, then it's not a stupid question. Why be a horse's a** and try to sabotage the thread? Guess it's how they get their kicks, right? Makes 'em feel good having tossed in their -2¢.
COMMENT 359440	2013-01-02 06:30 PM
If you add pepper powder to the seed, rodents will find it unpalatable.
COMMENT 359447P	2013-01-02 06:45 PM
I use hanging feeders with a roof and floor. No problem with rodents. Never had much of a problem with the sunflower seeds either. I buy my seeds at Costco. I also keep a hanging oriole feeder that uses thistle/nyger seeds. I find that the birds eat the seed that drops and I don't worry about the mess. I just hang the feeders where it doesn't show. They are outside my home office windows so I can watch the birds, but behind some bushes that hide the mess because they are out front and not in my backyard.
COMMENT 359448	2013-01-02 06:45 PM
I have numerous feeders. Ditto 393's advice. And...no neighbors are bothered (unless they are the folks 423P previously pointed out). There are feeders that are squirrel proof (we have squirrels and chipmunks and they have not succeeded in getting to the seed). These creatures are pretty much everywhere anyway naysayers...even downtown...so it's not the feeders attracting them if they can't access the seed. Water is important for birds but the most important thing is COVER. Place the feeders next to foliage where they can quickly take cover to protect them from birds of prey and cats! Watching the birds feed in the morning with a cup of coffee (or in the evening with a glass of vino) is as relaxing as meditation! Enjoy!
COMMENT 359472	2013-01-02 07:56 PM
'No Mess" is the best, and we have tried all different varieties
JOJOFLYS	2013-01-02 08:22 PM
This link ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1077&q=feeders ) will take you to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It has many articles on feeders plus just about anything you might want to know about birds.
COMMENT 359499	2013-01-02 08:54 PM
Thanks everyone! Oh, I loved that tip from Aqua, don't feed the trolls. My new mantra. And STRAY, those are fantastic ideas. Thanks for sharing your well-honed bird-feeding tips! Nothing better than reaching out to people who have wisdom to share.
SEEDLADY	2013-01-02 09:01 PM
I agree with the fact that clean water is a must for urban birds, more so than feed, as they can glean many seeds, berries and insects, but clean fresh water (not too deep--an 1" is about right) is harder for them to find. Have plenty of fresh water and you'll get birds even without seed. I have a wide shallow clay saucer hooked up to the overflow for my RO water system. It draws so many birds! I have a metal screen thistle (Nyger) feeder and a couple of Wild Birds Unltd. tube feeders. They are lifetime- guaranteed. I also have a Cling-a-Wing sphere for feeding black oil sunflower seed to Mr Titmouse and his bigger house finch friends. Sibley's Guide to Birds of the west book is very well illustrated. Audubon leads local trips to learn visual bird ID and vocal sounds. Have fun!
COMMENT 359527P	2013-01-02 10:51 PM
Unbelievable that not a single commenter here mentioned pigeons. Any kind of seed feeder (tube or "house" model) is going to attract pigeons, sooner or later. Unless you are miles outside of town. Pigeons can flap their wings and sit on the teeniest little perches and wreak havoc on your birdseed budget. You may even be lucky enough to attract Band-tailed pigeons, but their numbers are dwindling. They will start as two or three and soon you'll have a horde of 20. SEEDLADY has a suggestion I will second: the Cling-a-Wing plastic sphere. Get the larger sized one from Duncraft.com. (If it yellows within the first few months, send it back. Tell them you want the better plastic.) Keep it filled with black oil sunflower seed. Island Seed & Feed sells 50-lb bags, and the price is competitive. Buy your proso millet there, too. First, buy some of those popcorn tins, the ones that stand about 14" tall and are 10" in diameter. Eat the popcorn and use the cans to keep rodents out of your seed, during storage. Don't use tube feeders (unless they have protective grid, see below), but do purchase the expensive "house" shaped model that has the spring-loaded larger bird excluder mechanism. Fill this feeder with proso millet and the black oil sunflower seed, mixing your own. 2/3 millet to 1/3 sunflower seed. Mix it in your popcorn tins. Also: You can buy a great fancy-looking feeder (large tube style, Duncraft again) that has a protective grid-style wiring all around it. This will allow in only the smaller birds, thus Scrub jays (we don't have "Blue" jays in SB) and pigeons can't mess with your seed. You WILL attract rodents. Rats and mice go where the free food is, and no mistake. That's just silly to say that the rodents were "there anyway." You will be attracting them and helping them procreate by putting out seed. Rats can climb up any kind of squarish pole. They can climb down any chain. They can jump from tree limbs and nearby hedges. You should see them in my yard. (I have brambles all up my poles and huge baffles hanging above each feeder (baffles keep out rain, too).... [ more ]
COMMENT 359537	2013-01-03 07:08 AM
It is most disconcerting when a sharp shin hawk or other predator bird swoops in on one of the other birds. If your feeder seems unusually quiet, look around and you may see the hawk that is scaring off the regulars.
COMMENT 359582	2013-01-03 08:31 AM
Have a look at the "Droll Yankee Flipper." It is a squirrel-proof feeder that spins squirrels off the perch. The video of it in action is a riot. We have two of them and the seed lasts five times as long now without the squirrels being able to feast on it.
COMMENT 359592	2013-01-03 08:56 AM
I don't use the metal mesh feeders after I watched a goldfinch get its feet stuck in the tiny holes and got attacked by a scrub jay :( Luckily I was able to intervene in time and un-stick the finch. Oh, and don't put the feeders too close to your windows. Yes to fountains! Hours of bird entertainment!
FLICKA	2013-01-03 09:06 AM
I use black oil birdseed, it doesn't grow weeds and grasses; any spills result in sunflowers. All the birds like it, mixed seeds don't suit all the species. You don't have to keep it filled at all times, there is plenty around for the birds w/o becoming dependent on you.
CLAWMARKS	2013-01-03 09:06 AM
I think a lot of the answer here depends on where you live. I have been enjoying my "flock" for almost a decade and I have never had a jay...(out by Ellwood Shores). I buy the big bags of mixed seed at Costco. After trial and error I have ended up with a 3-tiered feeder and have engineered a large tray below it to catch most of the stray seeds (the brown towhees are the biggest mess-makers we get--yet they also keep the ground pretty clean). The only bummer with the tray is that it fills with water when it rains, so it requires some maintenance, and can't be in a permanent position because you have to be able to dump it...ours is on rope. We used to get doves when I had a flat feeder and they stopped coming when I switched to the 3-story. My year-round birds are the English sparrows and the red and golden-crowned common house finches (love!)...and I love to watch the first "winter" sparrows show up with their pretty white crowns. I get excited when I see someone new...common yellowthroat, titmouse, grosbeak, even a strange little group of juvenile blackbirds once (which made me nervous!!). I HAVE seen hawks zoom through on occasion...I figure a bird-feeder's a bird-feeder!! I scoop up the "chaff" with 2 litter scoopers if it gets out of hand, but that's pretty rare. We have a cat who doesn't care much for bird-eating but keeps any stray rodents in check...and their remains are not any more frequent than when we didn't have a feeder! Happy feeding!!!
COMMENT 359613	2013-01-03 09:24 AM
Obviously supporting local stores is best and also most convenient. But I also highly suggest checking out at least the websites of shops that specialize in bird seeds and feeders. There's one website that goes by birdfeeders dot com that I especially like. Also google birdzilla, wild birds unlimited, wild birds LA... for other places. Also go to places like the 2013 San Diego Bird Festival. I think that's the biggest closest one to Santa Barbara. The more you learn, the more fun you'll have. Enjoy your new friends! You're in for a real treat.
LUCKY 777	2013-01-03 10:00 AM
I have an experiment going right now with two tube feeders, one filled with the usual black oil sunflower seed (from La Cumbre Feed by the 50lb bag) and another with a mixed "wild bird seed mix".............. the one entirely filled with sunflower is emptied every other day, the "mixed" lasts 2 weeks. I hang them where I can look out from my computer and see them filled with finches all day, and I do have a large fountain next to them that is essential for birds from all over my area. As for rats, I don't care, I have a Manx squad who find them entertaining and tasty.
COMMENT 359646P	2013-01-03 10:36 AM
Sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but the seed attracts the rats, and if the rats annoy neighbors and if they decide to poison the rats, there die your owls and hawks if they pick up the dying rats -- their blood thinned into a constant bleeding state, without an antidote -- the same way the rats they ate were killed. Believe me, it takes the same, constant, discussion over and over in a birding neighborhood to keep people from putting out rat poison. A bird feeder isn't worth it.
COMMENT 359653P	2013-01-03 10:57 AM
We have 2 versions of the "Squirrel Buster". they have stopped all the pigeons from hoarding and dumping the feeders as well as the jays and woodpeckers (yes, woodpeckers). Their roofs keep the seed dry. We use the black oil sunflower seed (usually from Lemos) and have the same experience with mixed seed that it rots and sprouts with little interest in the other seeds. Had much less attendance at our Thistle/Nyger feeders so we stopped using them. We have plenty of finches and sparrows eating the sunflower seed. Lots of ground birds too. I shovel out the husks and spread on a mulched path. The husks can inhibit some plants so I don't put it on my garden or special plants. We have a red shouldered hawk that occasionally lurks, but it is so cool to see a hawk close up. Even had a very grey hawk sitting on our deck in the rain.
COMMENT 359678P	2013-01-03 11:45 AM
We get a pretty constant bird show in our yard without any feeder. I'm wondering now if perhaps one of our neighbors has a feeder. I know our immediate neighbor has a big fountain, and that certainly helps. We have a pretty standard mix of citrus and oak trees, mimosa and jacaranda. Neighbors have the same, plus a fan palm and a big ash. We get lots of hummingbirds, towhees, mockingbirds, finches, juncos, occasional goldfinches and some kind of little tit flock that frequents our oak tree and lavender bushes. Occasionally we've been visited by a flicker. We also get crows who yell at our cat, but my husband throws things toward them and now when they hear the back door open they vamoose. We have power pole in the yard and it attracts acorn woodpeckers and a variety of hawks, which seem to keep the pigeons in check. We had a barn owl in the neighbor's palm tree; the owl was discovered at dawn one day by a murder of crows who then set to screeching unmercifully at it. The owl just sat there and stared, and the crows wouldn't actually attack him, just flapped and screeched. Very entertaining bird life. Our cat likes to watch, but she doesn't kill them. The towhees hop right around her on the patio.
COMMENT 359682	2013-01-03 12:03 PM
I switched from wild bird food to oiled black sunflower seeds. I get the little birds and about 30 doves. It is crazy! The doves come from all over! I think my highest count was 40, and the other day I had a hawk sitting on the fence.... probably waiting for the little birds.
STRAY	2013-01-03 12:48 PM
@646--you raise an excellent point about not putting poison out to kill mice,rats, moles, gophers, etc. If you feel a need to get involved, spring traps work. On the otherhand, one can let nature take its course. Owls and birds of prey take care of the rats attracted to the fruit trees in our area. That is, if they're not poisoned too via the food chain.
COMMENT 359771	2013-01-03 02:18 PM
Check the contents label on any mixed bird seed. I've found that many have quite a lot of canary grass - round, orange seeds that none of the local birds seem to like (house finches, towhees, sparrows). I used to put some of the clean sunflower seeds on the ground for the towhees, but after about 6 years there came a drought, coyotes took out many of the local cats, and when the drought broke, gophers and ground squirrel populations skyrocketed and moved in. I stopped feeding on the ground and the gophers proceeded to consume all the landscape plants except trees - even star jasmine!
COMMENT 359868P	2013-01-03 05:24 PM
We have two feeders and use the Wild Bird No Mess mix (from either La Cumbre Feed or Island Feed & Seed). Haven't seen any additional rodents as a result, but lots of lovely - and new to us - birds! I've heard that microwaving the seed prevents it from sprouting (a problem with had with regular "mess" seed) and have been doing that and haven't seen any sprouts. A friend said she'd heard keeping it in the freezer (you need a bunch of space) works too, but don't really know about either method.
ACF	2013-01-03 07:03 PM
I use hulled sunflower seed because that is what most birds prefer (they leave most of the millet, so why buy it). The Audubon society says to put your feeder close to a window or far away to avoid fatalities. I finally purchased a squirrel-proof feeder and it has been a success. The food lasts longer and there is less scatter on the ground. I spend hours watching my birds (Mission Canyon). My only problem is the Cooper's hawk, who comes and goes. Thank God for the crows who chase him away.