oh man .. i cant even get past the first ...

WHAT AN INSULT TO YOURSELF!!!

HAVE YOU BEEN NEUTERED?? .. DO YOU LACK MASCULINITY ???

what the heck ...

from here on out.. please refer to yourself as BIG DADDY ... not as some emasculated man ... mr mom .... pshaw ... whats next a training bra or as cramer called it.. a man bra ????????

criminey ...

man up dude ...

ken

ps: use a bungee.. wrapped around the branch ... onto itself ... i use that to also hang wind chimes ...

pps: the better insult.. having grayed in my 30's ... everyone telling me i had beautiful grandchildren ... double pshaw is all i can get away with on GW .... usually stunned them into silence when i said daddy ...

ppps: and get yourself a manly diaper bag ... none of these flowery bears and aminals ... i had a dark green one ...

pppps: and use my personal email to send me a note if you EVER need to talk about the whole situation .. been there .. done that.. still at it ...

ppppps: see link.. daughter spent the first 2 years napping in the yard with me.. and really enjoyed when i wheeled her around the yard ..... and its packs down for travel ... nothing like having the babe sleep in a familiar bed ... and with the sun shade.. and netting.. no bugs.. and no sun ...

pppppps: CONGRATS.. boy ??? ... girl????

Here is a link that might be useful: the dark blue one

What we tell our clients that come out to the bird observatory is your seed drives what kind of birds you want to attract. So first, figure out what you want, then adjust your seed accordingly. Your County or State Extension should have literature for your area.

Dan

hey lucy .. splain this to me...

why do you need to feed the native birds .. not unlike native trees .. plants.. etc.. they should be more than capable to fend for themselves ....

that said ... woodpeckers do not cause the problem.. they appear due to a pre-existing problem.. so your encouraging them is moot ...

now.. if you were attracting something like a sap-sucker.. which IS THE PROBLEM.. then you would be the problem ...

ken

Actually, with habitat degradation and boring landscaping it is harder for some birds to find food. And many people enjoy having them in the yard, and that is reason enough.

BTW, take an old inner tube and put it under the string/wire to protect the branch.

Dan

And here I thought this post was going to be about feeding the birds naturally by planting the right trees to attract native insects and birds. Native insects being choice bird food, by the way.

lol. Thanks for offer and the link Ken, I do look forward to getting the little fella outside. Our diaper bag is black with neon green stripes.

Sapsucker! That is my concern. And over in my neighbor's yard on a Bradford Pear I have seen the rows of "o"'s. Still looking for which Sapsucker is native to Missouri.

Bird photographs are more difficult than tree's. While smaller birds move more and get scared away.

Here is the best I could do on today's woodpecker. I think it is a Downey Woodpecker not a sapsucker. Hmmmm, where is that bird forum
{{gwi:326181}}

Not for insects during the winter. Those insect-eating birds have migrated and the ones left mostly eat seeds save for the lucky chickadee who finds an overwintering insect or three.

Dan

In my area if you use bird feed and that bird feed ends up on the ground, you get rodents and other unwanted wildlife.

The native trees and weeds attract birds pretty good.
Don't get me started on woodpeckers.

Another thing birds seem to like, btw, are trees that are very densely branched. I guess they like the cover.

Oh Ken, I put the feeders in the tree initially so my wife could get a good look at the birds while pregnant and inside more than usual. Since then I have been spoiled by the birds going to a handy spot for me to watch them while posting on message boards lol.

My yard has lost some bird cover. Darn rotting Silver Maples and splitting ash trees just couldn't be left in place. Hopefully the new trees replace the lost canopy space eventually.

Downy have a patch of red on the top of the head and they'll go to the ground to feed. That looks pretty close. Friendly and gregarious in small groups.

Dan

maybe, since you like to watch them, put up some houses and plant some understory stuff they like.

The rats with fluffy tails seem to rule the roost around here. Their smarts can invalidate the best laid plans.

I always hang my feeders close to the tree so theres no weight on the branch on my plum tree. Its a horrible tree but theres no point in felling it and replacing it.

get rid of the hardware chain ... and use a bungee

cloth covered... adjusts itself with tree growth .... runner inside..

just for big daddy.. i will try to get outside and grab a pic.. before the snow hits ...

ken

Another thing that works for me is, go out and get a really nice patio set. The nicest one you can afford. Then leave it in an open area. You'll have birds pooping on it in no time.

You can always try hanging the feeders independent of the trees. A post set into the ground with hooks for the feeders or the shepherd's crooks they sell specifically for this purpose would prevent any damage hanging feeding appliances directly to a tree might incur.

As to the pros and cons of feeding birds.......I agree with Dan on this one. Expanding development has restricted/removed many of the natural habitats and food sources and encouraging birds to the garden is overall a very good thing - they are the best natural insect control available! Plus, they are infinitely entertaining. Planting to encourage habitat and to supplement food sources is desirable, but nothing wrong with feeders either. They can bring the birds up close and personal :-))

If you want songbirds, try a "no-waste" mix. Even if it gets scattered on the ground, it gets eaten too fast to hang around to attract rodents. And sapsucker damage to trees is generally more cosmetic than particularly harmful. Since they have a 'preferred' tree menu, you can always avoid attracting them by not planting the trees they like. And as they tend to limit their diet to insects and tree sap, with supplementation from fruits and berries - the seed feeders are unlikely to create additional problems.

The no waste one we use here is sold as Patio Mix. The feeder is over concrete, spillage gets cleaned up quick. During cold weather there is constant use as long as it is kept filled. Lots of different ones come for the suet as well as the seed.

My feeders are pole-mounted with squirrel/raccoon baffles and sited at least 6 feet from any trees or shrubbery, to keep off all the other critters besides birds. I put out only measured amounts of feed each day, so it is usually eaten by the end of the day. Feeding the birds could be helpful to them, especially when their natural food is scarce - what I figure is that the birds aren't going to get fat eating here, but at least they won't starve to death either.

Mostly I focus on creating a "habitat" that provides food for the birds - adding bird baths or other sources of water, planting a host of native shrubs, perennials and grasses, leaving leaf litter and dead wood intact where reasonable, including snags, branches, and fallen logs. Already got the mature native tree part covered. :) There are many species of birds that are attracted to my yard, that don't even get close to the feeders. From what I understand, Sapsuckers are not feeder birds, so I don't think adding feeders to your trees is going to attract them any more than the tree would in the first place.

Btw, there are a number of cons to bird feeders - here is a thread that dissusses some of them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wildlife forum - Can bird feeding end badly?

Terrene has it exactly right: habitat in urbanized areas means recreating a landscape that has multiple canopy layers, wide variety of species, cover, water, food, safety. When we work on urban landscaping as habitat or ecological system, we look at it like Terrene does it.

We have a pair of finches here that invariably comes to drink when I'm outside - they know I'm not going to bother them and the predators will stay away/hidden when I'm there. I'm going out this morning with warm water to melt the ice faster so the remaining birds can drink (one day I'll run electric out there but that's a ways off).

Dan