Hi all!
I've had a feeder for a few months since moving to my new place earlier this year, and at the start I had a great array of birds - Robins, Blue TIts, Great TIts, Blackbirds, Woodpecker and occasionally even a Green Woodpecker.
It struck me today that all I get now is Great Tits, occasionally a Robin is brave enough to go to the feeder but there is approx 12 Great Tits that dominate.
I started to place some mealworms away from the feeder soon after topping up the feeder and for a while it worked - the Great Tits would enjoy feeding off the feeder and the Robins would eat the worms after waiting patiently for me to top up the feeder. All good for a few weeks, now the Great Tits immediately hog the meal worms too and hang about where I was putting the worms.
Short of stopping food completely (which would be an issue for all the birds) is there a way to encourage other birds at the expense of the Great Tits?
any ideas appreciated!
Cin J
Also to add to Cin's reply, the weather we're currently having, perhaps I should say heatwave, will also play a large part in what birds, and insects along with mammals, will be out feeding.
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Westcott said:Thank you Mike.
You're welcome.
My apologies for the delayed response, I've had a few issues here with my battered old body.
Moving on, and in a more positive fashion (my preferred style), it is easy to become over cautious and with all the media hype we see around declining species, climate change, global warming etc, its nice to come across well meaning people who try what they can to avert catastrophe.
More importantly, you're happy to learn and progress forward, and you will reach the happy medium.
One little thing to share with you, until an incident a few years ago, I used to do a lot of mountaineering and wild camping, both very responsibly. In my quest to be able to be in many environments as safely as possible, I did a survival course a few decades bak run by a nearby TA unit.
It was very interesting and answered so many silly questions, that really were not silly. Anyway, we're all very aware of the need to stay hydrated, and that was nothing new to me even back then. But, what was very interesting, was proper hydration, not just taking cold or hot drinks, but which and when.
We all love that cold beer on a hot summers day, or a nice cold glass of squash with ice, and boy, it does feel good at the time.
But!
How often have you suddenly felt hot soon after drinking that nice cold drink?
The advice then (and as far as I'm aware still is) was not to drink cold drinks, but hot drinks.
Why?
Because you body is a unique complex biological engineering masterpiece that works hard to maintain the necessary equilibrium for you to perform your daily tasks. To drink cold drinks is like giving your inner body a sudden cold shock, so what it does in response is increase the blood flow to rapidly warm you up!
The consequence, you get hot!
All living creatures will have the same biological set up, and what I'm saying is for the birds, just place water out, no ice, because they want to keep as cool as they can.
Stick with us, we're a bit crazy at times, but like you, we want the best for nature and there will often be someone that can help you enjoy watching and feeding the birds, and please feel free to share your stories and any photos.