I know that birds can take awhile getting used to a new feeder,( its turquoise)but,do they have a colour preference. The new one is amongst the others on the tree,has been for over 2 weeks now,but they just wont go near it.They have no problem with the others. Is it the colour,anyone P.S the others are green.
If its not worth doing today,is it worth doing at all
Hi Ken
Hello and welcome to the RSPB Forum. Great to have you on board here
Interesting question thst you have asked relating to coloured feeders.
The only thing I understand is that dark colours are not easy for many birds to see.
Torquoise is loud as colours go, so it is strange that your birds are not adapting to your feeders
What feeder has the torqoiuse colour, may I ask?
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Hi Ken, and welcome to the forum from me. I hope you enjoy it.
I don't know about turquoise, but goldfinches are said to be attracted to yellow feeders. I have had a yellow diamond wire mesh feeder for months. Originally it had peanuts in, and more recently sunflower hearts. Nothing touched it until 2 days ago, since when I have seen one goldfinch and one blue tit use it. I think it takes a lot of time for some species to trust a new feeder. Starlings on the other hand will use one immediately as they don't care!
Cheers, Linda.
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Hi, you both. The feeder in question is a (Bird Lovers) 4 post,used for perfect seed mix.It came from the Bird seed suppliers. I shall percevier,Failing that, I shall try painting it green with friendly paint or nail varnish. Thanks for your prompt reply. How did the bird count go? Ken
Hi Ken and welcome
This link may be of interest to you:-
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/expert/previous/feeder_colour.asp
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Squirrel, I know your reply was for Ken but I found it very interesting. I have never come across that before and never even thought about it. Thanks.
You're welcome Brenda. It is over 2 years old but I assume the birds don't change their preferred choice of colour etc. in the same way that high street and designer fashion aficionados do with their "this season's must-have" collections!
Hi, My feeders are all green. Sparrow you are right about starlings they are always first. I have some of the very cheap plastic feeders and the more expensive bill oddie ones. I can say without exception that the cheap feeders are preferred by the sparrows. I don't get the variety of birds to know about finches. Blue tits are both grab and go except for when using the suet cake feeder (also green)
No birds eat peanuts in my garden when in the feeder. Not sure if it's the feeder or the nuts but they all seem to prefer the mixed seed with extra sunflower hearts added.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
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I have the usual mixture of feeders from cheap plastic to expensive metal, long, short, thin, fat, plain, caged, tubes, mesh, wood, flat, hanging, green, yellow, black, red. I still can't get any greenfinches or chaffinches!!!!! Perhaps I need some blue ones.
Susan H said:I have the usual mixture of feeders from cheap plastic to expensive metal, long, short, thin, fat, plain, caged, tubes, mesh, wood, flat, hanging, green, yellow, black, red. I still can't get any greenfinches or chaffinches!!!!! Perhaps I need some blue ones.
Hi Sparrow and all
Apart from almost all of my feeders being metal, I have a similar mixture to Sparrow and I don't have any blue ones either. Most of mine are silver or green.
My bird visitors seem to land on all of my feeders equally, although my goldfinch numbers have dropped this winter. It might be because one male who comes every day doesn't let the others land on the same feeder that he is on.
OH will have a fit if I tell him I need blue feeders. Mind you, I told him that I need a heavy duty pole as my current pole is wobbly because the wood pigeons land on it, and he didn't say much.... I think I might take that as the green light to go ahead :-))
My wooden feeder is now fixed onto the fence and quite a few of the birds have been over to investigate whats in there, but the starlings are still landing on my wobbly pole.
Best wishes Chris
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Woodpecker said: My wooden feeder is now fixed onto the fence and quite a few of the birds have been over to investigate whats in there, but the starlings are still landing on my wobbly pole.
Hi Woodpecker,
Glad to see you now have your wooden feeder on the fence. I'm sure if you put loads of suet pellets and some mealworms on the starlings will kill each other in the rush for it and abandon the pole, as long as you remove these goodies from your pole, although mine still use the pinnacle and arms to perch - but only a max of 5 at a time and not for long. The ferals have totally abandoned it and are now using the big bird table, which is what I intended. I am finding the blue tits are showing more interest in the pole now and are staying for 3 or 4 seeds rather than grab and go.
They sell blue cleaning cloths in my supermarket - should I get you some????!!!!
My new robin feeder has been up for 3 days with some mealworms, prosecto and a few seeds - just a small amount of each until I know if it will get used. Today I got a blue tit in it. So far the starlings have ignored it, but I did catch one having a look at it.
My yellow diamond mesh feeder with sunflower hearts in has had its first visitors - one goldfinch and one blue tit.