Feeding birds in Winter.

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
Olwen
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby Olwen » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:43 pm

I've been putting out fruit for the birds for the past 2 or 3 weeks. My customers were mostly silvereyes and a few blackbirds. About 5 days ago I put out a kiwifruit that didn't get entirely eaten and since then I haven't seen any silvereyes at my feeding post nor are there very many in the garden at all.
I suppose they could have found something better somewhere else, we live alongside the town belt. I would be interested to hear if this has happened to anyone else.
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zarkov
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Location: Torbay.

Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby zarkov » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:56 pm

Haha.

Your customers voted with their feet/wings.

On different note; how do you feel about feeding chicken to birds?

I usually throw the remains of a roast chicken on to the back lawn, where it soon disappears beneath a flock of whatever gets there first.

But I can't shake the feeling it's somehow morally dubious...
Olwen
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby Olwen » Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:56 pm

Haha! I think you can rest easy - birds eat other birds and we eat other mammals. Don't feed chicken to your chooks though. That was the lesson we learnt from Mad Cow Disease, wasn't it?
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zarkov
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Location: Torbay.

Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby zarkov » Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:24 pm

Update:

Started feeding again recently, with attention to my new bedroom window feeder, which being of the trough type is mainly for the Wax Eyes, although Tui use it also.

The dedicated Tui feeder {which has feeding slits} can't be accessed by the wax eyes and has steady traffic.

Currently supporting around 5 Tui [I think], and 20 Wax Eyes.

https://youtu.be/AIXemJdidlQ

Vid is the view from my bed in the morning, mainly Wax Eyes, but a Tui puts in an appearance. The Wax Eyes warn each other off with a wing vibration that doesn't look very scary to me, but then I'm not a another Wax eye.

It's a work in progress, trying to get the light right and position of the feeder to show the birds to best advantage.
Olwen
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby Olwen » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:43 pm

Thanks. It's a good close-up view of the speedy lives of waxeyes.
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zarkov
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby zarkov » Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:45 am

Because of the drought this summer, I've had my bedroom window feeder filled with water for passing birds.

It's mainly used by sparrows, which makes sense since they're seed eaters.

I'm surprised to discover I've grown quite attached to them, seeing them arrive in the mornings and taking a drink.

It's obviously an oasis at the moment.
Olwen
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby Olwen » Fri Apr 24, 2020 7:34 pm

That's a good idea. I leave containers about to catch water but something more formal would be cleaner.
Jan
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby Jan » Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:26 am

Even if you don't feed birds in your garden, it's always a good idea to provide containers of water that aren't too deep for them to bathe in and drink from. The other day our left-band bellbird got down into a casserole dish, that was being used to water small mint plants in pots, and fossicked around completely out of sight, so that it couldn't have seen a predator coming. I stood and waited for him to reappear, got the impression he had done it before as there were other containers with water that he might have used. We have a right-band Bellbird and at least one unbanded bird as well, so I know who's around, thx to Peter Reese and the banding team.
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AngryBird45
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Location: Waimakariri District, Canterbury
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby AngryBird45 » Sat Jun 05, 2021 5:19 pm

The silvereyes in my neighbourhood are comparable to cats in how they completely ignore my 6 (yes, six) feeders especially for them.
133 birds on my life list since 17 June 2020, latest bird Common Tern.
93 birds on my 2024 year list as of 6:50pm 13 January, latest bird Indian Peafowl.

15 y/o birder from the Waimak and Paradise Shelduck campaigner: facebook.com/paradiseshelduck.
ZionCooper
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Re: Feeding birds in Winter.

Postby ZionCooper » Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:05 pm

Spread out some bird seed today and the finches came in fast, not caring I was a metre away in the house. There were 10 greenfinches (2 juveniles 8 adults) 2 chaffinches (male, female pair) and a large amount of sparrows.

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