You have heard about the shoemaker's kids that don't have any shoes, well how about the Bird Seed Manufacturer's birds that don't have any bird seed? It just seems that my days and evenings are so full that I don't get out in the yard much to top up those feeders. So my 2012 resolution is to actually fill the bird feeders more.
After coming home from visiting relatives over Christmas, I found the feeders in my backyard empty as usual and went out to put new food in the feeders. Of course as a bird seed manufacturer, we end up with the odds & ends from the bird seed operations, seed samples from this vendor and of this product or another that I end up dragging home. So for the fun of it, I filled my feeders with different products and spent the afternoon doing backyard feeder observation.
Of course with our Mother Nature's bird feeding system, we recommend this. Ideally you want to separate the birds in the yard to avoid conflict between them and to encourage the maximum diversity of birds in your backyard. I sometimes forget to do this myself though and watching the birds eat that afternoon just reinforced how important this is.
I had put tree nuts in my peanut feeder. Tree nuts included almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, hazelnuts, pecans etc. In fact most nuts with the exception of peanuts are a "tree nut" and we use tree nuts in some of our more exotic mixes. However, I do not typically feed pure nuts and if I do, I would usually use peanuts. Well I was so impressed with the birds reaction to the tree nuts. The nuthatches and downy woodpeckers in my yard were head over heals for the tree nuts. Meanwhile the finches definitely preferred the sunflower or nyjer seed while the juncos and doves were hanging out underneath and around the millet feeders.
Lesson reinforced: Different food for different birds. Diversity is the spice of life so mix it up this year at your bird feeders - oh and try to keep them full too!
After coming home from visiting relatives over Christmas, I found the feeders in my backyard empty as usual and went out to put new food in the feeders. Of course as a bird seed manufacturer, we end up with the odds & ends from the bird seed operations, seed samples from this vendor and of this product or another that I end up dragging home. So for the fun of it, I filled my feeders with different products and spent the afternoon doing backyard feeder observation.
Of course with our Mother Nature's bird feeding system, we recommend this. Ideally you want to separate the birds in the yard to avoid conflict between them and to encourage the maximum diversity of birds in your backyard. I sometimes forget to do this myself though and watching the birds eat that afternoon just reinforced how important this is.
I had put tree nuts in my peanut feeder. Tree nuts included almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, hazelnuts, pecans etc. In fact most nuts with the exception of peanuts are a "tree nut" and we use tree nuts in some of our more exotic mixes. However, I do not typically feed pure nuts and if I do, I would usually use peanuts. Well I was so impressed with the birds reaction to the tree nuts. The nuthatches and downy woodpeckers in my yard were head over heals for the tree nuts. Meanwhile the finches definitely preferred the sunflower or nyjer seed while the juncos and doves were hanging out underneath and around the millet feeders.
Lesson reinforced: Different food for different birds. Diversity is the spice of life so mix it up this year at your bird feeders - oh and try to keep them full too!
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