Kennebec Bird Walk

[rolanni]

So, I'm over here at the Morning Song Bird Food site, and among their helpful tips is How to Attract Blue Jays. And I'm thinking, there are people who want blue jays at their feeders? They should send me their address and I'll ship 'em some of mine. Air mail.

What I want to see at my bird feeders -- are cardinals. Don't get me wrong; I'm very fond of the woodpeckers -- downy and hairy -- who now have their own hanging basket full of stuck-together seeds -- which the blue jays (*sigh*) also enjoy. And of course the chickadees, the nuthatches, house finches, juncos, titmice, purple finches, house sparrows, and pine siskins that grace us with their winter custom. But cardinals...I'd love to get cardinals as regular visitors.

What birds come to your feeders? Which are you trying to attract? What bird book do you keep closest to the bird-watching window? (I like Stan Tekiela's Birds of Maine Field Guide. The birds are sorted by color, which is just about my speed, and the photos are clear and unambiguous.)

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You want cardinals, put out black oil sunflower in an open feeder. Sunflower seems to be cardinal crack, but they can't handle the ports and perches on our tube feeder. Poke around on the ground instead, competing with the squirrels.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I'll second that advice and add to it that you probably need to have some good cover near the feeder to get the cardinals to feed there. Also make sure you have food out at the end of the day. Cardinals like to feed very early and very late in the day, when it is too dark for most songbirds. For that reason, they often become food for screech owls, which is why they like to have cover near their feeding areas.