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From: wybranie@dtrc.dt.navy.mil (Wybraniec)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird feeding Station
Message-ID: <7160@oasys.dt.navy.mil>
Date: 18 Apr 91 14:57:29 GMT
References: <1991Apr15.225115.3695@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
Sender: news@oasys.dt.navy.mil
Reply-To: wybranie@dtrc.dt.navy.mil (Suzanne Wybraniec)
Organization: David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 51

The first thing I'd recommend for a bird "feeding" station is water.
Fresh water in good weather, fresh non-frozen water in winter.
And much better if this water is running, moving, dripping, spraying,
splashing, falling.  You can only attract seed-eaters with seed, but
all birds need water.  I have a concrete birdbath and have a dripper
attached to the outdoor hose.  This dripper is worth its weight in
gold in my opinion.  I have a "Y" attached to the faucet and each half
of the "Y" can be turned on/off independently.  So I have the spigot
set to *barely* on.  I buried the little hose under a few inches of
grass/mulch between the house and birdbath (must think of lawnmowers
and squirrels).  This provides water movement which is very attractive
and no scum grows in the bath.  In the winter I take out the dripper,
disconnect the hose, blow it dry and leave it buried; and plug in the
Blue Devil heater.  This senses water temp and only turns itself on
*in water* and keeps it about 40 degrees.  Since our hoses freeze in
the winter, I carry about a 1/2 gallon out every other day to keep
the level up, and I scrub/brush it about once a month.  My birdbath was
a gift and is not particularly shallow nor does it have gently sloping sides
like they should.  So I put in a piece of slate to make a section of
it shallow.  If you do this, you too can be known as the neighborhood
nut who gives the birds a "heated jacuzzi with shower facilities, and
a deep and shallow end to the pool!" :-)  Each of these gadgets is
about $40.
 
Second, black oil sunflower seed, with the shell still on.  Put this
(I use a cup or two a day) on a raised platform.  Try to keep your
platform more than 10 feet away from tree branches or house or deck
or anything a squirrel can jump from.  All my branches in the vicinity
are pruned way back, but there are incredibly acrobatic squirrels out
there.  Occasionally I'll still go and scare a squirrel off the plat-
form, but in general I've conceded defeat.

Throw millet on the ground (I use a cup or two a day).  Try to have
this ground space be open - that is, no bushes/porches a/c units
nearby that cats can hide behind and get close enough for a pounce.
I have 2 cats and *do not* have a problem.

The above, IMHO, are the basics.  DON'T buy the wild bird *mixed* seed.
What happens is that the birds who like black oil pick it out (the
companies don't put in much of this good stuff anyway), and the ground
feeders wait for the millet to fall, and the rest goes to waste.

Once you become crazy, add whole peanuts and suet and hummingbird
nectar.  My neighbors only jokingly think I'm nuts because it is such
a pleasure to look or sit outside with all manner of fauna avia
flitting about!  And on a predatory note: remember that all this is
also the instructions on how to build a hawk feeder.

Good luck.  Be patient.

Suzanne (Northern Virginia)