Bird table

[Merlin5]

I decided to buy a bird table today to go into my otherwise barren garden. I find it very relaxing watching birds looking for worms from my kitchen window, so I thought I'd make it a bit more interesting. I got a fairly heavy duty one with slate roof for £50 from a store called The Range. I also bought a few hanging feeders filled with various nuts and grain and have some hooks to screw in around the table. Apparently the smaller more colourful birds like niger seeds. I'm looking forward to attracting some ti.ts.

It stands about 5 foot high. Just wondering if anyone here thinks that squirrels, rodents, foxes are likely to climb it and poach the food from the birds?

I'm also thinking of buying a bird bath. There's this blue painted clay one for £12.50. Quite heavy and sturdy.
https://www.homebase.co.uk/39cm-glazed-birdbath-blue_p498242
Blue looks very nice. What does Home & Garden think? I'm undecided if blue is good or if I want something more white or grey.

 

[Merlin5]

Good point about the depth of the bird bath, and if it gets turned over, it's probably going to smash into pieces.

I quite like this one. Looks shallower, although may still not be shallow enough? It's plastic that can be filled with sand to weigh it down.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Beaks-Ornamental-Resistant-Anchoring/dp/B07F6BKKRN/ref=sr_1_45?crid=CZMI3K7KZVLU&keywords=bird+bath&qid=1568409410&s=outdoors&sprefix=bird+bath,outdoor,148&sr=1-45

I often see blackbirds, robins, the occasional magpie, occasional squirrels, and pigeons in my garden. I agree that pigeons might well be an issue. I just watched this video about pigeon proofing a bird table. Looks a bit ghetto but might be worth me trying if I find they're hogging it.

And of the four hanging feeders I bought, two are metal and two are mostly plastic. Apparently squirrels and the like will rip open the plastic ones, so I'm probably going to have to consider getting all metal feeders or even squirrel proof cages.

 

[Merlin5]

By the way WTF has Happened to your lawn?

Lol, I know. I used to have a lovely lawn years ago. Then I was out of the country a lot and rented my flat out. The lawn never got looked after properly and has all but disappeared, so yeah, needs a new lawn. I just never got around to it. There's so many weed roots, the whole lot needs rotivating and de weeding. You should've seen it on Monday, it was so overgrown with every type of weed and stinging nettle, a complete mess. I spent all Tuesday from 11.30am to about 7pm taking it all down and got it all tidy again. Kept getting thorns piercing my gloves.

Squirrels will easily be able to get on the table and eat the food and scare the birds away as it’s quite close to the fence. You can get like upside down bowls you put around the shaft to stop them climbing up.
Personally I like squirrels so it doesn’t bother me but they do pester the birds

I saw a mention on a youtube comment about a similar thing to the upside down bowl. Any idea where I can get one and is it one size fits all considering bird table shafts come in different widths and shapes?

 

[Merlin5]

I found the baffles on amazon. They're clear domes. But the hole in them looks to be designed for rounded and narrower diameter metal poles like on feeding stations rather than the thicker square sided wooden pole on my bird table.

Slinky is another solution with hilarious results.
https://binged.it/32FrQpT
But it seems the squirrels get wise to those and usually figure out how to bypass it.

Another solution that apparently works well is to coat the post in grease, Vaseline or Crisco vegetable shortening. I've got some stuff in my fridge called Trex which is the same as Crisco so I might try greasing the post with that. In the US, they sell a product called squirrel slip which is a small tub of non toxic grease that does the same thing.

I just thought, I'd better move it to the centre of the garden. A squirrel only needs to leap from the fence straight on to the roof of the table.

 

[Merlin5]

https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/squirrel-deterrent/bird-table-squirrel-baffle.html

https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/feeder-accessories/bird-table-squirrel-baffle/mbtb

http://birdtablenews.com/

Thanks for those links. They look perfect, particularly as they move and throw the squirrel off balance. Not cheap to buy mind, but a good investment.

At the moment I've seen no activity. Food sock is still full and I saw a couple of blackbirds come into the garden this morning and then fly over the bird table, ignoring it and over the fence to somewhere else, lol. A robin (or might have been a sparrow) entered the garden too but was looking for food on the ground. But I read that robins and some other birds generally prefer ground feeding.

But I've not put the niger, peanut and suet ball feeders out yet, the only one hanging at the moment is general cheap bird seed. I also read that birds are quite fussy and only like high quality seed so I'll l replace it if it stays full.

 

[Merlin5]

I have a niger feeder and it's mainly goldfinches it attracts. It took a couple of weeks for any to show up but they're now regular feeders, usually around the same time each day. I don't feed in summer as a rule but keep everything well stocked during winter.

I've just put the rest of my four feeders out including niger seed. I'll keep in mind that it may take a couple of weeks or so for any activity. I moved the table to the centre of the garden, about 5 feet away from either fence. That might make it harder for squirrels to jump onto. And I've put a little pot of water on the table until I get a proper bird bath.

 

[Merlin5]

Ive never seen Blackbirds hanging from feeders only ground feeders either on ground or Table. It will certainly take days for birds to trust it and yes they can be picky about seeds. I do a mixture of sunflower seeds and a mix of smallish seeds, suet pellets, crushed nuts and dried mealworms. It can get expensive if you let it.

Great picture I forgot to buy sunflower hearts yesterday so those are on my list. Not sure if they can be put onto the table or need to be in a feeder.

We have a community feeder, loads of us had tables and feeders so we all decided, simply pick a popular tree where birds inhabit and pool together. The amount of birds now is simply awesome.

Personally I adore Starlings. Yep, they are greedy but they are on the decline, Starlings were part of childhood (like Hedgehogs) you used to see loads, now...

We have resident Magpies, Crows and Pigeons, they are ground feeders (along with our Robin's). Crows given that they are the largest are so nervous, whereas Robins potter along.

Peanut butter, by gum, Starlings love the stuff.

Our Squirrels tend to plan a raid and attack as one, one neighbour keeps building (humane) monoliths to keep the squirrels at bay - it never works.

Lol, I just about remember that advert. Excellent.

Ill be honest and say I dont think it will work if Im honest. Squirrels are like ninjas. I mean the hood might work but they will find another way.

I think you're right. They eventually find their way around a slinky toy, I would imagine they'd also figure out how to conquer the squirrel baffle.

 

[Merlin5]

These are what I use on the ground and on the table.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RSPB-Sales-Ltd-Ground-Feeder/dp/B00CMJL53S/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2P5MIUD2MB66O&keywords=ground+feeders+for+birds&qid=1568545706&s=outdoors&sprefix=ground+feeder,outdoor,148&sr=1-6

The seeds have to be off the bottom or when it rains the seeds are just sitting water.

It really is a bit of a learning process with bird feeding and you just have to adjust at every lesson. Or just put seed out and let them get on with it.

I have found the more effort you put in the more fussy they become and my birds are fussy buggers now!
Everytime I did something to try to keep the suirrels from the food it just seemed to **** them off and they would start to chew the hanging feeders and just about anything as if they were trying to make a point.

I'm very tempted to buy a mesh ground feeder like that to feed the blackbirds and robins. Will I be attracting squirrels and other pests though?

 

[Merlin5]

You could put it in the table if it fits.

Just putting that table and food in has already peaked the interest of squirrels. As I say you are now a squirrel feeder as well. Make peace with it.

There are loads of these types of things. The large mesh one will allow blackbirds and skinny pigeons in but the small mesh on will not, just small birds. In my case the squirrels just dug a tunnel under it anyway. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004OAU6XS/ref=psdc_4363369031_t1_B0010VHCWW

Yes, I should think word is getting around squirrel and bird Facebook.

I suppose I could put any old dish on the ground with some food.

I've just taken a small handful of nuts and seeds from the feeders and placed onto the table for good measure, and have placed the little pot of water on the ground. At the moment I don't care if pigeons or squirrels arrive, I just want to see something happening.

Hah, just got my first catch and it took some nuts Nothing exotic but is this a sparrow or robin?

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks Tony. I'll crush the nuts to make them smaller. If I crush up one of the fat balls (which I think is suet) from the feeder, will that be as good as pellets?

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah thatll do for now. Just break it so they can peck at it at the table with out it rolling around. They love fat. What I see is the birds take food in their mouth and then do an up and down. If it gets smaller or is the right size they eat it if it doesnt it drops. I havent used grated cheese yet which robins are meant to love.

Peanuts in spring you have to be careful about as they can choke baby birds as the parents just give it to them and they try to swallow it. Only small crushed in spring and early summer. I mean Im sure adults can swallow half a nut without choking.

Im starting to think I may have dedicated to much of my life to garden birds. Could be worse I guess.

I've crushed the nuts to smaller morsels, and crushed a fat ball. Quite the banquet for the birds now!

 

[Merlin5]

I've got a little book of british birds that I keep by the window and over the last few months have managed to spot quite the variety. I got far more excited than a young man should seeing a goldfinch last week.

Haha, same here, although I'm not so young anymore. I should get myself a british birds book. One that isn't top shelf.

This morning I got excited when I saw my first bird go to the hanging feeders. It went for the general seeds and also the peanuts. It was a great t.it. You can just about see it here

 

[Merlin5]

I have given the squirrels their own feeder They leave the bird feeders alone now

I really like squirrels. I might do the same as you. What feeder did you get for them?

 

[Merlin5]

I have a soft spot for squirrels too The Mrs isn't quite so keen though

I had a wooden feeder to start with but it dropped to bits in no time. Bought a metal flip top one like this in the end:

https://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/Item/.../Squirrel_Feeder_All_Metal_With_Flip_Top.html

Much better.

Nice. I don't have a tree but that could screw onto one of my fence posts.

 

[Merlin5]

Its quite nice having a robin follow you around the garden like an excited kid looking at what you are doing until another one comes and they look like they are fighting to the death.The t1ts are my favorite for watching eat as they go to the seeder take something and chip away at it and then get another, very polite like. Wait until next spring when they are getting food for their young other halve and then bring their young for you too see. Okay its just to show them where the food is but I can pretend. Although I do get the impression from the robins that they do actualy bring them to me.

Saying that I think my oldest robin has died as he had a very dodgy looking leg during early summer. Either from fighting or getting its leg caught in netting. It might have just fixed its leg but it was a big fat old boy and I just seem to have youngish ones at the moment.. 16 years they can live upto I think.Yeah I must get a couple of those feeders and put them at different ends of the garden.

Aw, that's sad if he died.
I like the idea that they might bring me their young to see. This morning was pretty active. I had a couple of the t.its coming and going quite a lot. The cheap seed is being eaten as well as the peanuts and they've started pecking at the hanging suet balls. As it feeds on either, a fair few seeds and crumbs always fall to the ground, it's as though it's throwing them but I think it's unavoidable just from the action of pecking, it's amusing to watch.

At the same time I had TWO grey squirrels roaming around, collecting the bits on the ground, pausing regularly to put paws together and nibble. One of them went up on the fence and looked like he was about to try and jump onto the table but it's a bit too far away. I didn't see either trying to climb up the bird table post so far and hopefully will stay that way.

 

[Merlin5]

Got myself a lovely new stone bird table today from a garden centre for £38. Really heavy which is what I wanted and removable bowl. Bowl is shallow which is good, the water depth is currently about an inch or less, perfect for the small birds to splash around in and not drown.

It's acquired a lot of brown 'rust like' dirt from standing outside the garden centre. Bloke in the shop said I need to be careful with pressure washers on stone but he said it should be ok on this one. Do you think I'll be able to get into the nooks and crannies and remove all the brown stuff with my nilfisk without cracking the stone? Also bought nearly a kilo of sunflower hearts at the garden centre for £2 which I thought was a good price.

Not 15 minutes sitting out there and a robin already jumped in

 

[Merlin5]

People go through a lot of effort to try to age things like that by putting yogurt and stuff on them. I dont know about the pressure washer thing I afraid Merlin. Id leave it personaly.

Have you photoshopped a bird in there or have you got a customer already?

Oh I hadnt read the line about the robin. You have been extremely lucky with your birds so far. I hope you dont live near me and are about to nick all my birds. Ill have to up my game and bring out the big guns. Live mealworms.

I know what you mean Tony, having a patina or aged look gives it more character. I'm just not sure if I like it that much, just looks dirty to me

Yes I do seem to have gotten lucky with the birds so far. Unless you're in north london, no worries about me stealing your birds I've had no luck yet with the niger seeds or attracting finches, so that's going to take some time.
Ugh, I don't think I'd want to handle wriggly live worms.

 

[Merlin5]

Bah, squirrels are now climbing the table and stealing the loose food I've been putting on the table.

Also, I came home today and it looks like mr squirrel has been trying to get some suet balls.

So I'm going to replace it with a metal feeder.
Wondering if this one will be strong enough?
https://www.homebase.co.uk/peckish-natural-balance-ready-to-use-energy-suet-fat-ball-feeder_p493002

The only other plastic feeder I have is for general seeds and is still intact. The peanut and niger seed holders are metal.

Also, I'm going to stop putting loose seed and nuts on the table and buy a metal squirrel proof cage to put on the table just like one of these.
https://www.homebase.co.uk/peckish-squirrel-proof-seed-feeder-green_p383178

 

[Merlin5]

I just don't want squirrels hoovering up all the bird food. I'm going to prevent that if I can, and then I'm going to get a dedicated squirrel feeder so that they can be fed while not depriving the birds.

 

[Merlin5]

Yes, you're right Tony, I should go ahead and order that squirrel feeder first before buying a squirrel cage and metal feeders.

Also, when I walked towards the table the other day while the squirrel was on it, it panicked and successfully jumped to the fence which I thought was too far for it.

So at least I know now that those dishes/bowls to stop them climbing would now be pointless as I can't get the table any further away from the fences or anything else in my garden that it could use as a jump point.