What's in the feeders?




Another Florida birdwatcher asked me on Twitter @thebitboproject
what I use in my feeders. I promised her that I would do a blog soon...so here it is.

Before we get started, I want to remind my wonderful #bitbo readers, visitors, followers, subscribers and fellow bird lovers that I  appreciate you all. It makes me very happy to share my backyard experiences with you.

I am a novice backyard birdwatcher and amateur photographer.  I don't always know the names of the birds, or plants so I will ask for your help, guidance and expertise.  I also try to include photographs and video of  birds, wildlife, plants and flora so you know what I  am trying to convey.

As you know, I  have 5 feeding stations. I use slightly different seeds at each one for various reasons. Mainly,  in the beginning, it was trial and error. I put out seed,  watching to see what worked and what failed. Then as I expanded the feeding station areas and added natural sources of nutrition, learned a bit more about birds and their precarious state of decline, I realized that providing a better quality of seed, protective and well built feeders would enhance the birds in the backyard coming to the feeders.

The zero waste versions seem to be healthier for the yard and garden by not increasing weeds and sunflowers, that took nutrients from the bird, butterfly and nectar producing plants. Albeit, a bit more expensive than the traditional wild bird mixes, I  just put out smaller amounts throughout the feeding stations and along the rock borders, so that our location is not the only place they can depend on for a continuous food source, but hopefully be one of many in their network of available natural and supplemented food sources. It's just enough to last for a day . This helps to keep more undesirable rodents like mice off of the feeders. The squirrels do a good job of scarfing down everything they can get to. We have 4 resident squirrels. Putting the seed at ground level throughout the yard also makes the birds look for the seeds. I noticed when it rains and I don't put the seeds on the stones the birds hop along the stones looking for the seeds.

If you have been following the live feed and the videos on our YouTube channel  www.cbsobirdcams.com you probably have noticed that the feeders have changed several times and that some have been moved to other areas of the habitat.

We have podocarpus bushes along the fence. They were initially put in as a privacy border between our backyard and the retirement community on the other side of the fence. So that we also had some sort of screen against seeing shirtless Bob also. The retirement community put up their own wooden fence leaving a irritating 6 inch gap for weeds to grow between. I  bought some spray from Ace and it seemed to work well.

Last summer I noticed that the podocarpus were sprouting berries. I assume the birds and squirrels ate them as they seemed to disappear by December.

Below are the current feeders out and the seed type

The Hummingbird feeding area 

You can see the arlo with a cute birdhouse cover we use to record activity in this area. 

  1. suet feeder, moist suet purchased at Walmart
  2. a hanging bird/water bath, - water
  3. a finch tube feeder wild finch seed
  4. a 2 port  squirrel proof bird feeder  - zero waste seed

Hummingbird feeders are hung during late spring to fall and have homemade hummingbird nectar. We have two established fire bush plants and two new ones that will take a few seasons to grow as big.
A yellow shrimp plant has been added to this area for nectar

The Firecracker bush feeding station

  1. A woodpecker feeder - seed or woodpecker cake
  2. a platform feeder - peanuts, zero waste seeds, wild finch seed mix and nyjer seed(also catchesfall off from seed cakes)
  3. a finch tube feeder  wild finch seed mix and nyjer seeds
  4. suet feeder.


The Squirrel feeding station


  1. A squirrel lunchbox,- mixture of Sam's Sam's premium birdseed, peanuts  and zerowaste mix
  2. 2 coconut hanging feeders - mixture of Sam's premium birdseed, nyjer seed , peanuts and zero waste seeds
  3. a double sided suet cake feeder,

a young strawberry guava tree- edible berries in the near future
Milkweed- for the butterflies and caterpillars
Florida Flame- future nectar for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies
Firecracker bush - nectar for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies
Firebush - nectar for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies
Pom pom bush - nectar for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies
Pentas - nectar for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies

The PVC feeder
Originally mostly plastic platform feeders
Now 

 5 tube feeders

  1. Dragonfly Squirrel proof tube wild finch and nyjer seed
  2. Copper -  shelled peanuts (changed to a smaller green mesh feeder due to rain) which was spoiling the peanuts at the bottom before they were eaten.
  3. Audubon squirrel proof (green) 2 types of zero waste and peanuts
  4. Birch tube -  fruit, nut and seed mix, suet nuggets and nyjer seeds (only sunflower seeds now)
  5. Yellow tube - wild finch, nyjer seeds, peanuts, premium  wild bird seed, suet nuggets *UPDATE- the yellow tube feeder is now on the fence near the dead dahoon holly tree and I keep it filled with mostly safflower and just a little bit of (mostly millet) wild bird seed. It has to smell mostly like safflower seeds so the squirrels have stopped bothering it.


The Dahoon Holly feeding station
Dahoon holly tree - berry producing tree

  1. Yellow nyjer seed tube feeder - nyjer seeds- moved to the hummingbird feeder area
  2. ( Not pictured)Red metal collapsible cardinal sunflower seed feeder
  3. (Not pictured here)Platform feeder kept empty to help catch falling seeds and shells  *UPDATE removed the red collapsible and platform feeder due to squirrels constantly eating from them and also tried moving it to the pvc feeder but the platform feeder catcher was just low enough to have a squirrel breach so now the sunflower seeds are in the birch tube feeder on the pvc feeder pole
Dahoon Holly - berries for birds and squirrels (update) I think the cold snaps earlier this year killed the dahoon holly its now devoid of any leaves or berries. over $60 down the drain.

Outside of the birdcam views:
We also have a white stone border along the fenced garden edge, stones around the bottom of the PVC feeder and around the hummingbird feeding areas where I put teaspoons of seeds for the ground feeding birds. It makes it easy for the birds to see and access, easier for us to watch individual birds, gives them some wing room to eat and not compete so much with the other birds at the feeders, along with being close to the bushes so they can take shelter from the hawks, snake and occasional cats that come to our yard. I add the nyjer seed to the finch mix and when I put out seed on the stones to help dissuade the cowbirds from eating it.

Does it work...Not as well as I would like.

Photos and video clips of birds feeding in these areas are posted regularly on thebitboproject Twitter, Facebook and IG pages.

Some of the seeds I use most often:




I will purchase other brands like Audubon and other names if I find them reasonably priced and mostly with red and white millet seeds that the doves, finches and up to 4 pigeons will come and eat under the PVC feeder. I also started buying brown's whole in the shell peanuts ($7.99) but found that Walmart sold raw unsalted peanuts in the shell for just under $2 I add a few in the squirrel area and on the stones for the bluejays that are coming daily now for suet balls and peanuts.
Thank you for visiting thebitboproject blog. 
Don't forget to join me for pictures and video clips  on Twitter, FB and IG @thebitboproject
Live feed, live chat and videos are at cbsobirdcams.com


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