Maybe a little less worrying, the cardinals will come, even if the food happen to be cheap as mine is. The bluejays, maybe another thing, they are all over my yard too, but never seen any at the feeder. The cardinals came right after the young could fly and now they and the titmice fight over space, funny they scare the titmouse but the male mummers will actually run them off at times when traffic is heavy.

I could use some insight on an injured titmouse that is coming to the feeders, he lost a foot still has the leg, but nothing to hold on with. You can check it out at birdwatchers forum, where you posted at, about the forth down listed, wrong it's right under yours on the list.

Good luck with the jays might wish they hadn't have come in the end, they are sore losers, but they a beautiful. I do give them credit thought they are very family oriented, papa does his part, where the hummer male is gone gone gone.

I read your thread and put in my 5 cents - it looks like the little footless guy should do just fine! :)

I hear that blue jays like peanuts. I'm thinking about putting out another hanger and hanging those twisted peanut holder things - the squirrels can have at it and the blue jays can come too if they want some. A birdbath, too, for water for them. I'm thinking once it gets closer to winter and food gets scarce they will maybe become more interested.

Be sure to have enough shrubs and cover closeby your feeders for quick retreats in case a predator decides to visit your backyard. Maybe you already have a hawk nearby and the birds are super cautious. A bird bath would attract more birds, especially if there's running water.

Blue Jays definitely like peanuts; once they start to come for them, they won't stop... this is a bit of a problem since nesting birds despise and fear blue jays- for good reason since they eat babies. At least the ones here do. All my birds fear the Jays and scatter when they see them. I've stopped feeding them peanuts because I care for the smaller birds a tad more...

Uh oh. I will have to make sure to put any blue jay/squirrel feeders away from the songbird feeders. They live VERY close to the feeder as is, so hopefully there'll be no issue... If there is, I will take the feeder down, or hang it in the tree the Jays live in instead.

I don't know about a running water fountain, but I was looking at those battery powered things you put in the middle of the bath and it disturbs the water so it ripples and makes it look more appealing. Depending on how long those batteries last, I will look into one of those, as long as I don't have to change them daily.

I do wonder, in an unrelated note, why on earth the sparrows flick the seed from the feeder. It's a kind of cylindrical feeder with a lip all the way around that the birds can land on and eat from, and the sparrows will eat and every few bites flick a bunch of seed onto the ground with their beaks. I don't mind it I guess, at worst some bird-friendly grass will grow there for them, but really? Come on, just eat it! don't waste it!

the sparrows will eat and every few bites flick a bunch of seed onto the ground with their beaks.

Watch them foraging on their own - they flick their beaks side to side to flip over leaves and move things to find the seeds. The reflex stays even when they have a feeder full of seed.

It took the birds 6 months to find my nyjer feeder when I first put it out. When they finally found it, the goldfinches attracted other birds to my other feeders. I had them hanging off the bottom of our seldom-used 2nd story deck, so they were semi-shaded.

I also made a "bird bath" out of a boot tray - it was less than an inch deep and a good 2' long and about 16" wide. It was black, so I wouldn't put something like that out in the sun. I changed the water and scrubbed it out every day, and "sterilized" with vinegar (and rinsed and scrubbed again) about once a week. I sterilized the scrub brush in a bucket of bleach water overnight before sterilizing the "bird bath" the next day, so that the brush was fresh and clean for the post-vinegar-bath scrubbing.

So - the night before, on cleaning day -
I dump and scrub the bird bath;
then fill it with vinegar;
put the brush in the bleach water.
Next morning, dump the bleach water and the vinegar
thoroughly rinse the brush and let it dry in the sun (helps drive off any remaining chlorine).
scrub out with the sterilized brush
Thoroughly rinse the bird bath;
start over again

This winter I hope to make a large ceramic platter (I'm an amateur potter) with a glazed interior that will tolerate being sterilized with a bleach solution. I plan to bury that to it's lip in one of my raised beds and keep it filled with water via a dripper line. I'll make something similar for use as a butterfly puddler.

Having a water feature can only help in attracting birds, but patience will help as well.

One thing I would suggest is to get rid of the "songbird mix" and feed only black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, and nyjer (in a tube feeder), in the way of seed. Every "songbird mix" I've ever seen has a high proportion of "junk" seed in it which attracts house sparrows, to your peril.

At my former residence, they weren't much of a problem, but here they have mobbed my feeder to the point where I had to stop using it. They even scared my hummers away, as well as the mountain jays, mountain blue birds, and quail. Sadly, their seed scattering ways seemed to actually ATTRACT pigeons, LOL!

I'm going to try to put the sunflower seed (which has to be hulled due to the former owner of this place having put in Astroturf - impossible to clean sunflower hulls out of) in a mesh feeder that only clingers can use and see if that helps. Otherwise, it's hummingbird feeders and the quail block, and the nyjer mesh feeders I have, and that's all I'll be able to put out here. Maybe an upside-down tube feeder. But nothing for the house sparrows!

I actually rather enjoy sparrows and pigeons and all those birds people seem to hate, LOL. My time rehabbing birds has made just about all of them rather endearing to me - Robins are filthy little birds who enjoy playing in mud, but I even like them, haha. I have never seen the beak flick before by Sparrows, just a few that visit my feeder - they do not all do it. I will have to watch closer when they're foraging naturally Either way, so long as everyone gets along, any species is welcome at the feeders. So far, so good, nobody is a bully, save for maybe the single Goldfinch who visits on occasion rules the roost when he stops by, chases off every other bird at the feeders. The squirrel even does cleanup and eats the seeds that are flicked onto the ground. If any species becomes a problem, well, then we'll talk! Lol

I do plan on putting out some black oil sunflower, I know it will attract the cardinals for sure to come more often to the feeders. They don't care as much for the seeds. The water feature is a definite thing - the boot tray is a great idea! I was also considering getting a glazed ceramic flower pot dish - the things you put under the pots to catch water. Those are nice and shallow, and I believe I can get a few at the local garden center.

I was also interested in a hummingbird feeder, but I have not seen any around me... Do you think they will come if I put out a feeder? Last time I tried at my old home it just attracted wasps, no hummingbirds to be seen. I love the little critters and would love some at my window!

Does anybody put out a heated water dish in the winter? How does that work out for you? Thinking about it, as we get some NASTY winters and I'm sure it would be appreciated, but I'm still indecisive.

cfox248: It's getting late for a hummingbird feeder, they'll be migrating soon so you may not see any this year. Next spring would be a better time to put one up. Check the Migration Maps (assuming you're in the east and get Ruby-throated Hummingbirds) to see when to expect them and have a feeder ready for their arrival.

I've used the plain old plastic plant saucers for a bird bath and they're greatly appreciated. Ceramic would look better and last longer. I also put out a heated water bath all winter as well as breaking the ice and refilling regular water baths. It makes a big difference - I see birds at the heated water bath such as flickers and hermit thrushes and robins that normally wouldn't come to a feeder.

Claire

I've started noticing catbirds at my feeder! I love catbirds. The cardinals have been coming by more and more often, too - one of them with a cowbird fledgling in tow. The catbirds seem to love the suet I have out, and between them at the woodpecker that visits it's finally starting to get eaten.

Not tons of interest in the finch sock, but a few goldfinches come by pretty often. the woodpecker likes the finch sock, too. I am thinking I will have to empty it halfway so it doesn't get icky from all the rain since it's not getting eaten fast enough. The mourning doves that live in the neighbor's yard delight in the seed spilled all over the ground (as does the squirrel). It looks like it's picking up, albeit slowly! This weekend I'm heading to my local wild bird store to look at their feeders and their baths. Hoping to pick up one I can put black oil sunflower into, and a second hanger for the new feeder and bath.

I wish I could put up a neon sign that says "Birds welcome here!" haha