I guess I should add that I would prefer not to attract House Sparrows, as they are invasive. I can't seem to get rid of them though! (By no means will I ever ever kill or hurt a bird no matter it's species). I don't know what to do and people don't seem to be commenting. :'(

Also, I get squirrels and Chipmunks and rabbits from time to time but they do not bother the birds. I am absolutely fine with them being here. The squirrels are so cute, the baby will chase the big guy and he runs for his life!

Near Fort Worth, Texas, we get a larger variety of birds here when we actually get snow and colder temps. I feed only black oil sunflower seeds, fruit and nut suet for the woodpeckers and occasionally peanuts for the blue jays. Regular visitors are Carolina and black capped chickadees, titmice, Carolina Wrens, all sorts of woodpeckers and occasionally cardinals, blue jays and mockingbirds. Squirrels take a large portion of the food that we put out.

It has been my experience that when I put out cheap seed, I attract undesirable birds. I NEVER use cracked corn or millet or any seed mix. I only use good suet and black oil sunflower. And a bit of niger seed.

Sparrows and pigeons will over run your feeders and scare off the species you want to attract.

Edited to add: I should have said that the niger seed is to attract goldfinches, which is my most common visitor. They will also pick at the sunflower seed. It's not unusual for me to have 3-4 types of woodpeckers/flickers, a half dozen cardinals, 4 blue jays, and multitudes of goldfinches, tufted titmice, and juncos all at once.

I did realize that millet is ultimately what the house sparrows like. They don't really like the cracked corn. I mostly make my own suet using a variety of fat solids and seeds. The doves come in pairs or groups, so I'm not worried about them. I didn't know that finches lived so North in the winter (they only come around when I've got thistle down or seed from the actual plant).

I think I should mention that I live in a suburban area with a few evergreen trees in my yards.

Thanks for the comments, I'll play around with different seeds and mixes without millet to see what's good.

Something interesting and ot- I saw a mouse eating the dropped seeds from some feeder. I walked right up to him and he wasn't bothered at all. After a few minutes he ran to my neighbor's yard. I had no idea they'd come right up to a feeder! I was laughing. ;-) I also found from personal experience that mice also like fruit tree fertilizer and don't like hot pepper suet! XD

Anyways, thanks for the comments :)

kiliandwarrior - 8 assorted feeders and all the seed you listed is GREAT in my opinion. You should give yourself more credit :)

I have several feeders out too and offer a variety of mixes. I'm in St Louis and right now I'm seeing finches, cardinals, downys, red bellied, titmice, nuthatches, wrens, juncos, bluejays, doves, and sparrows too. I'm also seeing starlings... I have been feeding for I think 4 or 5 years and it has taken a while for the more desirable birds to arrive. How long have you been feeding? Have you seen other bird types in the past? If so, maybe they just have other food sources right now.

But I think your list of food sources are great. I'm a big fan of millet. It may be considered cheap but it's much better than milo and the birds really appreciate it. Plus it's cheap as in "affordable". I also put a little cracked corn out. The cardinals will eat it along with the less than desirable black birds.

My advice is to give it some time. Like I mentioned, it took me years to see bluejays, red bellied woodpeckers, titmice, wrens, finches, and nuthatches.. I also learned over the years what feeders and what mixes work and don't work.

Let us know how it goes :)

I took this pic yesterday when we got snow. I have a TON of finches right now.

This pic was taken a couple months ago. I'm still seeing several bluejays daily. They arrive every morning around 8AM :)

Thank you :). I've been putting food out for about 3-4 years. In the spring and summer I get lots of birds that ARE desirable, like more woodpeckers, cardinals, finches, etc. but I don't see them in winter. I'm guessing the fact that four squirrels doing aerial flips off the feeders and chasing each other doesn't help :). Thanks for the comment, I will keep trying and experimenting. Looks like the birds are really enjoying your feeders!

Hmmm... that is odd that you see more desirable birds in the spring and summer. You'd think with cooler weather you'd see an increase in the same types of birds... That has me scratching my head. Maybe it's just a phase.

A couple months ago things got so slow in my yard that I actually started worrying lol. I even started taking notes about what birds I see in what months, that way next year I can compare and be prepared if slow times hit again. Maybe you're just experiencing a slow time.

I'm seeing a hawk almost daily but it hasn't slowed down the birds much. They just scatter when the hawk is nearby and then return a short time later when the coast is clear.

My guess is it's just some type of transition time with the birds and things will pick up soon. You're offering lots of options so there isn't any reason why the birds shouldn't be there.

It's a long stretch but maybe you have a neighbor nearby offering some steep competition lol... But again, I find that hard to believe after you mention everything you offer...

Thanks for the comment. Actually, I bet my neighbor is quite irked that I've got all these birds coming right by his property :-). I have seen a red tailed hawk perching on my fence and in the trees by the feeders (no more than 4ft away). It didn't seem to deter the birds too much. I see chickadees stopping by to eat Safflower seed only when the flock of sparrows is gone. They chase the little birds away if they're already at the feeder. If I could just deter the sparrows I'm pretty sure more birds would come. I'm not sure how to do that, exactly....

Water may be making a difference now that bird baths are icing up. If the birds have to travel somewhere else to get water and there's birdseed near the water, they may not come back to your feeders to get food.

You might try plugging in that de-icer or at least put fresh water out every day.

Claire

Thank you Claire! Good point, I forgot all about the ice bath! (It's been on the ground and a few weeks ago a squirrel was taking a drink. I was surprised to see that!) :)

Here's a squirrel drinking from my heated bird bath last January. I've seen fox tracks in the snow leading to a bird bath, too, and I see birds in the winter that never come to a feeder but really appreciate the water.

Claire

Aw, the lil guy is taking advantage of the available food! So cute! Apparently the entire forest family appreciates the water :-)

Thanks Pat :) Agreed, Michigan winters the past few years have been very mild. I'm testing ways to rid of the house sparrows, I'm sure I'd get more chickadees. I will update if I find anything worth noting. Thanks the the comment :)

kilian, forgot to mention that what Claire said is very important -- water. You can keep water in winter by putting it in rubber bowls and knocking it out when it turns to ice and then replacing with clean water. Yes, I know it may freeze again, but it may not right away and you can change out the water each day. That's a lot of work, but the birds will reward you. Water may be more important to them than food sometimes. You could put the water in other than rubber bowls, I just got them because Claire posted pictures of hers. I think she has some with heaters and some without, but I think she changes them most days in winter and every day in other seasons. I think I'm going to buy a birdbath heater for my backyard this week.

In my younger years I raised havoc with the sparrows and ended up with next to no birds.Since I have let nature determine what comes and we have many sparrows of several varieties. However a very representative selection.No pigeons as in the country the hawks keep the away.We also have ALOT of choice shrubs and trees for shelter etc.Feeding we feed everything including bread for a bakery outlet it is amazing the numbers and species.I have even developed a fondness for my flock of sparrows.Look at the bright side watching the mother sparrows bring their young and feed them s great to me.