Bird lovers of DL, I need some advice.

[quote] ... I noticed that there were less birds at the feeders ....

Maybe they're grammar nazi birds and are shunning you because you said "less" instead of "fewer".

Hey, fellow bird nut! Sneak into the neighbor's yard and find out what is there.

Our parrots talk to the locals all the time...except the hawks.

Try using mostly or all black oiler sunflower seeds. They are high in oil content and are best for cold weather. The birds seem to prefer them where I live.

Maybe seeing you makes them uncomfortable?

Get a birdbath with a water heater. They love the water even more than food during the winter.

Put peanuts out for the blue jays. It seems like I get birds that don’t even like my food. They just come to hang out with the other birds.

I do put out peanuts for the blue jays, R6. I also put out shelled peanuts for the chickadees and nuthatchs as well as lots of black oil sunflower seed, R3.

Birds want three things in the winter.

1) Fresh food-get your food from a reputable dealer who sells a lot of bird food.

2) Water - A heated water feature is a big attraction as water can be scarce in the wnteri

3) shelter - The birds need to feel safe and bushes or trees where they can hide is a plus.

They are just no longer that into you.

Tomorrow night - after midnight - go tear down your neighbor’s bird feeder - pin the job on the neighborhood raccoons

Have you tried suet feeders?

Last year I had some suet they didn't like. Maybe you got a bad batch of seed.

Your neighbor has better porn.

Is there, perhaps, a stray cat hanging around your yard or something? Would probably also be in the neighbor's yard, too, but maybe they have more protection or something over there?

Girl, it’s that huge feather boa you parade around in. The birds are afraid they’ll be snatched to keep it full.

OP, show them pictures of your neighbor eating chicken. That should make the birds prefer you over your neighbor.

R14 may be on your something. We don’t have feeders, but we do have lots of trees with food. We had blue jays living in our yard. My husband also used to feed a family of crows, on demand (they would call him and he’d chop up steak leftovers and put it out on the patio table). Then one year, they all disappeared. We couldn’t figure out why, until through the kitchen window, we saw a falcon perched on the water hose faucet. She was majestic. She’d also nested in our next door neighbour’s spruce tree. That was why the birds disappeared.

The falcon nested next door for two years. Then the neighbour started keeping bees, and that activity meant the falcon moved. Our birds, save for the crows, are back.

^on to something. Sorry for that stupid autocorrect.

The neighbor offers them free Wi-Fi.

R19 Actually, it’s the free HBO that the neighbors have that attract them, counter with Netflix and Disney+ might just work and perhaps a gaming platform that has Angry Birds.

Wasn’t this in a John Waters’ film? Where everybody dies at the end? OP, you know what you’re in!

Here’s my friend, Jay.

Your pussy stinks, Cheryl.

For you, OP. If you like data.

I get lots of birds and squirrels. Black oil sunflower seeds, suet and unsalted peanuts in the shell attracts them. I use squirrel proof bird feeders but put some seeds and peanuts on the ground.

I don’t feed birds. I am convinced that squirrels and chipmunks would eat it all.

I have a birdbath and it seems as if every bird in a 1/4 mile knows this. I will fill it up and look out and they are waiting their turn (or the bullies are running others off) and within an hour or 2 it will be EMPTY. I make sure it is filled during the summer and during droughts at all times - I can’t stand the thought that they can’t find water. I don’t begrudge the squirrels and occasional stray cat that I see drinking, mainly because the birds aren’t scared enough to quit using it.

I love seeing all the birds bathe and enjoying themselves. I always notice when the seasonal flocks come back my way - even though I live in the south and most birds stay all year long.

Thistle seed and sunflower seeds

Chickadee!!!

Did you try fat or maybe some oranges?

One cannot go wrong upping one's feeding game.

I have a birdcam and found that the bird feeder I built is completely coincidentally squirrel proof. It’s just a sawed-off flag staff at a 45° angle, but the squirrels haven’t mastered it yet. It’s slippery, I guess.

OP back to report that as of this morning the birds are back!

Fickle bitches!

But, OP, what did you do? Nothing?

Some years my birds will disappear for weeks at a time in the fall when the cones and berries ripen in the woods around here, but then they always return to the feeders by December.

Correct, R33. I didn't change their food since I already offer a variety of good quality seed and nuts for them. They just suddenly reappeared this morning!

I put seed out on my balcony and these tiny little porker birds spend all day eating. They’re so roly poly and cute. Stellar jays and woodpeckers visit too and if I put peanuts out crows come. They scare all the other birds away though.

This is a starling, right? Sorry the picture is bad, it’s the best I could get.

It’s my first starling so, despite their commonness, I’m excited to have got his photo. I’ve probably captured 10 or 12 varieties over about 3 years, including a banded parakeet.

Squirrels and chipmunks like nuts and blue jays tend to crowd out other species, so I'd skip the peanuts.

Put sunflower seeds in your kids hair.

Sure looks like a starling to me, R37.

Do you have other photos you could post here?

Blue Jays are gorgeous but insanely ratchet. Not a fan.

Ditto for mockingbirds, plus during nesting season they divebomb all cats in their vicinity, especially the timid, non-predatory cats. Hell, they divebombed ME one spring when I was delivering my sister's dissertation to her committee. And I didn't have a phone booth to take refuge in. Which is why I don't fuss at my young cat who loves taking out mockingbirds (and ONLY mockingbirds).

But grackles are THE worst, bar none. We had to take down our bird bath when they invaded one year, and they are unbelievably gross and problematic at cat T/N/R feeding stations, because they nasty up any water they have access to. I mean raccoon-level nasty, with the added bonus of crackle shit in the water bowls. PLUS they're relentlessly aggressive and loud.

But aside from those three, watching birds feed and dip their wings toward you in greeting/gratitude, is an unbounded delight. I especially love the cardinals who seem very family oriented. They're so gorgeous and just make me feel happy and content. In my experience they're also the very first birds (followed by the sweet, gentle mourning-doves) to emerge after a hurricane has blown through -- how life-affirming!

So glad your friends are back, OP, seriously.

No R40, he was camera shy. (I’m not OP, if it matters)

I know, R42, I'm the OP. Any pics of other birds you'd care to share here?

Of course, OP. Here is Jay. All my birds are common birds, but I like them.

Here’s a grackle. They come in a group. Mean.

Here’s a pretty bird. I don’t get cardinals much.

This is my favorite. Give it one second. This is Chauncey. He’s such a spaz.

Just take all the money you spend on bird food and buy a camera and put it in your neighbor's yard.

Then you can watch the birds all you like and let him worry about the mess

I have a feeder on my fire escape in Manhattan, and I put peanuts on the ledge for the blue jays, who are drawn to them instantly, like they have radar.

I get all kinds — it's fun to watch the jays rule the roost for a few minutes (they'll scare the other birds away and sit there cracking open the peanuts and wiping their beaks) but then vanish and let other birds take over.

I had a male and female pair of mourning doves coming around daily for a while. He was totally whipped and would feed her while she sat back, waiting. The house finches are pretty. I've never seen a cardinal in NYC and wonder why.

My blue jays have me trained. When there’s no food, they call for me, and I put peanuts out to shut them up.

I had a feeder on my fire escape, too, and my mean neighbor below demanded I take it down. I don’t blame him. He used to have a bush underneath, so the mess, below, was hidden. After he removed the bush, the mess was visible, so, ok, I just removed my feeder.

When I removed the feeder, I had a blue jay that came to the window and kept tapping on it! I moved the feeder and I have another complaining neighbor, but not to my face. He just gossips about me. Criminy!