Bird feeders?

Anyone into maintaining bird feeders? I just have one that I've usually stocked with black sunflower seed that you can buy at the big boxes for cheap. A neighbor recently gave me a big container of hulled sunflowers and those have tripled the interest in the feeder. I think right now the bids are wanting to get a good layer of fat for the winter or maybe for migration. I have a good view of the feeder from the house so it's interesting to watch, but maybe helps the little guys out too. The water dish has been popular, too. It's been a very dry month.

I tried for a while here but the squirrels are ruthless and never give up. I am hoping all my native plants and seed heads will help the birds along at least a little bit. Yesterday, I actually saw a hummingbird feeding on the last of the flowers which seems kind of late in the season.

Depending on perspective, squirrels could be part of the fun. Utube or the web has a number of deterrents. One that has looked interesting is a slinky on the pole holding the feeder so when they try to climb, they end up running up the endless slinky. My feeder is a tube that holds the seed surrounded by a mesh cage or globe. The mesh cage is small enough to keep the squirrels away from the tube, but large enough for the birds to get into the cage.

It does seem late for hummingbirds?

The slinky sounds like an inexpensive option. Today I watched a squirrel drag the last butternut squash across the yard and over the fence. It was bigger than him so made me laugh.

We've had success with the slinky for several years now.

We have hummers who stay year round here, and we just put up our feeder even though there are still bugs around for them to eat. The 4-1 sugar solution gives them energy. We end up bringing the feeders in at night so they don't freeze, then replace them early around sunrise.

We currently have two suet feeders up. I love the Northern Flickers; they look like clowns to me. We've had a number of other visitors too, mainly nuthatches, chickadees, pine siskins and American Goldfinch.

We have sunflower seed (no shells) all ready to go, but going to wait a while to put those feeders out.

I had to take my suet feeders down. I have stainless steel cap on my fireplace insert vent. The flickers have discovered the loud noise of drumming on the cap, which reverberates through the house. It's worse during mating season, but all year. There are fewer now, but at one time I counted eight in the yard.

My usuals are chickadees, American Goldfinch, House Finch, nuthatches, and bushtits. A few of the overwintering Juncos just showed up. I get some unusuals through the year. There are also a cooper's hawk and a scruffy looking cat that cruise the area looking for an easy meal. I put my feeder near some easy cover, but I suppose everyone has to eat.

We have fed the birds for many years. Our current practice is to maintain just one feeder, and we use no-mess hot pepper cylinders from Wild Birds Unlimited. They are expensive, but the squirrels are leaving them alone and most importantly, we don't want to attract rats, which seem to be a problem almost everywhere.