Do I need to do anything special to attract birds to a new feeder?

October 17, 2023 3:08 PM

First time bird-feeder person here. Have hung the feeder in the shadow of overhanging gable of a first floor window. 72 hours on and still not a single bird visitor. Do I need to put bird seed in the feeder to attract birds? Just kidding. Seriously, is it just a matter of time before birds find it and start to feast, or are there certain things I could or should do to hasten their arrival? Thanks
posted by BadgerDoctor to Pets & Animals (16 answers total)

Best answer: If you scatter some seeds around the general area, that'll encourage the ones that stop by to linger a bit and investigate, "Where's all this seed coming from? Oh ho, what's that under the gable?"
posted by The otter lady at 3:32 PM on October 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

They have already noticed, most likely. I'd give it a week before assuming its a bad location. They have to build up trust sometimes.
posted by tiny frying pan at 3:50 PM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

I put a feeder on my kitchen window and it probably took a week before birds started coming but once they did there was always a crowd.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:01 PM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Scatter, yes, and allow a little time for word to spread. If you've seen them around they will come! Personally I have also found with our songbirds that pure raw hulled sunflower seeds are way more popular than the multi-seed mixes, which are largely millet.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:02 PM on October 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Make sure you have food that birds like. Can’t go wrong with black oil sunflower seeds with no filler.
posted by Melismata at 4:07 PM on October 17, 2023 [8 favorites]

Careful with the scattering, don’t want to attract rodents or worse, predators. Wait and see.
posted by shock muppet at 4:14 PM on October 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

I hope there are trees or shrubs around for them to flit to. Chickadees in particular, do not linger.
posted by Enid Lareg at 5:00 PM on October 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

Even with many-year feeders that I use at second homes - mobbed after a few weeks - it takes up to a week for the birds to "discover" the feeders. Agreed that you should use good seed, but if you have, just be patient for now. If you're two weeks in with no takers, it might be time to change locations.
posted by ldthomps at 5:02 PM on October 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yes birds need way more time. You could also put out an additional feeder of a different type while you wait.

Another thing about bird feeders is, once you start you kind of have to keep going and not stop, or you harm the populations you were trying to help.

To that end, the best bird feeder are plants. If you have even a tiny bit of soil, you can plant indigenous plant species that will provide bird seed every year! If you want to pursue that, memail me and I'll be glad to help.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:37 PM on October 17, 2023

Another thing about bird feeders is, once you start you kind of have to keep going and not stop, or you harm the populations you were trying to help.

I have to push back on this a little. If you're hanging out one or two feeders, birds aren't really becoming dependent on your feeders. It's really not in their best interest to do so.
posted by mollweide at 5:51 PM on October 17, 2023 [6 favorites]

I should add that this is for primarily resident birds. If you hang out heated hummingbird feeders into the late fall and winter, there have been cases of hummingbirds that should be long gone south hanging around. But for the majority of birds of the majority of species, casual feeding doesn't result in dependency.
posted by mollweide at 5:57 PM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

I read somewhere to put out a shallow pan of water so that the reflection attracts them as they are traveling past.
posted by xo at 3:37 AM on October 18, 2023

Agreeing that it takes a while! Songbirds are in general cautious and averse to novelty. When I put out a new feeder I generally only fill it about a quarter of the way, so that the seed doesn't get wet and gross before the birds have a chance to find/eat it.
posted by mskyle at 3:56 AM on October 18, 2023

Is there still seed in there? The one time we put up a bird feeder, asshole squirrels got to it and ate all the seeds within 24 hours.
posted by dabadoo at 5:01 AM on October 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

I put a feeder outside my third floor window. It took a couple of months, but once some house finches found it, cardinals and chickadees followed. After that, I got all different kinds of birds every day.
posted by pangolin party at 7:06 AM on October 18, 2023

I ended up moving my feeders away from my house and had better luck than when they were outside a window. Both are now next to trees and branches in a corner of my yard. I added a bird bath/watering hole close to the ground using a planter saucer and now that corner of my yard is a little haven with lots of action several times a day.
posted by mulcahy at 9:22 AM on October 18, 2023