fussy birds

[sweep]

can anyone explain why my garden birds have stopped eating the nuts
that i hang for them (since several months and same brand) they'll only eat the bird mix even if the mix has been empty for a few days and even at the height of that terrible weather we had when you'd think they'd be very hungry

[dafi]

Are the nuts you have out fresh or have they been out for a while?

[Scunner]

try chopping them up, or putting them through a blender.

[sweep]

just put some fresh ones out yesterday, but no good.....

[kas]

Same thing happened here.
I dont know why, although they are being eaten now I scatter them on the ground. Dont do that in summer though as youngsters can choke on them.
It was always Blue tits and starlings that took them from the feeder, but I have not seen a blue tit for a while(no cheeky comments please) I saw on snow watch the big freeze may have had a big mortality rate for little birds like them. However my nut feeders went wuiet well before the big freeze.

[Happy Guy]

I set up 2 birdfeeders just after christmas, feeling very sorry for the birds in the freezing weather. I have peanuts, mixed wild birdseed, some tiny back seeds that I forget the name of, and a block of some kind of lard thing with insects in it and have seen a total of just 2 birds in the 3 weeks up til now. I guess birds in Thurso are just not hungry, or my bird food is just not posh enough!

[Kenn]

Can I point some of my birds in your direction Happy Guy?
Have not seen the thrush since the thaw set in and also not seeing any Great or Blue Tits at the moment but all the rest are there lined up on the fence in the morning,making me feel guilty until I go out and replenish the table and the feeders.

[Scunner]

Or I will send you some of mine. Finches by the dozen, including goldfinches. Have a few blue tits, going around, and the blackbirds, one in particular, that shouts as soon as I go out. Hangs around for suet pellets. Not forgetting the robin.

[nirofo]

It's possible that a lot of the smaller birds sensing the recent hard weather coming, moved to areas that offered them more protection and better feeding opportunities. Areas where there are sheltered woodlands for roosting will have bare patches where the birds can forage and insects lurking under the roots and branches of the undergrowth for them to feed on. As the weather becomes milder they will probably start to come back to their normal areas, assuming the freeze up hasn't decimated them, so don't stop putting the feed out, I'm sure they'll come back eventually.

Several people on this forum reported seeing Woodcock and Snipe in areas where they don't usually occur, places like roadside ditches and boggy field patches, even in gardens. During a prolonged freeze up these type of birds need to find areas of soft wet ground where they can probe with their long beaks for worms and grubs, as a last resort they will feed among the seaweed and in the soft mud and sand at the shoreline, looking for small crustaceans and marine worms.

nirofo.