Expert: Roger Lederer - 3/3/2004

Question
I am having difficulty attracting wild birds to my garden. I provide fresh water, bread daily, a bird table with wild bird seed regularly topped up, fat balls and peanuts. Last year, at this time, I had dozens of starlings thrushes etc coming all the time but, this year, a few odd birds are eating the bread but then that's about it. I do know that my next door neighbour puts out food as well, and he seems to get all the birds in the neighbourhood. Your comments would be much appreciated.

Answer
Well, it's hard to know without seeing your feeder setup and location. Compared to your neighbors, is it close to the house or farther away? Does it get disturbed by you or others in the house? Do you have cats or dogs? There is no reason why you shouldn't get the same number and kinds of birds as your neighbor if the conditions are similar. Take a close look and compare and see if you can make any changes. Birds prefer seeds to bread when they have a choice, so stay with seeds and skip the bread for awhile. In fact , just stay with seeds and skip the peanuts and fat balls for awhile, too. You may have too much there. Try some changes over the next couple of weeks and get back to me. Roger Lederer. For more information on wild birds, see www.ornithology.com