Why have The Birds Stopped Using Feeders In Our Garden?

Why have The Birds Stopped Using  Feeders In Our Garden?

We could hardly buy bird food fast enough to satisfy all the greedy beaks at our feeders during lockdown (March to June). But suddenly, there are no birds on our feeders. From refilling twice a day, we now find food sitting there for a week. What’s going on? Why have the birds stopped using feeders in our garden?









Why Have The Birds Stopped Using Our Feeders?





There are lots of possible reasons. We’re going to look at the top ones here.





Food is Not Fresh





If fewer birds are coming to your table and feeders food will be sitting there longer and may be less than fresh. This can be made worse in the warm weather where some foods, like suet products, are especially prone to going off. 





Birds, like humans, don’t like mouldy food. Make sure your feeders get completely emptied at least once a week. If the food hasn’t been eaten, throw it away.





Also, consider how you are storing your bird food. If you are getting through less of it, think about buying smaller bags, resealable bags, or sealed containers to keep it in.





Feeders are Dirty





Birds will avoid dirty tables and feeders. And they are right to do this. Dirty feeding stations can spread disease. 





If your feeders have previously been very busy they may have got messy. Take the opportunity of this quiet time to give them a good scrub.





A New Predator In the Area





The bird population in your area does not stay constant. Differ, individuals and groups are moving in and out all the time.









If a new predator has moved in, this may be driving the smaller birds away from your table.





Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels, owls and all birds of prey will take smaller birds, So they will be naturally wary if a new raptor has moved into the area. 





Check the skies for hovering hawks, and you might just see what your problem is.









You Moved Your Feeders





Birds have no sense of smell; they navigate the world through sight and sound. They probably will have found your feeders in the first place because you scattered seed on the ground. Or because they are now believed to recognise the shapes of the most common bird feeders. 





But if you move your feeders or table, especially into a sheltered position that isn’t easily spotted from the air they may have trouble tracking the food down.





In this case, be patient, they will find the new locations eventually. And if you wanted to help them out, you could try sprinkling a little seed on the ground to give them a clue.





Plentiful Natural Food





Sometimes, there is just too much good stuff around in nature for your feeders to attract birds.





As I am writing now in late July, there are plums, cherries, raspberries, seeds and grains and much more ripening all around us. It’s no surprise really that our table doesn’t seem that exciting. 





If your dinner guests have deserted you in late summer or autumn, this could be why. And you can be sure they will be back as soon as their better offers dry up.





Pets





Have you got a new pet? Has your neighbour? Our dog Ollie takes no notice of small birds. But he’ll chase pigeons away as soon as they land. Other dogs may bother the birds. 





Cats are certainly a predator.





a cat could be one reason why birds stopped using feeders in your garden




If you have a new pet, watch how it’s behaving in the garden. If your dog is bothering the birds tell it “No” until it gets the message. 





If you have a cat, putting a bell on it is probably the best option. 





Kids Home From School?





The school holidays can make your garden less attractive to birds. If that lovely quiet haven they are used to feeding in is suddenly full of little people laughing and screaming and running around it might not seem like such a great place for birds to hang out. 





You could lock your kids indoors. But probably better to let them enjoy the holidays. Things will get back to normal when they go back to school.





Competition From The Neighbours





You probably think of them as “Your Birds”. They’re not. Garden birds are very fickle. They table hop between gardens over quite a wide area. Looking for the best food on offer. 





Have your neighbours started bird feeding? Or upped their bird feeding game? Maybe they are offering tastier treats than you do? 





You could get competitive and start offering luxury bird food. Or you could just be happy that the birds are finding the food they need. And wait for Jew birds to find your feeders, which they surely will.





Fledgelings 





When birds are nest building, mating and feeding chicks in the nest, they will have been making good use of your feeders.





But as the chicks fledge, things change. Once the chicks start to come out of the nest, they will spend some time with the parents showing them the ways of the world.





A big part of this is feeding, and while some birds will bring their young to your feeders, most prefer to introduce them to natural food.





Family Break Up





Young birds often leave their parents around July. When this happens, there is no need for birds to defend a tight territory. Territories expand, birds start to explore more extensive areas, and may move away altogether. “Your” birds are likely to be spending less time in your garden. 





As part of the process, other birds will find your feeders, but that will take time. 





To attract new birds at this time take a look at our articles on How To Attract Garden Birds.





Not Fit To Be Seen In Public





Once they have mated and raised chicks, most birds go through an annual moult. They lose feathers and grow new ones. During this process, they can look a proper mess. 









You may not even recognise them as your birds. And they do try to stay out of sight. No, this isn’t vanity it’s self-preservation. During the moult, birds lose some of their flight feathers. So it becomes more difficult for them to get away from predators. This is why they prefer to stay out of sight and maybe avoiding your feeders, especially if they are in exposed areas.





Migration





Many of our birds are not with us for the full year. Nearly half of all the world’s bird species migrate.









So it should come as no surprise when certain birds disappear at certain times of the year. 





Swifts, swallows. Cuckoos and other summer visitors leave between August and October.





Fieldfares, bramblings and many water birds come for the winter and leave us in April or May.





And then there are large numbers of birds who might pop across from Eastern Europe if the weather turns nasty over there. These include blackbirds, finches and tits. These species are all-year-round residents in the UK, but we may get European migrants too. Very confusing!









Conclusion





There are lots of reasons why garden birds may stop taking your food. It might be something you did, or it may just be a feature of the bird calendar.





Either way, take the opportunity of a lull in activity to give your feeders a good clean and tidy. If you have been considering moving your feeders or buying new ones, this is the time to do it.





Keep offering a little food and keep it fresh. Keep supplying water. 





And be sure that if you do, they’ll be back!





We hope you’ve enjoyed this post and found it useful. If you have questions or suggestions, we would love to hear them. Leave us a comment below. 





And if you would like to find out more about the feathered friends in your garden, visit our garden bird library here.


27 comments

Hi there, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any assistance is very much appreciated.

benniex6915234,

Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a totally different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!

camerontimm024,

Thank you, I’ve recently been looking for info approximately this subject for a while and yours is the best I have discovered till now. However, what about the conclusion? Are you sure in regards to the source?

camerontimm024,

My developer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on several websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!

camerontimm024,

Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your design. Kudos

camerontimm024,

Fantastic website. A lot of useful info here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thank you in your effort!

camerontimm024,

When I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked the Notify me when new comments are added checkbox and now whenever a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. There has to be a way you can remove me from that service? Thank you!

camerontimm024,

Can I just say what a relief to find someone that genuinely understands what they’re talking about online. You certainly know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. A lot more people ought to read this and understand this side of your story. It’s surprising you are not more popular because you most certainly possess the gift.

camerontimm024,

Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is truly informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

camerontimm024,

Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!

camerontimm024,

Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually recognise what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Please also seek advice from my site =). We can have a link exchange contract among us

camerontimm024,

Valuable info. Fortunate me I discovered your site unintentionally, and I’m surprised why this twist of fate didn’t happened in advance! I bookmarked it.

camerontimm024,

I every time spent my half an hour to read this blog’s posts daily along with a cup of coffee.

camerontimm024,

fantastic publish, very informative. I wonder why the opposite specialists of this sector do not realize this. You must continue your writing. I am confident, you’ve a great readers’ base already!

camerontimm024,

Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the issue solved soon. Cheers

camerontimm024,

I am not positive where you’re getting your information, however great topic. I needs to spend some time finding out much more or understanding more. Thanks for great info I used to be searching for this info for my mission.

camerontimm024,

Leave a comment