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In my search for an elusive Cuckoo, I made contact with some people who are commited birders living in a typical built up enviroment.

These are their rules to feeding wild birds in built up areas.

1. once a day, at the same time every day.
2. enough to last them half an hour. Don't overfeed.
3.Never on the ground. Always use a feeding tray, even if it's a metal tray on a table.
4. always have water for them - both to bathe and to drink. Water is in very short supply in a highveld winter.
5. if you do put out bread, ration it.
6. the fruit eater will love you if you put out an orange or an apple. They will eat apple peel.
7. retrain motherly tendencies and stick to the rules.

Very interesting, thanks. Yes, winter is the time that the birds need extra food, there is very little food out there for them, especially since their natural habitats have been transformed. Planting indigenous could also help, many aloes flower in winter providing nectar for sunbirds, some birds also eat flowers.

While we mostly do feed in the morning after breakfast because thats when the kitchen scraps get assembled , I read , and I think in Ken Newman's "Garden Birds" or "Attracting birds to your Garden" ,that you should not feed habitualy or at the same time every day - ie. let the birds discover the food in the course of their search . Having the correct plants (especialy indigenous) in the garden keeps them searching .

The wagtails like grated cheese strewn on the lawn and one even comes in the sliding door to forage on the carpet .

The Indian Mynas come in gangs , but I resist the temptation to eliminate them .
Only when a pair nested inside the roof was I forced to use the pellet gun to stop that . They were capable of pulling wire out stuffed into the entrance and the tiles had to be taken off and beam infilling done with mortar .

OK MM

I think I am following the rules not too badly! However one apple shared by at least six "go away" birds doesn't last very long. The barbets scare them though and the mouse birds will steal anything under their noses! So this morning 3 apples went out for sharing - the bulbul wasn't getting a chance!

I do also put plenty seed out in various containers to give the sparrows aand other LBJ's a turn against those doves and pigeons. The pigeons love peanuts and some mornings the garden looks like Durban beachfront. SO gives me grief for the mess on the brickwork. Shrug of shoulders from me!

I don't give the smaller birds peanuts as I read that they shouldn't get them when they have young as the babes can't digest them. Is this correct? So better safe than sorry!

As you say not too much bread even the go aways will eat it!

Great post, MM!

I however differ from point #3. In Maputo I use to put the seed on birdfeeders till I had a lot of birds that died from some mysterious disease. I realized that by putting the seed on the feeders, I’m forcing the birds to come into close contact with each other and thus the disease is spreading..... the secretion of the sick birds were also on the feeders and healthy birds came into contact with that. I now throw the seed on the lawn....spreading it out wide and do not use the same spots every day.

That's a very interesting point, Jumbo.
I never thought of disease. I only thought of the possiblity of predators.

In the past I would place my dish where my cats couldn't reach. It was alway my biggest concern, that my cats would regard this as an alternative to "Purina Number One".

A very valid concern, indeed!
In Maputo we do not have problems with stray cats (cats form part of the diet of some ) and my cats stay indoors (because of the cat diet thing )...but in JHB and PTA, where there is a lot of cats, I suppose it is better to feed the birds on a spot where cats cannot easily get hold of them.

I feed my smaller birds from a bird feeder and the bigger ones eat from ground. There is a serious cat problem around me but I've noticed that because of the open area around the tree where I feed them that the birds actually spots the cat long before it gets into striking distance.

I have gone the opposite to WTM and placed an old table under trees close to dense shrubs. I have no cat problems as I have to dogs who do not care much about the birds. Truth is they keep on sharing their expensive dog pellets with the birds!

Having my feeding table close to the shrubs and stocking regularly with all kinds of fruit (paw-paw, banana apples etc) I manage to attract some of the more shy species such as wood hoopoe, barbets, red faced mouse birds etc.

I also agree that you do not feed at the same time every day, but let the birds "discover" the food. I used to do this, but then if you had nothing to feed, or had one of those days where you did not get to do it, all the birds would sit and wait. Now they don’t as there is no set time, and they keep on foraging on their own if there is nothing.

Can one of the experts advise if this is true or not?

Thanks Jackie

Cherries,

Put out whatever food you want to give birds. They wil leat what they fancy. Just be careful of putting out too much bread.

Hi Jumbo
to try and solve the disease problem try washing the feeder in terrymicin and put some in the drinking water is is a medicine used in the poultry industry but works well with birds both caged and wild is a bit like a broad spectrum penicilin in humans. We have used it very effectively in the past when we had avairys and there were diseases getting passed from the wild birds to the caged birds we treated both sources and the problem was gone in a few weeks.

Hi Jumbo
to try and solve the disease problem try washing the feeder in terrymicin and put some in the drinking water is is a medicine used in the poultry industry but works well with birds both caged and wild is a bit like a broad spectrum penicilin in humans. We have used it very effectively in the past when we had avairys and there were diseases getting passed from the wild birds to the caged birds we treated both sources and the problem was gone in a few weeks.