[Sam B]

Big day today - our new bird table was erected. I've really missed having a bird feeding station. I brought over all our seed feeders from the UK, but the birds just weren't interested in them, and all the native birds are nectar feeders, fruit, nut and insect eaters. So we've had a new feeding station custom made. We bought a nectar feeder at the shop on Tiritiri Matangi island.

I'll keep you posted with photos over the coming weeks with the birds that we get on it - if we get any. We are only a km or 2 from Maungatautari bird sanctuary (pest free inland sanctuary) so there is a really good range of native birds around us, including kaka.

Photos:

Close up of the nectar feeder with sugar solution:

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9562.jpg

The monster in its entirety:

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9573.jpg

Close up of fruit feeders aimed to attract parrots (that mountain in the background is the bird sanctuary):

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9571.jpg

Yippee! Excited.

[Sovenok]

Thank you Sam, you are a very kind person! :nice1

[JandM]

Oh... I'd never thought of having to have a different kind of bird feeder! I've been thinking what a 'fun' thing it will be to MAF-clean our bird table, which I'd like to bring as it was made by a local craftsman. Looking forward to your pix, so I hope the 'neighbours' soon find out where you are.;)

[YouMeAndThree]

I'm looking forward to the picture updates.

We got the girls some new seed feeders when we arrived here as they'd always enjoyed 'feeding' the birds in the UK. Finding seeds to put in it proved a difficult exercise though. Anyway, once we found some seeds it must have take 3 to 4 weeks before we got any interest whatsoever from any birds. And it has made me realise quite how decimated the sparrow population has become in the UK as we find loads here.

[rupicola]

Great idea to post some pictures if you get to see any birds around the table, it's also one of my favourite hobbies. Just staring outside my windows that is, I'm not that fanatic that I go and sit outside in the woods for hours and hours just for a glimpse. :cool:

[Georgebulldog]

Love the feedinging station, wish we had the room, I just bought a bird bath & a hanging bird table & a seed feeder, funny both the hanging table & feeded came from the UK :) I bought a load of seed stuff from Bunnings but I saw a good variety in Woolworths of all places so may move on to this. Still waiting for any takers though, have lots of black birds & sparrows on that side of the garden

Can yo tell me where you got the nectar feeder from & how it works? I have a gum tree that brings in Tui & Fan tails but it's looking sickly :wah so something extra for them would be nice

[johnnie]

Well that is a very handsome bird table - I'm impressed! I do hope you get birds visiting. One of the joys even in London is the amount of birds that come and feed, even in the summer. I'm looking forward to your kaka photos
Johnnie

[JandM]

The noise of wood pigeons taking off in the garden of their new home made my 3-year-old granddaughter jump - they didn't get them at the old place - so my son explained to her how their wings make lots of noise, and pointed them out. When she went indoors, her Mum asked her what she'd been doing, she said, 'Daddy was showing me some wood chickens.'

[Sam B]

Here's some advice I found on the internet about using nectar feeders:

Nectar-feeders need clean bowls
Home » News » Dunedin
By Hamish McNeilly on Sat, 20 Jun 2009
News: Dunedin
Click photo to enlarge
A tui pauses between a feed of sugar water. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
A tui pauses between a feed of sugar water. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
The kindness of strangers may be leading to the untimely deaths for some of our native birds, a southern bird lover says.

Mixing sugar and water together may not seem a recipe for disaster, but left for several days could be deadly for unsuspecting nectar-feeding tui and bellbirds, Russell Evans, of Invercargill, said.

"We could be killing them through our kindness."

Mr Evans and his wife, May, have noticed fewer native birds around their bush-clad Otatara home this winter and, after witnessing a tui gasp for air, the couple knew something was amiss.

The couple sent two tui specimens to Massey University for an autopsy, which revealed the birds tested positive for aspergillus, a respiratory disease caused by a fungus infection.

Massey University avian and wildlife health senior lecturer Brett Gartrell said while it was unlikely the tui contracted aspergillus from dirty sugar water, unclean practices would result in the death of birds.

Salmonella and candidiasis - the same bug which causes thrush in humans, were deadly to birds and could lurk in unchanged sugar water unless containers were emptied and cleaned, he said.

Mr Evans said he did not want to discourage people from putting out sugar water for birds - a vital source of nourishment during winter, but urged people to put out just enough food to last a day and then when finished wash and sterilise the container.

"It just takes one person not to do this and we can have a lot of sick birds on our hands. Once you see a bird gasping for air, it is basically curtains for it."

Department of Conservation scientific officer Ralph Powlesland, of Wellington, said sugar water was an essential food source during the winter months for nectar-feeding birds such as tui and bellbirds.

It was important people continue with the practice of putting out sugar water in colder southern areas as there were fewer nectar sources available to birds.

"It doesn't matter what sort of container it is in, as long as it is a clean container."

hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz

Feeding tips
How to feed nectar-feeding birds sugar water. -
> Dilute one cup of sugar with two litres of water in a clean container
> Put out just enough sugar water to last for a day
> Wash the container each day
> Sit back and wait for the birds to arrive

[Sam B]

We bought our nectar feeder at the shop on Tiritiri Matangi Island. I have also seen them for sale at other DOC visitor centres. You could try contacting DOC for where to buy one near you. You just make up the sugar solution and put it in an empty plastic bottle, then invert the bottle into the plastic feeder, which has holes for the birds to put their beaks in. Clever people could defintiely find a way to improvise this I think.

As you can see above, the sugar solution needs changing daily and it all needs cleaning regularly.

Not much action as yet - 2 silver eyes earlier on. Nothing else as yet. I'm dispatching J to buy monkey nuts tomorrow, as I know kakas like these...

[tea drinker]

:nice1
looking forward to seeing more photos

[Ana&Steve]

Here's some advice I found on the internet about using nectar feeders:
We've had the same warning with hummingbirds here...I am so bad about remembering to change the sugar water that I finally decided to take the feeder down for the birds' sake.:(
I did plant a bunch of hummingbird-friendly flowers this Spring though so we still have the little cuties!

[Leo]

A real palatial bird table you've got there Sam! :nice1

I guess we'll have to be patient now for the good word to spread around the local feathered community (...by word of beak :D) and soon there'll be a royal gathering at your bird table :)

With such a regal spread available, I wonder if any squirrels may also be drawn to your table?

[Sam B]

There aren't any squirrels in NZ Leo, and I'm hoping I've made it possum proof, but time will tell. At the moment there are 2 silver eyes who are rapidly becoming obese, and not a lot else.

[Sam B]

Update - we are infested with silvereyes, they clear the table of its contents within half an hour. Not a lot else yet. Here are some photos:

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9587.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9601.jpg

[tea drinker]

had started to wonder why they were called silvereyes :D
I do like it when wildlife is what it says on the can
Are silvereyes native?

[Georgebulldog]

Fantastic photos & thanks for posting about sugar water, too busy to be changing it so think I'll just leave them to enjoy the gum tree on it's own :) I'm still trying to find out what some birds are in our tree, very tiny but they flutter around so fast I don't get chance to see them properly, we have had some silvereyes, was wowed by them

[YouMeAndThree]

Hey Sam, how to you fancy one of these bird houses (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=316520.0) to go with your feeder?:D I wouldn't mind the first one for myself and family:nice1

[Sam B]

Ha ha, those are incredible. But not quite fitting with the rustic look I'm aiming for...

Teadrinker, yes, silvereyes, or waxeyes as they are also known, or tauhou (Maori name!) are native.

[Leo]

Lovely piccy of Silvereyes there, Sam :nice1

Interest piqued (...doesn't take much to spur a nature-lover like yours truly ;)), I looked up Wikipedia to learn more about the Silvereye:

The Silvereye or Wax-eye (Zosterops lateralis) is a very small passerine bird native to Australia, New Zealand and the south-west Pacific islands. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes shortened to White-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all members of the genus Zosterops, or the entire family Zosteropidae.

Silvereyes breed in spring and early summer (mainly between September and December), making a tiny cup of grass, moss, hair, spiderweb, and thistledown, suspended from a small tree or shrub, and laying 2 to 4 pale blue eggs. Two broods may be raised during this, the breeding season. Once the young have fledged, Silvereyes gather into flocks and many migrate north during late summer, making their way north along the coast and ranges, foraging busily during the day with much calling and quick movement through the shrubbery, then flying long distances into the night.

The Silvereye was first recorded in New Zealand in 1832 (its Māori name, Tauhou, means "little stranger"). It arrived in greater numbers in 1856, and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards by a storm. However, it is also possible that they followed a ship across the Tasman as other birds sometimes do, or were accidentally transported aboard a ship. Since there is no evidence that it was artificially introduced into New Zealand, it is somewhat ambiguously classified as a native species there and is consequently protected.

Silvereyes are omnivorous but have a particular fondness for fruit. Some orchardists, grape growers, and home gardeners regard them as a serious pest particularly as, being so small, they simply ignore bird nets, popping in and out through the netting at will. They destroy a wide range of fruit species, including amongst others, apples, citrus, feijoas, figs, grapes, pears and persimmons.

:cool: Now we know why your bird table gets cleared in 30 minutes!

[JandM]

About the fruit, nets, etc. - a friend has just told me that in her UK garden, she uses a wooden cut-out silhouette of a hawk (2-foot wingspan), suspended from a bar sticking out from the supports for her raspberries, so it twists and sways in the wind, and that keeps all her soft fruit clear of small-bird fruit feeders, without using nets at all.

[Ana&Steve]

About the fruit, nets, etc. - a friend has just told me that in her UK garden, she uses a wooden cut-out silhouette of a hawk (2-foot wingspan), suspended from a bar sticking out from the supports for her raspberries, so it twists and sways in the wind, and that keeps all her soft fruit clear of small-bird fruit feeders, without using nets at all.

Nice!

[Georgebulldog]

Just wondering jow your bird table & birds are coming along?
Can't believe it's taken a couple of weeks but now the seed feeder I had which I just hung up on the only hook I found on my pagola is being cleaned out in 3 days, not sure I can afford to keep feeding them at this rate :wah I wasn't expecting much but on our hanging table too they are clearing it of whatever I put out, an apple was gone in 2 days, they may have to get used to bread crums as always got plenty of that for them & not costing me anything
Do you know of any good bird identification websites? We are getting I think green finches, silver eye, fan tails & another type of finch with a brownish reddish breast, love sitting here watching them :nice1

[Fern01]

I've enjoyed reading this thread, and learnt how to bring the Tuis in when you haven't got a Kowhai or the likes.Thanks for posting.
The neighbour has a Kowhai tree and there was 4 Tuis in it yesterday, what beautiful colours, I had no idea they were so pretty, apart from the white 'bib'.
I'll be making myself a feeder.

[Sam B]

Still overun with silvereyes and the odd myna bird. No tuis etc yet. The silvereyes clear the whole thing in minutes - grrrr.

[Fern01]

If you want to see birds displaying their antics put out some apple or kiwifruit, and watch the silver eyes fight over it, I've never seen anything so funny, they sit on the side of the fruit trembling, I think it's to warn off the others, the size of them!!:)

[GrumpyGoat]

It's a gorgeous table/feeder station. :nice1

I love birds.

But I stick with chickens!

I feed them and they feed me back!! It's a lovely deal we have worked out. :laugh

[Fern01]

It's a gorgeous table/feeder station. :nice1

I love birds.

But I stick with chickens!

I feed them and they feed me back!! It's a lovely deal we have worked out. :laugh
:laugh

[bellbird]

Gorgeous view from that fancy bird table you've got there.

The GOOD THING about having all the silvereyes is that the activity will likely peak the curiousity of other birds who may eventually explore what you've got.

To draw in more variety:

- Try adding some dripping or trickling water - you can do it on the cheap by using any simple container, some stones for water to trickle and drip over, and a simple 10-20 gal fish tank pump with some hose/tubing attached to move the water. The sound of moving water often will pull birds right in.

- Try setting up feeding stations near some brush/shrubs/trees so they have cover and don't feel so vulnerable while feeding.

Wish you the best in setting up feeders in a population of birds that, from what we hear, are unaccustomed to being fed at stations and feeders.

[Sam B]

Hi Bellbird

Thanks for the advice. We have been considering ways to encourage more birds in. We are planning to plant a little grove of native shrubs around the feeder to enclose it more and give the birds some cover to fly between. The feeder is quite close to a large area of bush, but you are right, it is too exposed.

The birds near us are more used to feeding stations because they tend to come from the ecological Island that you can see in the background of some of the pictures - Maungatautari, which has feeding stations throughout. But yes, birds in NZ are not used to this kind of set up at all.

I'll have a think about the running water. It's the power to the pump that will be the main sticking point.

Here are some recent pics from the table. We now have a resident yellowhammer and some myna birds, still no nectar feeders though....

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9655.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_9748e.jpg

[IanW99]

...
I'll have a think about the running water. It's the power to the pump that will be the main sticking point.
...


You could try e.g. Solar Pumps (http://www.hunkin.co.nz/solarpumps.html)

Ian

[bellbird]

Great idea, Ian! When we traveled across the Tibetan plains, our bus broke down on a gorgeous starlit night and the dozen and a half riders pushed it to a tiny cottage off in the distance with a light glowing. We arrived, slept the nite on a cold floor, and in the morning saw the solar battery and charger (no bigger than a notepad) powering up in the courtyard to provide the juice they needed to keep that one bulb burning in the evenings in the middle of the plains FAR, FAR away from any electrical grid system.

[JandM]

What a fantastic image...

[bellbird]

I had another thought this morning recalling something I've read about water to draw in birds. Just a bicket filled with water with a small hole poked in the bottom suspended over a birdbath can provide enough dripping water sound to draw in birds.

[Leo]

Ahoy there SamB! :)

Have you had any new feathered visitors to your lovely bird table recently?

Curious about the difference between the Yellowhammer and Yellowhead (... I swear I must've sighted some at Akaroa :nice1 ), I looked up Wikipedia and here is what it had to say about the the Yellowhammer...

The Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, which breeds across Europe and much of Asia. Introduced to New Zealand in 1862, the Yellowhammer is now common and widespread here. It is probably more abundant in New Zealand now than in Europe where it is in serious decline, (in the UK the species fell by 54% between 1970 and 2003). In Europe and Asia, most birds are resident but some far northern birds migrate south in winter. The Yellowhammer is common in all sorts of open areas with some scrub or trees and form small flocks in winter.

The Yellowhammer is a robust 15.5-17 cm long bird, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a bright yellow head, yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much duller, and more streaked below. The familiar, if somewhat monotonous, song of the Yellowhammer cock is often described as, "A little bit of bread and no cheese". :yes

The Yellowhammer's natural diet consists of insects when feeding its young, and otherwise seeds. The nest is on the ground. 3-6 eggs are laid, which show the hair-like markings characteristic of those of buntings.

Most commonly found on lowland arable and mixed farmland, probably due to the greater availability of seeds; the Yellowhammer nests in hedges, patches of scrub and ditches, especially if these have a wide grass margin next to them, and a cereal crop next to the margin. Hedges of up to two meters tall are preferred, and they will not nest until it is in full leaf, building the nest next to the hedge if it is built before this. In winter, the flocks feed at good seed sites, such as newly-sown fields and over-wintered stubbles.

[Sam B]

Hi Leo

I can vouch for the fact that yellowhammers are indeed very abundant here, especially wherever I have tried to seed a new lawn. The yellowhead is very rare now, only found in South Island beech forests. I saw one on Ulva Island (off Stewart Island).

Our bush is full of flowering rata and rewa rewa at the moment, so there is no hope of attracting tuis etc to the table at the moment, as the have plenty of food there. There are loads of them in the trees, singing and eating.