bird feeder by stevendepolo
Thinking of adding some birdfeeders to your nature garden. You might be asking the question, “How long does it take birds to find a feeder?” The answer seems to be a great big “it depends”.
For my feeders it took about 8 days – long enough that I lost track. For the first day I avidly watched my newly-hung birdfeeders hoping for a quick reward. Alas, patience was the order of the day.
How Long Will You Have to Wait?
A quick google search on the question “how long does it take birds to find a feeder” will turn up several sites, but they all contain the exact same text
“Sometimes it can seem like forever. It may take more time for birds to find window feeders than hanging or pole-mounted feeders.”
One of the sites is the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They have quite a lot of useful information on backyard bird feeding but just aren’t much help on this specific question. Yes, eight days seemed like forever, but surely there’s a better answer on what to expect. Surely someone has looked into this.
Downy Woodpecker by Audreyjm529
Project FeederWatch Has the Answer?
I felt pretty sure that the folk at Project FeederWatch and the Cornell bird lab must have something to say on this, but alas it’s not a Project FeederWatch frequently asked question.
What Should You Expect?
After waiting a whole week to see a single bird at any of my three not-so-newly-hung feeders I’d almost lost hope. I asked a friend, “How long does it take birds to find a feeder when you’ve not had one up for a while?” Her answer, “About 30 minutes.” So, I have my answer – it takes birds anything from 30 minutes to 8 days to find a feeder.
Worth the Wait
It was worth the wait – my kids will tell you how excited I get when a downy woodpecker arrives to peck the suet, or a chickadee to take some niger seeds. In the last few days I’ve seen the following birds – house wren, chickadee, downy woodpecker, robin, bluejay. My feeders are still full of food and the birds are not yet regular visitors, but the weather is still mild – things could change soon. The birds found my feeders – I think it’s going to be a good winter.
How long did it take birds to find your feeder? Are you taking part in Project FeederWatch?
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We just leave a plate of birdfood out on some stumps in the backyard (at our “party tree”) and the birds are there within minutes… of course we go back and forth between being good at resupplying so maybe they have a look out all the time. when the pine cones first fall in octoberish we make pine cone bird feeders.. these usually take the birds a couple days to find.
Good to know there’s such a wide range! Hope to be adding a bird feeder to our backyard soon, so this was helpful.
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It’s funny, when we first bought this house a Carolina Chickadee perched on top of a post and “scolded” us, as if to say “This is a great place for a feeder” We agreed and hung one immediately. And also immediately, there were Chickadees and Titmice clamoring all over it.
It’s taken them a little longer to find some of the other feeders, though.
What a great story Carole, thanks for sharing.
Great post, Alison! We all want instant gratification, but the birds have other ideas.
) Bethe
Fun post, Alison! Would make a great science project (and good practice eliminating variables LOL)!
Now I’m curious how long it would take for them to come back to my backyard—hmmm, “Confessions of an Inconsistent Bird Feeder Filler” <–I'm so terrible at keeping them up and filled with bird crunchies.
when the pine cones first fall in octoberish we make pine cone bird feeders.. these usually take the birds a couple days to find.
Nice to know that some bloggers like you still spend the time and effort to produce quality content.
It’s always worth the wait! I love watching the regulars at my feeders.