Top Ten Reasons There Are No Birds at Your Feeders

American Goldfinch feeding on the seeds of Purple Coneflower (Rudbeckia purpurea, yellow Rudbeckia triloba in background). Reason number 2 why you have no birds at your feeder.

"Yum, I don't need to visit the Stokes thistle (nyjer) feeder when all of this is available!"

Top Ten Reasons There Are No Birds at Your Feeder

1. There was an abundance of rain this growing season in many parts of the country, producing bumper crops of wild foods.

2. There are lots of wild seeds of composite flowers available, such as Rudbeckias (Coneflowers), Coreopsis, Sunflowers, Asters and others.

3. There are tons of tasty weed seeds available, such as smartweeds, pigweeds, goldenrod, etc. Sparrows love all these seeds.

4. It is a bumper year for berries — Holly, Chokeberry, Dogwood, Pokeberry, raspberries, etc.

5. Crabapple trees are heavy with fruits.

6. The cone and seed crop on many trees has done well. Here, in NH, we have many Hemlock cones, acorns, birch seeds, Spruce cones, etc.

7. The weather has been warm and birds do not need to eat as much as they do when the weather is colder and they need to keep warm.

8. Because of warm weather some insects are still available and have not gone into dormancy.

9. Fall is migration time for many raptors, some of them hunt birds at your feeders. This morning we had a Cooper's Hawk, juv., sitting in a tree in our yard. The wise feeder birds had sought cover and were nowhere to been seen. In general, these hawks move on.

10. It is a self-fulfilling prophesy of "there are no birds at my feeders so I do not have to fill the feeders." An empty feeder will not attract birds, especially any of the ones that are still around.

Birds like chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, are permanent residents in an area and, even though they are not at your feeders now, come colder weather they will return, but not if the feeder is empty.

So keep those feeders full!