To kasianowak: Bird Food

[Royaldevon]

Thank you for your warm critique, Kasia.

I put out a seed mixture which is popular with most of the birds, then I have separate feeders of niger seeds for the finches and black sunflower seeds which are popular with the tits.
I also hang fatballs up which most of the tits, the sparrows and starlings frequent. I have even seen jackdaws hanging on these, though they cannot hold their weight for very long!

The pheasants (we see males, females and sometimes their half-grown chicks) forage under the feeders for dropped seeds. (The marsh tits are very fussy, throwing seeds all over until they find the ones that they like best. The ground feeding birds take advantage of this!
When the weather is bad, as it has been recently, I throw handfuls of the mixed seeds out onto the garden for the pheasants, blackbirds and other ground feeders.

I have noticed lots of changes whilst I have encouraged birds to come to the garden. Chaffinches and robins have learned to hang on the feeders. It has definitely been learned behaviour.

Hope this has helped, Bev :-)

[kasianowak]

Thank you for responding Bev! Much appreciated. I'll try mixed seeds for the pheasants.
Here, in my UK home, I also put out monkey nuts for squirrels and they also attract jays, jackdaws and magpies. It being SE England we sometimes see a parakeet or two but they are a bit skittish so I've not been able to figure what they are after: sunflower seeds, peanuts or fat nibbles.
Joy. :-)
Have a lovely weekend
Kasia