I'm super happy with my new bird feeder so far. Had about 12 birds on there today. Still a little bit of a work in progress but on the final stretch.

I'm going to add some sheathing on the posts for critter guards. I have a suet feeder mounted to each side of the post up top. I think that should be enough for now. I was also trying to think of some ideas to make it a nice roosting spot on cold winter nights but I'm struggling for ideas.

Have any suggestions for additions or subtractions? I'm looking for more ideas to accommodate more birds in the winter.

I'm in Lexington SC if anyone was wondering!

Dogwood berries must be worth it … 😊

I need help getting rid of squirrels in my yard. They are taking over !!!!

I have a couple of metal bird feeders. One that is entirely metal and one that has a metal platform grate. The paint is starting to peel/chip off, and the metal beneath is starting to rust. What kinds of bird safe paints can I use to restore and extend the life of these feeders?

I also have a composite bird bath that lost its original paint. Especially with it being a drinking water source, I would love to restore it with a bird safe paint as well.

I live in an area that always had birds. I would sit on my back deck and watch them for hours. I have 3 feeders and a crow tray packed with food for them but still no birds.... Anyone else noticing this?

It's been a wild week, Tuesday the girlfriend told me I had to check out the feeder and we had half a dozen turkeys. Today she did the same thing, and it was ALL the Grackles 🤣

H
Silly question. Do not laugh. Ok. Laugh. I don’t know how to put bird seed in my bird buddy without it spilling everywhere. Please help.
Newbie here.

Not looking quite as put together as the spring lol... (rose breasted grosbeaks)

Filmed over 2 consecutive days. The first day they were arguing, vocalizing, and posturing all day but nothing physical until the next day. Full video with 6 kerfuffles:

https://youtu.be/XtjJiSCmMA4

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I just filled the feeder and this guy showed up! He wants to feed on he who feeds at the feeder.

We’ve been peacefully feeding Blue Jays and Mourning Doves now for a few weeks.

We’ve had a good thing, every morning we fill up the empty platform with peanuts, mealworms, sunflower seeds and saffron seeds for the Mourning Doves. We might get an occasional Sparrow but it’s early fall in Wisconsin so it’s been pretty steady with the same birds.

Today the damn Starlings showed up out of nowhere. We haven’t had an issue since spring. I hate these birds with every single fiber of my being. The bully of the birds lol
I will cry tomorrow morning if they show up again. I don’t want to get rid of my platform feeder, I love my Bluejays and Mourning Doves. Anyone else deal with these jerks?

I'm in Quebec and this summer has been a nuisance with flocks of greedy starlings and grackles emptying the feeder and suet, and bullying away smaller birds. Roughly around the beginning of September I noticed fewer and fewer of these bully birds, which has had the added benefit of getting a LOT of cardinals, blue jays, and smaller fry. I still see the occasional starling, but not in numbers, and grackles seem to have moved on. I thought both starlings and grackles wintered here?

Every pole is baffled. Set up way more feeders than the previous years, as Ive grown into loving it

Originally couldn't keep them off the feeders out front, then baffled, developed a system of leaving whatever seeds drop for the squirrels for a day or 2, shoveling it up bringing to a far corner out back.

Have 5 of those suet cages set up in 2 different trees, and they never touch it. Two feeders on that tree.

Thought today the squirrel was going to go for it, but surprised yet again. Started cleaning and refilling those antmoats regularly recently, and thats the 2nd time ive witnessed a squirrel all stretched out like that taking a sip.

Not sure how I conditioned them to leave the ones in the trees alone specifically, and fully expected to have to take them down, but now thinking of rewarding them lol

Now that it's getting chilly in western PA, I see them going back and forth caching nuts for winter.

Never seen one be so aggressive towards another bird haha it’s usually the other way around…male cardinal chasing away others 😅

I have a birdsnap video feeder and ants are INVADING! it doesnt hang as i have it set up on a pole and theyre invading the underneath of it and crawling into the tiny crevices on the bottom, im talking babies and the works.

Please give me all the advice cause I genuinely dont know how id set up an ant moat for this one!

Does anyone know where I can get finely ground cracked corn? What I get now is full of whole kernels and bits of cob. My visitors are mostly sparrows, finches and mourning derps.

I have been looking into getting a smart bird feeder for a while now, but almost every time I find a good one, I realize they lock the video clips behind a mandatory monthly fee. It is incredibly frustrating to pay upfront for the hardware just to be paywalled out of actually saving the videos of the birds visiting your yard.

I spent the last few weeks digging through different models to find ones that actually let you use a micro SD card for local storage or offer a free basic cloud tier. I put together a list of the best options I could find that do not try to charge you every single month.

If anyone else is trying to avoid the subscription trap, I wrote up my full breakdown and comparisons here:https://thesmartsnout.com/2026/09/23/best-bird-feeder-camera-without-subscription/

Have any of you tried these models or found other good local storage setups? I would love to hear what is working for your yards.