Lantern Feeder

First, chuck out any leftover bird food. Take the bird feeder apart and soak well in warm water to remove debris. Scrub thoroughly using a squirt of gentle dishwashing liquid. Leave it to dry completely before refilling with your local flyers’ favourite NZ-made bird feed. Tweeeet as! 

Somewhere high, and dry. Always hang a bird feeder out of harm’s way. Birds feel safe feeding high up off the ground as they are out of the reach of predators like cats, rats and stoats. When hanging a bird from a tree, be sure to hang the feeder out on a limb rather than close to the trunk to discourage pests. 

Our native feathered friends turn their beaks up at seed but will flock for nectar, fruit and Energy Food. This isn’t snobbery but merely a matter of biology – tūī and bellbirds, for example, have a curved, narrow beak and a long tongue for sipping nectar from inside flowers.

Tūī, korimako (bellbirds) and tauhou (waxeyes) love to visit a nectar feeder or fresh fruit stash. The little green waxeyes also get into a right flap over Wild Bird Energy Food. If you’re feeding Wild Bird Seed, it’s likely that sparrows, yellowhammers and finches will come visiting.

If you feed them right (and wash that feeder) then there is no harm in providing sustenance to garden birds, especially in winter when food is scarce. A fed bird is more likely to breed, so keeping a feeder in your garden, along with planting native shrubbery and trees, lends a helping hand to our native manu.