"Martin" wrote
JennyC" wrote:

Hi
This is vaguely OT but I was wondering how birds almost immediately know
when I
start to put food out for them?

I don't feed in the summer, but as soon as I put any crumbs out the birds
seem
to whiz down in three minutes flat to feed. Their mates seem to hear about it
too and before long the garden is humming!

The feeder is hanging in a sumac tree so they don't come to it much in summer
as
it has no fruits or berries. It's can't be that they see me go near the tree,
as
I tend the plants around its base all year long........

Do they have amazing eyesight - a terrific sense of smell - do the know what
time of year I start to feed - or what ??

Have you got enormous flocks of starlings where you are?
It's the first time for years, that I have seen them in large numbers,
likewise sparrows seem to be making a come back.
The starlings have been having a feeding frenzy on all the berries
that were on the trees. All gone now.
Martin

I've seen the flocks of starlings in town but not in my garden. I get mostly
blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds&thrushes (tho they don't seem to have seen the
food yet).

Jenny