I tried to place my feeders where the birds would feel "safe". The hummingbird feeder is right in the butterfly garden so there's lots of fun plants to nectar on, too. My house is surrounded by oaks, so that helps. As for the regular bird feeder, I actually took photos the other day to show where I put it.
This is my side yard. You can see oaks, a pine, the neighbor's palm. The blob on the right side in front of the fence is my Flowering Maple (Abutilon). The oak tree just to the right of the feeder is a popular spot for the Tufted Titmice to wait their turn.
Looking further to the left you can see another oak with my endangered Yellow Anise. It's also a popular shrub to hang out in. It's pretty dense. The baby tree in between and behind the oaks is a Flatwoods Plum. I tried to plant this side with lots of natives. Also, we needed erosion control because the rain was washing all the dirt into the backyard.
And right next to the bird feeder is a Parsley Hawthorne. I actually have three of them and I planted them years ago but they grow slow. The birds like to sit in it, too while waiting their turn. The squirrel also uses it as a launching pad. I put the feeder right next to it so my brother wouldn't have to move the feeder when he mowed.
As for today, I was sitting here watching CNN and heard a loud squawking. The Blue Jay was sitting on top of the Shepard's Hook and then would get on the ground and eat some seeds. The Tufted Titmice didn't seem to want to give up the feeder as three of them were flitting around and the Blue Jay flew off to an oak tree. That's where I found him when I went outside. Also, I wondered why my pictures have been a little blurry and I realized my lens is fogging up from the humidity. Gotta start carrying my lens cloth with me.
I think my Tufted Titmice are getting bigger. They must be eating well.
But most exciting was I finally saw one of the hummingbirds!
Female came by for a drink but got scared when I finally had to start waving my arms to get the mosquitoes off me.
