I live in the Midwest and enjoy feeding the birds. I feed sunflower seeds, suet cakes, thistle, and sugar water. I also have a bird bath. I get a nice variety of cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, finches, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, and even an occasional duck — but is there something could offer to bring in rarer birds? Like Orioles? Bluebirds? Doves? More? I live near a creek, greenway and several large, heavily wooded parks.
Thanks — all your answers are great; I’ll give them a try. Unfortunately, I can’t leave a thumbs up — "Pollice verso" — for all of you as a "Level 1," but if I could, I would.

a family of house sparrows. I get a red cardinal that comes around occasionally, but he will only eat from the ground. I can’t understand why he won’t eat from the feeder. But, I am waiting for some really pretty birds to come and they won’t. What will make the pretty birds like the yellow finches come? I know there is a certain feeder for finches. Will they come to other feeders or does it have to be a special finch feeder?

I have a few bird feeders in my back yard and I love feeding the birds, but I have so many doves. Is there any seed they won’t eat? Also, will red-winged blackbirds eat safflower seed? Another thing, how do I get the blue jays to come to the feeders? I have a wide variety of birds-red-bellied woodpeckers, downys, cardinals, goldfinches, hairys, sparrows, house finches, crackles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and of course doves, but I can’t get blue jays! Any help would be appreciated.

or other birds besides brown finches? I mean I like them, but a little more variety would be nice. We live on a military base in the plains, hence few mature trees close by. Will continuous daily feeding eventually lead to other birds following the crowd? I’m feeding almost daily in a ground set bird dish out my front window.

I have a bird feeder on my balcony and olny getting finches i see cardinals but they don`t come around why?

I have feeders and birth baths, etc., and get a nice variety of finches, cardinals, robins, mocking birds and such. My favorite is doves – is there anything I can do to attract them?

I have two Mockingbirds that have decided our house and yard is their own domain. One stands guard at the feeders and the cardinals, finches and other birds aren’t able to come feed. I love the Mockingbirds and their songs but i also love the other birds. Give me an idea.

This bird has been coming to my feeders for about a month now.It’s been hanging with a flock of sparrows.It’s about the size of a cardinal,does what the sparrows do,just hangs out mostly on the ground,eating seeds. It has a finch-like bill ( but it isn’t a grosbeak),it’s a gray color with some streaking on the head and breast.I am stymied,as I can not find it in any of my bird books. Can anyone tell me what it is?

Oh,sorry! I’m in NE Ohio,and I think it’s too big to be a warbler,and it’s beak is so finch-like.Also,it eats seeds,unlike warblers, which are insectivores.
mccalley – no,a sora is more of a shorebird,and all of the finches are ones that I’ve seen. It sort of reminds me if a cowbird,but it’s the wrong color.
Dot! – No wonder it reminded me of a cowbird!! That’s what it is! Probably hangs with the sparrows because it was raised by sparrows,since cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. I’ve never seen a juvenile one that I know of,but now I know what they look like! Thank you!

I made a wooden birdhouse for the enjoyment of watching baby birds grow. I want to know HOW to get wild birds like cardinals and house finches to lay eggs in the bird house. Are they not laying in it because it has human scent on it? I put one of them in a tangled bush where dozens of house finches always stay, I put the other in an easy to get to spot deep in a big pine tree in my backyard. Any suggestions on where to put if that would help with the egg laying?

I have two bird feeders on my porch in a quite semi-urban area. One is full of safflower seeds which the house finches love and the other has mixed seed. I read that house finches can be aggressive and I don’t usually see any other birds except a cardinal. Sometimes there are as many as 12 finches on the porch.