Gardener Finds a Few Seeds Sprouting in Their Bird Feeder — Fellow Birders Issue Serious Warning
Picture the fresh excitement a birder feels when they buy their first bird feeder. But the bliss is short-lived. They began to realize that feeding birds is an entirely different thing from watching the birds eat. Each day, the dwindling light of dusk reveals that many of their bird guests are messy eaters. Some crack open several wild grapes and mulberries and discard the pulp all around the feeder. A hummingbird splatters dollops of sweet nectar around the feeder, inviting bees and wasps. In a 2020 Reddit post, a birdkeeper, u/okayikes, shared a picture of their feeder revealing an unusual mess their bird guests had left for them to wipe down.
“All the seeds in the bottom of my bird feeder sprouted,” they wrote in the post caption. This was the first ever feeder they had installed in their garden, according to a comment. The picture shows the vertical feeder, hanging upside down, filled with seeds from the Wild Bird Blend from Hello Birds. A closer look reveals something unusual growing inside its feeding tray. The picture shows tiny grasses and fringing little sprouts poking out of the yellow-colored tray. “Task failed successfully,” Reddit user u/1_xp said in a comment.
The picture prompted other birdkeepers to share similar experiences about their feeding ritual. Many guessed that the bird seeds they added to the feeder got “too wet” so that they sprouted into full-grown plants. “Maybe just too wet and there is a high risk for mold, which is very unhealthy for the birds,” wrote u/Medskillz. u/whatdafukman shared, “I spilled a 20 lb bag of bird seed on my back porch and it got in all of my potted plants. I was plucking sprouts for weeks!” Another user shared that a couple of finches, black capped chickadees, and tufted titmice emptied a whopping 20lb bag of bird seed within a week, most of which they spilled on the ground.
Others pointed out that there could be something wrong with their choice of bird seed. “That is an inferior bird feed. In other words, they sold you seed that your local birds will not eat. Try Pennington bird seed. It's formulated by bird researchers to bring in your local birds. They clean up every bit of it. It's more expensive than the cheap stuff, but you aren't cleaning up the seed the birds won't eat,” explained u/Cucoloris.
Some users cooked up lighthearted scenarios about the entire episode. “Life finds a way,” reflected u/Groenboys. “It’s the circle of life,” quipped u/poo_jogger. Another person joked, “Tell them to stop it makes me uncomfortable!” u/ZDubzNC added a sarcastic comment, “Might be a sign to give the feeder a quick clean.” Another person said, “The birds were all getting their batteries changed during the COVID quarantine.”
In the wrap, two pointers came out of this whole discussion. One, the birdkeeper should regularly remove the uneaten food from the feeder and clean it thoroughly with soap and water. Two, they can try replacing their typical tiny bird seeds with something that birds would love to eat. Sunflower seeds or unshelled seeds, for instance. Then, perhaps, those sparrows and cardinals and goldfinches would be more interested in finishing up the food more than spilling it in the feeder.