It is normal for several species to nest in the same good spot such as your pine tree. They all have different needs so they aren’t competing with each other.

Here’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s advice about feeding birds in spring/summer: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/faq/master_folder/bird_feeding/document_view

Do you know when the proper time to put the feeder out would be? Should I do it now? When do they get here?

Also, I have a robin’s nest, and tons of nests of little brown birds – in that pine tree. Last year a mourning dove pair made their nest in there and it looks like they are aiming to again…

Is that normal? For a variety of differnt birds to all nest in one tree??

And finally, a long time ago I had been told that you should stop feeding the birds in the Spring to encourage them to forage naturally. Normally, that’s what I would do. But this Spring, I find that I don’t want to stop feeding them because I enjoy watching all the different varieties that come – cardinals, robins, those plain little brown birds, a shiny small black bird, and sometimes something that looks like a canary…and my favorite, the morning doves.

Would I harm them or somehow disrupt their natural cycles – if I continue to feed them? They end up in the yard anyways, once my sunflowers bloom (I grow them for the birds)…

Any guidance would be so appreciated!

Thanks!

My husband was in Maryland yesterday and while he was there, he heard a WOOD THRUSH singing. I hope that means they’ll be here soon! Their flute-like song is my favorite of all of our western PA songbirds.

Lauren