Nuts

Well if they are like the garden birds in our area they will not eat from feeders or peanuts strung together; so I wouldn't waste your time. The birds do feed of a Caki tree in the garden and clean up the fallen fruit, but they seem to have a distrust of human devices as we have strung out monkey nuts for years and they remain untouched. They are probably more used to getting shot at or culled by the local cat population.

We have a great pet shop at the Brico Io store at Fornaci di Barga and they sell all kinds of seeds and food for birds. I always buy and give it to them. In our case, the birds are quite friendly, but my neighbour has been feeding them for years as well and they also have a few nests in the area, one right at the entrance of our loggiato. As Flip says, cats can be a problem.... upon our return from a short trip, we found a real carnage. Not a pleasant sight...

Yup, we have tons of birds on the nut feeders (brought a large bag of nuts back from the UK) - didn't take them long for the birds to figure out what they were.  Also had great success with nesting boxes (homemade) which have been used for several years now by Blue Tits, Great Tits & Nuthatches. Well worth persevering with as I reckon all the birds here need as much help as possible. 

The Indian shop in Tolentino has unsalted nuts. I tried to get some from CJ Birdfoods online, but postage was too high. It takes the birdies sometimes as long as 18 months or longer of to trust feeding stations, but worth it in the end.

They say that birds have different dialects in different parts of the country.  It's definitely true of tastes.  IN the (UK) countryside birds would fall upon the peanuts and we were forever refilling.... having moved into town the same types of birds absolutely won't touch the peanuts, but go mad for sunflower seeds.  I reckon it's because the townies are more pampered and not as hard core as their country cousins.

to all for their comments.....as Annec says, maybe different dialects means different food likes and dislikes...so very Italian.... Sunflower seeds jammed in the bark of the oak trees by the Nuthatches sometimes germinate, looking very weird when they flower half up the tree !  We also have Redstarts nesting in our portico late Spring /early Summer, this year they produced two broods. I for one would really miss life with few feathered friends nearby so do need to find a source of bird friendly nuts....Off to consorzio with dictionary tomorrow to try to explain what I need...wish me luck ! Gail, will try Indian shop in Tolentino when passing and Gala, Brico...when I can, meanwhile will look on Amazon site....Andy..yep will try nesting boxes too...thanks again all.