How To Attract Birds to Your Yard - Foods and Feeders

With the Spring comes warmer weather and the return of many birds. It is baby making season for the wildlife world and birds are busy making nests and eating up everything they can find to provide nutrition for their young. If you love bird watching or photography now is the time to keep an eye out for some beautifully diverse species in your neighborhood.

So you might be thinking...

Where are all the birds in my yard? 

or

Why isn't a certain bird visiting my feeders?

I'm going to give you a quick run down on this info as it applies to Southern California birding but it is pretty easy to apply this to birding anywhere else around the world, you'll just need to do a little research on which species you can expect to see in your town.

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What feeder should I get? There are so many!

This completely depends on what kinds of birds you want to attract. The ideal feeder will be sturdy in all weather, have small holes to keep seed dry, be easy to assemble and easy to clean. Yes! you need to clean your feeders with soap and water, feeders are the perfect places for birds to pass their diseases around. To get a wide variety of bird species just have a wide variety of feeders and food choices. Make sure they are placed on the actual window/window frame or significantly far from a window to avoid them crashing into it. There are also reflective decals that can be use to avoid collisions.
Feeders to look into are:

• Tray or Platform - These will attract most types of birds like doves, pigeons, sparrows, and grosbeaks. These should have drainage holes and be cleaned/hosed off frequently because bird's will soil it with their droppings. These have no protection from rain and other weather so this could spoil seed quickly.
• House/Hopper feeders - are your typical feeders which protect the seed from getting wet and can be hung from poles or trees. They can be harder to clean but will bring in many types of birds. 
• Tube Feeders - These are metal mesh tubes with feeding ports with a perch on top of the port or below it. The positioning of the perch will determine which birds will visit more often.
• Nyjer Feeders - These fine mesh bags allow the fine seed to stay in the sock while the bird can cling (usually upside down) to extract the seed. (Read below about nyjer and what birds prefer it). These can be hung from poles or hooks. These are the one feeder that squirrels tend not to go after so that's a plus!
• Suet Holder - These are coated wire holders with a chain that can be hung on a tree or pole or affixed to a hopper feeder. (More on suet below)
• Nectar Feeders - Hummingbirds and orioles are the main species you will attract with your typical nectar feeders. Make sure to thoroughly clean these weekly as the sugary solutions will go rancid and promote the growth of bacteria and fungi.

Platform feeder from wildbird-shop.com

Credit: Trevor Adler

This hopper feeder forces the Spice finch to cling which slows them down and lessens discarded seed

Spice finch and two house finches at a tube feeder

(Right) Credit: Trevor Adler

Nectar feeders come in all shapes and sizes, find one that can be easily cleaned

Two types of nyjer seed holders. (Left) These holders made from recycled material and magnetic mesh from songbirdgarden.com are functional and attractive. (Right) this picture from lilacsandroses.blogspot.com showcases the "finch sock": cheap, refillable and disposable.

A Western Scrub Jay at our suet holder - these can be purchased at any grocery store in the pet aisle

So what do I put in my feeders?

Attracting birds requires using the correct food to tempt them in. This requires a bit of knowledge about their natural history (what they eat in the wild and how they hunt for it) and also their anatomy (big beaks can eat bigger things and small beaks eat smaller things). So when you're looking up birds in your area give this some thought as you select foods. The key to attracting a large variety of birds to your backyard is having a large variety of foods and feeders that appeal to all species. There are generally 4 types of bird food to consider and additional goodies you can provide to further tempt certain birds.

• Sunflower seed - This seed is highly preferred by most bird species and can be put in almost any kind of feeder. There is striped and black oil sunflower seed. The black oil is the favorite of the following species: nuthatch, house finch, grosbeak, junco, chickadee, white-crowned sparrow, song sparrow, scrub jay, mourning dove, woodpeckers, pine siskin. The striped is favored by titmice and purple finches. You can also substitute sunflowers for safflower and pumpkin seed to mix things up a bit.

Credit: naturepods.com

• Mixed Seed - is what you usually buy from the store, your standard "wildbird seed." It contains mostly millet, sometimes cracked corn or peanut hearts and safflower seeds. This type of seed will attract mostly the the ground foraging birds such as: junco, towhee, mourning doves, sparrows, and pigeons (rock doves). Cracked corn will attract quail, red-winged blackbird as well.             

Credit: esbelleza.com

• Nyjer/Thistle - this is a very small black seed that you usually put in a finch sock or tube, which have very small holes to keep the seeds from falling out. This attracts birds that like to hang upside down especially gold finches and pine siskin.

Credit: commoditymarketing.com

• Suet - (pronounced: sue-et) is a special beef fat that is usually found in cakes/cubes and put in coated wire mesh holders and attached to trees. These are great to put out in cooler weather or in a shady spot so they do not melt, though there are suet cakes made especially for warmer areas and some that are mixed with fruits or seed to appeal to particular species. Suet will attract: titmice, chickadees, nuthatch, woodpeckers, flickers and scrub jays. Make sure to keep suet cakes in the fridge until you're ready to use it or it will go rancid.

Credit: birdseedexpress.com

• Nectar - Hummingbird nectar is easily made at home by boiling 4 parts water to 1 part sugar, letting it cool in the fridge and then filling feeders. Orioles will certainly drink this mixture too but prefer less sugary solutions so try a 5:1 or 6:1 mixture. Dyes are unnecessary and sometimes harmful to the birds so when buying store bought mixes opt for clear nectars.

Other non-traditional foods to offer:

• Mealworms - alive or freeze-dried in a shallow dish will make you the most popular backyard around. Many birds looove mealworms and will quickly gobble them up so put a few out at a time so not one birds eats them all. Shop for them here.
• Fresh Fruit - Fruit put out on skewers in trees or cut up in small pieces and put out in shallow bowls but watch these carefully as the fruit will spoil out in the sun fairly quickly. This will attract non-feeder birds like tanagers, thrushes, waxwings, robins, mockingbirds and catbirds. In the summer and fall there is a lot of fruit available naturally so this is a great treat to add to feeder areas in the winter and spring. 
• Grit - Because birds lack teeth adding grit to seed platforms and feeders will help the birds grind up the food in their gizzard. Broken oyster shell and "cuttlefish bone" are also great grit sources that also supplement their diet with necessary calcium. 

Credit: 3.bp.blogspot.com/

Cockatiel with cuttlefish bone for grit and calcium supplementation

**Tips & Tricks**

• Seeds can be purchased with seed hulls pre-removed but they are also more expensive - benefits include: less discarded or sprouted seeds and easier access to nutrition for smaller beaked birds
• Place a dish or try under a feeder to catch thrown or dropped seed. Spilled seed can attract mice and rats.
• Use a screen or cage around your feeder to keep out larger species like grackles and jays
• Move feeders to different places in the yard, trade out types of feeders and seed type to discourage voracious eaters and increase species variety
• Don't buy seed mixes with milo, very few species (except blackbirds) care for it and it will end up spilled all over your yard
• Make sure seed is stored in a cool, dry place and that feeders are cleaned regularly with hot water and unscented dish soap. 
• Hanging food holders on higher poles or surrounding them with baffling will discourage unwanted squirrels at your feeders
• Find more info on birding and feeders at the Audubon website

...keeping a bird feeder can be really fun and interactive so remember to have fun!!

---> Upcoming How To: Attract Birds to Your Yard 
Houses and Nesting Materials