To attract birds to your backyard provide these three things, food, shelter, and water.
Feeding is a great way of attracting them into your garden, and also clean water and providing safe place to stay adds a good value.
It’s important to provide different food types for the different species of birds. Some like peanuts, and some like seed mixes like sunflower and Niger seed. You can also use some scraps of food from the kitchen, like porridge, oats, and apples, which are good food sources.
We will go through some important things you need to do along with providing nutritious food.
Over the last 20 or 30 years, almost half of the bird populations in North America have gone down by 50 or more percent. So by building habitats in our homes, we can give the bird species left a chance to live and procreate. In this dry Mediterranean climate, particularly during the summer, water is one of the main attractants that will bring birds.
In particular, the sound of moving water, whether drip or flow, birds use water for drinking and for, bathing, and sometimes even for fun.
To provide these, you need to have a birdbath, and a safe feeder and you can also provide shelter to them
We discuss in detail how to provide these three in best way
Bird baths
Bird baths like this are easy and convenient in the habitat you’re building. If you planning to help birds and get a bird bath, we provide some information regarding that,
How to buy bird baths
Bird baths are available in all types and sizes, including big ones,
little ones,
deep ones,
This can be found in the following links, if you are interested to get one,
shallow ones,
These kind of shallow bird baths can be found here
These are the size that most birds will find appealing.
They’re not too deep. You can put a rock in it so that even small birds like goldfinches will feel comfortable using it. Also, they were relatively inexpensive. This one is a bit fancy.
You can find a bird bath like this one in the following amazon link,
A simple birdbath can be bought anywhere for a few dollars.
If you are still interested in knowing more about what kind of bird baths do birds prefer, click this link.
How to maintain birdbath
It’s important when you provide a water source. You have to keep it clean because it can carry contaminants or bacteria that will make the birds sick or even cause them to die.
The next step is providing food. To do that, you need to know about food types and bird species that prefer to eat that, and the type of feeder you will need if you plan on providing specific kind of food. We will get some knowledge on that,
Bird feeder
To make birds feel safe in your garden if you’re feeding the birds, place the feeders in safe place.
How to maintain a safe feeder
- The back or the front window would be better so that you can keep an eye on it. Also, you can be aware of the different species of birds visiting your yard and when the feeders run empty, and you can fill them up in time. It’s really important to keep a consistent food source. Once they start to rely on foods on this food source, it’s important to keep it up.
- Position the feeders somewhere covered in trees or hedgerows so that the birds can come and go free, so if a predator approaches, they can feel safe and escape into the bushes in no time.
- Also, keep the feeders away from cats and other potential predators.
- It’s important to move around the feeders from time to time so that they’re in different positions. If we keep feeders in the same place, the droppings can build up on the ground underneath the feeders. And when birds try to feed on the ground and come into contact with droppings and each other, sometimes that can spread disease between birds.
How to choose feeder
You also need different types of feeders, including those which go on the ground.
This is because species such as robin, blackbird, song thrush, and dunnock, so the ones with the more pointed bills, which favor invertebrates as their natural food, more typically feed on the ground and therefore find it difficult or impossible to cling on to hanging feeders, so these species need a ground feeder or bird table with food which includes seeds, but with no husk on whereas finches, sparrows and tits are all fine with hanging feeders and with seed which can have a husk on.
Let’s now look at the range of foods available and the different types of feeders for them,
Straight foods, as the name suggests, are seed types and also peanuts which haven’t been mixed with anything else. The main ones include black sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, niger seed, red millet, white millet, and peanuts, with the exception of niger seed and peanuts.
Straight seeds are best fed from a tube feeder, as shown in the figure below. Sunflower hearts can be fed from a bird table or ground feeder. Niger seed is so tiny that it needs a special feeder with a very small
ports to prevent the seed from running out, niger is a real favorite of goldfinches, and you stand a very good chance of encouraging this colorful bird into your garden if you feed niger from a special feeder like this one.
For peanuts, these should only ever be fed from a mesh feeder as having them loose on a bird table or in a tube feeder means that birds such as robins can try to swallow them whole, and this can cause them to choke to death.
Mixes
These are all seed-based, though some mixes contain other ingredients, such as sultanas and suet pellets. Mixes have the obvious advantage over straight foods, this one product can do the job of many, and if you choose a mix that has husk-free seeds, then one product can cater to most of the birds in your garden.
How to feed the mix
The same husk-free mix on a bird table or ground feeder will ensure that all species get their share. Another reason to use a husk-free mix is that it can really help if you’re pushed for time. This is because it’s essential that the waste is cleaned up from underneath the feeders, as leaving it can cause harmful bacteria to build up, which in turn can lead to fatal diseases for birds, so with little or no waste from a husk-free mix, this helps solve the problem.
Suets
This is an increasingly popular range of products that comes as pellets, balls, and blocks.
Suet pellets are very versatile and can be fed from a mesh feeder on a bird table or a ground feeder in a mesh feeder. They’re a perfect alternative to peanuts and will attract long-tailed tits, which is one of the species which won’t normally feed on seeds or mixes however they’re fed. Suet balls and suet blocks are easy to feed and just go into purpose-made cages. All the different species of tit love suet blocks and balls, also great spotted woodpecker, and not getting the rather underloved starling.
Mealworms
Food that not enough people feed to their garden birds, live mealworms, yes, they wriggle a bit, but they’re just the harmless lava of a beetle importantly though, they’re the best possible food to put out in the breeding and fledging seasons as they contain both moisture and protein, which young birds need to survive and flourish.
Eliminating feeder threats
Grey squirrels can be a real nuisance in gardens by hogging the bird feeders, damaging them, and deterring birds from landing, larger birds such as jackdaws, magpies, and even rooks, can also be a problem and, despite their size, they can often manage to precariously cling on to feeders.
How tp prevent this?
There are two types of basic feeders you can use to help solve the problem,
1. The first is cage feeders, which prevent the squirrel or larger bird from getting out the food. These feeders are available for peanuts, suet pellets, seeds, and live mealworms.
2. The second type uses an ingenious mechanism that closes the ports of the feeders when the weight of a squirrel or larger bird lands on one of the perches and therefore prevents any food from being taken.
Feeder positioning
Positioning is important. The main consideration, other than them being in a good place for you to watch them from your window, is that they’re away from anywhere where a cat could hide and pounce on the birds, so be careful when you have pets in the home.
Feeder hygiene
One really important aspect of feeding birds is keeping feeders and bird tables clean. This is because and as mentioned before about not allowing waste to build up underneath feeders, dangerous bacteria can build up, which can lead to fatal diseases, something which finches are especially prone to.
If you are interested check out these feeders on amazon,
Tube Feeder https://amzn.to/44MreQ3
Ground Feeder https://amzn.to/3OCGwkB
Niger Feeder https://amzn.to/3Qp1rsD
Bird shelter
How to provide shelter
It all begins with the plants. That’s where they get food, and that’s where they get the shelter or cover that they need to escape from dangers and to bring up their young ones.
Types of plants birds prefer
The oak trees are a significant part because they provide food for birds, and once there were 24 species of birds that used oak as nesting material. Birds love to stay there,
Shrubs are great because they provide protection, and there are some birds that will only stay in shrubs.
Ground covers for ground nesting birds like towhees and quail.
About two years ago, there were three families of quail nesting underneath a ground cover, and they fledged about 45 little fuzzball babies.
How to plant trees in your garden
You don’t have to tear out your garden to grow these plants. Instead, consider adding some California native plants enough. The reason is that those plants and our birds have grown up over millions of years together, and native plants will give them the food they need. The other thing about California native plants is that insects recognize them as beneficial. Butterflies, for example, lay their eggs only on native plants because their caterpillars will only eat the native plants.
And birds need insects, too, as part of their diet. Even if the adult birds do not eat insects, they only eat seeds. They feed their young ones insects because that’s how they can get the best nutrition to make them grow, as they have to go from popping out of an egg to flying in two to three weeks.
Native plants naturally adapt to our local climate, need less water and maintenance, and thrive in local soil. They will save you time, water, and money.
Visit your local nursery or native plants specialist to find some for your garden.
How to use Californian native plants
When you use California native plants, leave the parts of the plants that birds and caterpillars will eat: the seed heads, the leaves, and the fruit or the seeds on the plants. Don’t be so neat leave the seed heads and fruit even when it gets shriveled and dried.
And mainly, don’t use pesticides, and don’t use rodenticides to get rid of the few rodents that may come to your feeders. The owls that hunt them will eat them, and they will die as well.
Be more natural.
To know more about how to choose the best bird feeder
summary
You need a variety of different foods and different ways of feeding them to attract the maximum number of species,
- If you’re pushed for time or don’t want the hassle of cleaning up the mess, then stick with husk-free seeds, such as sunflower hearts and husk-free mixes.
- Have either a mesh peanut feeder or suet feeder to ensure that species such as long-tailed tit and great spotted woodpeckers can feed
- If squirrels or larger birds are a problem, use suitable feeders to keep them out.
- Position feeders away from where cats hide and pounce from.
- Always keep your feeders and bird tables clean.
- One final thing it’s also important to provide fresh, clean water for both drinking and bathing, and as with feeders and tables, it’s vital that bird baths are kept clean.