Feeder Frenzy!!

This is where I am going to put all my useful bird feeding tips. Different species of birds like different types of food and different types of feeders. Knowing your birds is the first step to providing the right food to attract them. What birds live in your area? What do those nirds like to eat? Where are they used to getting their food? Ask yourself these questions and you will learn a lot about how to cater to different species of birds. Eventually I hope to tell you about most of the ways you can attract a variety of birds to your yard. Here are a few pictures I took at a friend's house:

Here are some House Finches and a Junko. I wish I could get Junkos to come to my house.

Here is a woodpecker that visits their house, too. This is another bird that won't come to my house.I live in a fairly new neighborhood in the city and they live in the mountains. I'll be glad when the trees around here grow up and attract more birds to the area.

There are many different types of feeders and they are all built to accomplish one task and that is to attract a certain type of bird. The main types are platform bird feeders, hopper feeders, suet feeders and nectar feeders. All of these feeders can be as simple or as elaborate as you want but the purpose doesn't change. Ground feeding birds like doves, pigeons, quail and junkos prefer a low platform feeder. This should be located fairly close to the ground and built sturdily. This is one of the simpler feeders to build and fill but the dissadvantage of this feeder is it's low visibility. You can put a platform feeder higher above the ground but many of the ground feeding birds will ignore it if it is placed too high. A hopper feeder will attract a wide variety of birds to your yard. Many species of sparrows, finches and jays will eat from a hopper feeder. A well stocked hopper feeder will give you hours of bird watching enjoyment. The hopper feeder simply dispenses seed into a tray where the birds can eat it. It can hang from a tree or sit atop a pole. These feeders are easy to place at a good viewing distance from a window or door.

Suet feeders hold a cake of suet for feeding woodpeckers and other insect eating birds. These can be made as simply as attaching wire mesh to a tree limb. Or wood and wire mesh feeders can be built quite simply. The suet itself is made of beef fat but other forms of suet have become popular. You can mix fat with other high calorie ingredients to make suet cakes for your feeder. Here is a recipe that was recomended to me but I don't have the right birds in my neighborhood to try it out.

3 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 quart water
1 lb lard or suet
1 (12 oz) jar peanut butter
3 1/2 cups cornmeal
3 1/2 cups cream of wheat

Cook oatmeal in water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lard & peanut butter until melted. Add cornmeal and cream of wheat. Cool and shape into cakes that will fit in your feeder.

Nectar feeders are filled with a nectar solution or sugar water to attract hummingbirds and oriols. The nectar solution can be bought at your local discount store in the spring and summer months or you can mix 4 parts water to one part sugar. Boil 1-2 minutes and cool the solution before adding it to your feeder. To attract the most variety of birds to your yard you must offer a variety. Providing a good source of water, food and plenty of trees and shrubbery will turn your yard into a bird sanctuary.

Here is a list of different kinds of seed (and other stuff) and the birds that prefer that kind. You can fill a hopper feeder with your basic seed mix and attract many of these birds but if you are having trouble attracting a certain kind of bird to your house here are some more specific things you can try. Also keep in mind that these birds are not found nation-wide and you will only be able to attract birds that live in your area. A cylinder feeder filled with sunflower seeds will attract: goldfinches, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, redpolls, and pine siskins

If you add a tray to your cylinder feeder you can also attract: cardinals, jays, purple finches, white-throated sparrows, house finches and white-crowned sparrows A cylinder feeder with niger or thistle seed will attract: goldfinches, house finches, purple finches, pine siskins, chickadees, song sparrows, juncos, and white-throated sparrows A platform feeder with millet will attract: doves, house sparrows, blackbirds, juncos, towhees, white-throated sparrows, tree sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, and chipping sparrows A platform feeder with cracked corn will attract: starlings, house sparrows, grackles, jays, juncos, bobwhite quail, doves, and white-throated sparrows

Oh look, they found a buttlerfly! A nectar feeder will attract: hummingbirds, orioles, cardinals, and tanagers, A suet feeder will attract: woodpeckers, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, thrashers, creepers, mockingbirds and cardinals Suet with peanut butter added will attract: woodpeckers, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, jays,and bluebirds Fruit can be offered to attract: orioles, tanagers, mockingbirds, bluebirds, thrashers, cardinals, woodpeckers, jays, starlings, thrushes, cedar waxwings and yellow-breasted chats

Funny Facts and Helpful Hints

Buy birdseed in large quantities. It is cheaper that way. Jays and some of the woodpeckers like dry dog food and you can offer this to keep the bigger birds away from the smaller birds at your feeders. Some people don't like the idea of feeding dog food to the birds but they will steal it from dog dishes around the neighborhood anyway.

If you attach a pie tin under your cylinder bird feeders it'll catch a lot of the lost seed from the upper feeder and provide more places for birds to visit. You can make a handy scoop for bird seed out of a half gallon plastic milk carton. Just cut off the bottom. Use the big end for filling big feeders and unscrew the lid and use the small opening to fill small feeders. To attract those comical little birds that hang upside down to eat you need to have a feeder with perches above the feeding holes. Goldfinches, chickadees and pine siskins like to eat this way.

Okay, I didn't make this bird but you will be suprised to hear that this bird was painted by my 11 year old daughter. Have a dead tree on your property? Turn it into a giant bird feeder. Just drill holes about 2" round in different places on the tree. Fill the holes with peanut butter or suet. Attach a square piece of hardware cloth over the opening if you don't want the squirrels to get it. The birds can eat through the holes but the critters can't. You can drill as many or as few holes as you want to fill. Make sure you can see the birds from your house. If you put all the holes on the backside of the tree you might miss a lot of the action. If you don't have space for a bird bath a flower pot saucer placed on a porch railing works well as a substitute.

Here's a suet recipe that the birds will love.

Melt 1 cup crunchy peanut butter and 1 cup lard.
Stir in 2 cups quick oats, 2 cups cornmeal, a cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar.
Pour into square freezer containers until about 1 1/2 inches thick.
Cool completely. Store extra squares in the freezer.

Baking is for the birds. At least this recipe is.

Mix 1 cup cornmeal, 1 cup flour, 1 cup of grated bread crumbs and 1/2 tablespoon baking soda in a medium sized bowl.
Add 3/4 cup currants or raisins, 1/2 cup bacon drippings,
1/4 teaspoon sand and 1 cup water.
Mix well. Spoon into muffin cups and back at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Serve on your feeder tray or attach them to tree branches.

Have you got sunflowers growing around your property? When the blooms have faded and are drying out pick the head off and store it where it can finish drying. In the winter you can give these to the birds for a special treat. If you live in a cold climate you can provide fresh water for a longer time by making a solar birdbath. Use a lead free paint and paint the bird bath black... yes, black. If you keep it in a sunny location the birdbath will absorb the sun's rays and warm the water. It will keep the water from freezing down to about 20 degrees.

Take the Trail Back to Songbird Meadows

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