Feeding Backyard Birds

Some wild birds prefer seeds, some eat berries and fruits while others hunt bugs and insects. Offering a wide variety of food sources and types of bird feeders will increase the number of different birds attracted into the yard.

Match the food sources to the wild birds in your area, and to the types of birds you want to attract. A hanging bird feeder filled with black oil sunflower seeds attracts perching birds including nuthatches and chickadees. Gold finches flock to bird feeders filled with thistle or nyger seeds, and woodpeckers cling to suet feeders. Cardinals and mourning doves eat sunflower and safflower seeds, but they will only visit tray style feeders.

Recent studies indicate that feeding wild birds year round does not have any negative impact on the bird's ability to forage naturally. Instead, feeding wild birds throughout the summer provides a consistent food source during times of severe weather or times when natural foods are scarce. Bird feeders must be kept clean and filled with fresh bird seed to discourage the spread of disease.

Become familiar with the types of wild birds in your area. Attracting and feeding wild birds requires a basic awareness of the types of birds in your geographic region and in your local environments.

Even within the same region, a suburban plot may attract different species of wild birds than a urban yard or a large rural property, making it important to identify the types of wild birds that will visit your backyard habitat.

Image: Public Domain

Offering a variety of wild bird seed from a number of different types of feeders scattered around the yard at different heights will increase the number and variety of birds enticed into the yard in search of a free meal.

Here's a short list of the common birds in North America, and the type of wild birdseed that attracts them. Fill up the feeders and ring the dinner bell!

Sunflower seeds:
The black oil sunflower seeds have a thinner shell than the gray striped variety, making it easier for the birds to open.
Attracts: nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, jays, woodpeckers, titmice, finches, sparrows, and grosbeaks.

Safflower seeds:
Birds like safflower seeds, but squirrels tend to leave them alone.
Attracts: nuthatches, cardinals, titmice, finches, sparrows, and grosbeaks.

Thistle (nyger seed):
This small seed requires a specialized feeder.
Attracts: nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, jays, woodpeckers, titmice, finches, sparrows, and grosbeaks. Flocks of goldfinches will crowd around a thistle-filled feeder.

Suet
Sold in square cakes, a commercially prepared suet cake often includes nuts, berries and other little tasty bits.
Attracts: nuthatches, chickadees, jays, woodpeckers and titmice.

Cracked corn:
Spread cracked corn on the ground or offer in tray feeders.
Attracts: sparrows, jay and mourning doves. Wild turkeys, quail, deer, chipmunks and squirrels (including flying squirrels) will also visit a wildlife feeder filled with cracked corn.

Nectar:
Hummingbirds and orioles will drink liquid nectar from specially designed feeders. Orioles also like jelly.

Mealworms:
Bluebirds love mealworms. Available live or freeze dried, offer mealworms on a tray feeder or in specially designed bluebird feeders. Ring a bell when filling the feeder, and bluebirds will learn quickly that dinner is served.

Wild birds evolved eating the natural berries and seeds produced by trees, bushes and wildflowers. They are feed on a variety of insects that are attracted to flowers and nectar produced by native plants.

Planting a variety of native shrubs, perennials and annuals increases the natural forage available to visiting birds and other wildlife. Flowers and blooms also attract insects, both beneficial to the wildlife habitat and as prey items for bug hunters including flycatchers, martins and bluebirds.

Trees and shrubs also provide cover from predators and protection from the elements. Hanging a few birdhouses gives cavity-nesting birds a safe place to raise their young.

With a little planning, any yard can become a haven for attracting and feeding wild birds.

Wild birds need fresh, clean water daily, and are attracted from long distances by the sound of moving and splashing water.

Rinse and re-fill birdbaths daily, both to provide fresh clean drinking water for the birds as well as eliminating places for mosquito larva to grow.

If space allows, a small garden pond offers a permanent water source and adds another important environment to for attracting frogs and other wildlife.

Bird feeders can attract some uninvited guests who are looking for a free meal and quite willing to share with the birds.

Squirrels are persistent to the point of being comical in their pursuit of emptying the contents of bird feeders. Baffles and squirrel-resistant feeders offer some protection against these raiders, but their tireless attacks will ultimately reward them with a few stolen seeds.

Consider putting out ground and tray feeders filled with seed and cracked corn for the squirrels, and they are more likely to leave the other feeders alone.

Other visitors can be bigger problems, and perhaps even dangerous. Raccoons, bears and even moose may visit backyard feeders in search of an easy snack. Animals are creatures of habit and if they find your bird feeders, they are likely to return again and again for a free meal. In most cases, the best option to deter these unwelcome large and potentially dangerous visitors is to remove the feeders for a while. After a few unsuccessful visits, they may look elsewhere for food.

If you live in an area with a bear population, consider waiting until the weather turns colder and bears go into hibernation before putting out the birdfeeders.

For over 35 years, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has encouraged homeowners, schools, corporations and municipalities to incorporate the needs of the local wildlife into their landscape design.

So far, the NWF has recognized the efforts of nearly 140,000 individuals and organizations who plant native shrubs and plants for food, cover and places for raising their young, provide include a source of drinking water, and add nesting boxes for cavity nesting birds.

Please visit the NWF website for additonal information on their offical Certified Wildlife Habitat program