Hi, and welcome to BirdFeederTips.com — the best place for you to find out all you need to know about bird feeders. You’ll discover hints and tips on which feeder you should buy, where to put your bird feeders, and what sort of food to put in them. We’ve also got bird feeder plans showing you how to make a bird feeder at home and even how to squirrel proof your feeders!
For many of us, bird watching is one of the most, if not the most, enjoyable hobbies there are. You’ve got to love the performances and antics of all the different birds as they try to get to the best food first or try to grab the biggest piece of food – even if it’s as big as they are! I find it amazing to watch all the bright colors and different species that come to my garden, it’s a wonderful way to spend a few minutes, or even the best part of the day if you can manage it.
You probably already know that one of the best ways to attract birds to your garden is with a feeder. This site will provide you with a wide range of bird feeder tips. There’s a lot of different aspects to feeders, so please browse through our pages and get yourself familiar with what’s on offer and why you might choose it. Then you’ll have a good idea of what you want when you actually come to buying a bird feeder.
There are quite a few different kinds of bird feeders so you’ll need to have a think about which visitors you want to encourage to your garden. For instance, ground feeders are best for birds such as Doves, Goldfinches, Cardinals, Juncos, Towhees and Sparrows. This type of bird feeder needs to kept in open areas, usually about 10 feet away from any trees, hedges or borders. That will ensure the birds will stand a good chance of escaping if there’s any cats or other danger around.
The ground feeder is designed so as to keep the seeds fresh by separating the bird droppings from the seeds. Sometimes the better ground feeders will have covers over them.
Another type is a tube feeder which are good because they come with metal ports around the seed dispensers. These will deter hungry squirrels and house sparrows from emptying your bird feeder. These feeders should positioned about 5 feet off of the ground if possible. If you want to see more varieties of birds coming to eat in your garden, you may want to hang your feeder near the windows. Bird feeders like these attract Chickadees, Nuthatches, Siskins, House Finches, Goldfinches, Titmice and Purple Finches as well. Although not completely squirrel proof, they’re a pretty good start if you want to get a good look at your visitors.
Another type of bird feeder that you should take a look at is the Suet feeder. Titmice, Chickadees, Nuthatches and Woodpeckers love to eat suet, and Wrens and other birds will also sometimes eat the suet cake. You can feed these birds suet by placing it in a mesh onion bag, or your other option is to buy a bird feeder that is specially designed for feeding suet cakes to the different birds.
A good idea is for you to hang your suet feeder from trees or on a wire that’s stretched out between trees. Alternatively, you can also fasten it near other pole bird feeders and watch all the different birds eating both the seeds and the suet. Be careful though because the suet can turn rancid so you should avoid giving this to birds when the outside temperature gets anywhere near 80 degrees.
Hopper feeders are great and will allow larger birds like Jays, Grackles, Red-Winged Blackbirds and Cardinals to enjoy the mixed bird seed. You’ll still find that these types of bird feeders have the smaller bird types coming to eat as well though. They work by releasing the feed as the birds sit on the feeder trigger.
So, there are a few bird feeder tips to get you started. With so many birds around you should think carefully what type of birds that you want coming to your garden and choose your feeder accordingly. It’s not just about the birds though. If you’d like a feeder that blends in with the environment that would be a good reason to go for a wooden bird feeder.
There are so may different feeders that you’ll easily be able to attract the right kind of bird into your garden. The huge choice will give you the opportunity to see lots of interesting birds in the relative quiet of your home.
