Feeding birds is the most common way to attract birds to your yard.  There are many types of bird feeders, and many seeds or food that can be used to attract various birds.

Not all birds like the same type of feeder.  There are tube feeders, housefeeders (or hopper feeders), platform feeders, finch feeders, suet feeders, and nectar feeders.  And not all foods or seeds that you can use in a feeder is appropriate for all feeders.   I have a variety of different feeders in my yard to help attract a larger variety of birds.
 

• Tray feeders - are big, easy to fill, and can be used for a variety of foods.  Cardinals, finches, jays, grosbeaks, bluebirds, blackbirds, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, buntings all prefer a tray type feeder. (they will go to other feeders, but this seems to be their preference)  The only type of food not good for use in a tray feeder is niger seed, lettuce seed, and grass seeds.  Tray feeders are good places to put out doughnuts, bread crumbs, and fruit.

• Hopper feeders - are feeders with house type feeders that have a plastic sides and a roof to keep seeds safe from inclement weather and to dole out seeds as needed.  Many of the commercially sold hopper feeders have slots for a suet cake on one or both sides.  Many birds will eat eagerly from a hopper feeder, they include chicadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, jays, and woodpeckers.

• Tube feeders - are simple tubes shaped feeders that have perches at various levels to provide various feeding stations for the birds.  Some tube feeders will have holes designed for  birdseed mix or sunflower seeds, and others have small slit-like holes for niger seed.  The more expensive and heavier tube feeders not only last longer because of the sturdier design and hole structure, but also because they sway less in the wind and don't spill as much seed.

• Nectar feeders- are designed for use by orioles and/or hummingbirds.  Although other birds with a sweet tooth will also be attracted by them.  These feeders are designed to be filled up with a liquid nectar that you can buy in a package form and add water to, or you can mix your own using sugar (a lot of it), hot water, and food coloring.

• Finch feeder - is a feeder designed especially for delivering niger seed, which is a favorite of finches.  Other birds will also eat the niger seed.  These are usually tube type feeders with a smaller slit-like hole to accommodate the very small and slender niger seeds.

• Suet Feeders - are usually thin black wired cage-type feeders designed for suet, suet cakes, and even peanut butter mixtures.

Birds love seeds and grains.  There are various types of seeds you can put in your feeders to attract birds.
 
 
 
 
 

• Sunflower seeds - There several ways you can buy sunflower seeds, hull, unhulled, or sunflower hearts.  The hearts are more popular, but these are also more expensive.  There is also a white-striped hulled sunflower, and a black unhulled sunflower.  Black-hulled seems to be more preferred.  Many birds have a particular affection for sunflower seeds.

• Peanuts - these are high in fat and protein content, and they atract titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, and starlings.  You can thread peanuts in their shells on a wire or string, place shelled peanuts in a mesh bag, or you can buy peanut hearts and fill a feeder with alone or with a mixed seed.  Don't use roasted or salted peanuts, use only the raw kernels.

• Cracked Corn - is a useful source of oil and starch.  It can be used to distract larger birds from the more expensive seed.  Or you can do like I do, and place an empty metal trash can lid full of it to attract ducks during the winter and springtime.

• Millet seed - is a grass seed with a high starch content.  It comes in a whitish color or a redish brown color.  The white millet is the most preferred.  Small seed and grain eaters love millet.

• Niger seed - a small oil-rich seed, often called thistle seed (although, it isn't from the thistle plant or weed)  Finches love nigger seed.

• Commercial wild bird seed mix - commercially available mixes contain a wide range of seed and grain.  They usually contain millet and sunflower seeds.  But be wary, not all mixes are the same.  Look for one that also contains at least some peanut hearts and cracked corn.   If the brand you buy isn't attracting birds within a few weeks, try a different brand.

• Suet - is animal fat, and birds love it.  It is a good source of fats needed for warmth in winter.  You can buy suet from a butcher shop and grind it up, or do like I do, just buy a commercially made suet cake that is mixed with various things like seeds and peanuts.

• Peanut butter - is an excellant source of oils and fats.  Mixed with corn meal to a cookie dough consistancy, it is a favorite of woodpeckers and bluebirds.  I usually place a peanut butter and cornmeal mixture in a suet feeder, although, I know people who drill holes in a meduim-sized log and fill the hole with the mixture. This is the one item I have to refill the most. It seems that most birds really like the peanut butter.

That's right, Kitchen Scraps.  Leftovers from your kitchen are the cheapest foods available for birds.  Scraps are often rich in carbohydrates and fats, which help birds build up vital reserves of body fat necessary for surviving cold winter nights.
 

• Bread crumbs and crusts, stale cake, broken pieces of cookies, and doughnuts - bread is cheap, and while it is not the best choice, it helps to keep empty stomachs full (brown bread is the best).  The cake, cookies, and doughnuts are also good because they are rich in fat.  Small or fine crumbs means there will be some left for the smaller or shy species of birds.

• Stale Cheese - don't through out that dried out cheese, when it becomes hard, it is ideal for birds.  It makes an excellent addition to suet mixtures.

• Starchy foods - like whole baked potatoes, uncooked pastry dough, cooked spagetti or noodles, cooked rice.  Leftovers of any of these are rich in starch, and they are useful in keeping big eaters like crows busy.

• Fat and meat - should only be put on in cold weather because in warm weather, they quickly become rancid.  (commerical suet doesn't appear to have this problem, but it never stays long enough in my yard, so it is hard to tell).

• Leftover dog and cat food - if you have eithe canned or dried pet food, birds love this too.  With the dry bag pet food, moisten it before putting out for the birds.

Birds love fruits and nuts.

When you have store bought fruit that is past it's prime and no longer fit for human consuption, the birds will love you if you feed it to them.  You can just toss it out on the lawn, put it on a tray feeder, or impaled on spikes.  Oranges attract orioles, tanagers, and rose-breated grosbeaks.  I've seen robins pecking merrily away at apples.   Good fruit choices for birds are oranges, bananas, grapes, pears, raisons.  Dried fruit can also be used in a suet mixture or put on a tray feeder after soaking.

All kinds of nuts are popular with birds.  Most species prefer kernals, but nuthatches and woodpeckers will open nuts with shells.  Chopped or grated nuts will attract smaller birds.  Coconut can also be used if you hand half upside down (this attracts chickadees, titmice, and woodpeckers).  Nuts most popular with birds are almonds, walnuts, pecans, and filbirts.
 

Specific Birds You May Want to Attract

Attracting Cardinals	Attracting Hummingbirds
Attracting Bluebirds	Attracting Orioles
Attracting Finches	Attracting Buntings
Attracting Woodpeckers	Attracting Tanagers

 

Since May 30, 1999