Bird Tips For All Seasons

• Bird feeding is an activity you can enjoy year round and every season has its special delights.  Don't take down your feeders or you may miss out on the cardinals mate feeding in the spring and adult birds bringing their offspring in summer to learn how to get the seeds you provide.

• The most successful feeding stations have different styles of feeders, placed at different heights to simulate the way birds eat in the wild.

• Black-oil sunflower seed is the hands down favorites of most seed-eating birds.  Offer it from a hopper feeder to attract birds such as cardinals, jays, chickadees and grosbeaks.

• Niger seed will appeal to goldfinches as well as house and purple finches and pine siskins.  Serve it in tube feeders with small holes adjacent to perches.

• Store your seed in a clean, dry, air-tight container, such as a metal or plastic garbage can.

• To discourage squirrels and other critters use a pole-mounted baffle.

• "Clean" is the word for all your feeders.  Stiff brushes and narrow spatulas are handy for scrubbing feeders and bird baths.  You can use a mild bleach solution (1/4 cup bleach to 2 gallons of warm water), but be sure to rinse very well.

  Don't Forget The Water!

Providing water is the least expensive way to attract birds into your yard.

Oddly enough, many people who want to attract birds neglect to provide water for them.  They may have multiple feeders, which they stock year in and year out; yet they fail to furnish water. Water is just as important and sometimes harder to find than food.  There are even birds that will ignore feeders all together if they don't see a water supply near by.

If you are going to be serious about bird feeding, you must provide water. Birds  share a common need for water as well as food.  A small birdbath will meet the need of both.  It doesn't have to be anything extravagant, just remember to keep it constant.  It could even be a pot saucer as long as you keep it full.  They typically prefer something shallow that they can drink and also bathe in.  Birds  will actually leave a location if they can't depend on their needs to be met.  Choose a spot that is warm and sunny during most of the day.  Birds also like an open spot where they have a clear view of possible predators, but close enough to cover that they don't feel intimidated. So, when feeding the birds...

Don't forget the water!

Keep in mind that in the winter birds need water, also.  You may need to purchase an inexpensive heater for your bird bath, or simply keep the water broken up if it is cold enough to freeze.  Either way, birds need their water source in the winter, too!