During the winter, a lot of us cherish the sight of birds flocking to our carefully placed feeders. There’s nothing like waking up in the morning, grabbing a nice cup of coffee, and looking outside to see your yard filled with beautiful, colorful birds all eating at your feeder(s). How do you get these birds to visit your house over someone else’s, and how do you get them to stay? We’ve got 5 super important tips for you that will make your yard the talk of the nest!
Tip 1 – Use Quality Bird Seed
The best way to attract the kinds of birds you want to your yard is by providing them with the food they want to eat. This means using high-quality seed with a low amount of cheap fillers. You want to get whole sunflower kernels when starting a new feeder. This is imperative! This is the best seed to use to attract new birds to your feeder.
Fill the feeder to the top with whole sunflower kernels when placing a new feeder. Birds mostly hunt for food visually so having that nearly overflowing feeder helps in the initial attraction.
We recommend Blue Seal and Coles for the highest quality seed
Tip 2 – Location, Location, Location
Imagine you were a tiny bird with plenty of natural predators looking to eat you and your family. Where would you want to eat your food? Out in the middle of some yard, or tucked nicely inside a tree, near bushes, and away from people? Birds don’t like being out in the open for the world to see. Instead, they prefer to eat in shaded places away from traffic, noise, and interruptions.
Check out the following diagram of a yard. The blue X’s denote the best place to put the feeder in a yard like the one laid out. If you have a tree, bush, small pond or otherwise than this can help!
Tip 3 – Height
Birds like a feeder being at a certain height. Too high or too low and it’ll take a while to attract birds to your feeder. Set the feeder between 5-8’for optimal bird enjoyment and feeding!
Tip 4 – Water
All living things need water to survive (or so Google tells us), and if there is water right next to your food source, why wouldn’t you choose to eat there? The same applies to our avian friends. If there is a small pool or bird bath (heated during the winter is a plus) right near the food source, then birds will be much more likely to visit and stick around.
The water source doesn’t need to be directly under the food source. You can place it in the yard in another safe location for the birds if there is no natural water source.
Tip 5 – Patience
The one thing you cannot buy. When it comes to attracting birds, one of the most important factor is patience. Birds don’t know or care why you’ve left food out for them, but if they like what they see then, they’ll begin to come around. Birds are skittish and play it safe (they have too, or they would die very easily in the wild) and that can make it seem like they’re uninterested.
Birds are also creatures of habit. This means that finding a new place to eat, and even having a bird feeder changed (but in the same location) can lead to birds who are suddenly very hesitant. Wait it out and soon you’ll see birds starting to come around.
Wrap Up
Birds are awesome, beautiful, and sometimes a little bit slow. Follow these tips from Koopman Lumber and you’ll see birds coming around in no time! If you have any questions, reach out to us over at Koopmanlumber.com. Thanks for reading!
