How to attract birds to my yard?

Congratulations on your new home. Besides this you may want a water feature and some hanging feeders and or houses. Good luck and enjoy. Stay well. Search Results

Web results

www.birdsandblooms.com › ... › Plants and Trees that Attract Birds

Attract birds to your backyard with these seasonal plant picks. ... A lot of flowers, shrubs and trees adorn your backyard with interesting textures, bright colors and ...

Different birds eat seed intended for them. I have a cardinal feeder and it's filled with cardinal seed. btw cardinals are flat feeders. That means that they prefer to eat from flat surfaces like cookie sheets (with w/ drawer liner on it). Hummingbirds prefer to eat/drink sweet water. There are feeders made to hold the liquid. Finches eat from a finch sock. It's a long netted sock filled with finch food. They are the only bird that is able to perch on the netting. I think you're on the right track w/ the suet cake. Birds will find it and once they do, they will return. It has taken years for my finches to come and feed from me. And every year I get more and more of them. Bird houses will help too.

Try to put the birdhouses at least 6' off the ground. Same for the suet and bird feeders. The bird bath should be close to the feeders.

Birdhouses, bird feeders and suet cakes are a great start. A baffle for bird feeders if squirrels are around. Maybe they need more time to acclimate to your property-perhaps they are filling up on feed elsewhere. Amazing hobby- Enjoy!

Adding new food sources is one of the easiest and most effective ways to attract new birds to your backyard. A basic seed mix is a good start for backyard birding, but more specialized foods will attract a wider range of species.

New seeds:

Black oil sunflower seeds are the best for attracting songbirds to your yard, but other types of seed such as safflower, millet, and nyjer will attract different species that aren’t as fond of sunflower seeds. Try adding new seeds to existing mixes or use new seeds alone to see which birds show a preference.

Suet: If you don’t already offer suet in your backyard, you’re missing out on attracting woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other fat-loving birds. Try different blends or make your own bird suet for the birds you wish to attract.

Nuts: Jays, magpies, and titmice love peanuts and peanut butter. Offer whole nuts or shelled nuts as part of your backyard buffet to attract these species, or be sure your seed and suet types also include bits of nuts.

Fruit: Many birds will sample fruit at your feeders, and different types of fruit are favorite choices for feeding orioles. Fruit chunks such as oranges, apples, melons, and grapes are easy to add to platform feeders and will attract many unusual birds.

Kitchen scraps: Bread, leftover pasta, bacon rinds, rice and other types of kitchen scraps will attract a wide range of birds. Offer scraps in small quantities to avoid attracting unwanted guests such as rodents or raccoons. Keep scraps to rare, limited treats, however, as they are not as nutritious as other popular foods.

Nectar: If you’ve never tried feeding hummingbirds, putting up a hummingbird feeder can bring a colorful surprise to your yard. Orioles, woodpeckers and other species will also sample from nectar feeders, depending on the size and design.

Natural foods: Don't forget to take advantage of nature's bounty, and add seed-bearing flowers, berry bushes, nectar-rich flowers, and other natural foods to your landscaping. Many birds that may be wary about unknown feeders will happily forage among familiar plants. At the same time, minimize or eliminate insecticide use to be sure insectivorous birds have plenty to eat.

In addition to offering new food sources, you can attract new birds to your backyard if you change how you offer seeds and other food. Add a new type of bird feeder, such as a sock, tube, platform or saucer feeder to give birds more choices for how they eat. Set up new bird feeders in a different area of your yard to reduce competition and aggression with your old feeders, and you may even see more reclusive bird species trying them out.

Hello,

Maybe the birds have too far to go to reach safety if they use you feeders. Some protection might help (late Bush or trees) Too open at the moment?? Best wishes

A bird feeder is a great way to start. Put food out daily and they will come. My sister does this every day and now they can feed the king parrots by hand. They come everyday and even eat out of the hands of my 5 year old niece.

Adding a bird bath might help too, birds love to bathe :)

Make sure you don't have light reflecting or shiny objects in the yard as they detract birds. Add some other plants that attract birds. Here's a good article on it:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/books/features/top-10-plants-to-attract-songbirds/

Your birth bath needs to be in the shade of a tree with low hanging branches that the birds can fly to easily when their feathers are wet. Also, they might not use it if there are bushes/vegetation around it where predictors like cats could hide.

We have our feeders under a tree, about 5 foot off the ground on a post....birds can fly to the branches when they need safety. Our bird bath is about 20 feet away in bright sun. We see them bathing and then preening themselves before flying away. Our robins like to be fed on a flat surface...deck, garage floor, etc. They like raisins or cut up prunes. Some like grapes. Blue Jays like peanuts in the shell. They grab them and fly up to the nearest tree to peck the shell open. Don't worry, the birds will find your feeders and you will enjoy the sight and sounds of them.

Congrats on the new home! You can still feed birds even if you have dogs. I have 3 and 6 cats and none pay any attention to the birds at all. The squirrels are the seed thieves, so i made them a peanut box and helps cut down on seed stealing and scaring the birds off. Granted I am in Southern CA, so no cardinals here, but ALL my sparrows, finches, red winged blackbirds and any of the traveling through birds LOVE black oil sunflower seeds. I purchase in 50 pound bags when available as bird seed is considered a "seasonal item." Boggles my mind. Do you stop eating during the winter? Nope! That's when birds need food the most! So I stockpile during the summer to carry me through to spring. I have 6 seed feeders of various types, and they like the fly through feeders the best and 5 hummingbird feeders, 3 hung outside my bedroom window and 2 others placed so that the baby or timid hummers can feed without an audience. I have a bird bath, they use it as a drinking source and gets dumped every night at dusk and cleaned and refilled every morning. My neighbor over the back fence has a fountain that runs 24 hours a day, 7 day a week, 365. They go there to bathe. Once they know you are providing full service buffet and spa service, they will stay in the area.

This will attract hummingbirds as will trumpet vines: https://thehoneycombhome.com/hummingbird-food-recipe-that-works/