Bird watching can be hours of fun for the whole family! It is a morning ritual at our house to feed the birds and sit down on the porch with a nice cup of hot coffee, then watch the show.
Birds will do the silliest things. We have blue jays that like to hide the peanuts we’ve set out for them. They diligently cover up the nuts with leaves or sticks and tuck them away so the other birds can’t find them. We also have blue jays that will bring nuts back and swap them out for bigger or better nuts.
Birds are very fun to watch, but you can’t watch them unless you entice them into your yard. The following tips for attracting birds are tried and true and have been implemented in my own yard for multiple years.
7 Tips for Attracting Birds to Your Landscape
1. Seed eaters like cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, and lesser finchess are easy to attract by simply supplying them with their favorite food and a nice birdbath filled with fresh water.
2. In general, birds are attracted by running water. A fountain will bring more interest than a bird bath.
3. Set up several different types of feeders to attract the different types of birds. For instance the lesser goldfinches are small and the feeders made only for them will keep unwanted birds and squirrels from intruding on their feeder. Thistle or nyjer seed is what you need for these beautiful little birds.
4. Ball type feeders with sunflower seed attract the titmice and chickadee. They are very acrobatic and able to feed upside down. Sparrows would love to monopolize this feeder but can’t feed upside down so fill only the bottom third of the feeder and that will help the titmice chickadees, and finches to enjoy this feeder without so many intruders.
Black oil sunflower seed is recommended to attract cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and several types of finches.
5. Peanuts are a favorite for blue jays and several types of woodpeckers.
6. Dried fruit will attract mocking birds and the beautiful cedar waxwings. We use chopped apples, grapes and raisins.
Many bird lovers will add fruit bushes or trees into their landscape to attracting these types of birds. American beauty berry, fig, pyracantha, viburnum and holly are a few favorite fruiting bushes that birds love.
7. You can also put out suet or peanut butter to attract some of the bug eating birds like the wrens and possibly the warblers. You will need to watch closely not to miss them, as these cute birds are super quick. Suet is for winter only though, the warmer temperatures tend to melt or spoil the suet. Hang a little block in a suet feeder using a chain so it is away from the tree. This will help keep the squirrels from getting to it.
When I was young we would roll pinecones in peanut butter and hang it with string or wire from the trees and watch hoping to see the cute little wrens.
I hope these tips and pictures will entice you to become a backyard bird watcher too! There are lots of us out there and we love taking care of and talking about our backyard birds. And hey, we didn’t even mention how much we love our hummingbirds and other pollinators too!
Guest Happy Gardener Contributor, Laura Jarvis
Picture credits: Bill Jarvis
Title pic credit: Pixabay
