How to Attract New Birds to Your Backyard
With hundreds of species easy to spot locally, many backyard birders become frustrated when only a few common backyard birds regularly visit their feeders. Fortunately, it is easy to attract new birds to your backyard by offering what they need most: food, water, shelter, and nesting sites. By adding new features to your yard that address these needs, you’ll soon find a wide range of new and unexpected species nearby.
New Foods
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.
New Water
Not all birds will visit feeders, but they all need water. While a basic birdbath is an easy way to attract birds with water, upgrading your water features or adding new ones will bring new bird species flocking to your yard.
Moving water: Instead of just a static birdbath, add a dripper, mister or bubbler to create motion. Birds will see and hear the water from great distances, and many curious species will come to investigate. If you have the space and budget, consider a fountain birdbath or even larger water feature such as a waterfall or pond.
Multiple water sources: A single birdbath can be very crowded, particularly if it is the only water source for a large area. Add additional bird baths to attract more birds, or add different water features such as a mister in a shady grove or a ground bubbler near shrubbery to attract a wider range of birds.
Winter water: Birds can get their water from snow and ice in the winter, but a liquid water source will attract dozens of birds in the cold. Add a simple heater attachment to your existing birdbath or upgrade to a heated birdbath to attract winter birds with a warm drink.
New Shelter
Birds like to feel protected and secure, and if they are uncertain about the safety of an area they will not visit it regularly. By adding more shelter to your backyard, you entice even the shiest birds to stop by.
Landscaping: Opt for bird-friendly landscaping that features native plants in tiers or clumps to provide familiar shelter for your regional birds. Add new plants to an unused area of your yard, or increase the density of existing plants for more secure cover. To make the plants do double duty, choose trees and shrubs with seeds and fruits the birds will enjoy as a natural food source.
Brush pile: Build a brush pile in a secluded section of your yard to offer instant shelter to birds. This is a great way to recycle a Christmas tree or prunings from landscaping projects, and small birds such as sparrows and finches will eagerly flock to a brush pile when they feel threatened.
Roost boxes: Adding a roost box to your yard will give backyard birds a safe, warm place to settle on cold winter evenings. Many small birds, including bluebirds, chickadees, and wrens will readily use roost boxes.
New Nesting Sites
It is a real treat for backyard birders to observe mating and nesting habits of their favorite backyard species. Offering suitable nesting areas will increase the chances that new birds will find your yard attractive.
Birdhouses: Add a new birdhouse designed for a specific species to your yard. Check the size of the entrance hole and the other dimensions of the house to be sure it is suitable for the birds you wish to attract.
Birdhouse safety: If you do have birdhouses up but they go unused year after year, they may not be appealing to your backyard birds. Be sure they are safe birdhouses that are resistant to predators and positioned to be secure from the worst weather.
Nesting material: Offer nesting material for your birds to take when constructing their nests. Some birds will prefer weed fluff from dead flowers, while others will take advantage of grass clippings that are left on the lawn. You can purchase balls or squares of cotton fluff and lint that hummingbirds and goldfinches prefer, or you can save hair, pet fur and small pieces of string to offer in a suet cage nester.
Be Observant
Once you have upgraded your backyard offerings to attract new birds, the most important step is to be patient and observant. You may already be attracting more bird species than you realize, but they may not stay nearby for long if your yard does not offer what they need. By offering a good range of food, water, shelter, and nesting sites, you can encourage many different birds to visit your yard more frequently and to stay for longer periods, giving you more opportunities to see the variation in your backyard flock.
We have our lovely "May Gray" weather in So Cal right now - keeps things cool and the plants love it. Hopefully it will continue on into "June Gloom" before the heat sets in.
Amaryllis are going crazy this year:
Including this massive white one:
And yes, they don't last that long, so enjoy them the few days they're here.
Cacti are starting to put on a show. This one is very very old:
And my helpers, taking a break.
Kitty dragged in a dead rat yesterday and dropped it in my hallway - as a gift. She knows I hate and despise fruit-stealing tree rats, dead or alive.
Hi. Love all the information on birds. One of my favorite birds around here is the Carolina Wren. They have built nests in the past in my hanging planters. Unfortunately, I had to remove the planters because some other birds found out about the wrens and I’d wake up to feathers all over the place! Weather is up and down. Mostly below average for May. Cool weather crops doing extremely well. Haven’t put tomatoes in the ground yet because it is too cool for them. Mini roses blooming well, as are pansies and dianthus.
I LOVE birds. Last year while living in our trailer temporarily, we watched stellar jays nest/brood in a rhody near a window. I knew they were ready to hatch the day our sheetrock was delivered...and unloaded right over the shrub. In fact, they broke a limb and banged it, with me trying to tell them to avoid the bush. Well, 4 were born the next day...Sheet, Rock, Rhody, and Lucky...Lucky didnt make it, tho. The rest are here, with extended family. We fed them all winter. There were 10 here a while back. Now, we scream at them if they go after the bushtit nest. And call them by name...haha.
The Robins annoy me more. I won the battle this year...no Robin’s nests on our wood features this year! And, we also quit feeding all birds so they will eat bugs.
For all you “happy gardeners” out there - I haven’t heard this in ages & it made me smile:
Garden Song ~ David Mallett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRO2_S1rdSs
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
And inch by inch, and row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
Till the rain comes tumblin’ down
And pullin’ weeds and pickin’ stones
Man is made of dreams and bones
Feel the need to grow my own
‘Cause the time is close at hand
And rain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature’s chain
And tune my body and my brain
To the music from the land
Inch by inch and row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
And inch by inch, and row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
And someone warm them from below
Till the rain comes tumblin’ down
Plant your rows straight and long
Temper them with prayer and song
And mother earth will make you strong
If you give her love and care
An old crow watchin’ hungrily
From his perch in yonder tree
And in my garden I’m as free
As that feathered thief up there
Inch by inch and row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
And inch by inch, and row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
And someone warm them from below
Till the rain comes tumblin’ down
I got my poles in for the lean and lower maters and pole beans yesterday.
All three Red Deuce mater plants are in the ground.
Got home from work tonight and sowed some beans/seeds that I put in water last night to soak.
I have eight more mater plants to get in the ground once I add the horizontals to the lean and lower trellises.
Four Shisito pepper plants also need to go in the ground. I’m going to do a little raised bed for those and make them some good soil. Going to do the 1st edition version of Square Foot Gardening. Six inch tall, add six inches of good stuff and mix with six inches of this top soil and I’ll do it in the least rocky area.
I spent most of my first week off getting caught up on chores around the house, not the least of which was getting some work done in the victory garden. I cut back to 16 tomato plants this time. I'm not planning to can any tomatoes this summer as I've got plenty left over from last years efforts. Also cutting back on peppers - I set out 10 sweet bell peppers but not growing any hot ones this time.
Brassicas are doing well. I've already harvested one head of broccoli, with several more and a couple cauliflowers getting close. I've got two napa cabbages that are ready to harvest which means it's time to hit the asian food store and buy a few ingredients to make some kimchi. Kaitlin and Stonehead cabbages are coming along nicely as are the collards/kale planted in the gap between two garlic rows.
Sweet corn is up ~6". I side-dressed it with urea a couple days ago. Pole beans started to show on Saturday. Cukes started to pop up middle of last week. Carrots are rocking it in the new raised beds. Gourds have been set out. Two new rhubarb plants have been set out. Spinach is done thanks to a few days of stupidly hot weather week before last. The last of the mustard greens will come out tomorrow evening. Yukon Gold spuds have started to bloom. Cantaloupe has been seeded but not yet up. Still need to seed the spaghetti squash and okra and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now.
I've been trying to do some stuff that will make make the gardening easier on my aching bones. I put up another cattle panel arbor for vining crops two weeks ago. I bought enough weed cloth to pretty much cover up all the places where I don't want weeds to grow, and every row of plants has its own soaker hose. I also installed 20 gallon watering bags and 3' weed mats on most of my orchard trees. Those few things should seriously reduce the time it takes me to keep things properly maintained.
The last rain we got put the sunflower field into good shape for tilling so I made a single pass over it. It's been a few years since I was able to get it planted due to wet spring weather. I'm looking forward to some color back there again this summer.
The catalpa tree in our front yard is in full bloom now.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/?mc_cid=4620a77399&mc_eid=16e8a93ef2
Part of the mission of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is to help people find the answer to “what’s that bird?” We know sorting through a massive field guide, using search engines, and other resources can make it really challenging to figure out what you just saw—our goal is to make that challenge easier.
Merlin is designed to be a birding coach for bird watchers at every level. Merlin asks you the same questions that an expert birder would ask to help solve a mystery bird sighting. Notice that date and location are Merlin’s first and most important questions. It takes years of experience in the field to know what species are expected at a given location and date. Merlin shares this knowledge with you based on more than 800 million sightings submitted to eBird from birders around the world.
Merlin also asks you to describe the color, size, and behavior of the bird you saw. Because no two people describe birds exactly the same way, Merlin presents a shortlist of possible species based on descriptions from Cornell Lab experts as well as thousands of bird enthusiasts who helped “teach” Merlin by participating in online activities. They’ve contributed more than 3 million descriptors to help Merlin match your input with the most likely birds. When you identify a species and click “This is My Bird,” Merlin also saves your record to help improve its future performance.
Some people experience birds through the viewfinder of their camera, and putting a name to the bird they just photographed can be both rewarding and educational. The Photo ID feature in Merlin allows anyone with a camera to snap a photo and get a list of suggestions. Photo ID is yet another method to help you identify the birds you encounter.
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