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Winter Feeding

Start feeding the birds in your local area in the winter months, and you will find that birds will continue to stay in your backyard all winter long. Birds are a creature of habit, with one of their most important habits that of finding constant supplies of food. Your supply of a bird feeder, filled with the nutrients they need most, will keep birds coming back week after week, day after day.

Putting creative bird feeders in your landscape and in your backyard is going to create backyard wild life habitat. This is where the birds are going to feel safe, fed and comfortable. A habitat means this is their home. Feeing the birds is more than just putting food out for the birds; it is creating a new home for birds in your backyard.

Bird feeders are a way to supplement the food sources available to the bird and sometimes to other wild life in your area. Bird feeders are more than just for birds, often bird feeders help the squirrels and chipmunks as well.

What are some of the types of feed that you can use during the winter months? Foods for the birds include sunflower seeds, niger (which is also otherwise known as thistle), there are cracked corn, whole corn, suet, and millet. The size of your feeder and the type of food you are using in the feeder is going to attract different species of birds.

Here are a few steps to follow when you are building a wild life habitat, a bird feeding area in your own backyard:

Use more than one bird feeder in your yard. When you have more than one feeder, you will allow small and large birds to feed at the same time. Over crowding at a bird feeder can cause some birds to leave the area, leaving you with just a few species feeding.

Remember it is going to be important to clean out your bird feeders occasionally to keep bacteria or molds from growing. When using grains as feed even just a good rinse of the bird feeder and drying it out is going to keep the bird feeder from getting moldy.

Use a seed blend that your birds eat. If you are buying a mixture of bird feed, and you find there is a large amount of seed of one type left on the ground, your birds do not like or want that type of feed. Not all seeds are meant for every type of bird, experimenting with a one type of birdseed, and then another, you will find the one type of feed your birds like the most. Extra seed on the ground can be messy.

One last thing, move your bird feeder from location to location, from tree branch to tree branch and you will find you will have less bird droppings in one central area!