The first day of winter is right around the bend. The ground is covered with fallen leaves, temperatures are regularly below 50, our ruby-throated hummingbirds have left for the winter, warblers and other birds have moved through on their way to their wintering grounds in Central or South America. But guess what? It’s a great time to welcome our winter resident birds like chickadees and cardinals to our yards and experience the joy of bird feeding!
Cornell Lab of Ornithology says, “Around 96 million people in the U.S. closely observed, fed, or photographed birds; visited public parks to view birds; or maintained plantings and natural areas around the home for the benefit of birds in 2022.” Cornell says 95% of these people observe birds in their own yards, often choosing plants to attract birds, and offering feeders throughout the year. Are you among this 96 million? Do you enjoy watching birds, and attracting them to your yards so you can see them up close? If so, then this post is for you.
Let’s talk about ten bird feeding mistakes to avoid.
- OFFERING LOW QUALITY SEED
It’s easy to want to grab the cheapest and first bag of birdseed you see, maybe in the grocery store as you’re doing your shopping, or at a discount store that’s convenient, but a word to the wise– don’t do it! The first step to having a successful bird feeding station in your yard is offering high quality seed. Many of the cheap mixes you might encounter are filled with non-nutritious seeds like milo, red millet or cracked corn. These seeds just take up room, offering little to most birds. If you buy these mixes, you’ll probably see birds digging through the seeds to get the ones they prefer, throwing the others out and onto the ground–a total waste of their time and energy, and your money.
Your best bet is to offer high-quality seeds– at my house I offer black oil sunflower seeds because these attract the most variety of birds and are calorie dense and easy for most birds to open. Another good type of seed is striped sunflower seeds, which also attract a wide variety of birds, is easy to open and has a high fat content. When birds eat both of these kinds of seeds, a refuse pile consisting of the outer shell of the seeds will accumulate beneath the feeders. You can get around the mess (for instance if you live in an apartment) by choosing shelled sunflower seeds, but these are expensive. A small black seed called nyjer will attract goldfinches, pine siskins and during the summer, indigo buntings. Putting out peanuts will attract crows, blue jays, chickadees, titmice and many different woodpeckers.
It’s best to avoid the seed mixes–unless you make them yourself. Birds, like people, have clear preferences, and so much of these mixes are fillers that get wasted. If you want to attract the most birds, pick one kind of seed per feeder. If you want more kinds of seeds, offer more feeders! Offering a variety of seeds and different types of feeders is a great way to attract more birds.
- SKIPPING REGULAR MAINTENANCE
In the same way we wouldn’t feed our kids moldy bread or nuts covered in mildew, we must take steps to keep our feeders clean so our birds stay healthy. It’s easy to forget this step– we all have busy lives with lots of things going on daily. Cleaning feeders is important. Many feeders, especially high quality ones, can come apart and be put in the dishwasher. If this is not possible, you can use hot soapy water, or for very stubborn gunk, soak feeders in a bleach water solution. Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that “research has found that scrubbing debris off feeders and then soaking them for 10 minutes in a diluted bleach solution is more effective at removing bacteria than using soap and water alone.” Add one part bleach to 9 parts water. Dry feeders thoroughly before filling them with seed. Ideally, it’s best to clean seed feeders once every two weeks. And don’t forget the area under the feeders– this waste builds up and can create a moldy zone. Rake, sweep, or shovel this gunk away regularly.
- POOR PLACEMENT OF FEEDERS
Have you seen yards where bird feeders are out in the middle of perfect green lawn, with not a tree or bush within 20 feet? Proper placement of feeders is essential to success. Cornell advises to put feeders either 2-3 feet away from windows, or far away– 30 feet or more. This will minimize window collisions. At 2 feet from the windows, the birds won’t have enough momentum to have a fatal window crash, and at 30 feet or more, they will be no where near your windows. Avoid putting feeders in the “danger zone,” 3-30 feet from windows and most of the time those fatal collisions can be prevented.
Also important is having small trees or shrubs nearby so the birds can easily get to safety and escape hawks or other predators. Most birds will not want to feed at a feeder that is far away from somewhere to hide. In this same vain, avoid putting the feeders too low to the ground that cats or other predators can prey on unsuspecting birds. In my wooded yard I hang my feeders three feet from my windows and almost 6 feet high, on a long wire so bears are not able to reach them.
- ALLOWING YOUR CAT TO ROAM FREE
Many people are unaware that free-roaming cats are voracious predators who will kill anything they can catch, including butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, songbirds, snakes, lizards, voles, moles, mice and other small animals. Does it seem right to attract birds to your yard, only to have them wind up dead courtesy of your cat? Outdoor cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds and between 6.9 billion and 20.7 billion small mammals each year in the United States alone. Do you want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution?
It’s really simple– if you want to feed the birds, don’t let your cats roam free OR, if you want your cats to roam free, don’t feed the birds!
- USING PESTICIDES OR OTHER HARMFUL CHEMICALS
When we use harmful pesticides and other chemicals in our yards, insects suffer and when insects suffer, so do the birds that eat them. People mistakenly think that these chemicals target only certain things– mosquitoes, aphids, weeds, etc, but the reality is that many other critters are negatively affected. Best practice is to avoid these chemicals as much as possible so your yard is a safe haven for birds, insects, and other animals.
- RAKING YOUR LEAVES
This may seem unconnected to birds but actually, not raking your leaves is essential to having birds in your yard. Know why? Because 96% of our songbirds REQUIRE caterpillars and other insects when raising their babies. Even if they visit your seed feeders, when raising babies, they must have caterpillars. And many, many species of moths and butterflies require fallen leaves for part of their lifecycle, especially to overwinter in. When we rake up all the leaves and haul them away, or chop them into thousands of tiny pieces, we are ending the lifecycle of many small animals, from fireflies to caterpillars. If we want birds in our yards, we must learn to leave the leaves! If you can’t leave them where they fall, rake them up and put them around trees or in a “wild” space at the edges of your yard. Having fallen leaves increases the insect diversity, which will in turn support more birds, such as brown thrashers, eastern towhees, white-throated sparrows, juncos, and more. Biodiversity is key and fallen leaves support a LOT of animals!
- FEEDING BIRDS HUMAN FOOD
Ever have some leftover bread, crackers or other random foods and think, “Oh! I should feed that to the birds?” If so, you’re not alone, but next time this thought comes up, don’t do it. Know why? Because human foods can harm the birds. Bread is devoid in nutrition that the birds need and they waste precious time and energy on eating these empty calories. In addition, these foods can make birds sick since birds are not used to eating these things and may not have the gut bacteria necessary to break these things down. Sure the birds will eat these foods we offer, but that’s because they don’t know better– your kids would probably live on Doritos if you let them, but that doesn’t mean Doritos are good for them! Best practice is to feed birds high-quality seeds or fruit, not bread or other human foods devoid of nutrition.
- NOT OFFERING WATER.
Like every animal on the planet, birds require water, even in the winter. If you have food but no water, the birds will have to go elsewhere for water and might not spend time in your yard. Offer water in a variety of ways– shallow bird baths, deeper baths, spray fountains, etc. In winter it’s possible to offer water even though it’s often below 32 degrees– just invest in a bird bath warmer. This is a device you can place in a deeper bird bath and it prevents the water from freezing. You can find them at specialty bird feeding stores like Wild Birds Unlimited or online–most cost less than $50. (Check out some birds using my homemade water fountain! Directions for making this here.)
- LEAVING FEEDERS EMPTY
If you let the feeders become empty and leave them that way regularly, the birds may stop coming to your yard. The best practice is to keep the feeders full so birds can rely on finding food in your yard.
- MISSING THE BIG PICTURE
It’s easy to get caught up in the small details– the type of seed, and the placement of the feeders for instance and not consider the bigger picture. And of course these are important! But the bigger picture is important to consider also. Birds are only one component of the food web and all animals, including birds, play a role in the ecosystem. There are things that birds eat, as well as things that eat the birds (hawks, owls, etc.)
If we truly want to do the BEST thing for the birds, we need to consider the best thing for the ecosystem as a whole.
These things include:
- Shrinking your lawn and creating habitat instead since turf grass offers NOTHING to birds and other animals.
- Adding native flowers, grasses, shrubs, vines and trees, focusing on a variety of shapes, sizes, heights, and bloom times. Birds will happily eat seeds from your perennials, as well as berries from holly, serviceberry, blueberries, and other natural berries.
- Offering dead trees when it’s safe or adding nesting boxes for cavity nesting birds like bluebirds.
- Understanding that how your maintain your yard is just as important as what you put in your yard. By not cutting your perennials down to the ground in fall means your birds can feed on the seeds and tiny insects all winter.
- Striving for a thriving habitat instead of a perfect green lawn.
- Making choices based on what’s best for birds and nature, rather than what looks pretty or perfect or doing something just because that was how it was always done.
Anyone who has ever watched a giant pileated woodpecker feeding on a holly bush, or seen a feeder full of rose-breasted grosbeaks knows what a joy it is to feed the birds. They are colorful, interesting, and diverse. I can predict that the more you watch birds, the more interested you’ll become, and the more interested you become, the more you’ll want to contribute to their well-being. Once you realize what an amazing world it is out there and how we humans can affect that world negatively, or positively, I bet you’ll do everything in your power to make your yard a safer and better place for the birds, and other earthlings who share our spaces.
Happy bird watching!
