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Creating a Wild Backyard - Feeding Wild Birds

Feeding the birds that visit your home is one of the most rewarding ways to attract and observe wildlife. Starting a feeding hobby will take a little time, an investment in a feeder or two and food to go in them. The trick to feeding is choosing the right combination of foods and feeders to attract the birds you want to see.

What and How to Feed Wild Birds
Bird species have certain tastes when it comes to the food they eat and how it is presented to them. By tailoring your feeding to your favorite birds, you increase your chances of attracting them. Seeds for birds are readily available to wild bird lovers. The best seeds to buy are those that most birds eat. Choices of food for birds fall into four categories:

Black Oil Sunflower
Hulled sunflower seed is available and will attract the same number of birds without the mess of shells on your plants or ground. Birds like titmice and chickadees that like to eat from perches off the ground will prefer black oil sunflower seeds.

White Proso Millet
Both sunflower and millet can be found in mixes or can be fed separately. Most sparrows prefer millet and are not particular about where they eat.

Common Seed Mixes
These attract a variety of birds including starlings, house sparrows, grackles and pigeons. However, much is wasted as common seed mixes contain a lot of seed that birds don't particularly like (i.e. sorghum).

Thistle, or niger (n-eye-ger)
Thistle, or niger (n-eye-ger), is an imported seed that is also offered in special tube feeders. This tiny seed is a favorite of goldfinches.

Suet
Commercial suet cakes or fresh suet mixed with sunflower and other seed will make a favored treat for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees. Most commercially available varieties don't melt in the sun. Some are even made for summer feeding.

Suet is the fat that surrounds the kidneys of beef cows. Many food stores will carry it, if requested.  Fresh suet will melt and become rancid, so it should be removed from your feeders on warm days.

Fruit
Oranges, apples, grapes, and fruit cocktails can attract a variety of bird species to your backyard, including seed eating birds.

• Fruit cocktails can be offered in bowls nailed to a wooden plank.

• Put fruit feeders in your upper story windows or about seven or so feet up in a tree or shrub.

• Orange, apple and pear halves can be stuck to galvanized nails that poke through a piece of wood. Fruit feeders can be bought at specialty stores and follow this same design.

The northern oriole, Maryland's state bird, is attracted to fruit feeders. Other fruit eaters include cardinals, mockingbirds, and cedar waxwings.

Nectar
Nectar, a sugar solution, is a favorite food of hummingbirds.  Attracting these tiny, colorful birds is a highlight in any bird lover's experience.

• Nectar can be bought in packages or it can be made at home.

• One part sugar to four parts water is the best solution to use.

• Sugar water is a prime solution for fungal and bacterial growth so be sure to boil the water before you add the sugar.

• Change your nectar solution and thoroughly clean your nectar feeders every two to three days. The fungus and bacteria that accumulate in nectar feeders can kill the hummingbirds.

In Maryland, there is only one native species of hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird. This bird is found in Maryland only during the warmer months.

Types of Feeders
Bird feeders come in lots of shapes and sizes and are fashioned to supply particular foods that attract particular groups of birds.  If you are a home carpenter or craftsperson, you can make bird feeders out of a variety of materials from wood to old plastic soda bottles.

Tube feeders are especially attractive to smaller birds. Other hanging feeders are widely used and effective.

Platform feeders can be easily made from treated plywood with raised edges and will draw in those birds that feed on the ground some or all of the time. Cardinals, bluejays, juncos, sparrows, and mourning doves will flock to a mixture of millet, sunflower, cracked corn, and peanut kernels in this type of feeder.

Bird Feeding Tips

• Bird feeding is most productive from October through April. Feeding birds in early spring is especially rewarding, because this is the time of year when the least amount of natural food is available.

• It is okay to forgo feeding for short periods, or to stop altogether. Wild birds have evolved to take advantage of all sorts of undependable food sources and they can adapt.

• To attract many kinds of birds, use a variety of foods in different feeders placed at various heights.

• An even greater variety of birds will visit your home if you plant trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that will both feed and shelter birds.

• Keep all your feeders clean.

• Sometimes the birds at your feeders may become food for other animals, such as hawks. This is just nature at work, but to help avoid this, put your above ground feeders near trees or other shelter so that the feeding birds can run for cover when a flying predator approaches.

• Feeders on or near the ground should be placed away from shrubs or any shelter that may hide house cats or other predators.

• Squirrels will take advantage of most bird feeders. They can jump up and across about six to eight feet. They can hang from branches above a covered feeder and swing themselves in. They can climb almost anything. The best solution for a squirrel problem is to put feeders on poles away from your house or from trees, with guards on the poles to prevent the squirrels from accessing the seed.  If squirrels become a real problem for you, stop feeding the birds for awhile.

• To reduce fighting among birds at your feeders, add more feeders. Adding feeders can also help reduce the spread of disease by dispersing, instead of concentrating, the number of birds.

• Avoid feeding bread or other table scraps to birds or other wildlife. These foods can spoil quickly, growing bacteria and molds, which can harm or even kill songbirds. They may even attract rats to your yard. Salted foods can be dangerous for small birds.

For Additional Information, Contact:
 
 Wild Acres Program
 Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
 Attn:  Marilyn Mause
 Gwynnbrook WMA
 3740 Gwynnbrook Ave
 Owings Mills MD 21117
 410-356-0941
 E-Mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us