One of the things I like best about my garden is the variety of wild birds that frequent it. Even in the coldest days of winter, there is always something interesting going on outside my window. Attracting birds is easy when you provide the following four things for them: shelter, nesting places, food and water.
Birds need a diversity of trees and shrubs, especially evergreens, so that they can hide from predators and seek shelter from weather. These same trees and shrubs provide nesting spots for birds that make open nests, such as robins, cardinals and finches. On the other hand, cavity nesting birds appreciate bird houses. Petitti’s carries a wide selection of wooden houses in various sizes and shapes, with special openings for cleaning purposes. Choose houses with smaller openings for chickadees and wrens, medium-sized openings for sparrows, finches and bluebirds, and larger openings for woodpeckers. It is important to place the bird houses away from activity and where they will get some shade in the warmer summer months.
Bird feeders will dramatically increase the number of birds in your garden. I suggest starting with a hopper-type feeder filled with black oil sunflower seed. This combination will attract the widest variety of birds, including cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, blue jays, finches, doves and sparrows. If squirrels are a problem, use pure safflower seed instead of sunflower. The birds will enjoy this food and the squirrels will not eat it. Scotts Songbird Selections® seed is of excellent quality, and also has ingenious packaging. The Colorful Birds and Wild Finch and Small Songbird Blends have built-in spouts with resealable caps to fill tube feeders without spilling. The Multi-Bird Blend and No-Mess Patio Blend packages have zip tops for freshness.
You can add additional feeders depending on what kind of birds you want to attract. A tube feeder with Nyjer® seed (commonly called “thistle”) attracts bright yellow goldfinches, redpolls, pine siskins, and other small finches. A popular one is the Droll Yankee® Peanut Feeder, a tube of metal mesh sized to hold peanut mixes, attracting woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and blue jays. Suet is also attractive to woodpeckers, and sometimes even robins and bluebirds. These suet feeders can usually be found on the sides of hopper feeders. A simple tray- or platform-type feeder is excellent for offering bits of fruit or mealworms to bluebirds, robins, orioles, and mockingbirds.
The hummingbird, found in northern Ohio from mid-April through mid-October, enjoys nectar. There are many sizes and shapes of hummingbird feeders, many that work very well. Keep in mind, nectar will spoil if left out for more than a week. Therefore, select feeders that are small enough for the birds so they can eat most of this food within several days. Because orioles also feed on nectar and due to their larger size, you might want to use a feeder designed especially for them, to avoid any competition between the two.
Last, but certainly not least, water is a critical need and will attract many kinds of birds to your garden. A bird bath or a simple dish or saucer will provide a place for drinking and bathing. Be sure to change the water in the birdbath at least once per week. The Water Wiggler®, available at Petitti’s, produces ripples in the birdbath making it more visually attractive to birds, while at the same time discourages mosquitoes. In the winter months, it is much harder for birds to find water than it is to find food. An electric birdbath heater solves this problem by keeping water partially ice free. There is no danger of shock, and the heater shuts off automatically when it reaches 40 degrees, so it is both safe and energy efficient.
As you can see, bird feeding is quite easy, and can be as simple or complex as you would like to make it. It is also another reason to keep our minds on the outdoors during the cooler months of the year. Discover for yourself that wild birds truly add life to a garden every day of the year.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
One of the things I like best about my garden is the variety of wild birds that frequent it. Even in the coldest days of winter, there is always something interesting going on outside my window. Attracting birds is easy when you provide the following four things for them: shelter, nesting places, food and water.
