How to Attract Birds to Your Backyard This Fall and Winter
Food, water and shelter are the keys to a busy winter bird feeder. Here's what seed to buy, how to keep feeders clean and safe, and how to prevent window strikes.
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Fall and winter are wonderful times for backyard bird watching. Natural food is scarcer, so birds rely more on feeders, and many species are easier to spot in bare trees. Provide food, water and shelter and your yard can become a busy winter refuge.
Choose the right food
- Black-oil sunflower seed: the best all-around choice. Its thin shells and high fat content attract cardinals, chickadees, titmice, finches, nuthatches and more.
- Suet: a high-energy fat cake that woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees love, especially in cold weather.
- Nyjer (thistle) seed: a favorite of goldfinches and other small finches. Use a special finch feeder.
- White proso millet: attracts ground-feeding birds like juncos, sparrows and doves.
- Peanuts: unsalted, out of the shell or in the shell, for jays, woodpeckers and titmice.
Avoid cheap mixes heavy with filler seeds like red milo, which many birds kick to the ground.
Offer water
Water can be harder for birds to find than food in winter, when sources freeze. A heated birdbath or birdbath heater will draw birds that never visit feeders.
Provide shelter
Evergreen trees and shrubs give birds protection from wind, cold and predators. A brush pile in a corner of the yard offers cover. Leaving some seed heads on perennials like coneflowers and black-eyed Susans provides natural food.
Keep feeders clean
Dirty feeders can spread disease. Clean feeders regularly, about every couple of weeks and more often in wet weather. A common method is scrubbing with a dilute bleach solution (about 1 part bleach to 9 parts water), then rinsing thoroughly and drying. Rake up old seed and hulls under feeders.
Prevent window collisions
Many birds are killed each year by striking windows. Place feeders either very close to windows (within about 3 feet) or farther away (more than about 30 feet). Applying window decals, tape or dot patterns spaced closely together across the outside of the glass helps birds see it.
Keep cats indoors
Outdoor cats are a major threat to birds. Keeping cats indoors protects both birds and cats.
Be patient
It can take a few days to a few weeks for birds to find a new feeder. Once they do, keep it stocked consistently through winter. Learn who's visiting with our backyard bird identification guide.
