If you'd like to see more wildlife of the feathered kind in your backyard but had written off attracting birds as too time-consuming, expensive, or complicated, this simple guide will help you get started without much fuss or cost.
Photo by Rennett Stowe.
You don't need to spend lots of money, effort, and time to attract birds to your yard, as a bird can hardly tell the difference between $5 DIY bird feeder and a $75 sculpted copper one. This guide will help you get started quickly and inexpensively, and you can decide later if you want to open a bird hotel with heated baths and a rotating buffet of handmade treats.
A few notes: Nearly every tip in this guide applies to apartment dwellers who have a balcony or permission of their landlord to put bird feeders outside. Also, for ease of use when referring to things related to bird size (types of feeders, types of housing, etc.), we'll be using common birds for reference. Everybody knows about how big a sparrow is but not everybody knows how big a Redpoll is.
Why Bother Attracting Birds to Your Yard?
Among the multitude of reasons you might choose to attract birds to your yard, the principle—and most rewarding one—is that you enjoy the sight and sound of them. All other reasons largely pale in comparison to the amount of enjoyment you'll get from simply having interesting bird species visiting your yard. Photo by wjkos.
That said birds are voracious pest eaters. While birds are happy to alight on a feeder you've placed out for them and eat on your dime, many species are just as happy to hop about your yard picking off slugs, bugs, and other crawlies while they're waiting in line. Even better, species of birds that may not be attracted to the type of feeder or the type of feed you have out will stop by because the presence of other birds gives them a sense of safety.
On top of enjoying their song and the fruits of their bug-snatching labors, you also get a chance to participate in the ecosystem of the birds. Most of the birds you'll feed and see will be fairly common to your locale, but every so often you get the reward of seeing something unusual—like an endangered Kirtland's Warbler—stop in your yard to fuel up on its incredible journey away from cold Canadian winters down to the Bahamas.
So where should you get started? Birds have really basic needs, and providing for even a few of them will ensure you've got quite an audience. Birds need food, water, shelter, and—in the springtime—nesting materials. These things can be provided in as simply a fashion as a tray of sunflower seeds, a pan of water, a bush to hop into, and an old plastic strawberry basket full of goose down and twine (for nest building). If your tastes or your budget are so inclined, you can go wild buying all manner of fancy feeders, nesting boxes, bathes, and professionally-blended nesting materials, but it's not strictly necessary.
Types of Feeders and Feed
You'll find quite a variety of bird foods and a more diverse array of feeders in even the smallest of home and garden aisles. Generally the type of food is paired with a type of feeder that best dispenses it and attracts the kind of birds you're interested in. The name of each bird feeder type below links to commercial versions of that bird feeder on Amazon—mostly for reference. You'll likely find them much cheaper and sans shipping at your local home and garden stores—and at the end of each entry are links to DIY versions. It's worth noting that bird feeders, as long as you're not buying some fancy all-copper model with hand-sculpted leaves on it, are really cheap. You can buy perfectly serviceable bird feeders of all shapes and sizes for under $20. Photo by Lee Coursey.
Tube Feeders: Tube feeders are the most common kind of bird feeder. They're inexpensive, easy to hang, provide multiple feeding stations, and can be used with a wide variety of seeds. You can fill a tube feeder with black sunflower seeds to attract everything from chickadees to woodpeckers or use millet attract varieties of sparrows and finches. A tube feeder with a small feed tray on the bottom automatically boosts the number of birds it will attract as large birds such as cardinals, jays, and crossbills will have space to land. If you're only going to buy—or only have the space for—one feeder, a decent sized tube feeder with a tray is your best value. For the DIY-inclined here is a Flexi-Perch style DIY tube feeder intended to keep squirrels away from your feed.
Thistle Feeders: Thistle feeders are designed for finches. Other birds will occasionally land on them, but the majority of use will come from finches carefully picking the thistle seeds out of the tiny holes. You can even buy thistle feeders designed especially for American Gold Finches with inverted perches—the finches have no problem eating upside down. This DIY model is quite polished looking and this DIY model boasts squirrel resistance.
Peanut Feeders: Peanut feeders look like mesh tube feeders. Many species of birds love peanuts, like woodpeckers, cardinals, titmice, and jays. If you have a problem with invasive bird species like European starlings, you can usually seduce them away from the rest of your feeders by putting a peanut feeder in an out of the way area. Peanut feeders are essentially just tubes of hardware mesh with a top and bottom. Making one yourself isn't hard if you've got the supplies on hand from another project, but if you'll need to go buy hardware mesh, wire, and PVC caps to make one you might as well spend $10-15 to buy a commercial one.
Hopper Feeders: If you've ever seen a bird feeder that looked like a little house or barn with a rail running along the edge for birds to land on, you've seen a hopper feeder. They're great for larger birds like cardinals that would feel cramped clinging to a tube feeder, and you can get models that hold quite a bit of feed, cutting down on refill frequency.
Platform and Ground Feeders: Many birds prefer sticking close to the ground or landing on an open platform where they can keep an eye out for predators. A platform feeder will attract a wide variety of birds dependent on what you stock it with. A platform filled with cracked corn will attract everything from jays to pheasants, mixing in millet and sunflower seeds will attract cardinals, sparrows, doves, juncos, and more. DIY platform feeders are dead simple. I made one last week with stuff just laying around my garage from prior projects—1x2" pine boards and heavy duty window screen remnants. As long as you have scrap wood and very basic tools you can build one. Read more about DIY models here.
Nectar Feeders: Nectar feeders, frequently called hummingbird feeders, are a niche bird feeder that can attract more than just hummingbirds. When shopping for one, skip the models without perches. Perch-less nectar feeders will only attract hummingbirds and very pleased bees. A nectar feeder with a sturdy perch, however, will attract orioles, cardinals, tanagers, finches, thrushes, and other nectar-loving birds. Also, never buy commercial nectar for your nectar feeder. It's a rip off and usually has unnecessary dye in it. You can find DIY hummingbird feeders here and a speedy DIY nectar recipe here. It's worth noting that, while they attract some really beautiful and interesting birds, nectar feeders require the most work as you'll need to wash and refill them every few days to keep them safe for the birds.
Suet Feeders: Suet is rich beef fat, a by product of meat processing. It offers, in winter especially, a rich source of fat and protein for birds. Suet feed is traditionally packaged in cakes roughly 5" on a side but they're easy enough to cut and reposition. You can make your own suet and your own suet cages, but we'd recommend skipping both unless you really want to do it yourself. Both suet and suet cages are dirt cheap, cages usually run $5-8, and a box of suet cakes that will last you months runs around $20. It's worth the money just to save yourself the swearing and bleeding you'll be doing when you stab yourself with heavy gauge wire trying to make a suet cage that's significantly worse than the $5 one you left at the store. That said, if you skip using the cage and just melt a heavy piece of twine right into the block of suet you can get away with DIY hanging feeders like these ones. If you're debating putting up a suet feeder, keep in mind that the birds most attracted to the high fat content of the suet are also ravenous bug eaters and worth drawing into your yard.
The variety of bird feeders might seem overwhelming—and if you visit a large wild birds store you'll be amazed at the sheer number and variety of them—but you don't need to run out and purchase one of every make, model, and color. Start small and you'll be amazed at how many different birds come to investigate your feeders. A tube feeder with a large base-tray and a large hopper feeder with a suet cage on the side will attract a huge spectrum of birds with little investment on your part.
If you have any Quality Farm and Fleets, Tractor Supply Stores, grain co-ops, or other farm-centric stores around, try those first. Bird feed purchased from a specialty bird store or even the garden section of your local big box store is almost always a huge rip off. Why buy a $10 five-pound bag of fancy-pants sunflower seeds at the specialty shop when a 40-pound bag of sunflower seeds is $20 at the farm store?
Bird-Friendly Water Features: They Get Their Baths for Nothing and Their Drinks for Free
Birds love water. Once they figure out you've got some sort of water source in your yard, they'll be there every day drinking, splashing, and preening in it. You don't need a backyard pond or a massive water fountain to attract birds to your yard. Even a modest source of water will do just fine as long as you do the right things to grab their attention. Photo by JB London.
Nearly anything can serve as a birdbath as long as you keep a few design elements in mind. Your bird bath should be shallow. It can have a "deep end" but most of the bath should be shallow enough for small birds like sparrows to stand comfortably. The bath should be located with plenty of escape routes nearby. Bathing makes it harder for a bird to make a speedy escape and increase the chance a predator will snatch them. Make sure to put the birdbath in a location that is either safe from most predators—as it would be high up on an apartment balcony—or provides plenty of low hanging branches or other easy to reach roosts in case the birds need to bolt.
In addition to proper size and placement, you need to make the water active. Birds tend to ignore standing water but are drawn quickly to moving water. If you'd like to use a traditional bird bath you can use what are commonly called "water wigglers", little battery powered domes you set in the water to keep the surface agitated. They run around $30, but this DIY model will cost you about $10. For even more bird-attracting power an actual outdoor fountain with bubbling and trickling water is even better. For more DIY creations, consider turning an IKEA candle plate into a bird bath or building this beautiful recycled glass bowl bath.
Even if a fancy bird bath isn't in your budget something as simple as suspending a bucket with a small hole in it over a shallow pan of water can do the trick. You wouldn't believe it but birds can hear that faint dripping from quite a distance.
Shelter From Storms, Startles, and Sneaky Cats
Compared to providing food and water, providing any sort of elaborate shelter is significantly less important. You can attract plenty of birds to your yard with some cheap feeders, inexpensive feed, and a source of water. That said there are two kinds of shelter you should keep in mind when planning on drawing birds into your yard. Photo by virtualphotographystudio.
As we mentioned above in the section on bird baths, birds need immediate shelter like dense bushes, low-hanging branches, and first story eaves to flit up to. Unless you're going all out with this bird project, nobody expects you to start planting your yard just for birds. (Although planting for native birds and butterflies is an awesome thing to do.) Still, when selecting where you'll be placing your bird feeders, baths, and other bird-friendly items, make sure to look around and check the escape routes. It's cruel to make your yard a bird haven just to draw them to a location that best serves the hunting habits of neighborhood cats.
If you're looking to help birds become not just diners but permanent residents of your budding bird sanctuary, some sort of shelter beyond just bushes and accessible overhangs is in order. You can buy bird houses or make them yourself. The key thing to keep in mind regarding bird houses is that birds really don't care what the bird house looks like. All a bird needs is a hole just the right size for it to wiggle in and a decent sized inner-cavity once it gets inside. Whether that cavity in inside an old tree or a gaudy birdhouse shaped like a pink Cadillac isn't of any interest to the bird. Whether you plan on building a bird house or buying one, print off this handy chart that lists the proper dimensions and entrance hole sizes for a variety of birds. Armed with the proper dimensions and a DIY spirit, you might want to check out this guide to building simple and cheap birdhouses. If you're feeling extra ambitious you can try these nest and roost box plans from Cornell University.
One fun thing you can do to encourage birds to use your bird houses, especially in the spring, is to provide nesting materials. Birds use everything from hay and small twigs to feathers, human hair, wool, cattail down, moss, and pine needles in their nests. As long as what you're offering isn't synthetic or has been exposed to harmful chemicals it should work. An unused suet cage or a mesh produce bag are great containers to hold the nest building materials. Check out this guide for more ideas on providing nest materials.
Geeking Out with Your New Backyard Companions
It wouldn't really be a Lifehacker project—or a project I'd gotten my hands on!—if there wasn't some geek-out component to it. You can end your foray in attracting birds with just putting out the food and water for them and leaving them be, but what fun is that? Birds are fascinating and you can up your enjoyment with some geeky tools and knowledge.
You can learn about the kind of birds that visit your locale and even participate in tracking the population grown and movement at eBird, a previously reviewed site dedicated to bird observation. While you're at it you can even set up a bird feeder webcam—or even wire it into a nest box so you can monitor your feathered residents.
As much fun as observing birds through the window or with a pair of binoculars is, you earn extra geek points when you can identify them by song alone. The Peterson audio guides are especially well designed and how I learned to identify birds by their song.
While the tips and tricks we've shared here will get you started, a trip to your local library or to some of the great resources online like the Ornithology Lab at Cornell University and the Audobon Society can give you even more ideas and tips. If you have experiences of your own turning your space—be it a balcony or massive backyard spread—into a a bird sanctuary, we want to hear all about it in the comments.
