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Creating Habitat

The first step in backyard birding is to attract birds! The way to attract birds, or any wildlife, to your backyard is to create habitat.

House Finch holding sunflower seed in beak

A House Finch can crack large seeds with its heavy bill
Image © 2008 Maggie Wolfe Riley

Habitat consists of four main elements: Food, Water, Shelter, and Space. When you are providing the first three, as in a zoo or even a high rise apartment balcony, you don't need to worry too much about having enough space. In the wild, of course, it's a different story. Birds and other wildlife need enough space in order to find the first three elements of habitat. Habitat is so important to wildlife that the number one cause of living things becoming threatened, endangered, or going extinct, is habitat destruction. When your home was built, it is likely your neighborhood supplanted wildlife habitat. However, when you create habitat in your backyard, you can give a little of this back.

Food

There are many types of birds you can attract to your backyard habitat, and a little variety in the types of food and feeders you offer your feathered friends will give you a return with interest in variety of visitors. Not just "little brown jobs" (LBJs), but a veritable rainbow of birds in reds, yellows, blues, oranges, stripes, spots, hoods, and capes!

Different species of birds prefer different types of food. You can often tell what type of food a bird will like by looking at its beak: short fat beaked birds like larger or hard shelled seeds; long thin billed birds either drink nectar (like hummingbirds), or probe into crevices looking for tasty bugs, and will also enjoy suet from your feeder; birds with bills somewhere in the middle tend to like small to medium softer shelled seeds.

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Types of Food

Seeds
Seeds are what most people think of when they think of bird food, but there are many types of seeds to consider! Millet, Sunflower Seeds, Red Milo, and Thistle are some types that appeal to different birds. Finches, Sparrows, and Chickadees are some birds who prefer seeds. Goldfinches are attracted especially to thistle seed. For more information on the different types of seeds and the seed preferences of different birds, see Cornell University's Project Feeder Watch website.
Nuts
Nuts are good food for larger birds, such as Jays. Jays are very intelligent, and some species will even take peanuts from your hand if you sit still long enough! This may be heresy to some birders, but if you also want to attract squirrels, you can even put up special squirrel feeders.
Anna's Hummingbird hovering in front of nectar feeder

Hummingbirds use a lot of energy to keep those tiny wings humming!
Photo by Jim Wilkins

Suet
Suet is technically rendered animal fat, but the suet you buy in stores is a little different. It comes in cakes and needs to be kept refrigerated when stored. Suet is "served" to birds in a little cage that they can hang on while they nibble away. Nuthatches, Creepers (some of my favorite LBJs), Chickadees, and Woodpeckers are some birds that may be attracted to a suet feeder.
Nectar
Nectar is basically sugar water, mixed in the proper proportion. You can buy pre-mixed nectar to be sure you get the proportion right. Hummingbirds, those little bundles of energy, need to eat and drink up to three times their weight in nectar and insects daily to survive!

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Types of Feeders

Birds not only like a variety of food, they feed in a variety of ways. Some birds prefer to eat off the ground, such as Towhees and Thrushes, while others prefer to perch above the ground. Some prefer to eat right side up at a feeder with a perch, while others will hang upside-down and sideways on a mesh or cage feeder to get at their food. Hummingbirds will hover in front of their nectar feeders and rarely perch. Again, variety is the key!

Goldfinches clinging to a "sock" of thistle seed

Goldfinches feeding at a thistle "sock"

Platform feeders
These are great for ground feeding birds if you want to contain the area where seeds are spread.
House feeders
Classic seed feeders with many variations, such as portholes, troughs, and cages where birds can access the seed.
Tube feeders
Easy to fill, with medium to small perches, and can be used with a variety of seed types. Some come with special adapters for thistle seed.
Sock Feeders
These are usually nylon mesh with tiny openings for thistle seeds. Thistle seeds are very small, and Goldfinches and other birds that eat them merely cling to the mesh to get at the seeds. Don't worry - the seeds are treated so they won't sprout in your yard!
Suet Feeders
Little square cages you can hang from a branch or hook or wire to a tree. You can make your own out of wire mesh, too. The square ones are easy to use with the square suet cakes from the store.
Nectar Feeders
I prefer smaller nectar feeders to keep the food from fermenting. If you have lots of Hummingbirds or Orioles (which also drink from nectar feeders), you can support a larger feeder. Nectar feeders are basically an inverted bottle with a bent straw-like tube at the bottom, or sometimes fake flowers. Be sure to get a small cage to cover the tip of the nectar feeder, or you will also attract and feed yellow-jackets!

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Small woodpecker is well-adapted for clinging to a suet feeder and pecking at the suet, which has a similar fat and protein content to tasty grubs

Female Nutall's Woodpecker enjoying a suet treat
Image © 2008 Maggie Wolfe Riley

Water

Provide some source of water for your guests. Birdbaths are nice, but a simple planter base with water in it works just as well. Birds like to drink and sometimes bathe in the water, so change it often. If you live where water freezes in the winter, you can purchase a coil to place in your feeder to keep it ice-free year round.

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Shelter

Shelter for birds doesn't mean a birdhouse (though it could, in nesting season). Birds need a safe place to hide from predators, like the neighborhood house-cat, or more natural enemies such as Cooper's Hawks. Some shrubby bushes or trees will do nicely for this purpose.

Some birds, such as Song Sparrows, like an open place to perch where they can sing their hearts out for you. Okay, well, they aren't singing for you, more likely they are saying things like "Hey Baby! Nice Tail-feathers!" or "What are youuu lookin' at?" But their songs are still pretty!

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Now that they're here, what kind are they?
Next: Identifying Birds >>