Bird Feeder Locations and Presentation Tips

The ideal bird feeder station provides a variety of different styles, at different heights, where the largest variety of birds can find food.  It should also provide shelter from wind, rain, and predators.  It would have a wide variety of foods, and some water should be available year-round.  It should also be located where you can enjoy watching the birds that you are attracting, have easy access for you to refill and clean the feeders, and be out of the way of high-traffic areas of kids and pets.

A wide variety of locations and types of bird feeders is important.  Different birds like to eat at different heights.  A well rounded program would include some ground feeding: a platform feeder a few feet off the ground: a few hopper, tube and suet feeders: and a nectar feeder.  Multiple stations make it difficult for aggressive birds to dominate all of the feeders in the yard at once.  Not everyone can have this many feeders in their backyard however.  Use the ones you are comfortable with and that attract the birds you enjoy watching.

Our feathered friends also appreciate a variety of feeder placement with respect to surrounding vegetation.  If you have the space, consider establishing two or three stations, each with a variety of bird feeders at different heights. Once you find locations that seem to work, stick with them through the winter – birds like their food sources to be predictable.  A visit to our Nature Mall can provide you with a wide selection of bird feeders for your backyard.

The bird feeder should be designed for the type of food you plan to offer.  Thistle seed and suet are best offered in special feeders, for example.  Some of the larger foods like fruit cannot be presented if you have only a hopper-type feeder for birdseed.

The bird feeder should dispense food as it is needed.  For example, a northern cardinal hunting for sunflower seed may quickly empty and scratch away mixed birdseed from a hopper feeder.  The sunflower seeds may need to be presented alone in a separate feeder.

Self-dispensing suet feeders should be mounted at a downward tilt so that the suet falls against the screen or netting through which the birds peck.

The bird feeder should protect food from the weather.  Rain and dampness can quickly spoil seed, particularly cracked cereal grains.

The placement of the bird feeder should help prevent attacks from predators and food raids by other less desirable creatures.  Ground feeders are particularly vulnerable.

A hummingbird feeder is nothing more than a container of artificial nectar.  It is cheaper to make your own nectar instead of buying it.  The sugar-water solution for hummingbird feeders is easy to make.  Use 1 part granulated sugar to 4 parts boiling water, stir to dissolve, and let cool.  (Making it any sweeter could be lethal to the birds.)  Store what you do not use in your refrigerator.  Never use honey; it ferments and can make the birds sick.  Adding food coloring is not necessary.  Top off the solution in the feeders as needed, so that it can be reached easily.  Every four or five days wash the feeders in hot water and refill.

Problems with insects can develop at hummingbird feeders.  Sugar water can also attract troublemakers like ants and yellowjackets.  Discourage ants by coating the hangers from which feeders are suspended with petroleum jelly.  A fine spray of water on a feeder washes off spilled sugar water and keeps away flying insects – at least while it is turned on.  Never use pesticides on or around hummingbird feeders it could make the birds ill or kill them.