Having a garden full of birds that look gorgeous and sound beautiful definitely sounds like a dream. You can have an outdoor living space that provides an exhilarating experience while you enjoy your afternoon tea.
Luckily, attracting birds to your garden is not that difficult as long as you know what steps you need to follow. You don’t have to hire a bird expert to get the job done since you can do everything all by yourself without costing you a lot.
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In this article, we have compiled some steps that you can do to attract the birds to keep coming to your garden all year round. Just keep scrolling to find out our simple tutorial on How to Attract Birds to Your Garden below!
How to Attract Birds to Your Garden
Turn it into a food source
The first step that will surely attract the birds to your garden is to provide food around your outdoor space. You can let them feed in your garden and they will come back once they know that your garden is some kind of food source.
Most of you just simply provide supplementary food which is useful, but natural food is actually more important. You can plant berries which are loved by lots of birds like song thrushes, robins, and blackbirds.
Let them shelter around
When cold weather comes, birds will find some cozy areas that you can use to shelter, sp planting dense shrubs and trees in your garden. The ones that can protect them from rainy weather and cold temperature will attract them to stay around your garden.
In addition to natural shelter, you can also place some empty nest boxes around your exterior area. Some birds also love to snuggle inside cozy boxes to warm up their body.
Place some birdbaths
You may find that some gardens which are designed to attract some birds mostly have some birdbaths around. It’s because once you have provided freshwater, the birds will come to drink and bath.
Keep in mind to always place your birdbaths away from your pets or predators. Also, you have to replace the water when it’s no longer fresh since they don’t love smelly and dirty water.
Most homeowners don’t really execute this step when it comes to winter when birds really need water during that time since they need water to preen their feathers. Make sure that you defrost the water by using hot water from a kettle regularly.
Provide supplementary food
One thing that will be a problem when it comes to natural food sources is that you can’t really have them all year round. So, you still have to provide supplementary food, especially in winter. It will keep the birds energized during the freezing winter.
Try to mix various kinds of supplementary foods that will attract various birds species. You may also want to do a little research if you want to attract some particular bird species.
In the market, you will find a lot of bird foods that are offered at various price tags. Buying good quality bird food – which can be a little pricey – is definitely a wiser idea. Most garden birds won’t really eat cheap bird foods since they can contain millet or wheat.
In addition to choosing the best food to attract the birds, you also need to consider what type of feeder suits your best. In general, there are four popular types of bird feeders, and here’s what you can consider:
- Seed feeders – If you are into finches, tits, and sparrows, a hanging seed feeder is a good option. They are made of plastic or metal and come in various sizes.
- Ground feeders – The feeders that you simply place on the ground will attract wrens and blackbirds. However, you might not want to use it if you have a small garden with pets running around.
- Nut feeders – Woodpeckers and tits love nuts, so you can use this feeder if you’d like to attract them. Make sure that the mesh is ideal for the birds to remove peanuts without hurting them.
- Suet feeders – Suet cakes or balls can easily attract starlings and tits. The suet feeders are typically made of metal mesh which comes in a range of sizes.
Ensure their safety
Of course, those birds will find your garden less appealing when they feel threatened. They will actually inspect your garden to see whether it’s free from predators or not before they decide to keep coming back around.
Always put the feeder or birdbaths next to a tree or climbered covered fence. You can also consider planting prickly shrubs in the spots where you’d like to install the feeders so your cats won’t try to touch it. Move the feeders and ponds here and there to distract the predators like sparrowhawks.
Clean things up
When everything that you have put in your garden to attract those birds get dirty and messy, it will look less appealing to them, for sure. Clean the tables, feeder, and baths on a regular basis so no dirt, fungi, or bacteria won’t get built up.
For the feeders, you may find that the amount of food is too slow to get decreased in a particular season and aged seeds don’t really attract the birds. In the warm season, put a smaller amount of food into the feeders since they don’t eat as much as when it comes to cold weather.
Follow the short tutorial below on how to clean your bird feeder regularly:
Prepare these supplies:
- Veterinary disinfectant
- Hot water and diluted detergent
- Bottlebrush
- Rubber gloves
Follow these steps:
- Wear your rubber gloves before executing any steps since you will deal with sharp objects and chemicals.
- Empty the bird feeder and throw away the food contained.
- Soak the feeder into the mixture of hot water and detergent while brushing it thoroughly.
- Rinse the feeder with running cold water and let the air dry completely.
- To kill the remaining bacteria, spray the feeder using the veterinarian disinfectant. Rinse it again and let it dry completely.
