Part 2

Most wood, plastic, ceramic and solid metal feeders keep seed dry, but water can get into the feeding portals. Look for feeders with drainage holes in the bottoms of both the feeder hopper and the seed tray.

Even bowl-type feeders and trays with drainage holes will clog with seed and bird droppings that can mix with rainwater and be unhealthy for any animal. Look for shallow plate-like seed trays to catch dropped seeds while allowing spent seed shells to blow away.

When you feed birds, expect bird droppings and a leftover food mess. While you do not have to wash the feeder daily, you should clean it at least every few weeks. Diseases like salmonella can grow in moldy, wet seed and bird droppings in your feeder tray and on the ground below. Move your feeder a few feet each season to give the ground underneath time to assimilate the seed debris and bird droppings.

The maintenance required to keep your feeder clean varies according to the type of feeder. A thistle feeder for goldfinches should be cleaned about once a month depending on how often it rains. Feeding hummingbirds requires cleaning at the very least weekly, but preferably two or three times a week. Sunflower and suet feeders need to be cleaned only once a month.

Plastic, ceramic and glass feeders are easy to clean. Wash them in a bucket of hot, soapy water fortified with a capful or two of chlorine bleach. Use the same regimen with wood feeders, but substitute another disinfectant for the bleach so your wood won’t fade.

Food Capacity

The ideal feeder capacity varies with your situation, and the types of birds you want to attract. If you feed hummingbirds, big feeders are not always better. One hummingbird will drink about twice its body weight (less than an ounce) a day. Early in the season, hummers are territorial and won’t share a feeder. A sixteen-ounce feeder can be wasteful, or even lethal, because artificial nectar (sugar water) can ferment in the hot summer sun. A two-ounce feeder is more than enough for one hummer. Increase the size of your feeder depending on your location and how many hummers you see in your yard.

If you opt for a large-volume seed feeder, protect it from the weather and keep it clean. If after months of use, the birds suddenly abandon your feeder full of seed, it’s time for a cleaning.

How Many Birds

If too many birds at your feeder become a problem, you can control their numbers by putting out smaller amounts of seed, or by using specialty seeds or restrictive feeders that will attract only certain species. If you fill your feeder only when it’s empty, the birds will look for food elsewhere.

You can encourage small birds and discourage large birds with feeders that restrict access. Wood feeders with vertical bars and feeders covered with wire mesh frustrate larger birds.

The most non-selective feeders are the tray, platform or house feeders because they allow easy access by all birds.

Tube feeders without trays also restrict access to only small birds. Remove the perches, and you’ve further restricted the feeder to only those birds that can easily cling—finches, chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers.

If starlings are a problem at your suet feeder, discourage them by using a suet feeder with access only from the bottom. Starlings are reluctant to perch upside down. Chickadees and woodpeckers don’t find that a problem.

You can virtually eliminate visits by birds you would rather not see by offering seeds they won’t eat. If you use more than one type of seed, put them in separate feeders. This will reduce wasted seeds, as birds will toss unwanted seeds out of a feeder to get to their favorites.

Watch a feeder filled with a seed mix and you’ll see the birds methodically drop or kick out most of the seeds to get to their favorite—sunflower.

Many birds prefer sunflower. Some prefer millet. A few prefer peanuts. Sparrows, blackbirds, doves and juncos will eat the other grains used in pre-made mixes: corn, milo, red millet, oats, wheat and canary seed. Birds will also kick out artificial “berry” pellets, processed seed flavored and colored to look like real fruit.

Black oil sunflower is the hands-down favorite of all the birds that visit tube and house feeders. Birds who visit platform feeders (doves and sparrows) favor white proso millet. Ducks, geese and quail will eat corn. Many cereal grains (corn, milo, oats, canary, wheat, rape, flax and buckwheat) in mixed bird seeds are NOT favorites of birds that visit tube feeders.

The most effective way to attract the largest variety of birds to your yard is to put out separate feeders for each food:

a starling-resistant suet feeder a house feeder for sunflower a bluebird feeder a wire mesh cage feeder for peanut a nectar feeder a tube feeder for thistle a stationary or tray fruit feeder a house or platform feeder for millet

Birds Attracted by Various Feeders and Foods

Tube Feeder with Black Oil Sunflower goldfinches chickadees woodpeckers nuthatches titmice redpolls pine siskins ... Adding a Tray to the Tube Feeder Will Also Attract cardinals jays crossbills purple finches house finches white-throated sparrows white-crowned sparrows Tray or Platform Feeder—with Millet doves house sparrows blackbirds juncos cowbirds towhees white-throated sparrows tree sparrows white-crowned sparrows chipping sparrows Tray or Platform Feeder—with Corn starlings house sparrows grackles jays juncos bobwhite quail doves ring-necked pheasants white-throated sparrows Platform Feeder or Tube Feeder and Tray—with Peanuts cardinals grackles titmice starlings jays Niger Thistle Feeder with Tray goldfinches house finches purple finches redpolls pine siskins doves chickadees song sparrows dark-eyed juncos white-throated sparrows Nectar Feeder hummingbirds orioles cardinals tanagers woodpeckers finches thrushes Fruit orioles tanagers mockingbirds bluebirds thrashers cardinals woodpeckers jays starlings thrushes cedar waxwings yellow-breasted chats Hanging Suet Feeder woodpeckers wrens chickadees nuthatches kinglets thrashers creepers cardinals starlings Peanut Butter Suet woodpeckers goldfinches juncos cardinals thrushes jays kinglets bluebirds wrens starlings Hanging Peanut Feeder woodpeckers chickadees titmice

Uninvited Guests at the Birdfeeder

Once you get your bird feeding station up and running, you may run into problems with two kinds of uninvited guests—those interested in the seeds (squirrels and chipmunks, rats and mice, and starlings and house sparrows), and those interested in eating a bird for dinner (cats and hawks).

When a squirrel is at the feeder, you’re not likely to see birds. Squirrels will scare off the birds while they eat the seed and sometimes they will eat the feeder too. The simplest solution is a squirrel-proof feeder or pole.

Starlings and house sparrows are not native to North America and are aggressive towards other species. Choose your feeder and seed to exclude these species if possible.

Chipmunks, rats and mice can also become a problem where there is seed spillage under the feeder. Don’t use mixed bird seed, and if you don’t have a squirrel problem, add a feeder tray.

Feral cats and your neighbor’s tabby are a serious threat to many birds. Keep feeders away from brushpiles and shrubbery, as this offers cats the necessary cover to surprise birds.