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• about humming birds and how to attract them
• adding a bird feeder to your garden
• a garden to attract humming birds
• attracting and caring for humming birds
• attracting birds to a tropical garden
• attracting birds with flowers
• attracting wild birds
• beyond bird seed
• bird feeder basics
• bird feeding in the fall
• bird house buying tips
• birds and what to feed them
• bird watching tips
• build a squirrel proof bird feeder
• build your own humming bird feeder
• create a humming bird paradise
• create wild bird habitat with bird feeder
• create your own humming bird nectar
• creating a wildlife garden
• feeding hummingbirds
• feeding the humming birds
• for the birds
• home made bird feeders
• home made humming bird nectar
• how to attract humming birds
• how to make interesting can feeders for birds
• hummingbirds
• hummingbirds jewels of the air
• making your own bird feeder
• provide water for birds in winter
• seeds to attract birds
• setting out a feast for your wild birds
• types of bird feeders
• why the squirrel kept winning
• wildlife gardener
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Beyond Bird Seed
Wild Birds eat more than bird seed! A LOT more!
Most birds do not eat seeds. The reason these birds will not come to your feeder is that they prefer eating live insects or fish or something else. Birds that eat seeds tend to have heavy, thick bills for cracking seed kernels. Cardinals and Finches are good examples of seed-eating birds.
To attract the other birds, try hanging a suet cake by your bedroom window for the woodpeckers and nuthatches. Put out orange halves for the Orioles. Spread peanut butter on a pine cone and hang it outside your school window. Plant a cherry tree in your side yard. Build a pond and stock it with fish.
Be creative and see what you can attract. Try popped popcorn, peanut hearts, soaked raisins, pieces of fruit like grapes or oranges or apples, fruit seeds (melons, apples), grape jelly (another oriole favorite), cooked potatoes, leftover oatmeal or ready-to-eat cereal. Some birder watchers even go so far as to put out a tray of live mealworms for the Bluebirds!
Accipiters like Cooper's Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks eat other birds. If one swoops down on your bird feeder and carries off someone for lunch, don't worry about it. That is the way Mother Nature works. The fittest birds will usually survive. If this bothers you, take down your feeders for a few days. The Hawk will move to another location.
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