Having birds around your garden have its pros and cons. If you want birds, there are different ways to catch the attention of the right kind. When you have a garden, a fair amount of birds can wander around it. If you want these birds to stay then you need to search around for top quality nevertheless cheap bird feeders. These devices are placed outdoors with the purpose of supplementing food for birds. There are many types of feeders around, but if you are a bird feeding novice or enthusiast, you should know what qualities make a good one.

First, it should be very stable and durable. They should be made of high quality materials and constructed well. It should last a long time despite the fact that it will be placed outside exposing itself to all kinds of conditions such as strong winds, rain, snow and other wild life creatures. A well-made feeder should be able to withstand all these to serve its purpose of providing birds food.

Second, it should be able to hold a favourable amount of seeds. You shouldn’t be hassled of the constant refilling especially in the cold months of winter. Who would want to go out in the cold just to restock their feeders?

Third, other than being able to hold a large amount of seeds, it should keep it dry. The feeding stations should be protected from the rain and strong winds. It should have enough drainage holes to prevent the collection of any moisture which will cause the seeds to spoil easily. Spoiled seeds can be dangerous for birds because if ingested, the birds may become ill or eventually die.

Fourth, it should be protected from other wildlife creatures. There are animals that are known to attack feeders in the hopes of getting what is inside it, like the squirrels, raccoons, cats and even bears. It is important to have built-in additional accessories to prevent unwanted animals from gaining access to the food prepared solely birds.

Lastly, it should cater a large number and assortment of birds. It would be useless if the feeder can just accommodate one kind of bird. Feeders with more perches can hold different kinds of bird food, attracting more birds which will eventually fill your garden with different bird species.

There is a great deal of bird feeders offered almost anywhere whether online or not. One shop that offers top of the line bird feeders and other garden accessories is Garden Accent Heaven. They can satisfy all your gardening needs. With the various choices you have, one idea is important. You should choose the best one where you don’t have to be spending extra for something that doesn’t work well and last long.

Birds of all shapes and sizes have always been considered as a welcome presence in any garden or yard at home. Them being there is always a pleasure to have and look at whether they are taking baths, enjoying a dip in bird baths or munching off of treats that are fed to them using bird feeders.

Songbird Essentials Woodpecker Feeder with tail prop

A bird feeder, also known as a bird table or tray feeder, is a piece of feeding equipment that is used to place outdoors and provide bird food to birds. The success that a bird feeder achieves in drawing birds to it mainly depends on where the feeder is conveniently placed and the kind of food that is given.

Like humans and other animals, birds have their own personal preferences when it comes to food. Luckily, there are a variety of bird foods that are there to choose from ranging from seeds, safflowers, canola seeds, oil and striped sunflowers, millets, and Niger seeds to birds who love seeds.

No doubt that feeding birds at any time of the year, whether it is during the summer or winter season, is where you feel the sense of accomplishment in helping living creatures that struggle to get food for themselves to eat. Even still, it is always to take note of the right foods to feed the birds, especially during winter.

All birds, whether these are large birds or small birds, must have the much needed energy, proper nutrition and calories that they will need in order to survive long winter days, most especially the force of gathering foods during the day and the vigor to withstand the cold when asleep during night time.

Black oil sunflower seeds are considered the best foods to give to birds in any season. These seeds, to some extent, contain slender shells and high oil content, which makes them very nourishing and wholesome foods. This food will definitely draw many hungry birds and this can be provided using a platform, tube, or hopper feeder.

Other foods that you can serve to birds are suet, which contains high calories and are superior winter foods. Peanuts are also a suitable bird food to be fed to birds because, like suet, they also have high calories and are rich in fat. These nuts do not freeze up during winter time, which makes them perfect for winter feeding.

Depending on what type of food you will serve the birds during winter time, make sure you get the best bird feeders that are easy to use and effortless to maintain.

Platform Bird Feeder chained to post.

This question was asked by my daughter when she was helping me in the yard.  So here’s the story!

This winter we put two of these ground feeders out for the birds who stay on the ground to feed, like Towhees, sparrows, and Morning Doves.  One morning I was highly concerned because one of the feeders had vanished.

“Bob, what did you do with the other feeder?” I abruptly ask.

“I didn’t do anything!” Bob quickly defends himself.

We begin our search and find it drug partially through the fence on the far corner of the yard.  I was convinced our theft was committed by a raccoon!  I had observed a raccoon eating the sunflower seeds a few days earlier.

So now we have a chain on the one on the ground and the other one is on a pole the raccoon is not climbing, at least not at this point!

Bluebird sitting on a meal worm feeder

Did you know that Bluebirds and others can be trained to come to your meal worm feeder by whistling or ringing a bell when you are feeding live meal worms? I friend of mine in Missouri had a large property on which he had several meal worm feeders. He used is golf cart to drive from feeder to feeder to fill them with meal worms. He attached a bell to his golf cart and the bluebirds begin follow him on the golf cart as he drove from about checking his bluebird houses and filling the meal worm feeders. I have also heard stories of people whistling or ringing a hand held bell each time they filled up their meal worm feeder and attracting the bluebirds to come and eat now. If you are feeding meal worms purchase a hand held bell and ring it each time you fill up and your feeder and watch as the bluebirds become trained that it is “chow time” each time you ring your bell. You will be amazed at the results.

I saw one Goldfinch last week on my sunflower seed feeder and it made me wonder where they migrate for the winter. I went to my favorite site to find information about birds, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology “All About Birds” website. The map on the site showed that the Goldfinches had been in my area all winter, their non-breeding winter colors had fooled me! The Goldfinches lose their bright yellow color during the winter and take on a very much more drab olive color that fooled me as well as their predators. The drab color blends in well with the winter landscape, especially when they are in the trees or bushes. The “All About Birds” website has a photo of them in their winter coat to compare to them in their summer breeding coat.

Now is the time to begin to clean out your finch feeders and add fresh Nyjer or Finch Mix seed. A long brush such as Songbird Essentials wooden handled Best Long Brush. One

Finche's Favorite 3 Tube Feeder SE324

 of my favorite feeders is the Songbird Essentials Yellow Spiral Thistle Feeder. I can fill it from the top one time and from the bottom the next time. The seed never gets old since I can always putting the oldest seed at the bottom ports when I hang it back up. I also like the Finches Favorite 3 Tube Feeder. This feeder seems to almost always be covered with birds. A friend of mine in Missouri says that he also sees bright florescent Blue Indigo Buntings on his 3 tube feeder each spring. Another way to attract Buntings is to have a platform or tray feeder with white millet on it.