“Birdscaping” your lawn makes enjoying wild birds simple and convenient for you. Uncomplicated monsters with few conditions, birds aren’t shy about the way you meet their needs. While positioning, location, location is a concern for bird feeder placement, there are various other significant features to address when creating a harmonious ecosystem to improve and complement your feeders. Luckily, you don’t need to engineer a major overhaul to attract birds, no matter how big or small your lawn is. With a few minor additions and alterations, they’ll be delighted to visit your feeders frequently and inhabit your current landscape. All they actually ask for is food, water and safe shelter to predict your house theirs.

Hang seed feeders in tree limbs, where they’ll be protected from winds and inclement weather whenever possible. Install pole feeders wherever hanging isn’t an option for you. All feeders must be at least six feet away from the ground to prevent pillaging from jumping cats and mammals. Put out a ground feeder for blackbirds, doves, jays, juncos, and sparrows. These birds love dining with their feet firmly planted. Find rod and ground feeders at least six feet away from structures, trees, shrubs, or other cover which can easily conceal lurking predators

Provide combinations that appeal to birds you are most interested in drawing, but lots of others may join them. The very best all-purpose seed mixes for many feeders contain black oil sunflower seeds, buckwheat, corn, milo, oats, striped sunflower seeds, and white millet,

Provide some specialized feeders for picky eaters. Find nectar feeders in open, sunny spots to attract hummingbirds. Hang tube feeders filled with black thistle (nyjer) seeds for finches. Doves will feed on thistle seeds which fall to the ground. Set up suet feeders for bluebirds, cardinals, chickadees, finches, nuthatches, robins, sparrows, woodpeckers and wrens. Birds love homemade in addition to store-bought suet, which you can hang up or provide in a pan on the ground.

Keep a close watch on all of your feeders. Refill them before they are completely empty to keep the birds curious. Wash all feeders every couple of days to keep them free of dirt, feces and debris. Clean up the regions beneath your feeders and eliminate all uneaten seed and debris at the end of each day. This will reduce the attraction of an easy meal for unwelcome foraging wildlife, like deer, skunks, rodents, raccoons, as well as bears.

Insert a water supply near feeding stations to provide birds a secure place for drinking and bathing should youn’t possess a natural pond nearby. Find it in a transparent place where birds can place predators easily seeking unsuspecting meals. There should be readily accessible shrubs or low-hanging tree limbs close by where they could hide and await danger. Store-bought birdbaths might be as complex or simple as your tastes, and are available in wide price ranges to suit any budget. Wild birds are just as happy using a shallow baking pan place on a concrete block as they are using a fancy birdbath.

Deter thievery using squirrel-unfriendly apparatus, like baffles designed to prevent the animals from penetrating your bird feeders and cleaning them out completely. Put your platform feeder on a tall pole well away from structures, tree limbs and shrubs to exclude squirrels from it. Feeders should be at least six feet away from the ground to be inaccessible to agile jumping squirrels. Fill a ground feeder using cheap squirrel food to distract them from your expensive bird mixes. Purchase dried corn on the cob and skewer an ear using a thin dowel rod. Poke it into the ground close to your bird feeder. Squirrels prefer an easy meal on the earth to you they must work hard to get.

Plant trees, shrubs and hedges wherever possible in your premises. Wild birds respect these as handy spots for resting and sanctuary from predators. They also feed more comfortably in regions with cover nearby so they could dart away and hide from danger quickly. Birds may grace you with their homesteading activities at nesting time if you have big plants offering safe casing havens. Select native plant species which are visually pleasing for you, and provide an assortment of sizes, heights and foliage densities for wild bird appeal. Evergreens and conifers serve double duty as shelter and seed food sources. Birds also enjoy thorny, prickly plants which predators avoid.

Put in certain berry-, nut-, seed-, or fruit-producing plants, trees and shrubs to provide wild birds using natural food sources in addition to safety from predators. Birds enjoy many of the same cultivated fruits which we do, in addition to those created from wild native specimens which are inedible for humans. Choose plants that produce seeds and fruits during different days of the year in your area to provide extended seasonal feeding opportunities for wild birds.

Decorate your lawn with perennial and annual flowering plants, shrubs and trees that bloom during different seasons throughout the year. Flowers provide seeds, colors and textures which interest wild birds. Many also produce nectar, which attracts the insects which produce the diets of various species. Blooming trees and shrubs have the added attraction of providing essential cover and shelter. Allow plants to mature enough to place seeds and create their fruits before you trim or prune them back for the year.

Install birdhouses and nesting boxes in your trees, if you wish to foster avian family rearing activities. Research the species you are considering hosting since birds typically are specific in artificial housing conditions. They tend to ignore basic generic birdhouses.

Protect wild birds from harm during their visits to your lawn. Keep your cats inside and do whatever you can to discourage neighborhood pets or strays from trespassing on your house. Prevent birds from crashing into glass windows by making the glass highly visible. Close window drapes and blinds during daylight hours. Stick decorative stickers to inside glass surfaces. Space them about 2 inches apart to form a “barrier” that birds can readily see.

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