Secrets to Attracting Wild Birds!

Hey y'all! Today I thought I would let y'all in on some of my best tips for attracting wild birds! I began feeding wild birds about five years ago, and there's nothing quiet like seeing a beautiful blue bird or a cardinal on your bird feeder in the morning sun. I'll start off by telling you a little bit about bird feeders. I've used many different kinds of feeders over the years, but the very best ones I have found are tube feeders with cages around them to prevent squirrels from getting the bird seed. I've had many a decorative feeder, but every single time I have one up a squirrel or chipmunk eats the feed out of it! I have a beautiful solar powered lantern/bird feeder, and I woke up one morning to discover that a squirrel had unscrewed the lid, flung it down on the ground, and was stuffing it's rotten face with my bird seed. After that, I switched to a caged tube feeder, and had little trouble from the squirrel again. The chipmunk was a different story. It still crawled through the cage and ate freely, so after that I put up a feeder with a cage that had smaller holes. I haven't had a visit from the chipmunk since! I also discovered that birds really like it when you place a feeder near a tree they frequent. I place all my feeders in or around a little dogwood tree in my backyard. I also like to feed gold finches, and to do that I bought a finch feeder with two finch socks on it and a dome built on it to protect the socks from the rain.

                                                                My new finch feeder

I used to feed gold finches with a regular finch sock, but the rain kept making it moldy, so I then bought a metal finch feeder, but they never really used it, so I'm really happy with my new feeder. The squirrels have never bothered any of my finch feeders. Birds also like to eat near a water source, which is why I have a bird bath set up near my feeders.

                                       My rooster shaped suet feeder and my double suet feeder

Birds also really love suet feed! It's inexpensive, you can get some at Tractor Supply for $1 a bar. Suet feeders are also cheap at $5 for a basic feeder. I think the birds favorite suet flavor is the high energy bar, but they'll eat just about any flavor. You can also attract woodpeckers with woodpecker suet. My favorite regular bird seed to feed them is from Tractor Supply, and you can get a 20 lb. bag for $6 versus a 20 lb. bag at Lowes for $20. Another tip is to have bird houses near your feeders. I have two blue bird houses near the dogwood tree, and blue birds come and stay in them every year. Well, that was some of my secrets for attracting wild birds. Do you have any tips for attracting birds? Let me know in the comments! 🐦