How to Choose the Best Birdfeeder for Your Yard

Birds, as in all wildlife, cannot exist without the four major components of their habitat. These consist of food, water, shelter and space. Birdfeeders help to provide a supplement to the natural foods that are already available from the nearby flowers, shrubs and trees.

The quickest and most surest way to attract wild birds to your yard and garden is with birdfeeders. These wonderful gifts of life offer many hours of entertainment and relaxation. Being versatile, they can be mounted permanently on poles or suspended from various places by using hangars.

The wild bird species that you attract is dependent on the type of birdfeeder and bird feed that you choose.
You may want to begin by attracting your own native bird species and in time, you'll notice other species that you might not of even known existed!

Birds like to have their own space and they also like to choose their own level of height while feeding. Some will be higher up, while others may remain on the ground.

Sunflower seeds are found to be favored and preferred by the majority of wild birds. Since most birdfeeders are designed to disperse the larger sunflower seeds, they will easily accommodate the smaller seeds such as canola, thistle, rapeseed, safflower and millet.

When you first place a birdfeeder in your yard, it may take up to several weeks for the birds to discover and recognize it as a food source. But once they do, they will tell all of their friends and you'll have plenty of company throughout the day for many years to come!

Quite often, birdfeeders are used more frequently in the winter months than they are in the summertime, mainly because of the lack of insects and other bird food favorites. However, there can be exceptions to the different seasons.

For example, in my particular area in the mountains, most birds are migratory and go south for the winter. Although several different species remain throughout the winter months, the majority of the birds feed extensively from our feeders in the summer months, despite having an ample supply of insects and other natural food sources.