Feeding Wild Bird Effectively

It is interesting and fun to feed birds at your backyard garden. Avian species vary according to area of residence and season. When you begin to feed them at your home, you are likely to encounter several species at any one time. Nevertheless, it is vital to choose the right kind of food and bird tables, to ensure that the hobby is financially and ecologically sustainable.



For instance, if you put up a large feeder on your garden, it is likely to draw scores of birds, big and small to your garden. Do you have sufficient bird food to sustain these flocks? If not, it may be advisable to choose a small or medium sized tray feeder. Such a feeder makes it impossible for the birds to spill the costly bird food while they indulge themselves. Place it on a high enough location to ensure that squirrels and other vermin will have a hard time reaching the food.



You can also obtain tube feeders which are usually covered on all sides. These trays make it impossible for vermin to steal and also restrict the types of birds that can eat the bird food. Tube feeders only allow access from the top and very little food is spilled. They are the best type of feeders if you wish to control the birds that visit your garden and quantity of food wasted. In fact, you can customize the tube feeders to match specific beak sizes only.



Apart from the feeding tray, bird food also plays a major role in the type of birds drawn to your garden. For instance, one of the most favoured types of food by many birds is the nutritious Niger seed. These seeds will draw a huge flock of small birds to your garden. You might be forced to refill the tray on a daily basis but you will enjoy the scene. It is financially sustainable to choose bird foods for specific types of birds only. This is the only way to prevent a huge flock from invading your garden and causing damage to your plants and flowers.



You can also restrict feeding time to morning and evening in order to limit the number of birds visiting your garden. Do not leave bird food in the feeders throughout the day though. Bird food is affected by prevailing weather conditions. For instance, if you leave dried mealworms out for too long in the sun, they will dry up and shrivel. This makes them unattractive for birds to eat. Other foods such as suet fruits are also affected by warm and hot weather conditions.