Attracting birds to your backyard can be entertaining and truly beneficial. But it’s not always easy to attract the kinds of birds you want or to keep them around. Let’s make sure that our avian friends keep coming back and living comfortably. 

The first thing you need to attract birds to your property is food. The simplest way to do this is to hang a feeder somewhere within sight of your house so you can enjoy the birds as they feed. One big consideration is the kind of food you are providing. Different birds like different feed so make sure to research the species you are trying to attract.

If you have a little more time to spend on this project you can plant bushes and other plants that provide natural food to the birds and beautify the landscape. There are many kinds of berries that are inedible to us but are perfect food for wild birds.

The next consideration is housing. It’s easy to forget that many different birds want different kind of roosts. Make sure to research the needs that each bird has and try to accommodate them. Remember that these are not our pets and, while it would be nice to have these birds as our own and keep them in  large bird cages, these are wild animals and should be disturbed as little as possible so they feel comfortable roosting where you have offered them housing.

Make sure that all feeders and housing are well out of the reach of local predators. If you have a multi-floor house it’s a good idea to attach bird houses fairly high on the side of your own house so that there is no way for cats and raccoons to climb up and kill the birds. Just make sure that you can reach it with a ladder when necessary. Like tending to bird cages, a birdhouse needs to be maintained and cleaned from time to time.

With wild birds the cleaning goes beyond that which is necessary for maintaining bird cages. Because the birds are free to come and go, but will be spending most of their time near their roost and the feeder, you will be dealing with a lot of discarded shells and quite a bit of droppings. I know that’s not a pretty thought but it’s something you need to consider when starting this project. Make sure that the feeder and house are not over anything that may be damaged or is particularly hard to clean.

Click here to view a wide selection of bird cages for sale!