How to set up a bird feeder to attract your favorite species
From chickadees to catbirds, these expert tips will help you turn your backyard into a wild bird haven.
Bird watching is something of a national pastime. Ninety-six million Americans are birding these days, but 91 million of them are doing so from home, according to a 2022 U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey. Together they spend an estimated $4 billion annually on feeding birds, from seed to sugar water.
Watching wild birds from your home can be both thrilling and relaxing, but it can also come with a scientific reward. For instance, researchers use the backyard sightings that users submit to Project FeederWatch—a joint program run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada—to track long-term changes in bird populations.
There are many decisions that go into bringing birds to your yard, and they all depend on the kinds of species you want to attract, says Matt Young, an expert birder, author, and founder of the Finch Research Network.
“The right feeder with the right seed in the right spot is how I start,” he says. Here’s what you need to know.
Choosing the right feeders
Attracting birds to your home can be as simple as tossing seeds on the ground or a picnic table. But if you want to buy or make your own feeder, Young recommends starting with a platform feeder—a large flat tray where you can spread seed. Platforms are considered the universal feeder since they welcome both large birds, like jays, and small birds, such as chickadees. If you want to keep the seed dry, a platform feeder with a roof and walls, called a hopper, is the next best option.
If your budget and the size of your yard allow it, choosing other types of feeders will add to the bird diversity around your home, says Young. Tube feeders, often made of plastic, typically attract small birds like finches that can land on its short perches. Suet feeders feature a small cage that holds a feeding slab made of beef kidney fat, nuts, or fruit; it’s loved by woodpeckers, wrens, and titmouses.
Depending on the time of year, you can also attract hummingbirds with nectar feeders—typically in the summer throughout the east and year-round in the west. Filled with sugar water, these feeders provide the flashy little birds with the food they might otherwise glean from flowers. At the Paton Center in Arizona, a few dozen nectar feeders join suet feeders, tube feeders, and mounds of halved oranges. Alexis Stark, a habitat specialist for Tucson Bird Alliance, says their center also maintain native pollinator plants for hummingbirds. “They don’t just provide food for the birds, but they provide shelter too,” she says.
For his part, Young keeps 35 feeders in his wooded backyard in central New York State. “It’s gotten out of hand,” he jokes.
(What happens to your brain when you see a bird in nature?)
His goal is to reduce points of conflicts between different species, so that, for instance, blue jays aren’t bullying American goldfinches out of food. No matter how many feeders you hang up, he says, “space them out, and give everybody some peace.”
Picking the right seed
If a platform is the universal feeder, then black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) is the universal seed.
The acronym carries a double meaning since black oil is indeed the boss of all other seeds: Since the 1970s, scientific research has shown that birds love it. High in oil and fat, this thin-shelled seed is a vital winter food source for the likes of cardinals, chickadees, finches, and sparrows. Young, who also works as a naturalist for a bird feed company, says you’d be hard pressed to find a bag of seed mix that doesn’t contain some black oil sunflower seed.
But there are also other foods birds will eat. If you want to attract blackbirds, sparrows, and doves, you could set out millet and cracked corn; peanuts, shelled or whole, are a favorite of jays, titmouses, nuthatches, and chickadees; and fruit, such as oranges cut in half to expose the juice and pulp, will entice orioles, waxwings, robins, and catbirds.
And if you stock a tube feeder with Nyjer, or thistle seed, a grain imported from Africa, you might better your chances of seeing finches—most backyard feeders will attract at least two or three different species of them. Because of their social nature, they usually arrive in colorful and noisy flocks.
Deciding on a good spot
Young notes that it’s key to position the feeders where you can see them from inside your house or apartment. He personally likes watching birds from his office desk, while author Amy Tan set up several near her bathroom window so she can spot them while she brushes her teeth in the morning. Many others place theirs outside the kitchen window to watch while they clean dishes.
(Listening to birds sing really does soothe your brain. Here’s why.)
Project FeederWatch recommends a quiet area outside near natural cover like trees or shrubs, especially evergreens. Those offer birds a place to hide from predators as they wait their turn to feed. Stacking brush piles, a key feature at the Paton Center, will give ground-dwelling birds like sparrows another refuge.
Birds can’t see reflective glass as a solid surface, so experts recommend hanging feeders within three feet of windows so they can’t pick up fatal speed before crashing into one. If that isn’t possible, they should be placed at least 30 feet away from danger. But you can also make windows safe for birds by installing any number of tested products, like dots or decals, that they will see.
Birds also need water for drinking and bathing, so providing that will keep them around your feeders for longer. You can offer them food year-round by growing native plants that bloom or fruit in different seasons. With all that available, they may even nest in your yard.
“No matter how large your yard is, you can create habitat for birds and other wildlife,” says Erica Freese, Tucson Bird Alliance’s director of development and communications.
Cleaning and maintenance
Birds rarely mix in close quarters in the wild, so the congregation at your feeders may present risks. Young and others say you should routinely clean those feeders to prevent the spread of disease—Project FeederWatch suggests every two weeks—and also rake underneath them to clean up seed hulls and bird droppings.
Many feeders can be taken apart and put in the dishwasher. For those that can’t, scrub them with soap and water first before soaking them in a mixture of water and either vinegar or bleach; Young uses a solution of nine parts water, one part bleach. Make sure the feeders are completely dry before refilling them to prevent bacteria or fungus from growing.
Mold grows quickly in sugar water, so Stark recommends cleaning nectar feeders daily or every other day. Left too long, the sugar can turn into alcohol. “We don't want to get the hummingbirds drunk,” she says.
What happens at your feeders matter, and the joy of this hobby comes with a measure of responsibility.
As Young notes, “You take care of the birds in your yard and they'll take care of you.”
