Spring Birding Tips

Spring is finally here! Longer days, warmer temperatures and the birds are raring to go. Here are some tips to attract more birds to your backyard this spring:

1. Spring is nesting season for many birds. Clean existing bird houses and nesting boxes of last year's nests.
2. Winter can be tough on the feeders. Now is the time to give them a good cleaning, removing old seed and debris, cleaning seed tubes with a diluted bleach solution, brushing platforms, etc.
3. Give the bird bath a scrub! I use a hard-bristled vegetable brush and a hose to scrub my bird baths.
4. Put out nesting boxes and bird houses if you removed them in the fall.
5. Help nesting birds by providing them with nesting material. I hang an old suet basket filled with small pieces of yarn, string, cotton twine and moss. Leave the basket up into the summer, as not all birds nest in the spring.
6. Keep an eye out for birds that pass through your yard during their migration. Over time, you'll notice who "passes through" your yard and you can entice them to stay a little longer by offering food that they like. For two weeks every May, I have orioles visit my yard. They may be in my immediate area year-round, but they only visit my yard during May. I put orange slices out, either in a specially designed fruit feeder or in a suet basket.
7. Once winter is over, I slowly decrease the number of suet cakes that I offer. I also take down the large capacity hopper feeder and replace it with some smaller tube feeders, each filled with a different type of seed. I'm offering less seed in total but a greater variety.
8. Plant flowers that produce seeds that birds like to eat. Shrubs provide cover from predators and nesting sites. Some varieties of shrubs also produce berries.
9. Build a brush pile. Nothing will improve the habitat of your yard as quickly and easily as a loose stack of small tree branches, plant prunings, etc. In addition to offering cover, a brush pile can provide nesting sites and a place for the birds to check out your yard before venturing in. Small insects also gravitate to a brush pile, attracting insect eating birds.