Best place to hang bird feeders
Certainly there's plenty of options available to you when locating bird feeders in your yard, but the idea is to find the single most effective location of all.
Where is the best place to hang bird feeders is on a wide open lawn with plenty of clearing for wild birds to come and go in a highly visible but unobstructed location. Bird feeders can only hang in this location with assistance of a bird feeder pole, where it will hopefully be close to foliage in a sunlit area.
By default no place in your yard will be suitable for a bird feeder unless you can provide a tree that is regularly frequented by common backyard birds.
You must develop a place to hang bird feeders of which only a bird feeder pole can allow you to produce the best place to hang bird feeders.
Bird feeder poles can be situated anywhere on the lawn that is lit up by the sun, is close to natural vegetation - yet is some way from the house or structures with people or movement - that is sure to scare wild birds away.
Bird feeders must be suspended out in the open with a wide open clearing in what will hopefully be a place to fly off to in all directions.
Birds like to feel safe so that is only made possible when placing a bird feeder pole on an open lawn, where a multitude of bird feeders can be hung together.
You can't have too many bird feeders but an additional bird feeder pole - along with a second location - must be used to hang Hummingbird feeders or Oriole feeders on their own, when supplying nectar feeders along with regular bird feeders for suet or seeds.
I can't emphasis enough for a sunny location in your yard to hang bird feeders, with Hummingbirds in particularly preferring to use bird feeders hung up in the sun.
Its important to remember backyard pests can arrive at bird feeders any time, of which, you can only protect bird feeders that are suspended on a tall bird feeding station pole where a squirrel baffle can be mounted.
Best hung off pole to stay mobile
What can only be the only place to hang bird feeders that will apply to most of us with a sizeable yard to attract wild birds in to, is to suspend bird feeders off a bird feeding station pole or a similar Shepherd's Hook.
Where your suspend bird feeders will of course depend on where you've impaled this pole into the ground.
Bird feeder poles can only be stabbed into soft turf like the lawn but will end up being the best place to hang a multitude of bird feeders in one location.
Bird feeders spread across a wide open yard is never a good idea as some bird feeders will be used far more than others.
Why you'd use a bird feeder pole - often mounted with up to 5 brackets - is so you can hang bird feeders in a group; of which will be suspended close too together as to attract common backyard birds to a single location within your yard.
Where bird feeders must be hung among many options to you, is preferably in the middle off the lawn - while situating bird feeders close to foliage if you can - which a bird feeder pole will allow, where wild birds like to feed in a well lit up area, and therefore a super safe location.
Bird feeder pole location that doesn't quite work out first time around, will allow you to pull the pole out of the ground to re-locate in to a new location that will hopefully be more visible, and accessible which will see more success.
Faced towards trees
With up to five bird feeders suspended off any one bird feeder pole - plus any bird feed placed in the pole mounted open dish - I would be sure the bird feeder pole isn't too far away from any trees or hedges in your yard.
Birds will often frequent any natural vegetation within reach of bird feeders first thing, and only when they feed its safe too, will birds proceed on to your suspended bird feeders.
What you might not have realized it but will do now I am advising you too; is how you'll find wild birds usually prioritizing bird feeders closest to greenery in your yard.
Birds will come to bird feeders facing towards a tree or hedge - and with any bird feeders suspended opposite - they will see less use until the tree facing/closest feeders are used up.
How that works is wild birds will perch or hang around within trees or hedges, then come to a bird feeder - still hanging off the bird feeder pole - that is closest to them. Birds don't like to hang around, thus will come to the closest food source to them.
Bird feeder pole are needed when you don't have trees to hang bird feeders, although a tree will be the best place to hang bird feeders if you have one in your yard.
Lit up vs shade placement
Argument currently involving where to put bird feeders in your yard, is should they be hung in or out of direct sunshine.
Well, let's find a common ground here, when it comes to nectar-filled bird feeders - for Orioles or Hummingbird feeders - remember both species like to feed in the sun, thus a sunlit location must be prioritized.
To contradict that, bird feeders that store nectar will also benefit with a shaded location to help sustain the homemade nectar within.
I personally feel the best place to hang Hummingbird feeders is in the shade, but still in a well lit up area - while avoiding direct sunshine through most of the day.
So that's where nectar-filled Hummingbird or Oriole feeders go... but what about bird feeders made to hold suet, seeds or peanuts.
Well, in which case I still think hanging these bird feeders off the bird feeder pole in direct sunshine will be the better choice.
How you attract wild birds to a bird feeder is only if it can be seen, thus you must prioritize a highly visible location which usually means in direct sun. Shade can be provided if you know what you're doing - which is not obscuring the bird feeders from birds passing overhead.
Seeds, suet, peanuts and even mealworms can last well in the heat, but it still helps to preserve wild bird feed for a little longer in a cool, shaded location.
Don't forget about pests
Now that I've pretty much established where is the best place to hang bird feeders, which is off a classic bird feeder pole - located in a well lit up area of the lawn - let's not forget all this can be for nothing if common bird feeder pests arrive any time soon.
Continue to utilize a bird feeder pole at all costs while making sure the suspended bird feeders hanging off this pole, are at least 4-6 feet off the ground as to keep all pests out of reach by default.
Now that you're using what is hopefully a tall enough bird feeder pole - when squirrels, raccoon's or possums arrive at night - a simple but solid squirrel baffle installed half way up the pole will be all that's needed to deter pests.
Not much we can do about far jumping pets or stay cats but at least we don't have to worry about most woodland creatures.
With all bird feeders grouped together on a single bird feeder pole, all bird feeders will be protected with this squirrel baffle mounted to the pole.
Make sure the bird feeder pole is a tall, strong pole that can be kept straight when animals in the night attempt to pull it down.
To summarize
Where is the best place to hang a bird feeder is preferably in the middle of the lawn, or patio if you must, providing its in a well lit up area in direct sun. Location must be visible from all sides, with no restrictions holding your feeder birds back.
How you will achieve situating suspended bird feeders in the middle of a lit up lawn, is by making most of a multi-use bird feeding station pole, or Shepherd's Hook.
Personally I would stick to the multi-bracket bird feeding station because I like to hang a multitude of bird feeders together.
Shepherd's Hook will be ideal to hang a single Oriole or Hummingbird feeder away from regular bird feeders, but the Shepherd's Hook sure has its problems when it comes to hanging more than one bird feeder.
With a bird feeder pole at your disposal, you can stab it in to the soft turf of the lawn, in a sunlit location that is always visible yet accessible to wild birds. If you can, place the pole next to trees or hedges so birds can use the vegetation as a place to hide - along with an an escape route every time the birds are disturbed.
Argument can be had for only a shaded location to preserve nectar of Hummingbird or Oriole feeders, which will probably make more sense during a heatwave.
When it comes to regular bird feeders that store peanuts, seeds or suet, then locate the bird feeder pole in a sunny location to guarantee they can be seen.
Bird feeder poles will provide you much needed distance off the ground, of which you can employ squirrel or raccoon deterrents which isn't possible when suspending bird feeders in a fully accessible tree.
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