How to attract birds to feeder in winter
Feed wild birds their usual berries, fruits, nuts and seeds, as this kind of bird feed must be offered to birds in the winter in order to attract them to any bird feeder.
How to attract birds to a bird feeder in wintertime will rely on the presence of vibrant, hanging seed, nut and suet bird feeders - for the usual suspects to feed in colder months. Default to winter favorites which will be what is used already, while shaking off snow or replace bird feed more often if it freezes over.
I can assure you how you'd attract common backyard birds to bird feeders in wintertime is similar to how birds come to your yard in summer.
When it comes fall you must prioritize three food groups, with them being: seed mixes, peanuts or varied fruits to try - and an assortment of suet cakes or fat balls with fruit, insect, or seeds being the primary ingredient.
Why that is because wild birds default to their winter favorites to restore lost fat in cold conditions - with suet fatting them up - while peanuts or seeds can provide energy with protein allowing birds to continue foraging.
Birds can eat large quantities of berries or small fruits in winter, and while they can't go in a bird feeder - they certainly can be piled on an open top platform bird feeder.
Bluebirds can be seen to eat at lot of berries or small fruits in winter, and much like other birds will continue to feed on seeds or nut - or insects which is what bluebirds feed on all year round.
And that's just it, while nuts, seeds and suet can be added to their respected bird feeder, anything else must be popped on top of platform feeders; be it one on a pole, that hangs or is a ground platform feeder.
Much like Bluebirds who can't contend with what is a restricted bird feeder, the platform bird feeder must be used for them and many other species to feed in the yard.
Of course you do have snow to contend with in winter, including sub-zero conditions.
For bird feed to remain accessible in heavy snow, continue to intervene at feeders by shaking excess snow off.
Snow can lead to ice so be sure to use less bird feed at a time, while replacing the food every time a new blanket of snow covers up old food. Where this is especially vital is on open top platform bird feeders or dishes.
Maintain bird feed in cold conditions to prevent them freezing over, and therefore becoming inaccessible.
Don't bother to keep bird feed fresh while in sub-zero conditions when its easier to simply replace bird feed with new bird food every few hours or so.
Default to winter favorite foods
Now summer to autumn has long gone and now being well into the fall - winter favorites should be used in order for birds to continue with their natural feeding behavior, which carries over from the wild.
Why that is important is because the colder, sub-freezing conditions call for high in fat, high energy foods to help birds survive in this often harsh winter months.
In the bird feeders you can continue to use seeds or peanuts, along with fatty suet cakes or fall balls - with fruits, seeds or nut suet ingredients prioritized.
Birds who wish to feed on seeds can be many Sparrows, Chickadees, Warblers, Wren's may eat some seeds if accessible; Grackle, Indigo Bunting, Finches, Nuthatches, Steller's Jay, Tufted Titmice and many Woodpeckers.
Of the wild birds who will feed on peanuts, or all kinds of nut mixes for birds, they can be mostly woodpeckers who are known to store nuts - and seeds I might add - that are taken from feeders in the fall, to be stored in bark crevices for wintertime.
And of the nuts, seeds or suet, with occasional dried mealworms used - do add them to their appreciate feeders - as bird feeder will be used if they remain accessible to your birds, with all types of bird feeders used.
How to attract birds to feeder in winter may rely on an open top platform bird feeder only, in which dried mealworms and especially dried fruits can be offered to birds. With an option to supply small fresh fruits if you wanted to.
Remember not all common backyard birds are able to tackle a compact, hard to access bird feeder, thus an open platform bird feeder is open to all birds.
Dazzling bird feeders in dull days
Come the fall with winter approaching, as you can imagine there's going to be an overcast with more clouds leading to dull, damp cold days.
What is fitting in this kind of depressing environment in your backyard is the presence of vibrant, colorful bird feeders to attract birds with elaborate, dazzling bird feeders.
This is especially true when birds can spot a bright red, green or blue bird feeder as they soar above - as the ground is blanked in snow coverage or white icy conditions.
Color can attract birds to a bird feeder, thus brightly colored bird feeders can be used.
Not the case with bright colored wild bird food, as I don't believe there's such a thing, so rely on colorful bird feeders which really can make an impact.
OK I'll admit the idea of buying a brightly colored bird feeder for seeds, peanuts or suet is unimaginable, as there's really no such a thing in-store. What you can do then is paint a platform bird feeder on a pole, to hang or be mounted to attract birds.
What else you can do is rely on the reflective surface of stainless steel bird feeders, or rely only on the contrasting, few color green sections on a feeder.
Remove snow on feeders
Of course what use is it offering all kinds of their winter favorites in bird feeders to attract birds, if indeed feeders are allowed to cover up in snow.
And this is where you must continue to be pro-active while attracting birds to feeders in winter, as snow or even frosty conditions can turn all bird feeders invisible.
Hanging bird feeders for seeds or nuts will allow most falling snow to pass over it, though snow can cover the top of the roof - which isn't really an issue - whereas snow can form on port holes on seed tube feeders, or get into wire feeders via the mesh wire.
Not much you can do as the snow falls for days or weeks on end, but it won't hurt to head into the yard once in a while to shake any snow coverage off.
Birds cannot use a bird feeder if its blanked in snow, thus all that effort to attract birds in winter will be a waste of time.
Similarly, open top platform bird feeders will need your intervention more regularly, as bird feed is going to be covered up in snow within hours.
To deal with open top bird feeders use far less nuts or seeds, while replenishing with fresh bird feed every few hours or so as any bird food added previously - will now be an inch or so below the snow.
Continue to remove snow as best as you can to prevent bird feeders, and therefore bird feed becoming inaccessible.
Safety can be an issue as too much snow on top of a bird feeder can cause it to collapse, due to the extra weight.
Maintain bird feed in cold
How to attract birds to a bird feeder in wintertime, and to be sure they come back all day, every week until spring - you must be sure the feed remains accessible.
Snow is a big problem for wild birds, as their natural food sources get covered in snow or their feeding grounds are frozen up - with only your intervention at bird feeders to allow bird food to be readily available for when its needed.
While snow is going to be a big issue for many of you in snow covered States in winter, let's not forget frost, or more specifically ice is going to cause bird feed to be inaccessible.
What happens in sub-zero conditions is seeds, nuts and even suet can freeze over, and while birds can continue to feed off it even though its frozen solid - other birds can find it hard to bite into frozen bird feed.
You'd then have to maintain your bird feed around the clock to be sure it continues to stay at the texture, and hardness, birds are used to.
I'd admit that is impossible for many of you of course but what you can do to beat this is expect waste.
Bird feed will be eaten less in severe weather conditions, thus bird feed will be wasted as its hung up in bird feeders. To beat that use far less bird feed at a time, then continue to replenish bird feeders with fresh feed once or twice a day.
The hope is the bird feed won't harden up so quickly if its replaced within a few hours of each other.
Conclusion
How to attract birds to a feeder in winter relies on their winter favorite feed only, with seeds and nuts a priority, and also suet cakes or fat balls must be used.
Birds need to store up fat as they use up more energy in winter to forage, thus these lost fats and energy must be replaced in wild bird food at the bird feeders.
Not a problem then as you can continue to use the hanging clear plastic tube feeder for use with seeds - and therefore the wire mesh bird feeder to store peanuts.
In addition to nuts the Blue Jays and Steller's Jay will appreciate peanuts in their shells.
Suet in cake or fat ball form can be hung up in their regular cage feeder, with a bit of cover if you can to prevent snow covering over the exposed suet.
And that leads us to offering our common backyard birds other feed they eat in the wild during winter, which can include small fruits, berries and insects.
Rather than use an enclosed bird feeder all this food can't go in, and of course many birds are not compatible with at the bird feeders - you'd need to whip out the open top platform bird feeder.
If not you can use a hanging or mounted wire mesh bird feeder dish on a wall bracket, tree branch for cover or on the bird feeding station.
Snow can cover bird feed that is open to the elements so its up to you to top up bird feed with new - and continue to do so as long as bird feed remains accessible on top of snow coverage.
Similarly, bird feeders can be blanked in snow during winter so its relies on you to pop outdoors once in a while to shake off excess snow to prevent it blocking port holes.
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