How to feed ground feeding birds
No restrictions apply when feeding common backyard birds on your lawn or deck, with only a focus of making sure what you offer them remains accessible.
How to feed ground feeding birds in your yard is to offer all species what they would normally eat as part of their diet. Offer seed mixes that include sunflower, safflower and niger seeds - blended with nut meat, cracked corn and wheat. Not all birds prefer seeds, as certain birds would eat dried mealworms.
What better way to attract ground feeding birds without the need of a bird feeder, with food sprinkled over the ground to be gobbled up by your visitors.
Benefits to a bird feeder would be to allow more bird species to feed, as they are not all ground feeders - but its certainly a good idea if you are visited regularly by mostly ground feeders.
It may not be a matter of throwing bird seeds over the ground, as wet weather or snow can delay proceedings for months on end, but again a feeder of the ground bird feeder kind, would help things along nicely.
Regardless, you can put bird seed on the ground if you wish, with a focus on feeding birds seeds more in the winter, whereas mealworms can be offered in summertime.
And while these same ground feeding birds eat fruit, fresh or dried fruit can be for the summer.
While certain ground feeding birds are known to feed off an open platform feeder, American Robins and Bluebirds can eat off bird feeders, despite them foraging on the ground in the wild.
Keep things nice and tidy as you feed ground eaters, by using a ground bird feeder that can help you organize bird food, while at the same time the food can last much longer.
Sprinkle bird feed on ground
How to get wild birds to feed off the ground is with the use of bird feed that would accommodate a number of common backyard bird species.
What to realize now rather than later is to never use fruits in fresh or dried form, as fruits quickly rot, and more so on the ground unless they are elevated off the ground.
Sprinkle bird food you feel would remain in good condition, until eaten later.
Now you don't want to use too much bird food if you don't receive many ground feeding birds to you yard - but you can eventually reduce or use more bird food depending on your personally situation.
Begin by throwing bird food in an area where ground feeding birds occupy the most; if you did have bird feeders in use, add bird food beneath the feeder so birds can clean up the mess in the process.
Common ground feeding birds usually feed off the lawn, so this is where food should be sprinkled, or within muddy patches or in undergrowth.
Don't simply throw a mix of bird seed over a wide area, keep it within 6-8 square feet, to keep birds in a safe, but confined area.
What bird food is best to use is bird seeds or peanuts, with a blend of other mixes.
Feed seeds to attract more birds
To attract as many wild birds to feed off your lawn, patio or on the deck, would be to use bird food that is mostly part of their diet out in the wild.
Its vital then to focus primarily on feeding ground feeding birds seed mixes.
Focus more on more widely available but cheap seed mixes, in which can include a blend of inferior seeds or their favorites such as sunflower or safflower seeds.
Other seeds often included but less of a favorite by wild birds is niger seeds.
Of course seed mixes wouldn't be mixes if they didn't include other blends, to make up the bulk of the packet. Expect their favorite peanut kernels, cracked corn and even wheat to make up the rest of the ingredients.
How birds would feed on the ground is if they can forage for their favorites seeds, while other species will clean up on what they exclusively eat.
How to feed ground feeding birds in the most effective way is to make sure there's all their favorite food available, that is part of each and every birds diet.
Species likely to forage for seed mixes only can include Sparrows, Blue Jays, Clark's Nutcrackers, Common Redpoll, Dark-Eyed Junco, Starlings, Evening Grosbeak, Finches, Indigo Bunting, Doves, Pigeons, Cardinals, Pine Warbler, Blackbirds and many many more.
Live or dried mealworms on lawn
You can't feed backyard birds all seeds and expect to see amazing results, as you'd need to cater to specific species that don't eat seeds, but only forage for insects.
In fact, you can feed certain bird species on seeds with mealworms, and they include: Blue Jays, Sparrows, Clark's Nutcracker, Common Redpoll, Dark-Eyed Junco, Bluebirds, Finches, Indigo Bunting, Cardinals and the Pine Warbler.
Whereas the American Robin, Orioles, Wrens, the Common Grackle, Starlings, Gray Catbird, Spotted Towhee and Nuthatches are seen to eat more insects than anything else for much of the year.
Sometimes the Golden-Fronted and the Red-Headed Woodpecker can be seen eating insects off the ground, and are sure to yet mealworms.
To feed ground feeding birds with a mix of dried mealworms is certainly going to create some exciting activity in your backyard, providing there's enough insect-eating birds.
Dried mealworms would be the way to go as its the easiest option and less yucky; whereas live mealworms can be used with great success.
You'd want to focus on feeding mealworms to birds on the lawn or in low vegetation to mimic real life foraging behavior, but there's no harm in throwing some down on the deck or stoned areas.
Situate on ground visible to birds
And that brings me to telling you its imperative when feeding ground feeding birds a mix of bird food - to do so where its visible to ground feeding birds.
If any backyard bird, let alone ground feeding birds frequent your yard very often, to simply throw mealworms or seed mixes over the ground would be a waste. Food left on the ground would be allowed to rot or indeed attract pests.
Evaluate the situation before committing to using too much bird food, then throw in a small area where birds not only frequent the most, but this area can be see in the air.
Birds are unlikely to spot seeds in your yard, so it only applies when birds perch on your backyard perimeter - to only then land on the ground to forage for food.
When birds land on your fence or shed roof, you may see an uptake of birds landing in your yard to feed.
How to feed ground feeding birds is to be sure the food is accessible, but can be seen by visitors as soon as they arrive in your yard.
I would advise you to not only throw bird food in a single spot, but add a mix of bird food around the garden in small batches.
In time you will get a better understanding of where birds prefer to forage in your yard, without the need to waste too much feed in the process.
Feed last longer in ground feeder
If bird baths can be on the ground, of course there has to be ground bird feeders made to keep things little more tidy in the yard.
How to feed ground feeding birds in your yard can be done so by simply throwing seeds or mealworms over the lawn; but there is advantages to a ground bird feeder then not using one at all.
Its not advisable to use suet in any form over the ground, as it can make a mess and become a slipping hazard.
What I would recommend is using a ground bird feeder to not only throw their favorite bird seeds in - but you can add suet balls or suet cakes in while keeping everything tidy.
Ground feeding birds would prefer to feed off the lawn, but you can simply situate your ground bird feeder on the lawn to not deter more timid species put off with activity or noise closer to your house.
Feed thrown over the ground can be avoided at times of wet weather, where it can rot quicker, while birds avoid foraging in the long spells of heavy rain.
In case of a blanket of snow continues to blanket bird food on the ground, you will be able to brush or shake it off if it remains on the ground bird feeder, its that simple.
To summarize up
How you'd feed ground feeding birds in the most effective way possible is to simply sprinkle, not throw, bird feed over the ground.
Ideally you'd want to sprinkle feed in an area that is more appealing, yet accessible to birds, such as the lawn - as to not deter them if its too close to a busy house.
Most birds that visit our yards do use bird feeders, but are ground feeding birds at the same time, thus are willing to clean up what you put down.
Focus more on seed mixes to feed more birds as possible, as they include nut meats which birds love - with cracked corn and wheat eaten by more birds.
To go one better, all these birds are also classed as insect eating birds; thus its important to accommodate them with dried mealworms, or if you are not squeamish, offer insect eating birds juicy live mealworms.
Don't limit what birds can feed off the ground by offering up all this out in the open, so any bird that forages within your yard, can pick up anything that is part of their diet.
Feed left out on the ground is not going to last very long if no birds frequent your yard as often - so only offer what you know would be eaten up in a couple of days.
With that in mind, a ground bird feeder can help you feed ground eating birds in a more tidy manner - all while offering them suet on a ground feeder can keep this greasy, so slippery bird food off the ground.
How to feed ground feeding birds is with seed mixes and mealworms, while serving it out on the lawn, but the decking or a stone area is a suitable place if it remains safe.
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