What are the Pro's and Con's of having a bird feeder
Anyone who is serious about having any kind of bird feeder must be a person who is in it for the hobby, with all the negatives being part of this great pastime.
What are the PRO's of having a bird feeder is its practically the only way to quickly attract wild birds to your yard, with different bird feeders and food designed to allow a variety of wild birds to eat. CON's of a bird feeder can be pests and pets, and the need to clean feeders and change out food regularly.
Certainly I don't think its a good idea to get involved in attracting wild birds to your yard if you aren't interested in this pastime from the very beginning.
Because of course you'll be the one to soon get fed up of making an effort to attract wild birds to a bird feeder, which does come with expense and plenty of commitment over the years. If you feel you won't see it through, then of course that is a big con of having a bird feeder.
But what better way to try and attract a wide variety of wild birds to your backyards, by hanging up a wide variety of bird feeders with the corresponding bird food within.
I recommend you utilize a handful of seeds, peanuts and suet bird feeders, while making improvements to bird feeders and food in time - to eventually land on what is most popular with your local birds.
Often no one knows the kind of success you'll have when attracting birds to a new bird feeder setup, which is really part of the fun.
You could end up attracting too few wild birds which could mean you just have to be more patient, by putting more effort into it. And with that, you could attract too many wild birds to your bird feeders, which would come at a greater expense.
On the downside, there's sure a lot of disadvantages to bird feeders, which will call for a lot of staying power on your part.
Don't get annoyed with common backyard pests like squirrels climbing on feeders, when you can deter squirrels especially, along with additional pests who're sure to show up in time to get a free, quick meal.
Bird feeders must been cleaned at least twice monthly so don't get lazy with that, and its also important to change out all bird feed at least once a week - while at the same time using less bird feed to avoid waste.
Welcome various wild birds
Why we generally use any type of bird feeder for would only be to attract a wide variety of wild birds to our yards.
With no bird feeder in our yards, which must be in a prominent position - being both visible and accessible to the local wild life - we can be sure there's no possible reason why birds would visit our backyard.
Birds occasional land on the ground to forage or briefly perch to size up their surroundings, but that is all. Birds have no reason to stick around in a yard that is void of natural food resources.
Its imperative we have a variety of bird feeders in our yard as its practically the only way to attract birds to our yards.
Of course, we aren't really attracting wild birds to our yards without reason, as we really want them to come to our bird feeders to eat up the variety of bird feed on offer. In which case, the more bird feeders you have, the better chance of attracting a wider variety of birds to feeders - with at least one remaining accessible to all size birds.
Big PRO of having bird feeders in our yards than is because its genuinely the only way you can attract wild birds, while providing them a reason to return daily.
Stay busy outdoors
Not directly connected to having any kind of bird feeder but indirectly, could be having a bird feeder would somehow have benefits on your part, right?
Well it does, and with that to utilize bird feeders out in your yard can indeed pump a new lease of energy into your life. Stay busy whilst feeding wild birds out in the yard, which will involve continuing to replenish and clean bird feeders all year long.
In fairness, it can only take 5 minutes to replenish all bird feeders hung up on a pole, and maybe 15-20 minutes to clean them, so not a lot of time is used up for exercise.
Regardless, you will still get a lot out of utilizing bird feeders as you can enjoy wild bird coming to your very special bird feeders you set up - while at the same time you can take a note of all the wild bird species that show up daily.
Backyard birding is a century old pastime which is open to anyone who has the time and patience to get involved.
Definitely a massive pro to having a bird feeder, just as long as you feel you can see it through for many years to come.
Downsides apply
Unfortunately, there's certainly many con's to having a bird feeder with the big one being - no wild birds show up to the bird feeders at all - or at least not enough to justify the time you spent setting up an attractive bird feeding station.
And with that, you do have to buy the bird feeders and the feed to put in each bird feeder, and thus you could end up wasting money.
With that in mind, don't use a bird feeders if you know its basically impossible to attract wild birds to your yard, when you know there's really no common backyard birds in the area, who can be attracted to a yard with bird feeders filled to the rim with bird feed.
In addition to that, bird feeders are an invitation for attracting all bird feeder pests into your yard, thus you'd need additional time and expense, protecting said bird feeders.
Squirrel baffles can be bought but you'll find more of your time would be used up, attempting to stop squirrels to raccoon's eat the bird feed.
Not necessarily a bad thing mind as it can be a lot of fun diving in to ways of keeping raccoon's and squirrels off bird feeders hung up in the yard.
In addition, everything has to be cleaned up and maintained of course, thus a big disadvantage of utilizing bird feeders is you must get your hands dirty once in a while, to thoroughly clean bird feeders and the mess possibly created beneath them.
You must also change out bird feed, including nectar, very regularly to avoid it going bad, which is a serious hazard to our backyard birds.
Conclude
One very important PRO of utilizing bird feeders in our yards is its basically the only way to attract wild birds to our yards.
Sure, you can plant trees and shrubs at additional cost but that comes with time.
Bird feeders can be hung up on a bird feeder pole impaled in the ground, and within minutes you could see the first signs of life arriving at the bird feeders.
With that, what can be better for our health than getting involved in a pastime that is sure to be good for the heart and soul.
Unfortunately, there's plenty of downsides to having a bird feeder in the yard, with the biggest CON of them all: no wild birds will show up at, in spite of how much work was involved, and therefore you've spent all that time and money for nothing.
Another negative is that bird feeders can attract other wild life, who're intent on stealing the bird feed in feeders, and now you'd have to find a way to deter them all.
Regardless of the negative sides of backyard birding, I certainly think there's a lot of benefits to be had, where all the family can enjoy when making an extra effort to attract wild birds into your yard.
And that can involve more bird feeders, and just maybe a wider variety of bird feed to cater to all wild birds dietary needs.
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