Wintertime Bird Feeding Tips

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Bird feeding in the wintertime is a great time to spread some love of nature by taking care of the birds that hang out in your neighborhood.

Once you set up a bird feeder or two, you’ll be surprised at how many species of birds show up.

It’s easy to get started. And the financial investment is well worth it!

Choosing a Location For Your Bird Feeder

Hanging bird feeders can be secured over the branch of a tree and allows the birds somewhere to perch while they’re not at the feeder. It also gives them a sense of security.

No trees? No problem? We have lots of trees in our yard. That’s where we hang our suet feeders.

Our tube feeder, peanut feeder, and platform feeder are hung from two shepherd hooks. Here’s a photo of my current set up:

Living in Zone 6, the shepherd hooks are poked into the ground well before the temperatures drop. If you wait until the ground freezes, you may have a difficult time getting them put in.

Having them up in Autumn– with feeders full of seed hanging from them — allows the birds to find food before cold weather sets in. And that will help ensure they stop by your feeding station all winter long.

The photo below is really close to the peanut feeder I bought at the local home-improvement store late this Autumn. It’s basically a cylinder of wire mesh that holds a large amount of shelled peanuts. The woodpeckers really like peanuts — and so do the squirrels. More on that later.

The peanut feeder has a handy ring at the top that makes it really easy to hang and remove it from the shepherd hook.

More Bird Feeders

The tube feeder (similar to this one) is great for most birds. It’s tough for some of the larger ones, but finches, cardinals, sparrows, and other smaller birds have no trouble at all perching on the posts and pulling seeds out with their beaks.

I fill the tube feeder with a mixture of black-oil sunflower seeds and run-of-the-mill bird seed. This combination is one that attracts lots of birds all day long.

The platform feeder also hangs from the shepherd’s hook. I keep this feeder full of shelled corn, sunflower seeds, and the generic birdseed mix. The cardinals and Blue Jays spend a lot of time here.

Blue Jays love the shelled corn. They fly in, grab a piece or two in their beak, and then fly off to eat it. Usually on a branch of a nearby tree.

A lot of people think that only woodpeckers like suet. But that’s not true. Many other birds enjoy this high-energy food.

In my backyard, cardinals, Blue Jays, and even some sparrows, love to hang on the wire mesh suet cake feeder and peck-peck-peck away at it.

Word to the wise: opossums like suet too! On more than one occasion, my suet feeders were torn out of the tree and carried across my backyard by these nocturnal animals.

I now use a carbiner hook to attach the feeder to a sturdy branch of a tree. So far, so good. My feeders are staying where I put them!

What About Water?

Great question! Birds need a source of water all year long.

In the summer time, I have a poured cement bird bath that stands in one of our landscape beds in the back yard.

Freezing and thawing is dangerous for a porous, cement-style bird bath. I store my cement base and bowl in the garage during the winter. A heavy-duty plastic version is what I use during the months when the temperature will dip below 32F degrees.

I created a DIY bird bath (see photo above) by using an inverted plastic flower pot and putting a large plastic saucer on top of it. The saucer holds over two gallons of water and offers the birds (and the squirrels) a convenient place to get a drink.

A bird bath heater is on my wish list. For now, I try my best to keep fresh water in the bath as much as I can. When the temps get really low, this is tough to accomplish.

Additional Bird Feeding Options

Along with the bird seed and shelled peanuts, we also offer the birds and squirrels corn on the cob and peanuts in the shell.

I toss out a couple handfuls of peanuts (unsalted, in-the-shell) once or twice each day. It only takes a couple minutes for the Blue Jays to find them.

They swoop in and take off with as many of them as they can stuff into their mouth. It’s a hoot to watch them.

Squirrels seem to take a quick taste of the peanuts and then scurry off to bury them in the backyard.

You can get both of these at your local home-improvement store and/or online. They are a little pricey; but the birds and squirrels really like them. We pick up a bag now and then and store them in a metal garbage can with a tight lid — to keep the mice out.

I encourage you to help out the birds this winter by adding a feeding station to your backyard. It’s easy, fairly inexpensive, and provides hours of entertainment from the comfort of your home.

Let me know if you have questions or comments. You can leave a comment below, or contact me directly by email.