Backyard Plans for Wild Bird Feeding and Bird Watching

One thing I get hours of enjoyment from is bird watching and bird feeding. We are into our second week at our new homestead and there is a large variety of birds in the area and I plan on attracting some of them to my backyard.

Part of my backyard plans include having a bird feeding station close to a window for viewing.  I have always read that birds like feeders in close proximity to trees for a quick escape or maintaining a watch over the feeders. So I chose an area underneath two trees.

I have a wooden sunflower seed feeder, a tray-type feeder holding chips of corn (from the chicken feed) and more sunflower seeds, and a log feeder for the woodpeckers. The open feeder was purchased to feed meal worms from but at present I have none of those so I will utilize what I have. The other item that is needed is a bird bath for access to water and I have one that will be placed to the right of the log feeder.

These bird feeders were set up on Monday and already I have birds visiting the sunflower seeds.


No takers for the log feeder yet though.

A log feeder is very easy to make. Take a fairly good size piece of wood, I believe ours is pine, and drill holes in various locations around the log. This feeder has the holes drilled all the through but in the one we made ourselves we only drilled them halfway. After you get the holes drilled, place a hook on the end and fill it up and it is ready for hanging to the delight of some of your backyard birds.

Here is a recipe from one of my favorite magazines, Birds and Blooms, that I use to fill my log feeder:

1 cup Peanut Butter (I use chunky)
1 cup shortening or lard
1 cup Quick Oats
4 cups cornmeal

I mix PB and Lard together and then add the dry ingredients. You can be assured that once the birds find it, the treat will be devoured.

This station was set up on Monday of this week and since then I have added the bird bath. Within a day of filling with water the birds are happily splashing and drinking.

This is a Mockingbird. The bird frequents the bird bath and enjoys bathing and drinking.

Here’s a male Cardinal taking a quick drink before the Mockingbird comes back for more.

I have a few more items I want to add to my backyard bird feeding station. I want to attract butterflies and hummingbirds also so I plan on adding lantana at the base of the trees and more plants that will thrive in the sandy soil and also help to attract other types of birds for my viewing pleasure. This location is within view from the inside through my kitchen and living area windows.

I also plan on setting up a bird feeding area that will be viewable from my new office window which overlooks the front yard of our house. You will probably remember the hummingbirds I had visit at my previous home; I plan on enjoying the same if not more hummingbirds in my new home. This may not be the season for hummingbirds but living in Florida you never know when one may visit.  In the meantime, I have already placed my platform feeder within view of the window and loaded it with sunflower seeds for wild bird feeding.

Tags: bird feeding, bird watching