A bird feeding station is an area of your yard where you have bird feeders set up to attract wild birds.
Planning Your Station  The first thing to consider is where to place your feeding station. You will want to place it somewhere where you can view birds throughout the year and where it will be easy for you to replace food. You don't want to have to walk through piles of snow to get to the bird feeders! You also need to place it somewhere that is easy to clean up or where discarded seeds and seed shells won't matter.
Different Levels for Different Birds  Different species of birds find their food at different levels in the wild. Some birds are ground feeders, some birds hop around on the ground and forage in bushes and shrubs, and some birds perch on branches and find their food in trees. Depending on the types of birds you want to attract, you will need to create feeding stations at different levels. You can buy bird feeders or you can make your own! |
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Ground Level Bird Feeders  Mourning doves, juncos, chickadees, towhees, cardinals, blue jays, and sparrows all feed at ground level. To create a feeding station for ground feeding birds, take a pie tin, punch some holes in the bottom of the tin and then place the tin on a platform of rocks or twigs. Fill the tin with seeds. You can also place this type of feeder on a table, tree stump, deck railing, or fence post. Make sure you clean out the tin on a regular basis, so the seeds stay clean and fresh. You might also want to put out a tray of water for the birds!
Hanging Bird Feeders  You can make a hanging cylinder feeder with a plastic soda, milk, or juice bottle. Take the bottle and carefully cut a hole on either side of the bottle and then stick a twig though the holes to make a perch for the birds. Cut holes near the perch so the birds can pull out seeds! Tie a string around the top of the bottle and then hang it from a tree branch. You can cut a flap in the top of the bottle to make filling it with seeds easier. This type of feeder will attract birds like finches and nuthatches. You can also make a hanging feeder with a pine cone. Take a pine cone and fill it in with peanut butter. Roll the pine cone in bird seed. Take a string and hang the pine cone from a tree branch.
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