Fall Bird Watching Basics

Often, people think of feeding birds in the winter when their natural food supplies are scarce. But many birds also visit feeders during their spring and fall migrations and during summer while they are nesting, so you may enjoy keeping feeders up all through the year, offering different types of foods during different seasons.

To keep birds visiting your yard year-round:

Choose the best food

For seed eating birds in Michigan, studies indicate that Black-Oil Sunflower, Fine and Medium Sunflower Chips, Peanuts, White Proso Millet, Safflower, and Nyjer® Thistle are among the most preferred seed types. At the East Lansing Wild Birds Unlimited store, customers’ and birds’ preference by far is WBU No-Mess Blend. Read more. 

Choose the best bath

Water is one of the most important necessities that birds need year-round. Baths not only provide clean water to quench thirst, baths also help birds maintain their feathers. A good part of a bird's day is spent just cleaning and grooming their feathers by bathing, scratching, and preening. It’s so important that it is often the first place parent birds bring their newly fledged babies. Read more. 

Choose the best birdfeeder

There are a lot of feeders to choose from. With over 30 years of research and experience, Wild Birds Unlimited® is proud to offer you the highest-quality birdfeeders and birdfeeding equipment on the market today.

1. Any feeder you choose should be easy to fill and easy to clean.

2. Look for quality. Most Wild Birds Unlimited feeders come with a Lifetime Warranty.

3. Determine what birds you want to attract. There are certain feeders that are made for specific birds (i.e. finch feeder, hummingbird feeder).

4. Decide where you are going to put the feeder. Is it going to hang in a tree, on an Advanced Pole System, on a window, or off a deck? The best place to put a feeder is where you can view it easily.

Read more. 

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Choosing the best bird shelters

People provide bird houses or “nest boxes” because in nature most of these birds use tree hollows or old woodpeckers’ nests. But today we are quick to remove dead and decaying trees with holes because they could become dangerous and fall in storms. So we help Mother Nature by providing alternate homes. Some benefits of putting up birdhouses in the fall:

1. Birds will have plenty of time to locate them before the breeding season.

2. The houses will be well weathered by spring.

3. Some birds will use nest boxes as roosting sites in the winter. Read more.