A bird feeding station is a special area in your yard where you place bird feeders to attract wild birds.
These stations can include different types of feeders filled with seeds, suet, or nectar to help support a variety of bird species.
Bird feeding stations give people a chance to observe birds up close while also providing food, especially during times when natural food is harder to find.
Red-breasted nuthatch at a window feeder.
The first thing to consider is where to place your feeding station. You should choose a spot where you can easily watch birds throughout the year and where it is easy to refill the food when needed.
You don’t want to have to walk through deep snow or difficult areas to reach the feeders. It is also important to place them somewhere that is easy to clean, or where spilled seeds and empty shells won’t cause a problem.
A junco, chickadee and cardinal at a bird feeder.
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.
Mourning dove foraging on the ground.
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.
Goldfinches at a cylinder feeder.
You can make your own 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 through 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 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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