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Attracting Spring Backyard Birds

 

Attracting backyard birds in the spring can be an exciting time for bird watching. Every day it seems there are new visitors to your backyard. But, while it may be a great time for humans, Spring can be a crucial point in time for our feathered friends. They have just arrived after following their long bird migration pattern. But no matter how much fatigue they may feel, the stress on their bodies has just begun. Natural sources of food may not yet be available or easily accessible. (Especially if there has been a recent surprise late season snowstorm for those in the northern regions!) 

Upon arrival the wild birds must stake out and lay claim to a breeding territory, undertake bird mating, build a bird nest and care for baby birds. This process takes humans many years to complete. But time is not on the side of our backyard birds. They have to get all of these requirements of life completed in just a few short months.
As a backyard bird feeder you can greatly help attracting backyard birds to your yard and the rewards will be many!  Not only will you have the joy of watching wild birds, but you will be helping them with baby bird care and raising their young through the fledging stage. If you prepare properly for attracting backyard birds in the spring, they will come and stay throughout the spring, summer and the autumn seasons, until it is once again time for their bi-annual bird migration southwards.
 
How to Prepare for Attracting Backyard Birds in the Spring
 
The best way to get ready for the wild birds in the spring is to be prepared in advance of their expected arrival. A good way to do this is to start keeping a journal of the time of arrival of each species to your backyard bird feeders and bird houses. Then two weeks before their anticipated arrival start preparing.  

It must be kept in mind that just because the wild birds arrived on a certain date the previous year, does not mean that they will drop in the same day this year or next. But, by keeping a journal an average arrival date can be determined.

“Why the intensive preparations?”
 
This is a stressful time in the lives of birds. They have already travelled a long distance on their bird migration route. As soon as they arrive they have to fight for territory and find a mate. 
 
Then begins the process of building a nest, incubating eggs and then raising their young. This all has to happen in a few months to prepare them for the long trip in the autumn back to southern regions. 
 
If our feathered friends arrive at a well-stocked and well-prepared backyard area, they will not only stay for the summer, but probably return the following spring.
 
This is another important fact, that the backyard, the young birds are raised in, will be their destination when they return the next year.
 
They will still have to stake a territory, but they too will make the vicinity of your backyard their annual destination. This will be true for their young as well. Consequently, over the course of a few years you will develop quite a little community in your backyard area. Attracting backyard birds just got a whole lot easier, as the natural habits of wild birds takes over!
 
Also, remember nature does not always cooperate with good weather in the spring of the year. If your yard is in a northerly area and if a spring snowstorm occurs, your bird feeders and bird houses will offer a welcome sancturary.
 
What to Put on the Menu for Spring Bird Feeding?
  1. Fresh clean seed: If you do feed the birds in the winter and even if you don’t, do take time to inspect any seed that might have been around all winter. Make sure that mould is not present and that there are no parasitic insects. After all, if we are attracting backyard birds we want to keep our feathered friends happy and healthy.
  2. Suet: During this stressful time, suet is a great source of energy. The cooler weather, the stress of finding a mate and building a nest, and the energy expended raising and feeding the baby birds can all be alleviated to a great degree by suet. We use this rich energy substance twelve months of the year. Many people who feed wild birds are concerned about the mess of suet in the warmer weather. There are suet products now available on the market that are made for summer use. There are also instructions on this web site, on how to prepare your own suet, that can be used in the warmer weather of the spring and summer months. Suet feeding in the spring and summer months can provide an added bonus for attracting backyard birds. We have noted that our backyard has a wider diversity of birds now as a variety of Woodpeckers and the Brown Creeper who normally do not visit bird feeders very often, now visit our suet feeding stations on an almost daily basis.
  3. Syrup: About two weeks prior to the expected arrival of the Hummingbirds and the Orioles, it is important to have clean fresh syrup in your Hummingbird and Oriole feeders. There are a few reasons for this advance preparation:
 
We have talked about attracting backyard birds in the spring in terms of birds that will come and remain in your backyard for the spring and summer months. But do not forget that your bird feeders will provide another valuable service to wild birds.
 
Many bird migration routes take feathered friends much further north than where you may be located. If you have well-stocked bird feeders in your yard these migrating birds will stop to “Re-fuel”. They will also remember year to year, if your bird feeding efforts are consistent and stop by every year on their bi-annual migration route.
 
Not only is attracting backyard birds good for the birds, but it will also give you an opportunity to view feathered friends that are not necessarily native to your region right in your own backyard.
 
How great is that?