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Patio Feeding

© Terrie Murray

This past weekend we had a nice Father's Day visit from my step-dad, who lives in a condo in Juneau, Alaska. We were admiring the bird feeders at my step-sister's house. She has a thistle feeder and a hummingbird feeder which hang from the eaves of her house, right next to the living room windows, and while we were there the feeders were busy with a steady stream of customers, including goldfinches, black-headed grosbeaks, pine siskins and ruby-throated hummingbirds. My step-dad looked at the feeders and said, "you know, I could do that at my condo."

Not having a backyard does not preclude you from feeding birds. In fact, there are lots of options open to you. However, the first thing you should do is check with your apartment manager or condominium homeowner's association to make sure that there are no rules precluding bird feeding. Unfortunately, in many places there are such rules, because feeding birds is considered "unsightly" by some people. It needn't be so, if done responsibly.

If you have no such restrictions, and you have a small deck or patio, you can purchase metal hangers which clamp to the deck railing where you can hang any number of types of feeders. You can even purchase small birdbaths which also attach to deck railings. I talked to one lady who was feeding birds on the fire escape of her apartment in downtown Manhattan, where she feeds house finches and house sparrows, chickadees, cardinals and mourning doves, as well as the occasional pigeon. She recommends sunflower chips, hulled, because they don't leave the seed hull mess that other types of seed can create. If you don't have deck railing (or don't have a deck!), you can purchase feeders which attach right to the window with suction cups. I've seen hummingbird feeders, seed feeders, even bird houses which all attach to windows, bringing the birds in close. One backyard bird feeder I talked to feeds exclusively with these window feeders, and she has seen Carolina chickadees, cardinals, house sparrows, house finches, mourning doves, downy woodpeckers, goldfinches, blue jays, nuthatches, siskins and indigo buntings coming to her feeders!

When I used to work at an office, I kept a tube feeder with sunflower chips on the fire escape outside my office right in the middle of downtown Portland. I attracted chickadees, jays, sparrows and finches to my feeders. I provided a dish of water during the summer, which was much appreciated in the hot cement and steel urban environment, and during the winter I even conducted Project FeederWatch counts at my office feeder. After I left the office, I was pleased to hear that the woman who took over my office space has continued to maintain a feeder station on the fire escape.

The copyright of the article Patio Feeding in Birdwatching is owned by Terrie Murray. Permission to republish Patio Feeding in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.